Yoga has many of the same benefits for children as it has for adults. Childhood, for some people, used to be all about getting outside and playing in the sunshine with friends, having fun, exciting adventures and exploring the world around us. Unfortunately, the daily stresses of our modern world can even begin to have an impact on our children. Kids can learn to use their yoga practice to manage stress and access their own internal resources thus empowering them to better handle their tumultuous emotions.
The practice of yoga can give kids some new tools to deal with the challenges they face in life. It can help them to become more self-aware and improve their self confidence as they begin to learn and master the different asana and practice quiet meditation. It helps kids to develop patience and self discipline, how to direct and control their minds and attention and it can help them to be more focused and calm. These benefits will have an impact on all areas of their lives including the classroom, and their lives at home.
Kid’s yoga is non-competitive. Each child proceeds at their own pace under the watchful guidance of the teacher. Kids learn about their bodies, and become increasingly self-aware while they grow stronger, more coordinated and flexible.
Kids have a much shorter attention span than adults do, so the approach to teaching kids is different. Kid’s yoga classes are designed to engage the child’s attention and keep things moving so that they don’t get bored.
Because kids learn through their play, making yoga fun is the best way to make is accessible for them. Getting down on the mat with them and making animal sounds when performing poses with animal names such as cat and cow, and even changing the names of some of the asana to mix things up and make them more interesting.
There are lots of ways for kids to get involved in yoga. Most yoga studios have classes for kids, but there are also yoga camps where kids can go and become immersed in learning about yoga. A search on the Internet will yield lots of resources for introducing yoga to children. You will find pictures of kids performing various asana, routines designed for kids, as well as many DVDs of kid’s yoga and free online yoga videos.
You might want to introduce a few yoga poses to your kids at home before they take their first class so that they will know what to expect.
Exposing young children to yoga can have an impact on their entire lives. Some of the most popular yoga teachers of the day such as B.K.S. Iyengar, and Bikram Choudhry were introduced to yoga as children. As yoga changed their lives, they took what they learned and use yoga to change the world.
Tags: fitness, health, kids yoga, yoga, yoga for kids
