Why Should Kids Do Yoga?

From babies to big kids, yoga has so many amazing overall health benefits. Aside from getting the body up and moving, there are several other advantages to introducing yoga at a young age. 

“Yoga is not a religion, it is a way of life and encourages self-awareness, mindful breathing, balance and coordination.” Yaiza Magdalena wrote about 5 benefits of kids practicing yoga: physical activity, calming of the mind, increases concentration, proper breathing, and confidence. What I want to focus on is the proper breathing technique and calming of the mind. These are 2 extremely important tasks in any growing child. When a child is frustrated because they cannot tie their shoes after spending the last couple of weeks learning about the bunny ears and the tree analogy… It is one of those moments where you cannot simply teach a child how to breathe. It needs to be an instinctive reaction to frustration. Yoga is a method of learning to how to replace feelings of anger and anxiety with self-reflection and mindfulness.

Another really useful attribute of yoga practice is that it helps children who have been diagnosed with autism. Yoga can help with motor skill development, which is usually delayed in children with autism. It can also significantly improve social skills and confidence with others. This article explains in further detail of how yoga can help children with autism as well as helping the parents understand their child’s needs. By creating a safe environment to learn yoga in, it can be a fun activity to do everyday with your child. Try to do 10 minutes before or after playtime. Before breakfast and after dinner.

So now we get that yoga is wonderful, but, where to start??

An awesome resource we have used when the kids got older (age 5+) is: Yoga for Kids – Silly to Calm (Vol. 3). Found on Amazon.

For younger kiddos, we recommend: Itsy Bitsy Yoga’s Play ‘n’ Flourish Yoga for Your baby from Birth to 10 months with Helen Garabedian, also found on Amazon.

We have also found that certain essential oils aid in soothing the anxious mind. To read more about Essential Oils click here.

Here are a few awesome kid-friendly yoga poses to try today! (Original article, here)

To see some of our fave yoga gear, read here.

Buy the “Mama Needs Namaste” tank for only $5!! No code needed.

XO,

Julie