Sonia Sumar - Biography
Sonia Sumar uses a special type of yoga therapy to help transform the lives
of children with ADD/ADHD, Down's Syndrome and other disorders. She is the
author of "Yoga for the Special Child."
Sonia Sumar has taught yoga in Brazil for more than twenty years and is
internationally renowned for her pioneering work with special children.
She began experimenting with yoga as an early intervention therapy shortly
after the birth of her second daughter, Roberta, in 1972. Roberta was
born with Down Syndrome, a genetic disorder characterized by mental
retardation and other developmental delays. Sonia's teaching work expanded
to include infants and children with Cerebral Palsy, Attention Deficit
Disorder, and various other syndromes and disorders.
Her life dream is to help the world's special children to achieve their
full potential and become active and productive members of society.
Nothing can better express her success than the letters from the parents
of her students.
Ms. Sumar holds a Bachelor's Degree in Education and has taught at the
elementary school level. She has conducted workshops and has addressed
special education programs and symposia in Portugal, Brazil, and
throughout South America. In 1980 she founded the Integral Yoga Center of
Belo Horizonte, Brazil, where she continues to teach yoga to both children
and adults and offers specialized training courses to yoga teachers and
other professionals who wish to learn her methods.
In recent years she has expanded her teaching and mentoring in the United
States. She is assisted by her 27-year-old daughter, Renata, who has a
degree in Speech Pathology. Sonia's programs are coordinated by Jeffrey
Volk, who also supervised the English translation of her book.