Are you looking for an in-depth guide on yoga benefits for kids? Oh, you just have reached on the right page.
Kids go through a lot of pressure during a day, school, homework, extra curriculum activities and so on which they can’t express.
As a parent, you need to do something so that they can relax. You can be always with their bodies but not with their brain which makes it obvious that you won’t notice every time what’s going on in their head.
And a great solution to that is Yoga. I am sure you have heard of it and it is highly beneficial for every human being. However, in this very guide, I am going to show you 10 reason why you should encourage your kids to perform yoga.
Here you go…
Top yoga Benefits for kids
In case you don’t know, yoga doesn’t require tools or anything. Just a yoga mat will do fine. Since it is about the kid, you have to make sure that they are doing everything appropriately and to be able to do that, first you are the one who needs to be perfect. So learn it well.
Improves Memory
When you perform yoga, you will be focusing on it which enhances the memory and cognitive function. Performing yoga requires the focus of both the body and mind.
You have to pay the maximum attention to your body movement and how exactly the breathing coordinates with the moving body parts.
If your kids perform yoga on a regular basis, it will increase their focusing ability which is very necessary to be grown at that age.
Enhance Social Relationship
Yoga can be performed both individually and in a group. All kids love to do things when they see others at their age doing the same thing. And they are more likely do it with more passion.
Find out if there is any yoga community around you, I am sure there will be. People around you who know the benefit of yoga will surely be there sooner or later.
And the best thing of practicing yoga in a group is there will be a mentor who is experienced and there will be others, so there is no way that your kid will learn the wrongs.
Normally, children’s yoga consists of songs, dances, games, acting, and other fun activities. And all these are done in groups and that is exactly what improves the relationship of your child with others.
Not only that, but it also improves your relationship with your neighbors. All the kid parents will be there and when they spend time, it will obviously build a good relationship.
Gives Flexibility
Performing yoga on a daily basis will give you more flexibility. During practicing yoga, you don’t just stay seating on a pose, you try different poses which increases your body flexibility.
It also tones most of our body muscles and you also gain strength from it. Your entire body leg, hand, arms, abs, all engage and gets strengthen with time.
There are a few poses which engages all the body muscles, and plank is one of them. All these poses might not be very easy at the beginning but they will get easier with time, you just make sure your kid doesn’t avoid even a single day of yoga practice.
Offers Better Sleep
According to several pieces of research, exercising before bed gives good and deep sleep and it has been proved by people. When we get stressed, we can’t sleep doesn’t matter how hard we try and this thing happens with kids also.
You might think, why would your kid be worried about? they are not worried about food or money. Sometimes they also get stressed about their homework, classmate relation, etc. And they won’t even know that they are stressed, obviously.
Practicing yoga before bed with help them to relieve stress. Breathing properly can your mind and also gives you relief from negative emotion. Heavy exercises also do but since it is about kids, yoga will be perfect.
Increases Self-esteem
If you are forcing your kid to practice yoga alone in the house, then they might not be done with dedication. Kids will love to do yoga when they are around other kids who are doing the same thing.
There are a lot of poses in yoga when kids master a pose and see people around them appreciating, it increases their self-esteem and motivates them to do something harder.
And at least for the sake of people’s appreciation, they stick to one thing, they focus on that. One important advice I would like to give you, never demotivated your kid. Doesn’t matter how many time they fail, always tell them that they can do it and you are with them.
Another thing you can do is, offering them a reward if they achieve something. For example, tell if they master a hard yoga pose you will bring them their favorite toy. And trust me, they will put their 100 percent on that.
Improves breathing
Do you know, what is the main thing in yoga that plays a big role in your insider change? It’s breathing. In yoga, there are different types of breathing techniques which are highly beneficial for a healthy life.
The main goal of all these breathing techniques is to help up breath properly. And when start breathing properly, you will get more relaxed. Your tidal volume and lung capacity will increase, the lung capacity means, you will be able to hold more air.
Increases Brain Power
Several studies have shown that practicing short sessions of yoga regularly can boost brain power. Kids tend to have a sharp memory and if they perform yoga on a regular basis, they will become faster in collecting information.
