LexiYoga

Yoga for Growing Children

Written by Dr. Minakshi Welukar.

Try choosing a yoga class as a surprise gift for your lovely nippers when you want to reward them for doing something good. Interestingly, usefulness of this spiritual practice is not limited to adults but unfolded for children as well. Due to its amazing health benefits, yoga is becoming a popular exercise among many education centers.

yoga for children

Nurturing our children is deeply rooted in our cultural values. However, today’s kids are bearing a huge burden of parent’s expectation, school pressure and the competitive world. Moreover, video games, laptops and junk food are constantly harming our kid’s body almost on a daily basis. Such things may hide our children's innocence and joyful life.

Feeling bad, worried or tense is common in children too. However, the problem is that they can’t pinpoint it. Along with the demands of building a loving and caring relationship, our children are in great need of physical and mental fitness. Yoga is safe for our loved ones when practiced under the guidance of a trained instructor.

Over the past few years, yoga has gained popularity due to its amazing health benefits for all ages. Yoga opens the way to health, fitness, creativity and the sense of playfulness and hence gives our children a unique learning opportunity. Combining body, mind and breath, yoga offers an opportunity to learn and grow. Yoga is a great way to channel children’s internal energy and boost their healthy growth.

Building Physical Fitness

Body fitness is the most important aspect of our growing children. Yoga asanas with a main focus on body alignment and muscle tone can build strength and improve endurance. Different yoga poses have an impact on different body segments. Some work on upper and lower back while some on core muscles. A series of yoga poses can stretch out the body’s muscles and increase strength and flexibility, and range of motion in the joints. This results in ease in body movements. In addition to muscles, yoga stretches the ligaments and tendons, which are the main supportive tissues of the body. Both strength and flexibility can improve sport endurance for children.

Yoga poses teach children how to move their bodies in different ways and achieve balance. Having an increase in strength and flexibility can help to build better body posture, which is gre

Improving Mental Fitness

Stress and anxiety are everywhere, and children are not exceptions. Mental disciplines of yoga achieve peacefulness of mind and can help deal with stress and anxiety effectively. Most yoga styles focus on deep breathing, which stimulates the relaxation response so that children can feel less stressed and more relaxed. This helps to enhance their mood and overall sense of well-being and reduce any frustration. Children can learn how to remain patient and control their impulses, even in difficult situations.

Yoga with a principle of mental focus creates self-awareness and improves concentration. Self-awareness is a good tool to discover in which areas the children thrive in. When children practice and get skilled in their likely areas the chances of feeling competent increases. Yoga makes a mind clear, which can improve attention and avoid distractions. This way yoga helps to identify their own needs, appreciate special qualities and develop a unique personality. Yoga helps to improve the qualities like self-confidence and decisiveness.

Blooming Creativity

Self-awareness, relaxation and improved concentration are seeds of creativity. Having a clear mind flourishes thoughts and ideas. Yoga has a powerful effect in improving memory and learning process. It helps to explore different areas and activities. Additionally, physical fitness provided by yoga enhances body endurance to meet creativity demands. As always, being creative, a child can find a way to happiness and success.

As yoga has many styles and intensities, it's important to select a good one for your child after consulting an expert in this field. Yoga is not a magic bullet with instant effects, but is a continuous process of self-development.

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