Mindfulness is an essential practice meant to ground yourself and refocus. One way to make mindfulness a daily habit is to practice yoga. Yoga is not just for adults! There are many benefits of doing yoga with your children. Bari Koral, a renowned yoga instructor and author, has made a way to incorporate mindfulness and yoga with the Mindfulness Mat Kit complete with a mat, tips, and exercises. Mindfulness and yoga resources such as this can give children very important life skills that can help them succeed in and outside of the class room. Below is a more detailed explanation of how teaching yoga to kids and using yoga in the classroom can have a positive impact on children's well–being:
1. Yoga helps children manage their anxiety.
The breathing exercises and relaxation techniques learned from practicing yoga can help children with stress management. Teaching children how to reduce stress in a healthy way is an important life skill that will help them as children and as adults.
2. Yoga improves children's emotional regulation.
Another benefit of yoga for children is that it helps children learn to be in the present moment while relaxing and gaining a peaceful state of mind, which ultimately improves their emotional regulation.
3. Yoga boosts children's self-esteem.
Yoga for kids can do wonders for their self-esteem. Perfecting a pose or improving their balance and flexibility can give young children a sense of personal empowerment.
4. Yoga increases children's body awareness and mindfulness.
Going through a variety of yoga poses helps children learn about their bodies and the movements they're capable of doing.
5. Yoga enhances children's concentration and memory.
One of the top benefits of kids' yoga is that the different types of moves requires children to focus and work on their memorization skills–both of which can translate over into their academic performance.
6. Yoga develops children's strength and flexibility.
Yoga helps strengthen children's growing bodies and helps them improve their flexibility, which can reduce their chance of injury.
7. Yoga teaches discipline and reduces impulsivity.
Yoga can reduce challenging behaviors in the classroom by providing a physical outlet for children to express themselves. It also teaches children about discipline as they work on clearing their minds and perfecting their poses.
