Are your kids stressed out? With today's fast paced life mixed with loud, fast, in-your-face videogames, it's no wonder! Kids are overscheduled and becoming burned out at much too young an age. As parents, what can we do about this? The answer is simple.
Yoga.
"But how?" you ask, "My kids wouldn't like yoga, it's boring!" Not so with animal yoga poses. Animal yoga poses for kids introduces them to yoga in a fun and creative way, by allowing them to use their imaginations. What child wouldn't like to pretend to be a dog, or a butterfly?
The beauty of yoga is that you can begin wherever you like. Here are some great animal poses your kids may enjoy:
Down Dog
1. Stand with feet flat on the ground.
2. Slowly bend at the waist until your hands reach the ground.
3. Lean your body back slightly until you resemble and upside down V.
4. Bark, loudly, until the neighbors come over to find out what's going on.
Lion
1. Sit on your legs with knees bent (basic hero pose).
2. Stick your tongue out as far as you can.
3. Breathe out with force while roaring like a lion
4. Do this several times.
Camel
1. Sit on your knees
2. Reach behind your body and grab the soles of your feet (if you can).
3. Decide what kind of noise you think a camel makes...
Butterfly
1. Start by sitting on the floor with the soles of your feet together.
2. Take a moment to relax all your muscles and let your knees sink closer to the floor.
3. Sit up tall, and hold your feet.
4. Begin to gently "flap" your legs up and down as if you were a butterfly. You can even pretend to be a butterfly gathering nectar!
Cat
1. Get on all fours.
2. Arch your back up really tall, as if you were an angry cat. The kids will probably enjoy hissing to complete the picture.
3. Gently let your back fall into a sway, then arch it back up again.
4. Mewing and hissing are greatly encouraged - come on, it's too fun not to!
Cobra
1. Lay down on your stomach.
2. Place your hands directly by your chest.
3. Push your upper body upward as far as you can.
4. Now pretend you are a cobra and hiss!
We all need to relax, and yoga has been the preferred method of natural relaxation for millenia! Using animal yoga poses for kids will introduce them to a lifetime of stress relief that will benefit them for years to come.
For more, read about the 26 Bikram Yoga poses that make up Yoga programs for adults.
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