With children at home comes boredom for them and stress for the elderly. Thanks to yoga, the little ones can channel their energy, gain health and stay active while calm. And so can we if we practice it together!
With the practice of yoga, children can achieve physical, mental and emotional balance.
Tips for Doing Yoga at Home With Children.
- Leave them to their own devices , it probably won’t be a silent and calm practice, but they have their own rhythm and they will enjoy it more if they see it as a game of postures, in which they challenge each other, help each other and improve in a short time.
- Focus on breathing , reminding them to inhale and exhale through the nose, slowly and noticing how the air enters and leaves the lungs in each posture, both the simplest and the most difficult.
- Classes with children can be frustrating for experienced teachers if they seek to follow a rigid structure. Free yourself, bring out your most childish side and enjoy with them, the little ones are full of energy that recharges your batteries if you connect with them.
- Try changing the order of the postures, starting with the last one while standing, and ending with the first one while sitting. Observe how the class evolves differently and ask them what order they like best, and why, what they noticed when they finished. Generally the answers are very interesting and different in each one.
9 Yoga Poses at Home With Children.
1. Baddha Konasana.
It is a simple posture to start calmly, and work on breathing, inhaling and exhaling through the nose, slowly, between 5 and 10 breaths.
2. Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana.
Stretching one leg at a time, you work on the lateral turn to each side as you exhale, trying to reach further with your hands each time, but without forcing. Repeat on the other side. It is best to start stretching on the right side.
3. Ustrasana.
An advanced posture that they love to do because their back is more flexible and they tend to touch their feet the first time, and because it is an opening of the chest that helps them release tensions and repressed emotions. If the little one gets overwhelmed, something that sometimes happens with more shy or withdrawn children, all they have to do is put their head back with their hands on their hips, trying to bring their elbows together, without tension.
4. Dhanurasana.
This posture requires flexibility and balance, something that the little ones have plenty of, and it is an opening of the chest, which releases emotions and tensions when exhaling. It is interesting to see how the bow posture affects each boy or girl differently. It helps the shyest ones to open up and the most bold ones it calms them down.
5. Vrschikasana.
Advanced inverted posture, which is usually quite fun and challenging for children, and which helps them concentrate to maintain the posture, and work on breathing to improve flexibility and reach, or not, touch their head with their feet as if they were the sting of the scorpion.
6. Virabhadrasana II.
Back to reality, in a standing, energetic and simple posture so that you can improve your natural position and feel how your breathing flows more naturally after the practice. Repeat with each side changing the forward leg.
7. Utthita Trikonasana.
Simple posture that opens the chest and provides confidence and security. You start in warrior 2 with the front leg extended and as you exhale you lower yourself to the triangle. You must maintain the lateral posture as if you were between two very narrow walls. Repeat changing the forward leg.
8 . Vrksasana.
Last balance posture, which requires concentration and provides calm, self-esteem and security. They must begin by rooting their feet with the ground like a root and if there is balance, bring their hands to the sky like the branches of the trees. Hold 10 breaths with each leg.