The modern world moves very fast for kids. And the pressure to keep up is at an all-time high. Think of school grades, friendships, video games, competitive sports, and many other things. The bustling pace of our world can profoundly affect their innate joy and how they will behave as adults.
We all know the physical benefits of yoga, but this ancient practice expands way beyond them. Yoga practice can reach a child’s spiritual side and start developing it early—no wonder why yoga for kids has been on the rise in the last decade.
According to CDC, children aged 4–17 years who used yoga in the past 12 months increased from 3.1% in 2012 to 8.4% in 2017. Even meditation among children increased significantly!
Yoga for kids can promote child’s spiritual development, and this is how:
1. Yoga for Kids Elevates Mindfulness
Yoga for children works similarly to yoga for adults. It can decrease stress and anxiety while increasing emotional wellness.
Focusing the mind on the present moment will emphasize mindfulness consciously. By staying in the present moment purposefully, kids can learn to approach things thoughtfully and without attachment. In addition, kids can learn to observe their thoughts and feelings without judgment - something that even most adults can’t do.
The regular use of mindfulness tactics in yoga is essential to help kids manage current and future stresses. Meditation in yoga classes can elevate mindfulness even more!
2. Cultivates Spiritual Awareness
Cultivating spiritual awareness will allow kids to begin to understand their being to become whole with the universe. It’s when they can learn to unite their spirits with their physical bodies in a commonality of purpose. These concepts might sound difficult for kids, but they can understand them slowly and unconsciously through yoga.
Spiritual awareness also means that kids will start thinking of themselves less than individuals but more as part of a whole existence. They will recognize that all things spring from the same source and share a connection.
3. Gives Acceptance For Everything
Yoga poses done in practice slows everything down. This slow pace is necessary in this fast-paced world to practice a different way of thinking that will build acceptance and gratitude towards our environment and the reality we live.
Acceptance will give kids the ability to value all parts of who they are. Kids will also learn how to acknowledge the things that need improvement. This will especially come in handy in later years!
For most of us, self-acceptance can be challenging. We tend to be critical of ourselves, but yoga is the way to learn to accept yourself from the beginning. That’s why learning acceptance from an early age is essential.
4. Enhances Mind-Body Connection
The mind-body connection describes the link between mental and physical health. It includes emotions, social interactions, behavior, and more.
Kids’ thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and attitudes can be intense. And it might positively or negatively affect their biological functioning and growth.
Yoga poses such as the tree pose are perfect examples of how yoga can teach mental and physical stability and balance. Practicing yoga poses can calm down the mind so that physical health is improved. It’s a win-win situation if the yoga teacher does it right.
For kids to learn and enhance mind-body connection early can be a gamechanger to their adult years.
5. Teaches Compassion & Empathy
A good yoga program can play an essential role in bringing compassion awareness to mind.
One of the most significant benefits of yoga for kids is that it teaches them to be more positive and kind. Kids sometimes can be rude to others, and it is important to bring them more sense of compassion, love, and respect. The earlier it’s done, the better their future will be.
Teaching kids cooperation and compassion is a great gift to give our children.
6. Inspires More Curiosity & Freedom
Curiosity about our world is inbuilt in young children. And nothing can take that away from them. But practices such as yoga can enhance this beautiful trait even more. Nurturing this freedom to explore the unknown will help kids understand that they are part of something bigger. Not just part of their school class or sports team.
This extra curiosity can lead kids to learn more about astronomy or astrology. Maybe even inspire to cultivate healthy living habits and harmonious practices such as meditation!
More curiosity to see and learn will unveil children’s real passion, potential, and beauty within themselves. This can be a huge confidence boost for kids, allowing them to achieve more success in the future.
