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Family Meditation
Yoga Poses for All Ages
Mindful Parenting
Learning to slow down is a lifelong practice. Finding ways to be mindful with your children will not only help them hone on the skill but also create memorable and beautiful experiences. Eliza Whiteman, a Charlottesville mom of four and Certified Prenatal and Children’s Yoga teacher, agrees, saying, “Children’s yoga and family yoga are great ways to spend time together with a purpose. Yoga poses tap into a child’s creative outlet, allowing them to make shapes with their body or go on an adventure with a sequence of poses.” Whiteman, who is also a Certified Power Vinyasa teacher, owns FlyDog Yoga with her husband. From experience with their children, ages 4, 6, 8 and 10, she explains, “the controlled deep breathing of yoga allows children and adults to calm their state of mind and enhances focus in the present.” Here are three poses for various age groups that you can do with your family: Double Seated Easy Pose. This one would be primarily for a younger age. The adult sits in a crossed-leg seated position called Sukhasana, “Easy Pose,” and the child sits in their lap. With arms extended and hands on your knees, close your eyes and focus on taking 10 deep breaths together. Sometimes, you may find the by Danielle Sullivan child wants to sit together longer. From here, you can also reach your arms up and over to the right, and then to the left side. While posing, ask your child what you could pretend to be (arms swaying back and forth) ... grass, seaweed, anemones. Tree Pose (Vrksasana). This is a multi-age pose that has various variations for all abilities. It’s a fun way to build focus, balance and work together as a team. For younger ages, start by having both parent and child standing on their left foot. Place the sole of your right foot against the inside of your left leg, above or below the knee. Once you find your balance, reach out and hold hands. You can sway with the breeze to make it a bigger challenge. With older or taller children, stand beside one another hip to hip. You will lift opposite legs—the outside legs—for Tree Pose. Hold each other up with the inside arm and reach the outside arms up to touch. Crow Pose (Bakasana). This is an empowering pose for anyone. You are learning to hold yourself up with your own two hands. You don’t even have to lift your legs off the ground to benefit For other local family activities, from this pose. Start in a squat with your hands pressed down see our Family Fun section on on the ground. Lift your heels, and bring your knees high up CharlottesvilleFamily.com. against the backs of your arms. Look out ahead and begin to tilt forward. You can come to your tiptoes or even lift your feet off the floor. I am always amazed at how much fun children have playing with trying to figure out this more complex pose. Lizard on a Rock. It is a partner pose where the adult is in Child’s Pose on the floor (best done on carpet or a mat to protect the knees). Child’s Pose is where knees are hip width apart, big toes touching, chest down toward the mat and arms reaching out long in front of the mat. The child softly (!) lies back-to-back with the adult. Your child will straighten out their legs to the floor and reach their arms up so you can both hold hands. Even if you don’t get into yoga poses initially, “the biggest advice I can give is to just get on the floor and play with your child,” says Whiteman. “These poses give a starting point to bonding on a deeper level. They can open up and show you a whole new perspective through the act of creative play. The poses do not have to be correct. Just start with one pose, and see where that takes you!”
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Danielle, a mom of three, is a parenting writer and editor, specializing in health, lifestyle and pets. She loves to find new ways to bring more Zen and mindfulness into her daily (hectic) life.
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October 2017