Yoga for Young Kids

Yoga is not just for adults! In fact, it can give children very important life skills that can help them succeed in the world. Here is a more detailed explanation of 7 Benefits of Yoga for Young Kids, Using Yoga in the Classroom.

What is the best age to start yoga for kids?

Kids can start practicing Yoga as soon as they start to understand instructions. Ideally kids of 4 years and above are capable to understand the instructions and follow the teacher

7 Benefits of Yoga for Young Kids

1. Yoga helps children manage their anxiety. The breathing exercises and relaxation techniques learned from practicing yoga can help children with stress management. Teaching children how to reduce stress in a healthy way is an important life skill that will help them as children and as adults.

2. Yoga improves children’s emotional regulation. Another benefit of yoga for children is that it helps children learn to be in the present moment while relaxing and gaining a peaceful state of mind, which ultimately improves their emotional regulation.

3. Yoga boosts children’s self-esteem. Yoga for kids can do wonders for their self-esteem. Perfecting a pose or improving their balance and flexibility can give young children a sense of personal empowerment.

4. Yoga increases children’s body awareness and mindfulness. Going through a variety of yoga poses helps children learn about their bodies and the movements they’re capable of doing.

5. Yoga enhances children’s concentration and memory. One of the top benefits of kids’ yoga is that the different types of moves require children to focus and work on their memorization skills — both of which can translate over into their academic performance.

6. Yoga develops children’s strength and flexibility. Yoga helps strengthen children’s growing bodies and helps them improve their flexibility, which can reduce their chance of injury.

7. Yoga teaches discipline and reduces impulsivity. Yoga can reduce challenging behaviours in the classroom by providing a physical outlet for children to express themselves. It also teaches children about discipline as they work on clearing their minds and perfecting their poses.

Using Yoga in the Classroom

Even though there are numerous health and academic benefits to using yoga in the classroom, it still isn’t something that is common for students and teachers to practice during the school day. If you’ve thought of using yoga in the classroom before but weren’t really sure you could do it, we’ve got a list of reasons why incorporating yoga into your lesson plans is important and some great tips for getting started.

Reasons to Use Yoga in the Classroom

• Yoga provides students with healthy ways to express their emotions and behavior.
• Yoga encourages a more relaxed, peaceful state of mind and eases feeling of anxiety and fear.
• Yoga improves memory, focus, and clarity — all of which transfers into improved academic performance.
• Yoga encourages community within the school and classroom.
• Yoga encourages gross motor development.
• Yoga has been shown to reduce impulsivity by focusing on reflection and patience.

Getting Started

• Purchase yoga mats that are easy to clean, and keep them stored in an easily accessible place for students in the classroom.
• Designate a time during the day to practice yoga as a class. Try to choose a time in which there are not likely to be many distractions for yourself or your students.
• Plan on modeling yoga poses for your students. If you are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with yoga yourself, there are many child-friendly demonstration videos and cards you can use to teach the poses instead.
• Remember to encourage participation over mastery — the main focus is on encouraging students to breathe, be mindful, and to relax their minds. A perfect pose is not the most important goal.
• Follow your yoga session with an activity that is educational yet still quiet and reflective. For example, journal writing and independent reading would both be great follow-up activities.