Just because you’re a parent now, doesn’t mean you have to give up all of the things you love to do. In fact, it means that you now have a mini version of yourself to share fun and beneficial things with! A lot of yoga practicing parents end up pushing their yoga practice to the side, or cutting it short.
And granted, there will be days and times when that will occur, but why not start enlightening your children at a young age by having them participate with you? Kids are naturally flexible, inquisitive, and want to do what mommy or daddy is doing too. Not to mention, they love all of the fun animal named asanas—so give it a try, unroll a mat for that tiny yogi, and get your Om on together.
Here are several easy, fun and stress relieving postures to try with your kids…
Happy Baby
This pose is simple, grounding and does a multitude of fantastic things for your body. Gently stretching the inner groin muscles, opening the hips, and lightly stretching the spine.
Happy baby is calming for the brain, and relieves stress, while stretching the arms and shoulders. Share a story or two with your child about how you saw them in this exact pose as a baby!
Warrior I and II
While there are 3 versions of Warrior pose, I and II are most easily practiced for a child. These poses have many benefits, they strengthen the legs, and open the hips and chest.
Warrior I and II poses will also help you feel grounded while strengthening the shoulders, back and arm muscles. Teach your child to stand tall, strong, and stretch their arms to the sky!
Bow Pose
Bow pose is lots of fun with a little partner. Kids tend to love this posture, and it will love them back! The benefits to Bow Pose are that it stretches the entire front of the body, ankles, thighs and groin.
Bow pose also expands the chest and shoulders, flexes the gluteus muscles and gently stretches the muscles in the arms.
Downward Facing Dog
Children love imitation and animals! If you have a family dog, encourage them to practice this pose by impersonating “Fluffy” or “Fido”. While they may not mind much about the benefits of this pose, they will surely have fun with it.
For the adults, here’s the down low on Downward Dog—this pose works by elongating and releasing tension from the spine while strengthens the arms, shoulders, and back. Downward dog also relieves backache, fatigue, insomnia and headaches. This pose is a mild inversion, which helps calm the nervous system and relieve stress.
Cat/Cow Pose
This is another fun animal pose you can share with your child. Weather you have a feline family member or not. Cat/cow pose is easy, fun and good for everybody!
This posture helps increase the mobility of your vertebrae, releasing pressure throughout the spine. Cat/cow also strengthens back and abdominal muscles, as well as your arm muscles.
Tree Pose
Balance, breathe and reach for the sky! Be a tree! Your mini me will love this. Tree pose has many great benefits as well, consisting of the following benefits—calming and quieting the mind and central nervous system.
Tree pose also works to strengthen your posture, your thighs, calves, core, and foot muscles. This pose will help develop and condition balance, as well as full body awareness.
Child’s Pose
The pose that you can confidently explain to your child, was created by kids. Let them know this one was made just for them! Granted at the end of a long day of parenting and life, this pose may seem incredibly inviting to you.
Child’s pose is great for adults because it relaxes the spine, shoulders, and neck. Child’s pose also stretches your lower back, hips, thighs, knees and ankles, and calms the mind helping to reduce stress and tension.
