Yoga for Kids  

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

We don't generally consider children as having stressful lives, but when you think about how busy they are and we are as well, always rushing around to school, sports, lessons and so on, we can begin to appreciate that they are under significant pressure. This can definitely have a negative effect on their lives in many areas.

Yoga can help children deal with these pressures and learn techniques to help them to face life's challenges more easily. Yoga is a noncompetitive activity that can foster self-esteem and awareness of one's body for youngsters. Kids can learn methods for relaxation, inner peace and self-health. This can help them develop compassion and cooperation as opposed to opposition.

Physically, the benefits of practicing yoga for children range from improving flexibility to enhancing strength and coordination. Their sense of calmness, relaxation and concentration also improve.

Many yoga poses derive their inspiration from animals and plants. When children are given the opportunity to imitate the movements and sounds of nature, it is not only very enjoyable, but it also gives them the chance to experience, for example, the power of the lion, the grace of a swan, or the grounding of a tree. This introduces kids to the true essence of yoga: union, expression and honor for oneself and others.

In teaching yoga to children, instructors have found that an interactive, multi-disciplinary approach works very well. The yoga asanas can be expanded upon to playing and imitating various plants and animals. This can be further explored with storytelling, games, picture drawing and playing musical instruments. The children can appreciate the use of their bodies and minds and how they can interact in play. Their natural tendency towards creativity and curiosity makes these classes fun and effective.

Yoga classes for children that take this multi-disciplinary approach are indeed an excellent learning experience. Kids are provided with the opportunity to explore their innate abilities across many planes: linguistic, logical, visual, musical, kinesthetic, naturalistic, interpersonal and intrapersonal.

The great challenge in teaching kids is to be able to hold their attention. Fortunately, kids love to be in motion and they love to talk. They can do both of these in a yoga class and they will love playing like various animals, trees, flowers, cobras and warriors. The instructor should allow them to let go and roar in the lion pose, bark in the dog pose, meow in a cat stretch and hiss in a cobra.

Standard lessons can be integrated into a kids' yoga class as well. Reciting their ABC's or practicing counting their 123's can be a lot of fun while holding a pose. Children love the release of making sounds and their yoga classes will allow them to connect an auditory experience to a physical sensation. Providing a responsive, creative and loving environment in a yoga class will help children to discover the world on their own and is an optimal method for instruction. Their minds can be engaged as they perform animal and nature asanas to deepen their awareness. When they're snakes (Bhujangasana), invite them to really imagine that they're just a long spine with no arms and legs. Could you still run or climb a tree? In Tree Pose (Vrksasana), ask them to imagine being a giant oak, with roots growing out of the bottoms of their feet. Could you stay in the same position for 100 years?

The many benefits of yoga: stillness, balance, flexibility, focus, peace, grace, connection, health and well-being can be imparted to children in an interactive and pleasurable way that create the foundation for a life-long practice. Children will be given the opportunity to express themselves and learn important principles such as reverence for life and the interdependence of all beings.

Written By:- Michael Russell

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Yoga for Kids | Yoga Classes for Kids | Yoga for Children | Yoga Poses  

Friday, August 8, 2008

Yoga for Kids is a Great Way to Keep Active and Healthy

Yoga for kids is a way to develop body awareness, body language, listening skills, cooperation with others and powers of observation among children. It also helps children to learn easily the names of all parts of the body, their locations, and functions.

A shocking statistic illustrates that about 50 percent of all children are growing up to be overweight adults. Inactivity and needless food are creating our children unhealthy. The inactivity among children develops with the things such as sitting before the television set, or watching movies or playing video games rather than going outside and playing as the adults of today doing.

This makes the children to become couch potatoes and, in real, causes a danger of health related problems. This is an ideal time for children to begin a yoga practice. The recent study shows that yoga for kids provides benefits for all ages of children.

On the other hand, there are yoga classes for children where dynamic movements, postures, breathing exercises and meditations and many more can be learned and if you have ever looked at one, you would be surprised at the positions that they makes us to do.

Yoga Classes for Kids

Yoga for kids is not only a traditional quiet meditative yoga routine but also includes yoga poses that are fun as well as healthy for a child. Yoga classes designed for kids offer children to learn the names of the poses and movements they develop a yoga terminology.

With this practice, they can use their yoga poses in their games, imagine the qualities of different animals to create stories about animals on a farm, climbing a mountain or walking through a jungle.

There will be a fun of barking like a dog while doing the downward facing dog pose and jumping around like kangaroos is one more fun part of a kid’s yoga classes. The idea is to get them used to moving around, make it a part of their routine life and we can only expect to continue that routine throughout their life.

Yoga for Kids Improves their Breathing Techniques

Yoga for kids also prepares them the breathing techniques that are used by the adults in yoga. For example, a yoga instructor practices the bridge pose with his small kid and when he is doing the pose, the child crawls under him making noises like a boat.

So let us look at the way that is helping the adult. It keeps them in the present, which is one of the goals of yoga. Presenting the yoga pose before his son and teaching proper breathing exercises will help the kid to become an active and healthy adult.

Effective Ways to Introduce Yoga for Kids

Here are some of the effective ways to help introduce yoga routine in your kid’s life.

* When introducing yoga to your kid, try to get down on their level. Try to take a different approach with children by creating a comfort and encouraging atmosphere and also be gentle towards them.
* A kid who’s new to yoga poses isn’t going to exhibit the same silent concentration to which you may be habituated. So, understand the child’s nature and have fun with them by making yoga routine a fun activity time.
* Try to make use of the poses as a basis to move around other poses in imaginative ways. The little attention span of a kid makes it impossible for them to be in one pose as an adult would.
* Find out the poses with your child that lets them flow naturally and center your attention on them. Again, this is one of the reasons to practice yoga, to keep you in the moment and help you have the benefit of the time you have right now.
* Support the use of reverberation or sound in yoga for kids such as roaring like the lion in lion pose. Encourage the child to obtain the benefits of maintaining the poses by using his natural love of his own voice.
* Encourage the child to admire their body. Avoiding obesity as a young adult, and stiffness as well as tenderness, when they’re older are the benefits of starting yoga for kids when they are small. You can make yoga and some times a difficult part of their lives but be aware of physical limitations.

So, yoga for kids is a great way to help your child grow into an active and a healthy adult while helping yourself with yoga routine at the same time.

Written By:-Alien Sheng

Article Source: http://www.upublish.info

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