Kids Yoga

Raising children today is challenging. It's alarming how many children would rather play on the computer or watch TV instead of play outside or run around like we did as children. It's scary how unsafe just playing outside has become. It makes things more challenging for parents to figure out how to allow our kids to have fun and freedom with still ensuring their safety.

The 50% obesity rate among children today is astonishing. Stress is effecting our children at earlier and earlier ages. The stress related to the competition in school, homework, family schedules and other activities. This stress can result in sleeping disturbances, eating disturbances, headaches, improper posture and more stress.

Introducing kids to yoga counteracts all of these scary effects by giving kids the tools to cope now and later in life. Yoga for kids combines yoga and play. Yoga will set a lifelong love of physical movement and enjoyment of life.

Introduce kids to this wonderful ancient discipline and allow them to explore it in a safe, knowledgeable and nurturing environment.

We encourage parents to ask questions and explore this experience with their children. Being able to bring yoga off the mat and into the rest of your child's life is just one of the countless benefits.

Tree Pose with a Historic Fort Langley Tree.

The Kids

Children are born yogi's, their joints are pliable & muscles are flexible. We also know that we lose these natural skills with age. Yoga encourages kids to explore and become stronger and more confident in their own bodies.

When we introduce yoga to kids we don't worry about getting exact postures or traditional pose names. We encourage the kids to feel comfortable in each pose and make it their own.

Some children are naturally driven to compete, to be the best, the fastest, and go the furthest. Stillness and calmness is often not in a child's tool box. Yoga helps to instil calm, confidence and balance. Most children learn through movement (are kinaesthetic learners). We want kids to think about what the posture means and become the posture, instead of just "doing" what the teacher says or does. We want them to become strong and confident like a warrior while in Warrior Pose.

Some important factors in yoga for kids is proper supervision (so we want to keep the classes small), proper breathing and hydration. We recommend sending a water bottle to class with your child.

Depending on the age of the children we want to introduce the idea of personal space, teaching them "with" (person to person) time and "within" (with yourself) time. These are very important life skills to introduce and get the child to use.

Striving towards

Developing body/kinaesthetic intelligence
Developing emotional intelligence & character
Developing Positive Social Interaction
Encouraging Creativity & Imagination

Benefits

Being comfortable with "within" time (solitude or alone time) which creates balance in life
Provides opportunity for a non-competitive activity
Developing flexibility, strength, stamina, agility, balance & coordination
Learning proper body alignment
Promoting mental & physical health
Creating a positive attitude toward exercise
Promotes concentration & self-discipline
Develops inner strength & clarity
Learn to value & use breath
Allow kids to be calm & inward focused
Builds cooperative skills & good social behaviour
Promote positive communication & good listening skills
Fostering self-respect, compassion & respect for others
Build self-confidence
Encourage creative imagination & self-expression

It is very important if your child has any special need or condition that permission from a physician before starting any sort of activity program. Asthma, Diabetes, Obesity, ADD/ADHD, Down Syndrome, Physical Disabilities, Cerebral Palsy, Brain Injury and Amputation are just some of the special conditions where a child can really benefit from yoga training from a trained professional.

Stages

Babies (Newborn to 3 years)

At this stage is Parent & child yoga. Moving children into poses with you and saying the names of the poses as you do them is the earliest form of introducing the practice of yoga to kids.

There are many video's, articles and classes around showing parents how to do yoga with their babies. Going into boat with baby on your lap, or downward dog with baby underneath us. If we encourage this they will enjoy growing up with yoga.

Our yoga job at this age is just encouraging baby to move & modeling movements for baby to watch & eventually copy.

Toddlers & Pre-school (3-5 years)

These Lil'Yogis have a pretty short attention span and they do want to do it all themselves. Lots of games & spontaneous play is what this group craves. The yoga games will be the things that really stick in this age groups mind. Also the children will jump at the chance to "pretend" and assume the roles of animals, trees, letters, flowers and warriors. They love to bark like a dog or hiss like a snake or meow like a cat.

With this age group we want they to learn to love movement, feel the movement and learn basic forms and names of poses.

Kids (5 to 9 years)

This beginning elementary school age group still enjoys imaginative games and activities. This age is ready for a bit more information than the age group before them so we add in a bit more information about the poses and their benefits. They also enjoy a bit of a challenge like holding a pose for a certain number of breaths or to be a sturdy a tree in a wind storm.

Kids (9 to 12 years)

This pre-teen age can be a bit of a tricky one. As kids start to grow up they start to get more modest about their bodies. The mind/body connection and feeling comfortable in our bodies are very important lessons to instil in this age group. Learning to respect others and our own bodies is a big part of this class. These kids patience and attention spans can handle a bit more "grown-up" approach for small spans of time but they still loves games and cooperative learning.

Teens (12 to 19)

Teens classes are very similar to adult classes, and they appreciate being treated as equals. They are ready for more physically-challenging movements & more detailed information throughout the class. At this age teens are trying to coordinate rapidly changing bodies and we can focus on strength and flexibility in the body.

Training Options with us

Currently we don't offer a on-going class. We have been unable to get enough interest for similar aged kids in the immediate area with compatible schedules.

Options

If you have a group friends and/or family of 4 to 8 children within one of the age groups above we would be glad to come to you. Cost for this service will depend on location & number of classes desired. Please inquire.
Yoga Birthday Parties for a flat fee we will bring a Kids Yoga Class to you complete with music, mats and all supplies needed. Please inquire.
We can create a custom program for you and your child. See our Virtual Yoga Training Information.

We look forward to introducing you and your child to the wonderful world of yoga.