Looking for the benefits of Yoga for Kids for a proposal, advertisement, or even to convince your own children?  These benefits just might convince someone that yoga for kids is a great choice.

Benefits of Yoga for Kids

 

All Kids Can Do Yoga: One of the major benefits of yoga for kids is that you don’t have to be an athlete to do it.  In yoga, kids won’t stand in line waiting to be picked for a team,  and you won’t let a team down if you don’t have skills. Yoga meets you where you are at, whether you touch your thighs, your knees, or your toes.  Saying you’re too stiff to do yoga is like saying you’re too old to have fun!  it just doesn’t make sense. Yoga is for everyone willing to try.

 

Learning for the Joy of Learning: In yoga you can learn because you enjoy it, not because you have to follow a lesson plan or fulfill a curriculum. Now I know that notion may be hard for some of us who were raised in authoritarian classrooms where you learned because you had to pass.  Imagine if you also got to learn because you were interested.

Yoga gives children and teachers permission to be in the moment and explore what interests them.  If everyone is enjoying a pose or activity you can stay with it a little longer.  Kids benefit from slowing down, not rushing from one thing to the next, and taking the time to know yourself and your preferences.

As the yoga proverb goes: we are human beings, not human doings.

 

 

Child Directed Play and Learning:  If you have a group of children who aren’t interested in what you have planned, you can change the plan.  This is a HUGE benefit because school teachers HAVE to get through a curriculum.  Yoga teachers have to build community and trust with their students, which means yoga teachers can listen to their students and take direction from them.  Yoga allows children to set the course, which means children are more likely to enjoy what they are doing and keep coming back.

We discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being.
– Maria Montessori

 

Health Benefits for Children: 

As yoga becomes steeped in our culture, more studies are surfacing on the benefits, and also the dangers, of yoga.

If you are looking for a scholarly look at the health benefits of yoga, I recommend The Science of Yoga by William J. Broad. Broad takes a relentless look at the claims made by yogis, and aims to bring yoga into the world of science. He asserts that, gasp, you can’t just say something to make it true.

I was surprised by some studies, like how yoga breathing actually works.  I was reassured by other studies, like the proven emotional  benefits of yoga. Broad also explains why it is so important that teachers become properly trained to help students avoid injuries. This book is well worth the read to educate you on the science behind the yoga.

 

Going to Yoga School is Fun:  Every once in a while I’ll have a stress dream about taking an exam or writing an essay and I don’t even know the topic.  Its a throwback to my school days when you learned what you were told to learn because it was on the curriculum.  School took discipline, homework, and study. School could be really stressful.

Now before you object, I agree that it takes dedication to be a kids yoga teacher too.  But you will see so many happy faces in a kids yoga teacher training because people are there because they want to learn.  Plus, it’s just plain fun to learn through play.  Its fun to remember what its like to be a kid again. How does this benefit kids?

You know, a happy teacher makes a happy classroom.

There are other benefits not listed here, I invite you to add them in a comment.  What benefit have you seen kids experience because of yoga? What benefits have you experienced?

Thanks for reading.

Aruna

P.S. there are many amazing things coming up for you to consider – please take a look below and see if any of them will benefit you:

Upcoming Kids Yoga and Other Yoga Events

Training that Counts!

To See our latest schedule of Kids Yoga Weekend Training and Summer Certification Programs visit our Teacher Training Page.

Young Yoga Masters is a Yoga Alliance Registered Children’s Yoga School.

 

 

On March 11, 2014   /   Attitude, Kids Yoga