Nowadays, kids tend to have a lot of things on their plate, which mostly includes online videos, cartoons, television, etc. Due to all of this, they don’t enjoy their childhood, and often their mental and physical health doesn’t develop properly, leading to anxiety, stress, and depression at a very young age. As a result, they often tend to feel lonely.
Kids learn and grow every day and are very curious about anything and everything around them. In this phase of learning and adapting new habits, yoga can become the foundation of their personalities. It will help them aid their personal, physical, and mental growth and improve other bodily functions.
Children are not someone who would sit at a given place quietly and practice yoga, so one has to plan how, where, and when to perform yoga. Offer them a place beside you, let them have their own yoga mat, make it fun by naming a position to an animal and ask them to initiate it, do basic breathing exercises while making it a bit competitive.
Along with the aforementioned ideas, one can also start a gratitude practice where the parents ask the children about things they are grateful for.
Yes absolutely. This will help the parents develop a bond with the child and improve the child’s motor skills. It also helps them to have a good immune system.
Benefits for Kids
Yoga for kids brings a plethora of benefits. Kids are not expected to start with complex yoga activities, but some basic yoga poses and meditation practices could be started from a young age. Young children adapt things easily, making it a suitable time to habituate with yoga.
1. Physical Flexibility:
Yoga improves physical strength/ flexibility because children learn to twist and turn their bodies differently. When a pose is practiced irrespective of the fact that it is done standing, sitting, lying, it initiates a new movement to the muscle improving the range of motion, which further helps in strengthening of bones and development of cartilage.
2. Balance and Coordination:
Balance is the key element of yoga, enhancing body posture while creating body stability. Coordination is primarily related to children’s balance and improved motor abilities, reducing the chance of injury. In addition, it brings strength to their body.
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3. Focus and Concentration:
This improves their focus on any given task without panicking, allowing them to improve their concentration which over the period translates to their academic performance.
4. Self-Esteem and Confidence:
It helps children gain a peaceful state of mind improving their emotional regulation.
5. Strengthens the Mind-Body Connection:
It allows them to make mindful decisions. It helps them reduce their spontaneous reflex response such as aggressive nature, socially withdrawn nature, and hyper activeness. It encourages them to come out of their shell and interact socially while displaying empathy, helping others, etc.
Here are some of the easy and basic yoga poses for kids:
- Easy sitting pose (Sukhasana):
- Start by sitting on the yoga mat with your legs stretched forwards.
- Cross your legs such that your left footrests are under your right thigh and vice versa.
- Straighten your back, neck, and head.
- Place your hands with jnana mudra on your knees or your lap. Close your eyes.
Benefits of this pose:
- Stretch and lengthen your spine
- Broaden collar bone and chest
- Improves the body posture
- Reduces fatigue
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- Child’s pose (Balasana):
- Start by sitting on your knees. Then, you can either join your knees or keep them apart.
- Now slowly bend forward while exhaling in such a way that your chest touches your thighs and your forehead touches the ground.
- Keep your arms forward, i.e., alongside your body (palms should be open).
- Hold this position for about 2-3 minutes while slowly breathing in.
Benefits of this pose:
- Calming effect on the brain and relieves stress
- Ease the lower back
- Ensure good sleep
- Half-lotus pose (Ardha Padmasana):
- Start by sitting on the yoga mat with your legs stretched forwards.
- Now place your left foot above your right thigh and your right foot under your left thigh.
- Place your hands with jnana mudra on your knees or your lap. Close your eyes.
- Straighten your back, neck, and head.
Benefits of this pose:
- Soothing effect on the mind
- Increases blood flow in the pelvis
- Improves flexibility in gluteal muscles and the deep rotator muscles of hips.
- Promotes a healthy body posture
- Cobra pose (Bhujangasana):
- Lie down on your stomach with your hands alongside your body.
- Now place both your palms on the ground while bending them alongside your head.
- Now slowly raise your head (lookup) and your upper body (above the stomach).
- Keep your legs joined and toes in a pointed position.
Benefits of this pose:
- Stimulation of abdominal organs
- Prevent lung congestion
- Arch and strengthen your back
- Burn unwanted stomach fat
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- Seated forward fold (Paschimottanasana):
- Start by sitting on the yoga mat with your legs joined and stretched forwards.
- Now slowly bend and hold your toes/ foot with your hand.
- Breathe out slowly and try to place your head on your legs. Hold this position for 30 seconds.
- Now slowly raise your head, then your upper body, and come back to the initial position.
Benefits of this pose:
- Improve digestion
- Tone shoulder
- Stretches the lower back
- Stimulate the liver, kidneys, ovaries, and uterus.
- Butterfly pose (Baddha Konasana):
- Start by sitting on the yoga mat with your legs joined and stretched forwards.
- Now slowly bend your knees towards you such that your soles touch.
- Now hold your feet with your hands. Move your feet inwards as much as possible.
- Now slowly bend your upper body such that your head touches the ground. Hold this position.
Benefits of this pose:
- Stretching hips and inner thigh muscles
- Improves core strength and posture
- Soothing menstrual discomfort
- Reliving digestive problems
- Tree pose (Vrksasana):
- This pose starts with a standing position or mountain pose.
- Place your right foot on the left inner thigh.
- Now raise your hands above your head and join your palms.
- Hold this position for 10-20 seconds and repeat with another leg.
Benefits of this pose:
- Strengthen the legs, tendons, and ligaments of feet as well as the core.
- Stretch the hips
- Improves balance and concentration
- Warrior I (Virabhadrasana I):
- Stand in mountain pose.
- Now raise your hands above your head and join your palms.
- Stretch your right leg forward by 90 degrees.
- Stretch your left leg backward by 15 degrees. (Make sure your left and right foot are aligned)
Benefits of this pose:
- Strengthen your arms, shoulder, and back
- Improves balance and focus
- Tons the abdomen and outer hips
- Creates stability in shoulder joints
- Corpse pose (Savasana):
- Lie down on your back.
- Keep your legs apart such that they have a minimum of 1 foot of distance between them.
- Place your hands alongside your body but keep a small distance. Next, open your palms and place them facing upwards.
- Relax your body. Hold this position for 5-10 minutes and take slow, long breaths.
Benefits of this pose:
- Calming effect on the central nervous system
- Reduces anxiety
- Maintains blood pressure
- Brings a sense of well-being (emotional)
