Family yoga is an antidote to all the rushing and planning in family life.
It creates a space for healthy movement and playtime for adults and kids. Everyone is on the same level (the floor), and there’s lots of laughter as you roll about and try new things.
Teaching these classes can also provide new opportunities as a yoga teacher!
Teaching Family Yoga
Recently I saw a question on a yoga teacher forum about family yoga and how to introduce it to people who have never done it.
They described teaching separate age groups, moms and toddlers, mom and me, elementary home school kids. They also had free military events with a random mix of adults and children of all ages.
Here are my top tips for teaching Family Yoga.
4 Ways to Teach Family Yoga or Adult/Tot Yoga Classes
- Do Partner Poses – do partner poses that adults and kids can do together. You can also do mixed poses for partners. The adult does a downward dog while the child does a cobra under them.
- Bring a Large Stuffed Animal – Use the stuffed animal to be your partner to demo partner poses. Then during the class you can walk around so your stuffed animal can look at what everyone is doing.
- Set up the Mats in an Aisle – set up the mats in an aisle formation so the kids can move down the aisle doing different yoga poses. They can do bunny hops, lunge walks, and cat crawls while going down the aisle, and the adults can join in or chat with each. I found that pretending to be an animal is much more fun for children, so giving parents a time to connect while the children play is an opportunity for building community.
- Colouring or Craft – If it is a longer class, allocate 15 minutes to a colouring or craft activity. Try a craft that gives families an opportunity to talk about their values. Print-out the Family Yoga activity page in our Free Printable Download Resources HERE.
If you’re teaching a family yoga class, it will not be a yoga fully for adults or completely like a kids class. You need to learn more about the structure of the class.
Family Yoga Teacher Certificate
Of course there is so much more you can do than these 4 tips. I recommend you check out the Family Yoga 4 Hour Certificate with Young Yoga Masters.
If you see yourself doing a lot of kid’s yoga, then the RCYT designation is worth getting because you need many ideas as a kids yoga teacher, because kids let you know when they are bored!
