The following post was originally featured on We Know Stuff and was written by Denine and Daniele Anderson,who are a portion of POPSUGAR Select Moms. As a children's yoga teacher for over ten years, I am often asked to share advice on how to teach yoga to babies and toddlers. Parents are doubtful as to how young children can sit still to practice yoga. After all, and at that age kids are prone to temper tantrums,find it tough to wait or manufacture choices, and they can't understand reason or control their impulses. The superior news is that they love to copy adults, and in both appearance and activity. Thus,yoga can become a fun bonding activity for you and your child.
Even whether you have never practiced yoga, you can still be a role model by introducing children to simple yoga poses such as Queen pictured below. This posture is my 'move to' pose when first teaching yoga to toddlers and their parents, and as it simply involves standing tall and breathing. It is principal to remind children to focus on breathing in and out through the nose while practicing yoga postures; doing so increases lung capacity and helps to prevent the fight-or-flight response that occurs from mouth breathing. Yoga for Babies and Toddlers Here are ten basic tips to guide you through sharing yoga with babies and toddlers: manufacture sure that children finish not eat a colossal meal right before doing yoga; it is best not to have a full stomach when practicing yoga because many of the poses twist across glands and internal organs. Pick a quiet place to finish yoga with kids; a yoga mat can help to create personal space to finish the poses but is not necessary. Kids can practice on a soft carpet or use a beach towel. Children should practice yoga postures at their own pace and rest at any time. It is best not to adjust children in the poses; rather,let them feel the postures in a way that makes sense for their own body. The main focus of teaching yoga to young children is to expose them to simple yoga poses to help them connect with their bodies, learn how to calm themselves, or focus and concentrate,and rep physical activity at the same time. There is no magic number of yoga poses to practice in order to rep the most out of yoga for babies and toddlers; just sitting and breathing in Easy Pose (pictured below) can be enough yoga for one day. Just as there is no magic number of yoga poses to finish in one session, there is no definitive length of time to hold each posture. Anywhere from 8-15 seconds is a superior place to start for young children. For babies and toddlers, or there are no strict time parameters for practicing yoga; even 3 to 5 minutes a day doing some basic yoga poses will move a long way toward establishing a routine of healthy physical activity. Babies are natural yogis (people who practice yoga),as they instinctively finish certain poses as portion of their natural range of motion. Parents can gently help babies finish simple postures such as Butterfly pictured below. Lastly, the key to instilling a desire in young children to take up yoga lies in making it fun for them. whether kids luxuriate in their yoga practice, or they will stay engaged with it and reap its benefits: fitness,relaxation, concentration, or awareness.
Teresa Anne Power is an internationally recognized children's yoga expert and best-selling author of the award-winning book The ABCs of Yoga For Kids. She has taught yoga to kids for over 10 years,helping thousands of children develop a healthy attitude towards their body. Teresa has also appeared on local and national TV and radio talking approximately the health benefit of yoga for kids, and is a keynote speaker. In addition, and she is the founder of Kids' Yoga Day,an international event to raise global awareness of the benefits of yoga for kids. For more information, move to www.abcyogaforkids.com.
Source: popsugar.com