Exercise, in general, is amazing for children but the benefits of yoga for kids are astounding!
Being a kid is tough for many reasons like:
- Distractions
- Temptations
- Overstimulation
- peer pressure
- tough emotions
- and more
Yoga is a low-cost but helpful tool that can have a positive impact on children
Why is Yoga Good For Kids?
Exercise can do amazing things for your kid’s health
But in addition to the benefits of exercise
Some of the benefits of yoga for kids are:
- Developing body awareness
- Learning healthy ways to use their body
- Learning to manage their stress using their breathing, awareness, meditation, and movement
- Increasing confidence
- Increasing positive self-image
- Being part of a healthy non-competitive community
- Having a healthy alternative to electronic devices
- Giving them a healthy way to handle challenges
- Using yoga to add movement to lesson plans
- Blending exercise into class
- Improving attention span
- Encourages the connection of body and mind
- Build strength
- Improve flexibility
- Boost the immune system
- Improve sleep
- Encourage empathy
- Improves self control
- Improves memory
- Helps kids Master their breath
- Regulates the bowels
- Helps asthmatics with her breathing
- Improves ADHD symptoms
- Improves symptoms of autism
- And can be used in a social or private setting
Breakdown of the Benefits of Yoga For Kids
1. Developing body awareness
The very basics of yoga are learning to focus on your breath and control your breath
Then you move on to being aware of your body
Body awareness is extremely important for yoga and it is brought up very often
Many people use yoga strictly to find where their attention is and relieve it
The better your kids get at yoga, the better they will understand what is happening with their body
2. Learning Healthy Ways to Use Their Body
Have your kids ever needed to move so badly that they are just out of control?
It was happened to my kids and the kids I taught as an elementary teacher
One of the things that helped is 5 minute yoga breaks.
It got their body moving in a healthy way without making the room wild
Imagine how different the world would be if yoga was a go-to solution for stress
3. Learning to Manage Their Stress Using Their Breathing, Awareness, Meditation, and Movement
The breath, body awareness, meditation, and movement are powerful tools against intense stress.
One of the major issues for many generations is that they were not taught healthy ways to manage stress
Stress will come in life
So it is our job to teach our kids healthy ways to manage that stress
4. Increasing Confidence
Yoga has great psychological effects, including increasing confidence
When I look at my kids, I want them to feel confident and empowered
And yoga is an amazing tool to help build that.
It makes you healthier mentally, stronger physically, and more flexible
It is common to struggle with poses and need to practice to succeed
And practicing that often from a young age will build an incredible foundation of healthy confidence.
5. Increasing Positive Self-Image
I spent years disliking myself.
For no real reason!
When my kids were born, my journey to self love began
And yoga helped a lot!
Now I get to help my kids build a foundation of self love instead of needing to build it later
Yoga is so powerful for self love and acceptance
So it is definitely a great option for building that foundation with your kids!
6. Being Part of a Healthy Non-Competitive Community
There is nothing wrong with competition, but it shouldn’t be required to be involved in activities
It can be easy to use competition as the main motivator for everything in life
And I see that a lot of adults
Yoga is a great way to be part of a community of people that are not competing.
However, make sure you choose carefully
Every group of people has rude and cruel people
So make sure that the community you are joining specifically is warm and welcome
When we teach our kids to learn and work hard with and without competition, they are more likely to succeed in many areas of life
Because most areas of like are not a competition with anyone except yourself
7. Having a Healthy Alternative to Electronic Devices
My family is not anti-electronics.
My kids don’t get a lot of screen time, but that is mainly because they fight over those toys so much!
But having alternatives to screen time when it’s time to be calm is very nice.
If we need to calm our body and mind before bed, screens are not a great choice usually….
Because I want them to go to bed soon!
8. Giving Them a Healthy Way to Handle Challenges
Yoga has every level of challenge
It was be soft and easy
Or very intense!
It is a great way to build up strength and flexibility…
And a great tool to use in order to teach resilience
The farther your kids get into yoga, the harder it will be
There will be challenges
And some poses are going to be insanely difficult
But that is an amazing opportunity for kids to learn and practice resilience
To fail and try again!
And then experience the immense pride of overcoming those tough challenges
9. Using Yoga to Add Movement to Lesson Plans
There are yoga poses for everything!
