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Yoga Practice and Children
Practicing yoga when you have children can be challenging. I try to set aside some time every day to practice. Sometimes that turns into an hour and sometimes its 15 minutes. The thing about practicing at home is I try to practice before everyone wakes up. When I can’t, my yoga practice area doubles as the kids’ playroom. There are literally toys everywhere.
Does anyone else’s yoga mat look like this? I’ll be in downward dog and my 2 year old will be right under me. This afternoon during cool down, I was laying on my mat in pigeon. My toddler was laying beside me (with her head down) and my 10-month-old baby girl was laying on the 2-year-old. I would have loved to have gotten a picture to show you! We literally looked like we were heavily involved in a game of Twister. But, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Since I still work my 9-5 job, I treasure all of the available time that I can spend with my little ones. (This includes my 10-year-old and my 16-year-old as well).
Ways to Engage Your Children with Yoga
The thing is, I don’t mind practicing around them because yoga is my passion and I love sharing my passion with my family but at the same time, it can certainly be difficult to concentrate on your breathing and posture with little ones running around. Here are a few ideas that may help:
- Let the kids join in. It may take a little extra time but showing the little ones how to play around with different postures can be fun (and beneficial).
- Find special toys (like crayons and paper) just for yoga time. When you are ready to practice, pull out the “special” toy box to keep the little ones engaged.
- Yoga quiz fun. Teach the kids different poses names and quiz them on the poses while you are demonstrating them.
Besides being able to spend some extra quality time with the kids, you may be passing on some important benefits. According to Parents.com, “By practicing yoga poses, children can learn how to exercise, develop confidence, and concentrate better.” Think of all of the potential health and wellness benefits from children exercising and improving concentration. The exercise can help fight obesity and breathing techniques can be used when your child wants to calm themselves or relax.
Going forward, in addition to allowing my kids to join in on some of my practices, I will focus on some of the ways listed above to engage them in the practice as well.
This is so like my house! Thank you for the helpful tips.
I am not much of a yoga person, but I do like to work out occasionally. Usually I just do it after the kids are in bed. These are some good ideas though.
I love doing a yoga a lot but I stopped for a couple of months now because of busy days. But after reading this article it push me to go back again to my passion and letting your kids join you is a great idea.
I love that you are involving kids in yoga. Such a good habit to get into that being active is important.
I don’t do yoga, but I do Zumba at home when I have the time. My son dances along with me every time, lol.
I never even attempted to get into yoga until my kids were in school, but these are great tips!
Ok this is super cute! I thought it was hard enough to do with my dog constantly coming over, I can’t even imagine the little ones trying to play along.
I feel the same way about my cat – no matter what I’m doing on the exercise mat, he’s always trying to participate. I love exercising with my kids, though – they get excited about it and it’s fun to see the smiles on their faces.
I love yoga and how it helps me deal with stress. It can be hard to find the time or energy to do yoga with kids and a house, but I feel so much better when I do it!
As a yoga teacher, I approve of this message. 🙂 Yoga is so great for everyone, especially children.
Great tips! I agree with letting them try to join in, but you have to be very patient. Celebrate even the smallest victories and laugh off the frustrations (like when they are climbing up your back or throwing legos across the room). My youngest actually has started doing some of the stretches and they like saying “up and down up and down” (Ok, so it’s their own version of Yoga, but they love it!)
I have been practicing yoga since long and it is really healthy. I really can’t imagine doing yoga with kids. I will definitely refer this post to one of my mommy friends who loves doing yoga. thanks
This is the cutest thing ever! Tranquiiity and fun at the same time! This is amazing, please keep it up!
These are some great tips. I think its great to encourage the children to join in too, it seems like fun for the whole family that way.
So funny! It adds a whole other element to it when you have to do yoga AND try not to get hurt by the legos!
some really fab tips here. I think its important to get children involved in exercise at an early age so doing it together is a fab idea