Being a kid can be tough sometimes. Between distractions, peer pressure, and temptations, children have a lot to deal with on a day-to-day basis. However, yoga can be a great tool in helping your children lead a healthy, positive life. It is also a relatively inexpensive option to boot!
Focus and Concentration
Practicing poses can enable children to focus on the effort that it takes to make these poses and clear the mind of other thoughts. Because of this focus on a single point, yoga can develop children’s ability to concentrate and focus. This can extend to the classroom setting, usually resulting in better behavior and even improved academic performance.
Confidence and Self-Esteem
Yoga teaches adults life lessons, so why should we not start with children? Yoga can encourage children to reflect and think deeply about the world and their part in it. It can also teach determination, patience, and goal setting. Because children have to work to achieve success in a yoga course, it can lead to a better sense of pride when they can perform a pose more easily or even with mastery. Doing so can boost their self-esteem and give them more confidence when practicing yoga, but outside of the studio as well.
Flexibility, Balance, and Coordination
The physical benefits of yoga should not be dismissed; they are equally as important as the mental and emotional benefits. Through yoga practice, kids can learn how to engage with all of their muscles and also how to do this in a new and fun way. It can also increase the awareness that a child has of their own body.
Balancing is a major part of yoga practices, in both mental and physical aspects. Poses that require balance encourage mental as well as physical composure. They can be difficult to master at first, which can help your child learn to stay calm if they fall and get up and try again. The coordination that is required in yoga is associated with balance as well, and can promote general dexterity. Occasionally, yoga that is specific to children will use more specialized poses and motions, like finger yoga, to develop the fine and gross motor skills of their children yoga students.
While you may immediately notice the affects that yoga is having on your child, make sure to communicate with your children about their experiences with yoga. They will be the best judge the benefits.