Conclusion
Not only these, but there are also a lot of yoga benefits for kids, these are the major ones. With your kid, I will suggest you also to join yoga and tell your friends and neighbor about the benefits. After all, health is wealth. Q
Have you ever wondered why all over the world people are getting more interested in yoga? Each type of community, school, university have now yoga classes. From celebrity to normal people everyone is encouraged to do yoga. If you still don’t know why these all people are performing yoga, then you need to read this article. Here you will get to know the top 20 benefits of yoga and we are sure that after you read it you will understand why people are addictive with this amazing way exercise.
More Flexibility
The first and the most obvious benefit that one is going to get from doing yoga on a regular basis is flexibility. Yoga doesn’t only mean seating in a place for a longer period. Doing all those yoga poses can improve your flexibility as all the yoga poses to stretch out our muscles. It tones down the body muscles and gives more strength on the legs, shoulders, arms, and abs. One of the most popular yoga positions that work wonder to improve your flexibility is the plank position. The best thing is, yoga improves flexibility gradually. It is not like you need to be very flexible while performing yoga. Initially, it may seem a little harder, but after practicing different positions you will see the natural outcome of it.
Reducing Stress and Anxiety
One of the primary reasons for which people start doing yoga is that it helps a lot to reduce our stress level and relieves anxiety. With all the pressure and our daily life problems, we all know how badly we need fresh mental health. To give your mind some relief yoga can be the best way. There are many studies which have found out that doing a 20-minute yoga daily can reduce our stress level at a significant level. Yoga helps to reduce symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. (PTSD). It is hard to say how yoga actually reduces stress. However, we can say that while doing we give our brain a little rest from all the tensions and we just live in the moment. This eventually helps us to find a sense of peace.
Improved Balance
A great benefit of doing yoga is that it improves balance. Now when we say balance, it doesn’t only mean your body balance. It means a balance between our mind and our actions. As you practice more you will see that you have more control on your body, on your mind and you can focus more. Your emotions will be stable, and you will get an idea of how to make a balance among your different activities. Basically, doing yoga is a great way to keep your mind still. When you are practicing a pose, it means that you are telling your body to be in that pose. You control your movement, you control your breathing and doing all these you gain a focus towards inward. In this way, yoga gives the stillness to the mind and improves balance.
Boost Energy
Have you ever wondered how doing yoga, a simple relaxing position can boost up your energy? Now when we talk about increasing energy, we always thought about those hard times that we need to spend at the gym. In yoga, you don’t need to do all that difficult weight lifting things or running 2 hours, but it can still improve your energy level. However, we are not discoursing to go to the gym. There have been some studies which focus on how yoga can increase energy. Basically, while doing yoga it increases a hormone in our body named Cortisol and at the same time, it reduces fatigue. Because of doing yoga daily, this hormone will be always in balance. Moreover, while doing yoga we stretch our muscles and give massage to our internal organs. Hence, it also boots our energy and keep us more active and enthusiastic.
Another main way by which yoga helps us to improve our energy is by deep breathing. As we deeply inhale and exhale it stimulates our nerve system and thus works to boot up our energy level.
Better Breathing
One of the main activities that you need to do while doing yoga is, you must give focus on your breathing. There has a lot of breathing techniques involved in yoga. All these breathing techniques eventually help us to breathe better. You breathe calmly and deeply in your yoga position and this breathing practice will result in great benefits. First of all, you will feel more relaxed. Then, it also helps to increase the tidal volume and lung capacity. This means yoga will help to increase the holding capacity of air that usually your lung can hold and thus you will have a better breathing experience. As you get better breathing this will help you to stay calm in an emergency or in a suffocated place and will play an important role to reduce pain.
Improve Your Posture
For some of us, our life has become very monotonous and without any outdoor activities. There are many people who have to sit in front of their computer from morning to night. For this reason, our muscles, bones and joint areas cannot work properly anymore and lose its good posture. Therefore, we badly need good posture training and what can be better to do that than doing yoga. Doing yoga will ensure that all your internal organs, muscles are in good alignment. When you have improved your posture, it will automatically improve your nervous system, skeletal, muscular and circulatory system.
