Mother & son doing yoga
If you think yoga is about flexibility, challenging poses, and a Zen attitude, you’ve got part of it. Yoga has physical and emotional benefits for people of all ages including children.
“Getting kids involved in yoga and meditation is a life-long win for them. Both yoga and meditation teach kids the benefits of fitness, but they are also valuable coping skills that kids can key into during life’s challenges,” says yoga teacher Kerin Monaco.
Find Serenity, Strength, and Self-Confidence
Monaco started practicing yoga herself in high school to combat crippling anxiety around SATs and college applications. She went on to teach yoga and recently began to share yoga with her young family. When her daughter was 9 months old, Monaco started to practice with her on the mat, where they both loved the peaceful energy that yoga brings.
That peaceful energy is one of the key reasons adults practice yoga, and that calm is great for kids too. That’s not the only benefit though. Yoga teacher Katy Dagle, says that for younger kids, yoga builds coordination, balance, and self-regulation. For older kids, yoga continues to help with coordination and balance and also helps build flexibility, strength, and self-confidence. The emotional benefits can be especially helpful in the challenging tween and teen years.
Get Kids Started with Classes
Both Monaco and Dagle recommend classes for kids. An experienced teacher helps children learn poses correctly and can offer modifications or adjustments to things the don’t feel right. Kids (and grown-ups) should be reminded to do what feels right for their body. Not every child can do every pose, and some days a familiar pose is harder than others.
Once familiar with yoga, kids can use videos and yoga cards to practice at home. See the sidebar, “Yoga Tips and Tools for the Whole Family,” for tips on starting a family practice.
Practice Anywhere
Classes provide a safe introduction to yoga and ongoing support, but the beauty of yoga is that you can practice any place and any time. Here are two practices you can do anywhere:
Breathe: Breathing can be centering, energizing, or calming. For parents, try breathing deeply while holding an upset child.
Dagle teaches older kids to use breathing exercises to calm themselves before a test. She encourages them to put their feet firmly on the ground at their desk, inhale for a count of four, and exhale for a count of six for one minute to to help them feel both calm and grounded.
Be present: Practice mindfulness and being present. That means noticing your environment. There are lots of ways to practice this with kids—you don’t even have to call it mindfulness.
- Sit quietly together or go for a walk, and see what you notice. Try closing your eyes. What sounds and smells do you sense?
- Turn off your phone and spend some time doing an activity with your kids, whether it’s reading, coloring, dancing, snuggling, building. Just focus on what you’re doing, with no distractions.
- Describe something familiar as if it were new. Hand your kids a familiar object. Remind them that they have never seen it before. Ask them to look, touch, smell, listen, and taste and describe their experience.
Tips for Parents
- Get back on the mat after having a baby. Monaco encourages new moms to get back on the mat as soon as your doctor gives the OK. The longer you wait, the less likely you are to get back. Just remember to meet your practice where it is. Your body has been through a lot.
- Practice with your kids around. Monaco put her daughter on the mat with her as a baby. Dagle spreads out her mat in the playroom and practices while her kids play around (and under and over) her. If you’re used to a peaceful yoga studio, practicing with your kids around will be different, but you still get the benefits of practice.
- Remember that your yoga is good for your kids. Dagle says, “When I make the time to practice, I’m a better parent when I’m with my kids.”
Here are a few resources to help your family develop your practice:
Books
- Baby Om, by Laura Staton
- Little Flower Yoga for Kids, Jennifer Cohen Harper
- Peaceful Piggy Meditation by Kerry Lee McLean
- Practicing Mindfulness with Children by Thich Nhat Hanh
- Sitting Still Like a Frog, by Eline Snel
- Yoga Mama, Yoga Baby, by Margo Shapiro Bachman
- Yoga Pretzels, pose deck
Websites
- YogaJournal.com (Poses)
- YogaGlo.com
SARA BARRY is a writer who has practiced yoga for 12 years. Both her daughters have done yoga and love to lead her in poses.