Yoga can be boring and dull for a child because most kids would rather spend their time playing than sitting for long hours and breathing their way to exercise. That’s understandable. As a parent, it’s our duty to make sure our kids get involved with proper activities for their development.
“We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.”
– Jon Dryden
I’m a fan of habits. I believe getting used to good habits will make us a better person, while forming bad habits will make us worse. This is why I tried my best to get my kids do yoga at an early age. The first time I got my eldest to do yoga was at age six. Today, she’s already 10 years old and it made such an impact on how she developed.
We know for a fact that today’s generation lives in a very different environment as compared to us. Lightning-fast internet speeds, video calling, and the social media were a meager reality back then. Yet these are some of the factors that changed life as we know it. Kids of today face much more stressful stuff for their age. School-related tasks, after school activities, and keeping up with their circles in social media make it a lot harder.
This is why making your children participates in relaxing activities, like yoga, can give them a better chance of coping up. It can also help a child develop from inside-out.
Health is wealth
Apart from getting a great exercise, making yoga a part of your weekly routine could reinforce a healthy lifestyle. Yoga helps improve blood circulation, which provides fresh oxygen to the brain, therefore giving it more fuel for function and growth. Yoga is also a great way to tone the muscles without overworking them.
A peaceful mind is sharp
Yoga helps people of all ages concentrate by clearing unnecessary thoughts in their minds. This makes a person’s mind calmer, more centered, and relaxed, making it easier to focus on the “present”. This lowers down chances of being absent-minded, therefore yields more productivity. In fact, schools who encourage yoga in class saw a 20% increase in students feeling better about themselves, plus a 6% improvement in discipline inside the classroom.
Clarity in relationships with the kids
When properly practiced, yoga can help nurture relationships not just within the family, but with everyone else. It helps a person to ponder on their roles and how they are regarded by each person they know. Since successful relationships are founded on respect and in paying adequate attention to certain individuals, this makes it easier for people doing yoga in identifying their responsibilities and roles to the person at the other end of the relationship. Kids doing yoga show more tendencies of obedience and compliance with their parents. They are also more open to talk about sensitive topics like their crush at school, or if some kids are being rude to them.
Humans are co-inhabitants of the earth, and we are changing earth as we know it in a pace faster than expected. Rainforests and green fields are being converted to metropolitan jungles and housing plains just as fast as our population grow. With natural green spaces shrinking in numbers, doing yoga is one amazing way to reconnect with nature, and to reflect on our selves.
It’s never too late to do yoga. Regardless of ages, yoga proves to be an amazing activity that enhances and intertwines our body, mind, and soul into a meaningful harmony that transcends time and technology.
About the Author – Joanna is an entrepreneur mum blessed with 3 lovely children. She lives in Dubai with her family, and loves to travel and cook healthy meals for her kids. Check out what Joanna is doing to help parents in Dubai find afterschool enrichment activities.
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