For Weight Loss
Whenever we think about the concept of weight loss, we always imagine doing hard exercises, diet plans and all that. Yes, these are essential for achieving your weight loss goal. But, how can you do all those exercises and diets if you are not at all focused on your aim? From the very first we are saying that yoga is an exercise for your brain. It helps to reduce stress, calm your mind and make you more focused on your life. Now, we all have that friend in our lives who always complain about weight gain and makes plans about exercise and diet. However, in reality, they never actually do these things, because they are not focused. The first and the most important thing that you need to have before you start your weight loss plan is a calm and focused mind. Yoga is for that. Doing yoga develops mindfulness and it will keep you aware of how different foods affect your body. It will make you conscious while choosing your food items. First, you need a sound mind and only after that, you can get a sound and fit body.
Better Sleep
It’s no wonder that yoga helps significantly to have a proper sound sleep. People who are suffering from serious insomnia are always advised to try yoga. As doing yoga helps your mind to achieve calmness it will help you to have a proper sleep. People who do yoga they can fall asleep easily and they don’t have any problems during their sleep. We often see that even after sleeping many hours our brain feels dizzy or we feel a headache. The reason is, even after you have slept for many hours maybe you didn’t have a nice sleep. When your mind is not in peace you will have serious troubles with your sleep. Having a proper sleep will also help you to fight against other health issues and it also plays a significant role in your weight loss plan. Therefore, getting better is utmost important and to have that yoga can be the easiest and the best solution.
Low Blood Pressure
Another great benefit that of doing yoga is, that it helps to keep your blood pressure low. We all know how dangerous it can be to have a high-pressure problem. High pressure is the primary cause of having a heart attack, stroke, memory loss or kidney damage. It is like the root of all your internal organ failures. Therefore, people who have high blood pressure, they really need to work on this issue. While maintaining a good diet it is also important that you keep your stress level down. Getting too much stress, anxiety will ultimately result in high blood pressure and then serious harm. Therefore, you need to keep your street level down. And yoga has that power to do that. Doing yoga helps to reduce stress and it keeps your blood pressure low. Therefore, if you are suffering from high blood pressure you must start doing yoga now. There can be no side effects of this amazing exercise.
Helps the Back
People who have a problem with back pain, only they can understand how painful it can be. It can affect your work, your mental health everything. Doing yoga can do wonder in this scenario also. doing different yoga poses increase the strength in muscles and it helps to reduce the tension in those stress carrying muscles. Doing yoga means you are stretching your muscles and providing relaxation to them. All the yoga poses are designed in a way which trains our body to become suppler and healthier. By doing some very basic yoga postures and deep breathing you can get a lot of relief for your back pain.
Improve Concentration
One of the best and most obvious benefits that you are going to get from doing yoga daily is, that will help you to concentrate more. This is one of the main reasons for which people start to practice yoga. If you think, the whole concept of doing yoga is to stay calm and focus on your breathing and different yoga positions. As you focus on your own breathing it helps you to achieve mental stability. Whether you are a student, job holder or in any profession, it is very common that you get distracted very easily. Especially if you are a student and you cannot concentrate on your studies then yoga can be your best solution. Especially when there is a big exam is coming, no matter how hard you try sometimes for all the stress and tension it happens that you cannot focus at all at your study. For all these situations doing yoga can be really helpful. As you keep your mind calm and stable it will help you to concentrate more. Not only on your work or study, but it also helps to make you more organized in your life.
Better Metabolism
If you are overwhelmed with all the exercises, diets, and everything, but you also need to work on your health then doing yoga can be beneficial for you. While taking care of your body one of the main things on which you need to work is your metabolism. Metabolism means how our body converts the food we eat into energy. Metabolism depends on many facts, like gender, age and on what kind of activities you daily do. But the main point is that it is very important to have a good metabolism system and yoga can be a great way for that. Doing yoga create effect directly on your internal organs and it also helps to improve your blood circulation. A proper circulatory system is essential to have a good metabolism. While doing yoga as you take deep breathes you provide more oxygen to your brain and that result in good blood circulation through all your body organs and thus it results in better metabolism.
