Yoga For Your Little Ones

The Benefits of Yoga for Kids

I’m often asked whether it’s okay for kids to do yoga, or be a part of a parent’s yoga routine and my answer is always yes. It’s wonderful if you can get your children involved in yoga from a young age.

Yoga is not merely a fitness routine or a series of postures, but a way of life. Children can derive great benefits from making yoga a ritual. I’ve seen yoga help young ones in developing better body awareness, self-control and coordination, not to mention improve their concentration dramatically as well as help them relax. Physically, they build strength and flexibility. Kids today can lead stressful lives – homework, extra curricular activities, sports, packed schedules, competing against peers; and yoga can help take that edge off.

There are many children’s yoga classes these days starting as young as preschoolers. But if you’re looking to get your children on board at home, simple breathing exercises and meditation are a great start. Encourage deep breathing from the belly to help them relax. Let them try chanting. Even the very simple OM can be very effective. I remember OM as a child and loving the challenge of how long I could chant on a single deep breath. Balasana or ‘childs pose’ is a fantastic yoga posture to teach them which will normalise circulation and relax the body and mind. Great for when a child is feeling overwhelmed or moody. It curbs tantrums even in adults so I know it works for kids.

Next help them learn simple Hatha poses like tree pose, warrior pose, lion pose. Try to get them to focus on the meaning of the postures, to reenact them if you will, and take on their qualities which might require some storytelling on your part – sturdy and grounded like a tree, strong and confident like a warrior, fierce like a lion. This engagement will help develop an intimate relationship between the young practitioner and nature. Surya Namaskar or ‘sun salutations’ are another fantastic and dynamic series of poses that can be introduced to them.

Encourage relaxation through meditation using guided visualization techniques as many children can have trouble closing their eyes and tuning out the world. Weaving an imaginative but calming story – ‘Imagine you are lying in a field of green grass with the sun shining. There is nothing around you except trees with beautiful flowers. Now imagine a butterfly floating past you. Look at its bright wings. Take a deep breath and smell the fresh air’ can help them find their balance and connect more deeply with their inner self.

Children are naturally curious and you’ll find most quite enthusiastic if you make it interesting for them. Allow them (and even your toddlers) to watch you in your practice. Most kids you’ll find want nothing more than to do what mummy and daddy are doing.

Added benefits to practicing yoga with your children will be the increased bond between you and them and an opportunity to share family time and wisdom. It may require a bit of patience at first but stick with it, as you’re laying the foundation of a lifelong practice.

Photo credits: Axel Bührmann, takeslongwalks, theloushe on flickr

Engaging The Heart, Mind and Body Of Young Ones Through Yoga

Yoga For Kids

We’ve all heard of the benefits of Yoga for adults, for people with back problems, high blood pressure, respiratory problems, cancer patients in recovery and moms to be, but did you know that children who are thought yoga at a young age reap a host of benefits too?

Just like for adults, Yoga helps kids find balance in their lives, enabling them to cope with situations better. It’s a great tool for channeling  kids energy and teaches them to be more relaxed and calm. Yoga for kids promotes the philosophy that active bodies support healthy, active minds. It also develop better body awareness, self-control, flexibility and coordination early on which they will carry with them through life. Plus, one of best influences that yoga has on children is it teaches them to handle stress and conflicts as well as to deal with emotions in a positive manner.

Yoga has also been shown to help children with ADD/ADHD, hyperactivity, anxiety and other behavior disorders. Yoga poses that instill calm, confidence and balance help them channel their impulses that crave a stimulus. Yoga is thought to kids through visualization of the poses, like for example in the mountain pose with their feet firmly on the ground and heads raised to the sky, they imagine themselves strong as a mountain or in the tree pose imaging themselves tall, trying to reach the sky with their branches. This helps kids build focus, release physical and emotional energy and improve physical fitness. Relaxation is another aspect of yoga beneficial for children to relieve stress. How much stress can a child have to relieve you may ask? But, believe it or not quite a bit. Many kids go through their parents separation or divorce, the pressure of school work, competition and even just fitting in socially can cause quite a bit of stress. Yoga breathing exercises help them stay centered and calmer through these difficult situations and times.

Yoga sessions for children include lot of storytelling and mental imagery to develop the imagination. Social emotional games played during yoga classes help as counseling tools to develop trust, compassion, communication, teamwork and leadership skills. As yoga teaches us through it’s practices to activate the present by coming to a stillness, kids tend to open up a lot more when they achieve this stillness. It is then the best time for them to open up their hearts and cultivate their own compassion and sensitivity to emotions, for us parents it is to learn about the inherent goodness in our children, to cultivate, nurture, protect and develop that goodness.

For this and more, Yoga is a great way for engaging the heart, mind and body of young ones!

*Photo credits: Photos by Axel Bührmann, Scott Ableman on flickr