Yoga for kids

Yoga for kids

By Babysits
4 min read

Do your children become stressed easily and find it hard to concentrate? Yoga could be the solution! Yoga is extremely beneficial for adults and children. It is one of the most comprehensive activities that involves the body, mind, and spirit. Read on to discover its benefits and learn some of the most famous poses suitable for all children!

Nowadays our kids’ routines can become extremely sedentary. For this reason, they can accumulate stress and tension. Therefore, practicing yoga can help them relax and gain concentration.

Please Note: Yoga for adults differs from children's yoga. For the little ones, it must be a game, a moment of leisure where there are no strict rules to follow, but just moments of relaxation and calm.

What are the main benefits?

Yoga makes the psychophysical conditions stable and develops cognitive and social skills. But here we have decided to list the 7 main benefits that help children:

  • Formation of correct posture: how often do you see your child with their back arched while eating or doing their homework? To avoid severe back pain, practicing yoga can help children to assume a correct posture.

  • Development of self-confidence towards their body: your child needs to learn to accept his/her body from an early age in order to love himself/herself.

  • Respect for themselves, others and the environment: yoga is not only physical exercise but also mental which helps to have respect not only for yourself but also for the planet and the people who surround us.

  • Understand when you need to relax: the more you grow the more you tend not to take a break from this hectic life (mainly because of technology). Yoga will help your child to become more aware that spending some me-time is essential for his/her health.

  • Expressing emotions: thanks to this activity, it will be easier for your little one to let off steam and get rid of any negativity.

  • Reduction of stress and anxiety: it’s very easy to get nervous or anxious because every day there are thousands of stimulations, from the Internet, the media, school, work, etc. And this involves children too! Practicing yoga is a form of meditation that helps you regain the concentration which allows you to better deal with your daily life's problems.

  • It stimulates the ability to learn: it develops their curiosity, an important skill that can be very useful in the future.

What type of yoga poses are for children?

There is really a lot of yoga poses (also known as asana), but here we recommend our 6 favorite ones for beginners: some are very simple and others slightly more complicated, which may need more time to practice.

6 yoga poses for kids

  • Downward-facing dog pose ?: With your legs and arms raised but firmly on the ground, this is the perfect exercise to stretch your spine;

  • Tree pose ?: with your hands raised, lift one leg and bend the knee to experience

  • Cobra pose ?: begin by lying face-down on the floor with your legs extended behind you, then place your hands under the shoulders and press down through the tops of your feet. This position resolves incorrect spinal column attitudes.

  • Cow Face pose ?: by crossing the legs and joining hands behind the back, the chest is opened and the ankles, hips, thighs, shoulders and armpits are extended.

  • Bow pose ?: with the body facedown, grab your ankles and bend your knees, then slowly lift from the ground, keeping your feet away from your head. This position stimulates the abdominal organs and reduces stress.

  • Corpse pose ?: lying your front down on the ground, enter a state of total relaxation with the body and the mind. It may seem very easy to do, but it takes maximum concentration!

You can try these poses together with your child and maybe introduce an extra asana every week! The internet is super handy to find many poses, for example, YouTube has many tutorials explained by professionals.

Practicing yoga is ideal especially for anxious and aggressive children, but considering that stress and anxiety are aspects of everyday life that can affect any child, we recommend that you practice it with your child regardless of his or her character. It is easy, all you need is a mat, a quiet room in the house where you can move around freely and some relaxing music. Together with your child, you can disconnect from the rest of the world to focus only on yourself!

Namaste!

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