Boosts Brain Power
Doing yoga not only helps to reduce stress but it also has the ability to boost up our brain function. There have been many studies which have shown that a short session of yoga daily helps to concentrate more and makes your brain to catch more information. We all know that our brain is the main powerhouse of all our activities. Therefore, it is very important that we maintain activities which will help it to do function well. Therefore, next time if your brain is not working properly rather than having caffeine or energy drink do a short 20 minutes of yoga.
Reduce Pain and Relives Aches
Initially, the reason for doing yoga was only to achieve mental calmness. However, now it is not only about mental health, but it can also assist in to reduce different body pains and relieves aches. Without any harmful medicines, you can ease your body aches and pains just by doing yoga, especially joint pains. The main benefit that we get from doing yoga is that it gives strength to our muscles. Apart from this great benefit it also has the benefit to improve our respiratory function. Respiratory function is the function that works for our body’s mobility. We already have mentioned that how yoga can be beneficial for back pain, but we also like to inform you that you can get amazing results from yoga for your knee pain, neck pain or for lower back pain. Mainly yoga is good for your joints.
There are different yoga positions which are specifically good for each kind of pain. For example, if you are suffering from knee pain then you can try the yogic position called “twisted figure four”. Or if you have neck pain then you can try the “child’s pose”.
Keeps You in Time Track
With our hectic life, it is getting really difficult for all of us to maintain a good timetable. A good time table is necessary to keep your body healthy. You may be cannot set an alarm for your body, but you can do yoga which will help your body to the clock. “Early to bed and early to rise” this rule can be easily maintained when you are performing yoga on a daily basis. Yoga helps your body to keep the track and you can follow the natural rhythm.
Increase Self-Confidence
By doing yoga you get more aware about your own body. It establishes a connection between your mind and body. When you have a proper mind-body connection then it increases your self-confidence. Yoga helps you to know yourself better, to know your inner strength. While doing any work you will feel that inner energy, inner inspiration and all because you have a calm and relaxed mind for doing yoga. If you are wondering how yoga does that? Then let’s just briefly explain, while doing yoga you are making very subtle movements in your body, you get in touch with the physical side of yourself. When you know your body, you will feel more comfortable and confident in that and that is why it will increase your self-confidence.
Radiant Skin
If you ever observe carefully those people who practice yoga, you will see they always have a very natural glow in their face. It is not makeup or anything artificial. It is a natural fresh skin that they got. Ever thought why? Because doing yoga has this amazing benefit which is it will help you to get a radiant and youthful skin. Now, in this case, you cannot expect a result within one month. It will take time. studies have found out that daily yoga can drastically bring change in your skin. By doing yoga you flush out the toxins from your body. As we mentioned before, it helps you to have proper sleep, it improves your metabolism, maintains a good blood circulation and all these eventually help to make your skin beautiful. Your skin will naturally become tighten and firm. We think this is one of the amazing ways to improve your skin condition. You are not using any harmful chemicals or anything. It is like you are getting back your baby skin.
Now we want to mention that, if you have any skin problem then yoga cannot be the only solution. But no matter what type of skin condition you have, it will surely help you a lot.
Improved Memory
Whoever thought a practice where you just need to do some body positions and deep breathing that can work wonder for your brain. As we keep saying that yoga is all about your mental calmness, it will improve different functions of our brain. One of them is cognitive functioning which is basically enhancing your memory.
High Sense of Awareness
Yoga can help you to get a high sense of awareness. Remember what Ross said in Friends (Tv Show)? ‘Unagi” a total awareness. Yes, you can achieve your unagi by performing yoga. Why awareness is important? Awareness is important because it gives you the proper direction for each activity. Having proper awareness means you have proper control over your mind. You know what you are doing, what you are saying or what you are thinking. As you get a sharp sense of awareness you will learn how to think better, hear better, see better and also perceive better. Our mind always swinging back and forth between many thoughts and yoga is a great way to stop this roller coaster ride of your thoughts. This self-awareness will be your main way to all success.
Becomes Happy
Last, but not least the greatest benefit that you can get from doing yoga is getting happiness. Yes, it is like a wrap up for all these 19 benefits. If you read all of them, you will see these all are resulting in less pain in your body and in your mind. Yoga introduces you to yourself. You get to know better about yourself. You can achieve your peace of mind that you deserve. Once you have peace in your mind, you know what you need to do with your life. Yoga boots up your confidence and gives relief you from both physical and mental pain and when you don’t have any stress or pain you will be able to live a happy life.