When I create my lesson plans, I actually add yoga into it
We can talk about concepts while using the body
This helps kids learn better and enjoy learning more!
10. Blending Exercise Into Class
It can be easy to only think about the worksheets needed for school…
But brain breaks and movement are SO important!
After 30 minutes of sitting, your child’s break is not active enough for effective learning
Yoga is a great way to add 5 minutes of movement to wake their brain back up without losing them to chaos
11. Improving Attention Span
Practice makes progress
One nice thing about yoga is that it helps kids practice focusing on 1 thing and a fun and non stressful way
Yoga can also be done in many different creative ways so that practice happens more often
Just keep doing it and making it as fun as you can…
And that’s when you’ll see the progress and their attention span
12. Encourages the Connection of Body and Mind
A disconnection of Body and mind is sadly very common in our world
Most people are not very attuned to what they need
Whether it’s physical or mentally
Yoga is amazing for helping build that connection
Since one of the benefits of yoga for kids is really focusing on that connection…
Kids will learn to communicate and take care of their needs better as they grow older and even as an adult
13. Build Strength
Yoga’s pretty known for being laid back into stretching, But I can definitely help withStrength too
There are so many kinds of yoga that there is there is a style for every need that you have
Including strength
14. Improve Flexibility
Kids are often born very flexible and then start to lose that flexibility as they grow older
One of the benefits of yoga for kids is that it helps prevent that loss of flexibility
And if they are already losing their flexibility, Yoga will help them gain it back
15. Boost the Immune System
2020 was a crazy year for everyone and helped us realize how important building our immune system is
Yoga can actually help with this!
There are many poses and even yoga styles that focus on gut health and even specifically boost our immune system
16. Improve Sleep
There are two parts to getting better sleep.
Being more relaxed (or less stressed) and
Physically and mentally being tired enough to sleep well.
Great thing is that yoga can help with both!
Some yoga styles focus on relaxing…
Which is great before bed!
Others are more focused on the exercise needed to get your kids tired
17. Encourage Empathy
Empathy is the ability to identify, understand and share the emotions of others.
Empathy is not judgemental
Being more empathetic can:
- Improves relationships
- Can Improve creativity
- Will Improve overall health and wellbeing
There is a direct connection between stress and our ability to be empathetic
Through yoga, kids are learning to be less stressed and more connected to themselves and others.
Check out this post to learn more about this
18. Improves Self Control
Yoga is incredible for self control!
This includes the self regulation (emotions) and physical control
Yoga helps physical control using poses and flows to practice controlling the body
It helps with self regulation by helping kids learn to understand and feel their feelings and emotions.
Yoga helps kids practice inner resolve and mental strength
19. Improves Memory
I think we would all be happy to improve our memory!
According to Kindred Healthcare, studies have shown that yoga can improve memory
The parts of the brain that are in charge of memory are like every other muscle.
It needs to be taken care of
Yoga has shown to be a great way to take care of your brain.
20. Helps Kids Master Their Breath
The best way to self regulate, work through emotions, and calm anxiety is through the mastery of breath
Breathing correctly can make a huge difference for your kids now and into adulthood.
Yoga builds poses and goal on top of the breath
Using the breath is one of the core parts of yoga, so that practice starts right away.
21. Regulates the Bowels
Constipation is very common
And the stool softeners are not always fun
Yoga may not be the first solution that comes to mind…
But studies show that yoga can help regulate the bowels!
A 2015 study found that yoga could help with diarrhea and constipation
So yoga could be a low cost option
But it’s not a one and done thing
Yoga has to be done regularly to see benefits
22. Helps Asthmatics With Their Breathing
According to Medical News Today, yoga can help asthmatics by lessening their symptoms
It may not be a first line treatment, but yoga can be part of a bigger plan!
23. Improves ADHD Symptoms
Since yoga does a lot of slowing down and breathing, it may not seem like the best activity for kids with ADHD.
Studies have shown that regular yoga can help with ADHD symptoms
Most kids in the studies did yoga twice a week
Research has also noticed an increase of attention and adaptation skills in the classroom
This is mainly because yoga focuses on mindfulness
If you want to read more on this, check out this article
24. Improves symptoms of Autism
Yoga has also been known to help with symptoms of autism
It’s important to note that yoga would be a lifetime activity, not a temporary therapy
Yoga is known to improve sensory integration, attention, sensory defensiveness, and verbal receptivity for commands.
