Yoga is something that you normally associate with meditation and generally think of as an adult activity. However yoga can make sense for children as well. Consider all the benefits that yoga can have, which can be as good for kids as they are for adults:
- Yoga can be as simple or as advanced as you want it to be, and can be tailored to fit a child’s requirement.
- It is gentle and yet helps work out the entire body; while enhancing coordination and body balance and even helping to improve posture.
- Yoga can help children improve sleep patterns.
- Yoga enhances and preserves the natural flexibility of a child’s young body and the range of movement of the limbs.
- It helps increase not only physical health but can also help a child enhance their powers of concentration.
- It is non-competitive and so is also suitable for children who are more shy and reticent or wary of competition. In fact it can help negate the stresses that children are subject to as a result of the competitive world around them.
- Yoga is also known to help improve certain digestive tract problems.
- There is some evidence to show that children with hyperactivity or attention deficit disorders can be helped with yoga.
- The practice of yoga may be a great habit to form during childhood, which can last a child all though life.
If yoga is practiced by the adults in the family as well, it can become a regular activity for all the members of the family, which can make it easier to get children to take and interest and make a start.
To get a child interested and involved in yoga, introduce them to yoga by telling them about its history and how it has been around literally for millennia, performed by ancient sages who became capable of great feats as a result of their physical discipline.
Make yoga a fun activity that involves the outdoors, with visualization techniques as well. Liken the poses of yoga or the different asana with different animals to keep children interested in the activity – the frog pose, the bird pose, the camel pose, the tree pose and so on can be meaningful and interesting for a child.
For younger children, the yoga poses should be held for up to half a minute or less; whereas older children can hold their pose longer.
