You may know the benefits of yoga for adults, but do you know about all the benefits your kids can gain from a little yoga practice each week? Yoga is rapidly gaining favor as both an alternative and a complement to traditional kids' sports. It is yoga's wide range of benefits that is making it increasingly popular with all types of kids. Physically, yoga improves kids' strength and flexibility, as well as their balance and coordination. Mentally, its breathing exercises improve kids' ability to focus and relieve anxiety.

WHAT CAN YOGA OFFER MY CHILD?

The Ability to Control Stress
Children are sometime under a great deal of stress. Yoga can help your child learn how to relax. Through yoga, your child learns how to breathe correctly, taking longer, slower breaths, and relaxing his body through breath. He can then apply this to his world when he encounters challenging situations.

A Healthier Body
Did you know that 17.1% of children from the ages of 2-19 years of age are facing obesity in the United States? That's 1.1 million children! The good news is there are great benefits from practicing yoga. Yoga is a powerful technique for children to begin moving their bodies in ways that feel good, as well as learning to take care of and respect their bodies. Yoga can also help your child become stronger, and gain endurance and flexibility. If your child is involved in another sport, a regular yoga practice is a great cross training activity and can help reduce the risk of injuries. Yoga also promotes good posture, as well as improved stability and balance.

Increased Self-Esteem
Kids' yoga is a non-competitive activity; there's no winning or losing. Yet it does offer your child the ability to master challenging poses (especially as she gets older). Your child can feel good about her increasing ability without having to worry about how she compares to everyone else. This experience of success can help your child feel more confident in her ability to be successful in other things too.

Greater Concentration
Yoga helps kids develop more focus. In yoga, kids learn how to focus on what they are doing in the moment and let go of distractions and worries. The breathing and inward focus that is a main component of any yoga practice can help your child learn to focus his mind more effectively. A number of studies have shown that many children who practice yoga, especially those with problems such as ADHD, are able to concentrate for longer periods of time.

What is a Kids' Yoga Program Like?
The main focus of a child yoga program is on fun. Often the children will pretend to be the animal for which the pose is named. Kids are encouraged to fully participate in and enjoy the "game of yoga." Sometimes an instructor will create an entire story about the poses that the kids are in so as to make the class interesting and to fully engage them.

How Can I Get My Child Started in Yoga?
Ask local studios and community centers if they offer yoga classes for kids. Ask a local yoga instructor if he or she would be interested in teaching a class after school at your child's school. Have your child try a mixed-level or beginning level adult yoga class with you. I've found that kids ages 9 and up usually do very well and enjoy coming to adult classes with a parent. Try a mixed level or beginning class (no hot yoga for young bodies) and check with the instructor ahead of time to make sure it's okay to bring your child.

How Can I Find a Qualified Instructor?
You can find a qualified instructor through the Yoga Alliance. Teachers registered with the yoga alliance have a minimum of 200 hours in person teacher training, where they learn how to sequence yoga postures and develop well rounded classes, and where they complete coursework in anatomy, physiology, exercise science, meditation, pranayama (breathing techniques), history of yoga, etc.

If your teacher is not registered with the Yoga Alliance make sure that anyone who teaches your child has some background in anatomy, physiology and exercise science to ensure your child's safety and reduce the risk of injury. Ask any instructor how long they have been teaching and practicing yoga and about the style(s) of yoga they teach.

Yoga can benefit your child's mental and physical growth and development in many ways. The important thing is to keep it fun and simple, so your kids feel comfortable, safe and happy throughout their yoga practice.

Benefits of Yoga for Kids

• It is absolutely safe for your child.
• It teaches children about their body in a fun manner.
• Yoga games and asana (stretching exercises) are approachable and fun for kids.
• It is non-competitive everyone "wins" in yoga.
• It prevents obesity and helps those who are overweight become healthier.
• It helps children to relax.
• It builds stamina, stability and balance.
• It helps improve digestion, elimination of toxins and circulation.
• It helps develop strong bodies, elongates the spine and promotes good posture.
• It improves breathing habits through gentle breathing exercises.
• It improves sleeping patterns.
• It improves memory and develops effective concentration skills.
• It reduces sports injuries by strengthening and stretching opposing muscles, developing balance and resilience in those muscles.

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About the Author
Nancy Wile, Ed.D., mom of two and founder of Yoga To Go, is a long-time yoga teacher with a doctorate in education. She created the popular Yoga To Go for Kids DVD, which provides kids and parents with a fun approach to yoga.

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