Yoga helps with many more parts of autism as well! Check out this article to read more
25. Can Be Used in a Social or Private Setting
Kids, like all people, have preferences for comfort
Some kids are very social and would love to go to classes
Others may prefer staying at home, even if it’s only for a while
Having the ability to do yoga at home would be beneficial for social kids too!
Yoga is amazing for when you first wake up or when it’s time to start relaxing before bed.
With all of these benefits of yoga for kids, it’s hard to ignore how good for children yoga is
Yoga For Child Development
Child Development is fast an insane sometimes
Everything from mentally developing to physically developing
Nice things is that the benefits of yoga for kids touches all of those
According to Harvard health, yoga can:
- Improve focus
- Improve Memory
- Boost Self-esteem
- Improve academic performance
- Encourage positive classroom Behavior
- Reduce anxiety
- Reduce stress
- Improve balance
- Increase endurance
- Help Kids get stronger
- And improve aerobic capacity in children
There are so many benefits of yoga for kids that we should not ignore
One of the biggest struggles that parents have is helping kids with their emotional intelligence
Which means understanding and controlling their emotions
Emotions are big and tough especially for kids
Yoga can do a lot to help equip kids with the tools they need for that emotional intelligence.
Harvard Health also mentioned that research suggests that yoga can help children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) By improving the core symptoms like:
- Inattentiveness
- Hyperactivity
- Impulsivity
Kids can display end yoga with a yoga class or just at home.
Both options will provide the benefits of yoga for kids
Such as choose the one that is the match for your family
There are not a lot of activities undo that can help someone with every part of their being
The yoga is one of the ones that can
Which is why it’s so great for child development
Because children are developing at such a fast pace…
Having a fun, non-competitive activity that helps will all parts of development is super beneficial
What Are The Therapeutic Benefits of Yoga For Kids
One of the great benefits of yoga for kids is that they are working on therapy with my even realizing they’re working
Yoga poses are designed to target every part of the body which is very beneficial for kids that need therapy
Kids with physical disabilities and muscle tightness benefit greatly from you okay
But it’s been shown that the benefits of yoga for kids is not exclusive for kids that need therapy
Many kids spend a lot of hours sitting at a desk or watching TV
So your Dad gives them away to move their body in a way that is gentle but also helps in every way
So one of the benefits of yoga for kids is the flexibility training it kids to combat when they are sitting for school
When they are sitting for long periods of time their muscles start to tighten up and yoga fights that
Yoga also help with strength
When your kids are sitting there holding the chair pose and feeling that burn….
They know that their muscles are working hard
One of the great benefits of yoga for kids in therapy is that there was a pose for everything
If they need to strengthen their core
There are many poses
If any are strengthened their legs
There are many poses
If they need to work on the emotional control
There are many many options
Whatever we need to work on with arcades in therapy
Yoga gives an opportunity to work without working
What Are The Emotional Benefits of Yoga For Kids
As mentioned a few times throughout this article, yoga has just as many emotional and mental benefits as a does physical
Yoga is an amazing addition to a healthy lifestyle, or a great start!
Yoga can help with Stress and Anxiety
And helping kids to understand what emotions they are feeling
Teaching kids to be mindful can be difficult that yoga is a great help for that
Yoga can improve sleep
Wish you would know that helps a lot with emotional intelligence
Have you ever had a terrible night sleep and you are just in a bad mood the entire day
Sleep is needed to be fully functioning in every area of life
Yoga also encourages determination and perseverance
It will be very unusual where your child will get a pose in the very first try
They will fall
They will not be able to stretch as far as they want
Some poses will look easy for some people and be hard for them
All of those things will help with their emotions
It will help them overcome those emotions and build their determination and perseverance
Does it also helps kids learn self regulation
Self-regulation is the ability to look at your thoughts and behaviors and change according to the situation
Self-regulation helps kids to Solve problems and adjust to New Challenges
Which is critical when they want to achieve any goal
Regardless of whether it’s short term goal or long term goal
As they get better at they’re coping skills and their independence, failure gets less devastating
Even if at the end of the day the only thing they needed is a mood boost
Yoga can help with that too
Have you ever tried yoga with your kids?
Let me know in the comments!
What is their favorite pose?
