When you think of yoga
gyms, chances are you picture a bunch of hipster women or middle-aged
individuals trying to get back into shape. We tend to think of yoga as a way
for people to increase their longevity, recover from injuries, and enhance
meditation – all of which are non-issues for most kids. However, yoga can
actually be great for kids as well and in recent years it has been catching on
as a trend for kids ranging from teenagers all the way down to elementary
school students. With that said, here are three reasons why parents should
consider getting into yoga with their kids.
1. Promoting Flexibility and Injury Resilience
Not all kids are as
flexible as gymnasts, but by implementing a yoga regimen you can make sure your
child has a core level of flexibility that is either on par with or ahead of
his/her peers. Likewise, by helping a child get to know how their body works and
by strengthening tendons and ligaments you can reduce the likelihood of
injuries that could be avoided. Likewise, as pregnancy advice sites like PregMed.org often point out, there are even yoga exercises
that are good for pregnant woman to help the birthing process go smoother.
2. Increasing Emotional Control
Yoga can teach kids
how to better control their thoughts and emotions by having them hone in on
certain thought processes and motions. The discipline that it takes to hold a difficult
pose can also help build mental toughness and diligence in other areas of life,
such as completing homework or getting up on time in the morning. When your
child does encounter emotional challenges at school or when hanging out with
their friends at home, they’ll be able to revert to their knowledge as a young yogi to control their anger and prevent childish outbursts. In this way, yoga
also helps to increase the mental maturity of kids.
3. Exercising the Imagination
Finally, yoga provides
the perfect opportunity to zone out and use their imagination during those
lengthy poses and guided visualization exercises that are normally a part of a typical yoga class.
In addition, there are thousands of creative poses kids can use to have fun
with make pretend, including a number of animal/plant poses where they can
“pretend to be a tree” or “pretend to be a seed.”
Instilling a Positive Habit That Will
Last for Life
There are two aspects
to yoga which will help your child grow into a healthy adult. The first is the mental
and emotional discipline every student of yoga learns to master. Those who
practice yoga regularly learn how to be in control of themselves at all times
and in all situations by stepping into that place of calm and quiet. That is to
say, they learn to step back into the quiet of their center. Secondly, yoga teaches that mind-body
connection so that those skilled in the discipline are also masters of their
own body and as such, achieve a level of physical fitness necessary for optimum
health throughout their entire lifetime.
