Life as a child is not as simple as we think! These days, children are faced with situations that are not easy to handle and that agitate them, alter their balance and stress them out. To reduce the scattering of your little ones and allow them to let go, yoga is the ideal activity! Fun Yoga for kids is an activity that brings many physical and moral benefits. Yoga, mouth gymnastics...different postures and exercises can nowadays be offered to children. Practicing a little yoga every day allows the child to make his joints more flexible, to strengthen his muscles and to keep his balance. And that's not all! Yoga also improves heart function, digestive and respiratory problems. In addition to the physical benefits that he will have acquired, the child will also have more facility to concentrate. The latter will be relaxed and will gain in self-confidence. Getting them used to yoga as a child is also an advantage and a first step towards future personal development. A child who is relaxed and confident will have a better behavior and a wider adaptability. In addition, he will be more stable and less anxious.
Yoga for kids: how to prepare?
Kidlee outlines for you the steps to prepare your yoga sessions to perfection. To do so, here are the different steps to prepare the session well:
- Prepare the postures to be done in advance. This will give you more control to facilitate the session in a fluid way
- Offer different exercises each day to find out what your child likes and dislikes, for variety. On the one hand, this will make the discovery last and keep your child's curiosity alive. On the other hand, it will allow your child to find the exercises that correspond to him. It is important to make a selection of them because the goal is above all that he relaxes
- Choose quiet and bright rooms, if you can do it outside then so be it!
- Bring comfortable clothes and exercise mats or yoga mats
- Add soft and relaxing background music to get you in the mood and let go.
- Get ready to spend a pleasant moment of relaxation and sharing with your children.
- Keep the sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, to keep the child interested and encouraged
- You can choose to practice yoga with your child either once a week or once a day
Choose the right moment:
After his school day: After a long, busy day, children tend to be restless or mentally charged. Offer them a little yoga session to relax and release the pressure. You can make a selection of yoga postures with the exercises below
Before going to sleep: There's nothing like a little yoga class before bed for a good night's sleep. Your little monsters will be relaxed and will sleep deeply
Some postures are more conducive to relaxation and preparation for bed than others.
Upon awakening: Start the day off right with a few yoga postures such as the sun salutation that will fill your darlings with good energy and serenity.
From what age?
The initiation to yoga for children can start at the age of 3 years old in the form of a game. Then from 6 or 7 years old you can begin to correct the postures while keeping the optics playful and relaxing.
Yoga preparation for children in three steps
Refocusing:
The super parents offer a time of centering for an immersion in the world of Yoga. To begin, sit cross-legged. Concentrate on your breathing. Rub your palms together to warm them up and then place them on the top of your head, the eye area, the back of your neck. Then massage the shoulders, the lower back, the knees... Concentrate on the feeling of warmth, then when you remove your hands, on the feeling of refreshment. If you yawn it is won!
Breathing exercises:
Introduce them to abdominal breathing at an early age. This breathing is the most effective way to regenerate the air inside the body. By practicing it, children learn to focus their attention on their breathing rhythm.
- Still sitting cross-legged, place one hand on your stomach to help you focus on the progress of the exercise.
- Close your eyes for maximum focus
- Breathe in through your nose while inflating your stomach.
- Then exhale through your mouth, pulling your stomach in as far as possible.
- Repeat the exercise several times and slowly
If your child has trouble at first, there are little tricks: ask him to try again but this time lying down, so that he can see his belly inflate when he inhales and retract when he exhales. You can also put a stuffed animal on his belly and explain to him that the stuffed animal must go up when he inhales and go down when he exhales
The warm-up:
Start with simple warm-up exercises. These small gestures will prepare your children's muscles and joints for the yoga session. Take care to explain to them and encourage them to reproduce your posture:
Start by standing with your feet together, inhale as you raise your arms to your sides to the top of your head. Then stretch your spine. Lower your arms to your sides and exhale gently as you lower them. Once your arms are flush with your body, bend over as you exhale. Try to touch your ankles, stretch well and release the pressure.
Yoga postures
Finally, we have made a selection of yoga postures to reproduce with your children, taking care to monitor their breathing during each exercise.
Posture to print!
One Day One Game offers more than 40 yoga postures cards to print. Each card includes the level of difficulty as well as the explanation and the benefit of the posture drawn. To download it click here HERE
Yoga for kids video class
If you prefer the video format, this playlist is for you. You will find about 10 minutes of free exercises here
Mouth gymnastics
For children under the age of three, it may not yet be possible to reproduce yoga postures. However, it is possible to do small movements. Such as the mouth gym. With exercises different from the Yoga seen previously, the mouth gym of BougriBouillonsThis technique allows you to tone up your tongue, cheeks and lips for a more toned mouth and better articulation.
How about it? Are you ready to start practicing yoga with your family for a more peaceful life? Tell us in comments!
