Just like adults, kinds also experience anxiety and stress because of the immense load of homework, conflicts with peers, and not being able to have everything they want. Unfortunately, life is an unfair playground, and sometimes it brings some sadness than joy. However, this is not the reason to become depressed or become overly protective of your children.
Instead, they need to learn how to stay calm in stressful situations and cope with negative situations like true masters. Okay, if teaching your children yoga sounds interesting, review the benefits and calming techniques that can help to get rid of unhealthy toxins and relax the mind.
Benefits of Yoga for Children
The current body of research suggests a number of positive effects of yoga on children. For example, a recent study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry argued that yoga helped children and young people cope with stress, and therefore contributed to finding balance in life and better well-being. Also, it has been effective in helping kids with mental health conditions such as Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Another important benefit of yoga is the ability to teach self-acceptance, which also has been proven to improve emotional well-being. Yoga is a non-competitive exercise that teaches them to accept and cherish themselves as they are. This could be really important today because society is sending so many inadequacy messages and calling for following often irrational standards.
Last but not least, healthy habits! Yoga does not only teach balance and focus but also a healthy approach to eating and effective methods to calm oneself. The bottom line here is that yoga offers a comprehensive approach to improving both physical and mental health, so children should definitely try it. The exercises below will help you to make a great start.
Yoga Exercises for Children Exercise #1: Belly Breathing
Sit down and cross your legs. Then, place your hands on your belly and take slow inhales. At this point, you should feel like a balloon being filled with air. The “deflation” should be slow as well. Repeat this cycle for up to ten minutes.
While doing this exercise, your kid may also say his or her mantra. If they don’t have their own unique mantra, they can begin with a simple “I am calm.” This exercise is perfect for battling the feeling of anxiety and being overwhelmed.
Exercise #2: Tree Pose (and Mountain Pose)
Gloria Thompson, a writer at Assignmenthelper and a mother of two, says: “practicing this pose is important because it creates a sense of grounding and expansion. This works especially well when a child is very anxious and is ‘out of their body.’ The tree pose can reestablish the presence by facilitating the realization of the ground beneath the feet.” Doing this pose may sound easy but don’t expect to nail it right away.
The tree pose begins in the mountain pose, which is the foundation of all standing poses. Have your kid sand with the bases of their big toes touching while keeping heels slightly apart. Then they should press their shoulders into their back and widen them across and release them down the back.
Next, your kid needs to balance their head directly over the center of the pelvis. Softening the eyes is the last step before we finally get to the tree pose.
- Begin in mountain pose, keep feel hip-distance apart
- Bend one leg at the knee and place the heel on the upper thigh or the ankle of the standing leg.
- Ask your child to feel the connection to the Earth
Exercise #3: Warrior II Pose
This pose is part of very popular Warrior poses and works to boost the confidence and create an overall positive feeling, so it’s great to battle anxiety and stress. “I am strong” is a perfect mantra for this pose, and your child can say it out loud. Here’s how it done:
- Ask your kid to stand with their feet spread wide apart
- Next, they need to turn their right ankle in the direction of the front of the mat and bent the right knee while keeping the left leg straight
- Finally, the arms should be extended in a T-shape.
- Ask them to hold for at least 3 breaths and then change sides.
Exercise #4: Flower Pose
This is a pose which belongs to the category of nature poses. If you want to try this one, you need to begin by sitting on your buttocks. Then, touch the soles of your feet together and separate them.
Next, ensure that that your palms are facing up and proceed to lifting your legs while balancing on the sitting bones. To help yourself to hold still, you can spread your fingers wide.
Got it? Now, teach the same to your child.
Exercise #5: Cobra Pose
This is one of the most popular poses in yoga for both children and adults, and for a good reason. According to the yoga school Arogya, it increases flexibility, reduces belly fact, strengthens the arms and shoulders, elevates mood, stretches muscles in the shoulders, and opens the chest and helps to clear the passages of the heart and lungs.
Here’s how it’s done:
- Ask your kid to lie prone on the floor, stretch the legs back, and spread their hands on the floor under the shoulders.
- The tops of the feet should be pressed into the floor
- The elbows should be bent while the palms should be placed on the floor
- By engaging the arms on an inhalation, the kid should lift the chest off the floor and go to a height at which they can keep the connection through their pubis to the legs.
- Ask the child to keep their gaze forward and keep the back of the neck long.
It’s Yoga Time!
Yoga is a great way to move the body and feel healthy. It is a great tool to give them an alternative way to handle school challenges, demanding teachers, and other problems they face. Because of this, yoga for children is becoming more and more popular every day.
