If your children are like mine, they love doing things with their parents. They love to feel a part of something and they love sharing something that’s just between them and their mom or dad or both. Mark Singleton’s Yoga For You and Your Child addresses the needs of parents and children who want to share, workout and live well together.
Parents who work out with their children or in front of their children are leading by example. In Singleton’s book, he uses detailed explanations in plain language and fun photographs to demonstrate workouts and yoga postures that are designed specifically for children and parents working out with their children.
The book has more than 40 exercises and it pays more attention to safety and fun than it does on deep yoga techniques. The sessions are supposed to be interactive, child-friendly and exciting adventures for children to venture on and plays to the strength of children. They will imitated animal shapes, noises and walks.
The book begins with the advice that to maximize the potential offered by Yoga for Your and Your Child you should do your own yoga workouts separate from your workouts with your child. This is important because you want to be able to focus on the fun with your child rather than on the workout you may or may not be getting.
Some exercises you can perform include:
· The Cat – The posture is designed to loosen up the neck, shoulders and spine. It also teaches children how to synchronize their breathing with movement. The posture begins with you and your child on your hands and knees. Hands should be directly beneath shoulders and knees beneath hips. Try to make the back as flat as possible. As you breath out, lift your back up high and push down to round out the back and drop the head. This is called “Angry Cat.” Next, breath in, lower the back and push the belly button towards the floor while lifting head up to look at the sky. This is “Happy Cat.” You can even use meowing as a way to practice the breathing.
· The Swamp Monster – This works on lower back and the backs of the legs to keep them supple. Because of the posture, the brain and the glands in the throat and neck receive a good supply of oxygen-rich blood. Stand with feet hip-distance apart, extend forward from the waist and keep the spine long. Put hands under the feet with the palms facing up. Start walking forward slowly, stepping your hand and foot forward first and then left hand and foot. Pretend to be a monster, crawling out of the swamp. You can even growl as part of an exhale.
These types of exercises are a lot of fun for little ones. They crack my five-year-old up. Her attention span lasts about 30-minutes, but we do it two or three times a week and she gets a big hoot out of it. She practices on her own as much as she does with me; enjoying the play that goes with making the animal poses.
The book also includes breathing and meditation exercises designed for children. Depending on their age and attention span, you can experiment with them. Singleton’s book is a fabulous addition to any family home library and exercise routine. Explore how yoga practice can teach children to cope better with stress and prevent posture problems later in life. The breathing techniques and meditation exercises are ideal for calming and soothing children at night and helping them to get to sleep.