The benefits of yoga are many - decrease in blood pressure, increased flexibility, improved hand-eye coordination - but I am not an expert on the subject so will let you do your own research to discover those (and other) benefits. I have observed, however, that yoga in the classroom serves many children as effectively as any of the other activities on the shelves.
In the classroom, the Yoga activity is presented by the teacher to one or two children at a time. The materials required are just a yoga mat and a few pose cards.
Once the children have been shown how to do the yoga poses, they are welcome to unroll the mat and choose a few poses to practice when ever they want.
Yoga is easily transferred from the classroom ( or the Yoga studio) to the home and can be done by a child alone or with an adult. I like the thought of a child having his own yoga mat and his own cards so that he can practise at whim or join in when his parents are practising. With all that said, here are some pictures of M. at home with his yoga mat.
M. has already learned how to roll and unroll a work mat in the classroom so transferring that skill to a yoga mat is easy.
Then he takes off his shoes - just like in the classroom.
And begins to practise his poses.
Look at the joy on his face! What a great way to get in a little activity and a lot of fun.
Thanks, M.
