Why Kids’ Yoga is Beneficial for Their Health and Happiness
Literally meaning “union”, yoga allows the body and the mind to be connected. With a 5000+ year lineage, yoga was introduced first to the West in 1893. Since then, it has expanded and evolved drastically.
Most people tend to associate yoga with adults. But there’s actually also yoga for children. In this blog, we’ll discuss how kids’ yoga is different from the traditional yoga that adults do and how beneficial it is for young ones.
How Does Kids’ Yoga Differ from Adults’ Yoga?
Any certified kids’ yoga teacher should know and understand the differences between yoga for children and adults. In the former’s case, the classes are typically more exploratory and focus more on play. They also tend to be integrated with more experiential elements, but this will depend on a number of factors.
Teaching kids’ yoga lessons means looking at the entirety of the child and identifying how to meet their needs best. It also offers a number of benefits in the physical, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive areas.
Let’s discuss these benefits below:
Physical Benefits
First up, yoga offers physical benefits. It helps the body to open up, thereby allowing the child to increase the connection between their mind and their body. It also helps activate the autonomic nervous system. Yoga also improves the child’s respiration since breath is the portal to the nervous system. Most importantly, yoga helps lower stress levels, allowing the body to get back into balance.
Emotional Benefits
Yoga is also emotionally beneficial for children. It helps them to be more self-confident. It also helps them feel safer and stronger. It also helps them become more resilient and empowers both the kids’ yoga instructor and the child. Through breathwork and movement, yoga can also help minimize the symptoms caused by depression and anxiety.
Behavioral Benefits
Through yoga, the young ones are able to develop a level of trust in other people. As a result, it can help them create meaningful connections with others. Most importantly, yoga allows them to repair any disruptions that might exist between their relationships with others. These are only some of the behavioral benefits such classes can offer the children.
Cognitive Benefits
The cognitive benefits of yoga in children cannot be underestimated. Through breathwork, they can focus and concentrate better. It also helps them become more imaginative. Through mindful movements, the young ones can increase the connection between their mind and body as well as think better since their prefrontal cortex becomes thicker.
Conclusion
Yoga offers comprehensive benefits not only for adults but also for children. With the help of a certified children’s yoga instructor, the young ones will be able to take advantage of these benefits and improve their wellness.
Interested in training to become a Certified Kids Yoga Teacher? Our Yoga Alliance-approved course is online this August 2024! Please check out all the information HERE.
