You know that both men and women love yoga. Women love it because they can feel better about themselves and change their bodies for the better. Men love it because it helps them to build flexibility and it works their muscles in ways that most workout routines do not. But yoga isn't just for men and women, it is also for kids! More and more yoga studios are recognizing the amazing benefits of offering yoga classes to the younger generation and allowing them to get familiar with an easy yoga routine.
So many of the benefits that we as adults get from a good yoga routine can be passed onto our kids. All of those wonderful things that we can learn from our yoga practice are things that our kids can learn from their yoga practice too. Even though they are young, kids can really benefit from that mind-body-spirit connection that yoga offers as well as the physical strength and flexibility that they can gain. Yoga also teaches children patience, something that is so hard for so many young ones to understand. When you do yoga, you are doing a slow and steady routine designed to help you to stretch your body into new positions. But when you get into these stretches you then focus all of your energy on your breath and stretching deeper into the pose.
When a child does yoga, they can't rush through the poses, they have to be still and let their bodies do the work. This is a great way to teach them 'yoga off the mat' – in other words what they learn on a yoga mat will be something that they will carry with them when they are going about their daily routines. Just like adults have very fast paced lives, kids have fast paced lives too. They rush to school, do homework, have chores, and do extra curricular activities all in one day. Yoga will teach them to have the calm patience and relaxation to sail through these hectic days with ease.
But even more than learning patience, flexibility, and relaxation is the fact that you can make a yoga practice a routine that your child will carry with them throughout their lives. Think about a sport that you played when you were a child. You likely played that sport because you loved it and even if you don't play now you likely still watch that sport whenever you get a chance. Yoga is no different. If your child tries yoga now and they enjoy it, then yoga will likely be something that they will carry with them throughout their lives. They will not only experience the many health benefits of yoga, but they will also go through their lives with the kind of conscious awareness that only yoga can bring.
Not to mention when a child sees a parent do something, they naturally want to do it too. Your child will feel like they are getting to do something really special if they get to go to your yoga studio with you. What better time to teach them a practice that they can carry with them throughout their lives?