Yoga for children is still fairly new to these shores, but there’s no doubt that kids really enjoy it and get all sorts of benefits – from improved concentration to boosted physical strength.
Yoga is also an excellent way to deal with anger and frustration, and with a few simple moves, you can actually divert your child away from the dreaded tantrum zone. Nicola Foxe of Yo-Yo Yoga has this advice.
“Not everybody believes in yoga for kids just yet,” Nicola admits, “or understands how children can do it. Yoga for kids is done in a special way that they can relate to and understand. For children, yoga can really help with their attention span. Once they know how to use their breath to help them calm down or feel safer, they will do it automatically. Parents sometimes tell me a child might say, ‘Mammy, you have to do your yoga breathing.’”
As well as helping to cope with stress and distractions, yoga for kids also helps to maintain flexibility and can balance out the impact of sports and other physical activity.
“Not all children are strong, so yoga is also good for building strength in the body,” Nicola explains. “If a child is doing something like gymnastics, or other sports, yoga can give them a balance to that. It can also help to balance out the impact of sports like football, tennis or rugby.”
So what age is best for a child to start yoga? Nicola’s advice is that it’s never really too early and even recommends Mother and Baby Yoga.
“I’ve just come from a toddler yoga class,” she tells me. “The youngest in it was six months old, though, so yoga can start at any point. Baby yoga, for example, is for mum and baby and it’s about moving the child so you can help them release wind and so on while the mums begin to restore their body and mind after birth. Yoga for toddlers gives an introduction to yoga, but you do the very same breath work as for any other class. Yoga is about breathing and that plus fun is the emphasis for toddlers.”
If you’re still sceptical about keeping little ones quiet enough for long enough during a yoga class, the enjoyment that children get from yoga is a convincing reason to give it a go.
“Children absolutely love yoga,” according to Nicola. “They love the relaxation in particular. No matter what we do in the class, when kids see the blankets coming out for relaxation, they love it. The sun could be splitting the stones outside, and they just dive onto the blankets and curl up to take some time out. Even children are busy these days and love to take time out.”
Helping your child to cope with the kind of anger and frustration that can spark off a tantrum is another great benefit of yoga. Here’s Nicola’s guide to using simple yoga in tricky situations.
“The sequence takes about ten minutes,” Nicola explains. “It works by getting all of the frustration and negative energy out, then you calm them down and put positive stuff back. It can be done anywhere – it depends how you feel about doing yoga in the supermarket though!
Spinning
“First of all, you have to distract the child. One way to do this is to spin around yourself – like you did as a child in your front garden or out in a field – with your hands out. If you do that, the child is hopefully going to stop crying and say, ‘What are you doing?’ Hopefully, they’ll join in with you. At this point, you’ve taken your child’s attention from whatever it is that’s winding them up. Once you’ve got their attention, you can move on to a couple of yoga poses.”
Downward Dog
“You put your hands and feet on the floor and put your bum up. Then do a Three-legged Dog by putting one leg up. Downward Dog is very relaxing. It’s a resting pose. Three-legged Dog is a balance pose. In order to do a balance pose, without wobbling or tumbling, you have to really concentrate. This takes the child even further away from what it was they were upset about.”
Bear Walk
“Bring your leg back down. It’s a lot of fun. You walk on your hands and your feet with your bum in the air. You can make growling noises and that sort of thing. This move is all about concentration.”
Lion Breath
"I would always try to include this in class, as long as people don’t mind the sounds. You come back onto your knees and spread your fingers on the floor in front of your knees - almost crouch down. Then, you roar like a lion. Everyone can do this and it really gets any negative energy and frustration out. With kids, this can get a bit out of control! What I do in class, is ‘baby lion’, ‘mammy lion’ and ‘daddy lion’ and then back to ‘mammy lion’ and finish with ‘baby lion’. That means you’re bringing the intensity up and getting all the frustration out, and then you’re bringing them back down again."
Tree Pose
“This is a balance pose. You’re on one foot. Your second foot is either on top of your first, or is up your leg a little. Your arms and hands are stretched up and out like the branches and leaves of the tree. It’s about concentration and it’s a very strong pose. You’re taking your energy and putting it back into the body after letting it all out in the Lion Breath move.”
Warrior Breath II
“It’s like you’re surfing. Stand with your legs wide, one foot facing out and one foot facing forward and your hands out either side with one knee bent in the same direction as the foot facing forward. The emphasis is on the feet and so it is a very grounding pose. It’s great for when kids have tantrums or for anyone who gets upset. In a heightened state of stress, it’s hard to get down. Warrior pose and deep breathing can bring them right back down and calms them.”
Breath Work
“This is a good way to bring awareness to the breath. Kids love using feathers too. For body awareness, the child might touch their cheek, ears and nose with the feather, then blow it. They can blow it off their hand or off their mum or dad’s head or blow it around the floor. It’s very calming.”
Child Pose
“I would suggest finishing with this. It’s like curling up in a ball, forehead to the ground. It’s very grounding and very calming and relaxing. Little ones in their cot at night sleep with their bum in the air so you can see how it comes very naturally to children."
“Multi coloured mats, cushions, complimentary water and good vibes are all part of a
Yo-Yo Yoga Children's session,” Nicola explains. “But that is not all we are. We believe that if children, of all ages and abilities, learn the important, supportive life skills that yoga can offer, they will be better equipped to deal with any of life's little challenges that they may face. We show children these skills through fun, creative and engaging yoga sessions drawing on experience working with and caring for children of different ages and cultures since 2009.”
