Kids Yoga, Discover the Many Benefits
Kids and yoga is a wonderful combination. Under the guidance of a certified instructor, yoga classes for kids focus on building upon each child’s strengths while helping them ease stress and bolster self-esteem, cooperation, self-trust, and reverence for one’s inner world. These classes are for kids of all ages and typically use music, activities, and props to create a fun, interactive environment.
Children experience many benefits from participation in yoga classes including:
- Enhanced awareness of, and better control of, their body
- Greater ease connecting to other people and their surroundings
- Confidence, improved self-esteem and self-efficacy
- Enhanced ability to focus and self-regulate behavior and emotion
- Improved physical skills such as balance, coordination, agility, and sense of direction
- Ability to experience relaxation and learn how to access this state of being at any time
Children’s Yoga Teacher Qualifications
The standard credentials for a children’s yoga teacher is completion of a 200 hour Yoga Alliance approved teacher training plus educational or practical experience with children. (If your child has special needs, that is additional qualification and experience you’ll need to explore). Ideally, the instructor has obtained CEU’s or certification in teaching yoga for children.
Before choosing a class for your child, ask questions about the teacher’s experience and certification. Also, observe a class and see the range of abilities being taught. Trust your intuition about whether or not a class or a teacher is a good fit for your child. A children’s yoga teacher must be able to truly be present for a child just as they are, in the moment, and demonstrate acceptance that every child’s body does yoga differently. This empowers even the most ‘yoga clumsy’ child to gradually achieve a sense of fulfillment and self-efficacy that can carry from the yoga mat to other areas of the child’s life.
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REFERENCES
“Therapeutic Effects of Yoga for Children: A Systematic Review of the Literature.” Pediatric Physical Therapy: Spring 2008 – Volume 20 – Issue 1 – pp 66-80. Accessed 2 Feb 2018.
Rainbow Yoga Teacher Training Manual. (2017) © Rainbow Yoga.
Yoga Alliance Children’s Yoga Standards. Accessed 2 Feb 2018.
“Yoga Generates Huge Benefits for Children with Autism.” Posted by YogaInternational.com. Accessed 2 Feb 2018.
ChicagoTribune.com. “Yoga offers benefits for people with special needs.” Posted 14 March 2012. Accessed 2 Feb 2018.
