YOGA WITH KIDS
Close your eyes. Take a few deep breathes. Breathe in. Slowly, breathe out. Repeat this three more times. Now, no giggling… Make sure your eyes are closed. Think happy thoughts. Now open your eyes.
I am a strong believer that what ever activities I do, I want my kids involvement. Be it cooking, shopping, cleaning, grocery, religion or writing my blogs. There is the saying “Actions speak louder than words” and in the case with kids, actions are everything.
Yoga is a great way for me to relax, be fit, energized and a stress reliever. By focusing on my breathing and my inner body, I feel fresh for the day and have a positive perspective to life.
For my husband, gym is the key for him to be fit and energized. On the other hand, I find the gym to be the utmost boring because I can’t keep staring at the T.V. or the wall and exercise.
Kids are like sponges at this age where they will absorb what ever information you give them.
So one fine day, Aarav goes like ‘Mama, you know yoga right?’ And I am raising my eyebrows while answering ‘uh..yeah…why?’
“Then can you teach me yoga. I want to learn.”
As soon as I said yes, he got the mat out. “I am ready.” Aarav said.
My girls barged in saying “Hey, we want to do yoga too.” (These kids have sharp hearing power when they need something. How could they hear me when we were in the room and they were in the hall). I started laughing thinking obviously how could I leave these two girls out.
We started with few breathing exercises. Then we did the standing tree pose. We touched our feet and stretched all the way back while coming up. That was apparently too easy for them.
Therefore, I decided to introduce them to downward facing dog and plank. Then they relaxed onto their back into the child’s pose. After few breathes in the child pose, they came onto a seating position and we did the boat pose.
They enjoyed doing some forward rolls and backwards rolls. According to them, they know everything, but when they go to do it, they are lost. I wonder how hard it is to follow instructions.
Towards the end, I helped them do a headstand. I called it a day. Yoga with the kids had me more exhausted than yoga by myself because each one wanted personalized attention and would get upset if I did not focus on them.
However, I enjoyed every bit of it. The kids enjoyed it so much that we try to do yoga once every two weeks depending on time.
MY 1ST BORN
According to an article, ‘The Benefit of Yoga for Kids’, in Parents Magazine, “By practicing yoga poses, children can learn how to exercise, develop confidence, and concentrate better.”
However, this does not mean that you must go out and learn yoga or go and take yoga classes with kids.
My forte is yoga and writing so why should not I pass on my talents to my kids.
Yoga is just an example here, but if you are good at painting, arts, crafts, hiking, building, cooking or any talent, then why not pass it on at an early age to the kids. By starting early on, not only are you spending quality time with your kids, but your kids are learning something valuable.
I have had parents tell me oh my kids are too young for this and I have corrected them saying no kid is too young to understand. If you present it correctly, treat them as mini-adults, teach them so they will understand and they may excel more than you can imagine. You have to let your kids fly.
Love the way you introduce things to ur kids … I am surprised how great kids responded to Yoga lil yogis looks adorable in pics