Freedom for Our Children – The Yoga Way

Free·dom – ˈfrēdəm –noun

1. The power or right to act, speak or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.

Yoga is a celebration of the freedom we experience in our minds, bodies, hearts and souls. With so much competition, stress and difficulty young kids face, it has become very important that kids should learn yoga for their holistic development. When children learn techniques for self-health, relaxation, and inner fulfilment, they can navigate life’s challenges with a little more ease.

When kids start learning yoga at an early age, it encourages self-esteem and body awareness in them along with a physical activity that’s noncompetitive. Yoga fosters cooperation and compassion in children which is a great gift that they will possess for their life. Yoga is a path that can lead our kids to inner happiness and complete personal freedom.

Why and how yoga is beneficial for children?

The playfulness and the frolic that we see in our kids is a derivation of their elemental energy. The state of a kids health depends on the direction this energy is led. Kids grow up very quickly and their metabolism is much faster than adults. Teenaged children, both pre and post puberty, are going through an overhaul of hormonal balance in their bodies which then affects their behaviour and mental faculty.

Additionally, the state of modern education delivers an unimaginable amount of academic pressure on the child. The competition and the expectations to perform well have introduced kids to an unforgivable amount of stress that used to be the forte of adults. Practicing yoga may not reduce the societal pressure but a child can be better equipped to handle stress and perform well under these conditions.

Asanas for kids

Yoga certainly helps a child learn how to focus better and the ability to grasp a concept and then memorize it making kids more efficient to deliver the expectations. Yoga is the holistic approach that tackles all these issues by developing and strengthening the core of each individual kid, both physically and mentally.

Benefits of Tadasana or Mountain Pose

• Improves posture
• Strengthens thighs, knees, and ankles
• Increases awareness
• Steadies breathing
• Increases strength, power, and mobility in the feet, legs and hips
• Firms abdomen and buttocks
• Reduces flat feet

Benefits of Halasana or Plow Pose

• Improves digestion and appetite
• Effective in weight loss in obese children
• Strengthens the abdominal muscles
• Makes spinal cord strong and flexible
• It helps to reduce stress

Benefits of Paschimottansana or Seated Forward Bend Pose

• It acts as a stress reliever
• Remove anxiety, anger and irritability
• Calms the mind
• Stretches the spine and brings flexibility
• Good for constipation and digestive disorder
• Useful for increasing height

Benefits of Dhanurasana or Bow Pose

• Strengthens the back and abdominal muscles
• Opens up the chest, neck and shoulders
• Tones the leg and arm muscles
• Adds greater flexibility to the back
• Good stress and fatigue buster

Benefits of Padmasana or Lotus Pose

• Opens up the hips
• Stretches the ankles and knees
• Calms the brain
• Increases awareness and attentiveness
• Keeps the spine straight
• Helps develop good posture
• Helps to keep  joints and ligaments flexible

Yoga is meditative by nature. So whether your child is holding a balancing posture, sitting in meditation or moving through a series of poses, there’s going to be a calming, soothing effect.

This blog is hugely inspired by Anjuji, a person I stumbled upon by sheer luck, who teaches yoga selflessly to underprivileged children. She was kind enough to provide a lot of information for this article. Read my feature on her here – Yoga with Anju Mishra – A Blog Feature

Thank you Sabeeka for introducing me and passing the baton. Sabeeka writes at www.momsmethods.com. Catch her in more action on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. I further pass this baton of “freedom of expression” to Soumya who writes at www.thepinkdazzle.com. Take a look at her awesome work at Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

This blog is part of a series of 13 blogs written by 13 versatile bloggers writing for one common goal #FreedomToExpress.