Yoga for kids. How it contributes to physical and emotional well-being

Yoga for kids contributes to physical and emotional well-being. Yoga helps improve balance, strength, endurance, and aerobic capacity for children.

Yoga for kids contributes to physical and emotional well-being. Yoga helps improve balance, strength, endurance, and aerobic capacity for children. A growing body of research shows that yoga can improve concentration, memory, self-esteem, academic performance, and classroom behavior and can even reduce anxiety and stress in children. Yoga and mindfulness practices have been shown to improve both physical and mental health in school-aged children. For children, yoga improves balance, strength, endurance, and aerobic capacity.

Practiced for more than 5000 years, yoga is a combination of physical exercise, breathing exercises, concentration, and meditation aimed at mind-body harmony. In recent years, yoga has become increasingly popular, and more recently, it is also popular with children. There are special yoga classes for children, some schools and kindergartens have even included yoga as an optional activity, and some parents do yoga with their little ones in their living room. The benefits more than justify the choice.

Harvard Health Publishing cites a national survey conducted in the United States in 2017 showing that 8.4% of American children, or more than 4.6 million, practice yoga, while nearly 3 million children meditate regularly. The study also reveals that the practice is more common among girls than boys.

Yoga for kids can be practiced from the age of 3 and, as the basis of preschool activities is playing, yoga is approached in the form of various fun games. Yoga and mindfulness also offer psychological benefits for children. Young children face emotional, social, and physical challenges or conflicts daily, and a dedicated yoga practice that includes breathing techniques, behavioral guidance, and correct physical postures can be valuable for them.

Yoga is an option for children who are reluctant to do physical activities or group activities for fear of failure, being picked on last, or making a mistake. Studies show that yoga can also help children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by improving the core symptoms of ADHD, including inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.

Yoga helps improve balance, strength, endurance, and aerobic capacity in children. Here are some of the benefits:

1. Strengthens muscle tone and makes the body more flexible - helps children become aware of their bodies and how they function effectively, contributing to their self-esteem and giving them a sense of personal empowerment
2. Improves balance and coordination - balance poses are designed to promote mental and physical balance, as mental clarity and stability come from the effort put into attempting these poses. Coordination is closely linked to balance and promotes overall dexterity
3. Improves memory and concentration - yoga poses challenge young children to focus on the effort and clear their minds, a great exercise that helps children concentrate better in school and train their memory
4. Yoga for kids helps build good discipline and reduces impulsivity - yoga gives children a physical way to express themselves, thus reducing difficult behavior and contributing to better emotional development
5. Breathing is very important in this activity - breathing exercises and relaxation techniques can help children manage stress and anxiety. Teaching children how to reduce stress healthily is an important life skill that will help them both in childhood and adult life.

Although it's a beneficial exercise for kids of all ages, young children may not be interested in traditional asanas or highly structured yoga classes. Fortunately, there are plenty of engaging videos of yoga exercises for kids. They tackle themes from favorite cartoons, are presented as a story, and engage little ones in movement and relaxation.

Here are some of the most popular youtube channels featuring yoga for kids:

1. Cosmic Kids Yoga is the youtube channel of Jaime Amor, an actress who understands that movement is a great way to keep kids focused. So she started incorporating yoga poses into the stories she told her little ones at birthday parties.
2. Alo Yoga usually makes yoga content for adults, but she brought in Alissa Kepas to make special videos for kids. Alissa tailors her routines for kids, making each pose engaging with interactive elements such as animal noises while teaching kids the correct names and body positions for each pose
3. Yoga with Adriene is another youtube channel that offers content for both adults and children Adriene's playful and positive personality manages to keep children engaged and receptive. She explains each pose in a friendly manner, and her classes will be appreciated by older children and tweens
4. Bala Shala is a youtube channel designed specifically for children, using the basic principles of yoga at a level that little ones can understand. It offers non-competitive, safe, and fun classes so children can focus on physical fitness, strength building in body development, social skills, and relaxation techniques by encouraging group work, as well as breathing, posture, mindfulness, and fun games
5. Smile and Learn - English provides educational videos teaching children how to relax differently. Little ones learn the turtle, crab, or starfish position and thus improve their posture, strengthen their back, arms, and abdomen.

Parents, teachers, and especially children notice the results of practicing yoga with kids. They manage to concentrate better during the day, are more disciplined, more attentive, and manage to carry out their daily tasks.

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