Why is yoga so important for children? Nowadays children are too busy and that generates stress. In addition to going to school all day, they have sports and other activities, and also homework in the afternoons when they get home.
The practice of yoga is important to them for many of the reasons it is important for adults. It helps them relax, relieve stress and anxiety, sleep better, and improve emotional control and moods.
The practice of yoga teaches children to be more aware, that is, to see the various situations they go through and the thoughts and emotions they generate, from a broader perspective.
There are many very effective exercises that can be learned in the best yoga courses for children, which help them to be more present, even more anchored in the here and now, and thus away from the repetitive thoughts that create tension and negativity.
Children are in the process of learning what it is and how to manage stress. It is up to us to provide them with effective and appropriate tools to help them manage their emotions, especially in conflict situations.
Here are 7 amazing benefits of yoga for kids
1.   Yoga improves memory and cognitive functioning
Some yoga poses, particularly balance poses, require a high level of concentration.
When children practice yoga, they are essentially practicing their ability to focus on the task at hand. In their daily lives, this translates into greater ability to focus and improved cognitive functioning in school, which translates into better academic performance.
2.   Yoga improves social relationships
Yoga is generally considered an individual activity. While that’s partially true, yoga has a social component. We attend yoga classes with other people and participate in the yoga community where we can share our experiences with others.
For children, the whole practice of yoga is social. Yoga for kids usually includes songs, games, and other fun activities that get kids moving together and learning from each other. This creates a positive and engaging environment in which children can have fun, talk to each other, and learn to trust each other.
Yoga also helps cultivate greater self-esteem, self-confidence, and empathy in children, which translates into more positive and open relationships. Yoga helps you sleep better
We tend to think that children “have it easy” and that they don’t feel stressed, but this is simply not true. Children aren’t stressed about paying bills or getting to work on time, but they’re stressed about schoolwork and relationships with their peers.
Practicing yoga helps children relieve stress by using the breath to calm the mind and nervous system. The physical practice of yoga also helps relieve tension and release negative emotions physically contained in the body, which is key to falling asleep and its regenerative effect.
Yoga improves strength and breath control
Yoga requires some strength, both mental and physical. When we practice it regularly, we notice many physical and cognitive changes, particularly increased flexibility, upper body strength, and mental clarity. All this newfound strength has a lot to do with breathing.
When we breathe hard or quickly, we increase muscle tension, reduce concentration, and trigger the body’s response to stress.
Teaching proper breathing techniques and developing physical and mental strength from an early age helps reduce the chances of having obesity, and going through depressive processes.
Yoga increases determination and perseverance
Children also love the feeling they get when they master what they find very difficult, such as certain poses. But when after some practice they end up mastering it, they are very excited.
This determination and perseverance is what leads to the feeling of excitement. When they experience it, children will do anything to repeat it in whatever they do, without being overcome by the difficulties that always appear.
Yoga improves self-regulation
Self-regulation is the ability to recognize and change your behavior, thoughts, and emotions based on the situation at hand. Self-regulation skills help children solve problems and adapt to new challenges, as well as help them set and achieve both short-term and long-term goals.
By paying attention to our minds and bodies, we look inward to better understand our thoughts and feelings. Practicing yoga helps children develop this ability.
Yoga reduces stress and anxiety
Like any physical exercise, practicing yoga helps children release their negative thoughts and feelings, generate mental clarity, and feel better about themselves. When we do something physical, like yoga, we release endorphins, creating feelings of calm and happiness.
For children, it is important that we teach them to manage negative emotions, which accumulate in bodies in the form of energy, which we call stress, or anxiety when it becomes difficult to master.
Where to learn yoga for kids
We do not want to leave our children in the hands of people who are not trained to deal adequately with them, and help them in their physical and mental development.
For this reason, it is important to choose centers and / or professionals experienced in working with children, who know how to organize a class and pay attention to the particular needs of each of them.
A center that inspires me with total confidence, for the quality of the teaching staff and for its understanding of the fundamentals of yoga and meditation is the yoga school for children of kavaalya.