Hope this article was able to help you and encouraged you to start doing yoga. Also, we have reviewed yoga mats and yoga swings which are essential yoga elements, feel free to check them out.
It is always difficult to start something new. With all the overwhelming information regarding yoga, it is very common that one may feel confused at the initial stage about how to start yoga. To start doing yoga you don’t have to think about your age, your fitness goal or anything else. Because this is one type of exercise that don’t have any side effects. It works internally and that why you feel the results from your inside. You will be looking good and feeling good. So, it is never too late to start yoga. Thus, if you are thinking to start it but don’t know how to start then keep reading this article. Here we have discussed how you can start yoga from a total beginner’s perspective.
Let’s Start our Article How to Start Yoga
Learn a Little About Yoga Basic
You can do yoga at your own house. However, it is always better to learn it in a class with other people. Just like a gym, when there are other people it gives you the opportunity to see them and you learn from them. Therefore, before you go to a class learn about some yoga basics. It is not mandatory, because in any beginner’s class they will teach you all the basic, but still if you go there having some prior ideas then it will be easy for you to grab the information.
For example, there are different types of yoga. Get an idea about the most popular and basic yoga types. Like, Hatha Yoga, Asthanga or Power Yoga. These are some very basic yoga types, but among them, Hatha yoga is really good for beginners. So, research a little about it before you attend a class. On the other side, there are some yoga types like Kundalini where you will have to be more concentrated, chanted and must incorporate with different spiritual elements. As a beginner catching these things will be really hard for anyone. Therefore, you need to know which type of exercise you are going to start.
Learn About Basic Yoga Poses
Once you get to know about the type, familiarize yourself with the basic poses. Sometimes what happens, that learners get confused with all the difficult yoga pose’s names. Therefore, it can be a really good idea if you know a little bit about the yoga poses and their names. Most of the poses have either an English or Hindi name. For example, Balasana is called Child’s Pose in English. So, depending on which type of instructor you have to learn one. Most of the times instructors mention both names.
Start with Your First Yoga Pose
Once you decide your yoga type and the pose, you can start practicing your first yoga pose. The first and the most important rule here is, give attention to your breathing. Deep breathing is the key to every yoga style. Sit on a comfortable place on the floor and start with a relaxed pose. Take deep breathes with your nose and fill out your belly with air. Give your full concentration at your breathing and that’s how you start with yoga.
Now you may think it is easy, that all you need to do is deep breathing. But, it more than just breathing. You must keep all your concentration on your breathing and relax your back muscle. This is the most essential part of doing yoga. Gradually you will find out that you have more control over your breathing than before. You will feel the change. Once you start feeling that calmness you will start stretching your arms and legs and will do different yoga poses.
As you feel comfortable with different leg and hand position you will move to learn about the advanced workout. But the first step is to learn how to breathe.
Picking up a Direction
Before you start doing yoga you need to decide which direction you want to go. Now, in this case, there is no rule, it totally depends on how you feel. If you are someone who feels more tired and cannot cope up with the time, then you have to pick a short and retroactive practice session. On the other side, if you are looking for more stability in your life then you may start with the standing position. Doing standing poses will give you a sense of stability. Or, if you are planning to start yoga because you need that boost up your energy level then add backends. You need to identify yourself which yoga is meeting your needs and giving you more strength.
Home or Class
You can be confused about whether you will start at your own home or in a class. As we said before it is always better to practice in a class. However, if there are no top-quality yoga classes available at your area then you can obviously start in your home. In that case, make sure you are learning it from experience and high-quality yoga DVD or video. There are many yoga programs available on the internet also. Before you start following someone have a look at their videos, the reviews, and all the details. Whether those videos are designed for beginners or not make sure to check that.
People with really busy time schedule you can look out for AM/PM Yoga. This type of yoga is designed for people who can only manage sometime in the morning and at night and comes with a lot of gentle and easy workouts. If you are doing yoga in your own home, you must ensure that you are choosing a very quiet place with no other disturbance of others. You need to choose a specific area where you will practice yoga every time. in this way, that space will become your own physical space. That place doesn’t need to be very spacious. It can be small, but it needs to be refreshing, not a suffocated lace. Place a yoga matt and if you want you can use some mist in the place to create a spiritual atmosphere.
