I’m so excited to share this guest post from Kassy Maloney, yogi mom of 2! She offers some fantastic tips for practicing yoga with your kids and having fun while doing it. She also offers a 4 minute yoga practice for you to try out if you’re just getting started.
Yoga, as a form of exercise, helps kids gain control of their muscle movements, let’s them enjoy an activity that is healthy, and it’s fun!
Do you practice yoga with your kids at home? They would probably love it!
As a teacher of children with visual impairments, I teach yoga to kids with visual and multiple impairments every week. I’ve seen how much they grow from the classes. Their motor skills, social skills, and self-esteems consistently rise.
So of course I HAD to bring the same practice techniques to my kids once my oldest started getting old enough to practice. They have both watched and participated in my yoga practices at home since they were each a few months old. Once I started creating yoga sequences for them, they loved it even more!
Connor (my two-year- old) will often unroll the yoga mat and ask to play.
Even if your kids have never been exposed to yoga, they will gain a lot from it and they will love it too!
By practicing yoga, your kids can decrease the amount they trip and fall. They can learn social skills like sharing, listening to others, and even how to lead! One of my favorite things to infuse into our yoga practices is literacy. The kids don’t even know they’re learning. They just see that they are having a good time!
In order to practice yoga with your kids, first you need to create a simple routine. Kids learn through sequences. The more familiar the sequence, the more they participate and the more they learn! Make sure to have the beginning and the end be the same every time. If your child is young (0-3 years-old) or has an atypical social development (i.e. autism), then you may want to keep the poses the same each time as well.
Your routine could look like this:
1. Routine Beginning: Open your mat, sit down.
2. Tune In: Take a few breaths to begin to focus to your practice.
3. Yoga Sequence: Do yoga movements. (These may differ of can stay the same each
time).
4. Relaxation: Lay down to rest in Savasana (Corpse Pose)
5. Valediction: End the class by thanking each other.
6. Routine Ending: Roll up your mat, put it away.
Try this yoga sequence with your kiddos!
1. Seated Twist
2. Seated Cat/Cow
3. Warrior 1
4. Waterfall
5. Washer Machine
6. Ragdoll
7. Happy Baby
8. Resting Pose
Do you practice yoga with your kids? How do they like it?
Kassy Maloney is a Registered Yoga Teacher, Children’s Yoga Teacher, Orientation and Mobility Specialist, and mom of two. Kassy helps other women lead more fulfilling lives by improving their health and connecting with their kids. As a working mom of two young boys, she knows the struggles of trying juggle the demands of a career, motherhood, and the desire for a happier, healthier life. You can have it all! Kassy was able to get back into shape after both pregnancies by working out at home with her kids and has helped many other women do the same. You can find her hanging out at www.KassyMaloney.com and on social media as Kassy Maloney.
