I believe
that yoga is not exclusively to practice in a yoga studio, so I will talk about
how we can enjoy yoga at home and I will share some books that I think are
really helpful for parents to do yoga with their kids.
Trust
yourself
If you have
taken a yoga class, you know about yoga postures. Maybe you are not an expert,
or you don’t know the names of the poses in Sanskrit, or you don’t do postures
perfectly. But the only way to become better at something is to practice.
Therefore, I highly recommend practicing yoga in a funny way with the kids at
home. It doesn’t matter if you know a lot of yoga or not. You can start with
very simple poses that you feel confortable with. For example: During mornings you can do few sun
salutations with your favorite music, as a morning routine with your kiddos.
Another way could be doing yoga poses with your kids in afternoons before or
after the homework. There are very good books with games and activities for doing this.
Also, you can adapt almost any game that your kids like doing into yoga poses.
Books:
Trust yourself
and your yoga practice; trust what you learn in your yoga class. These books
are really helpful tools to do yoga with your kids at home or in any place that
you want to have a great time.
Respect
Yoga flows
naturally in kids, sometimes they don’t do the perfect postures but actually we
never do a perfect posture at the beginning. So, we should keep in mind that
this is not a proper yoga class; it is only practicing yoga in a beautiful environment
with family. That’s why I recommend respecting kids while they are doing yoga,
unless you feel that your kid could be hurt.
Of course, you can show them how to do the pose but if the kids are
doing the best that they can, criticizing them could hurt their self-esteem or
trigger rejection of yoga. Yoga cards are excellent sources for the kids, so
they can see how the posture is and imitate it. On the other hand if your kids
are taking yoga classes you also could respect what they have learned. Also you
can learn from them.
Flash cards
and games:
Yoga Pretzels (yoga cards) by Tara Guber, Lea Kalish, Sophie
Fatus
Relaxation
Kids love
relaxation! Really, who doesn’t? There
are some techniques to relax; the most common that we practice in yoga is the
last part of the class, when we lie down on the floor for few minutes. We can do this simple activity at home; we
can add relaxing music, incenses, candles, and essential oils. We don’t need to
pay an expensive spa to relax, we can create a specific moment to relax at
home, maybe after the shower or before the nap or before we fall asleep. Also, massage is a great way to relax. Breathing is another way to relax, the books
and the yoga cards that I mentioned before also contain relaxation activities
and breathing techniques. Another book with beautiful relaxation techiniques is
Ready..Set..R.E.L.A.X. by Allen and Klein.