Yoga at A Class
Now, if you are going to practice yoga at a class then you need to follow some basic rules. There is something you need to know and follow before you go to your first class.
First, go timely and if possible early. As you are a first timer you need to go a little early to the session so that you can have some time to adjust with the environment. You will also get to know about your place and where to store your props and all.
Next, take out your yoga matt with yourself. Now, there are some classes where you don’t need to take but it is always good if you take your own. As you need to feel very comfortable while doing all those yoga positions. After you enter the class roll out the matt and take a comfortable position.
As you are a beginner you need to share your thoughts and requirements in detail with your yoga instructor. This is very important, you have to mention your experience and also about any injuries that you have. Don’t feel shy to share these things.
Next, try to follow the class flow. Don’t panic or stress out if you cannot follow the flow of the class. It is very normal that first 2/3 days you will feel a little nervous to practice. But don’t make this an issue and discourage yourself to continue. Almost every yoga class will start with some breathing exercises and then it moves to different yoga poses. If you cannot keep u the pace at all, immediately inform your instructor.
Lastly, one of the most important rules at a yoga class is to maintain silence.
Set a Limit
Yoga is just like any other exercise. You need to set an aim and a limit. What works for someone else might not work for you. Therefore, you have to identify what works best for you and according to that set your limit. Now, there are actually no yoga poses which can be harmful to your body, but it is more like some yoga poses might not be so effective for you. On the other side, if you have any specific injury for example back pain or knee injury then you must choose to keep that in mind. Just don’t for with the popular ones. There are many yoga poses which require much strength and balance. If you are not comfortable doing those poses, then don’t go for. Yoga is all about learning about yourself and your limits. You cannot be harsh to yourself while practicing yoga for the first time. You need to feel calm and relaxed. Therefore, don’t set higher limits and don’t complicate your yoga sessions. There is nothing to feel embarrassed if you cannot do a certain pose.
15 Minute Yoga
For beginners, the best is to start with a short period of a yoga session. As we mentioned that yoga s all about how well you can keep your concertation. For any beginner, it will be really difficult to keep their concertation for a longer period. Therefore, it is best to start with a 15-minute yoga. In this short session of yoga, start with the central rule of breathing. You can practice the simple yoga poses like downward facing dog pose and then end up by doing the mountain pose. Keep your neck and hand relaxed.
You can also try a little longer like a 20-minute yoga. Here you also stretch your arms and legs. Start with these short sessions and gradually you will be able to move for a longer session. How often you should practice yoga again depends on person to person. However, it is advised to practice yoga t least 3 times per week when you are at a beginner level.
Know the Benefits
One great way to keep motivated to continue your yoga sessions is to know its great benefits. Because for many people this doesn’t look like a proper workout. If you are confused about whether yoga helpful or not, then try to talk with someone who has been practicing yoga for many years. An experienced yogic can motivate you to do your sessions. If you don’t know any person personally then look out on the internet. You will get to know a lot of health benefits of yoga. Knowing these benefits will help you to continue your yoga sessions.
Get the Yoga Mindset
Yoga is a practice that builds up a connection between your body and mind. There will be times when you don’t feel to continue, but no matter what you must keep moving. You need to set the yoga mindset that it is a self-inquiry system and you cannot just quit it in the middle of the road. Before you start your first class you will have to set this mindset. The successful yoga session is where you can give your full attention and get a feel of relaxation. It is much more than doing just those poses. It is almost like to dive into yourself. You must know why you are doing it and what are you doing.
To sum up, we want to say that there is no easy way to achieve something. But remember, if you can breathe that means you are able to do yoga. Yes, it is that simple. Start with simple poses and keep your mindset stable. Yoga is the best way to know yourself and to let go of stress and pain. It will take a lot of time to get its benefits but trust us once you have the benefits these are for a lifetime. it is a cleansing of your mind and body. It may take months or even year, but that doesn’t matter. Don’t just give up in the middle.
Hope this article was able to help you with the information that you are looking for. We wish you all a happy mind.
