5 Poses to Prepare Lil' Yogis for Bedtime

  Every mom knows how important regular sleep is to a child's mental and physical development; and every mom knows that this importance is particularly hard to explain to a reluctant child come bedtime...  Luckily, yoga works as a fun way to help your little ones unwind when it's time to rest.  Try adding these five relaxing asanas to your child's bedtime routine - in just a few minutes your lil' yogi will be ready for a restful night's sleep.

1.  Rag Doll  With feet shoulder width apart, bend at the waist with knees soft and straight, letting head, torso, and arms hang down toward the floor.  Encourage your child to take a nice deep breath followed by an audible sigh, releasing any excess energy.

2.  Hare Pose   Reminding your little one to be quiet and still like a bunny, sit back on the feet in a low kneeling position, then fold the torso forward until the top of the head is on the ground and arms are back by the sides.  A few breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth will help reduce your child's heart rate and prepare the little yogi for sleep.

3.  Child's Pose   The classic yoga resting posture.  Begin on knees, sitting back on the feet.  Fold the torso forward with arms out in front, letting the forehead rest on the floor.  To help quiet the mind, have your lil' yogi roll the head side to side, gently massaging the forehead.






4.  Happy Baby   Getting sleepier... Lying on the back with knees bent, grab onto each foot.  Gently rock side to side to massage and relax the muscles of the back.





5.  Savasana   A relaxing end to a calming yoga sequence.  Get your lil' yogi tucked into bed for this final pose of the evening.  This would be a perfect time to talk your child through a guided meditation or read a short bedtime story - before long, he'll be fast asleep.

   A short yoga series works equally well with unwinding for nap time.  Encourage occasional deep breaths, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth.  Have a short playlist of soft instrumental music playing softly in the background, letting it play a minute or two into savasana until your yogi is asleep.  With the addition of yoga to the sleep routine, your child will be excited for nap time and bedtime!

Yoga for Cyber Age Kids: Tuning in to Inner Calmness

  Modern yoga has become wildly popular among everyone from expectant mothers to senior citizens.  This is no surprise to the seasoned yogi; all the known benefits of regular yoga practice make it well worth a try, and just one class will have you hooked.  As yoga continues to grow in the twenty-first century, it is time to share its invaluable rewards with the next generation of yogis: our children.

  Among the growing ranks of childhood epidemics in this country are the all too familiar attention deficit and behavioral disorders.  More and more kids each year are diagnosed and prescribed expensive medications to facilitate that coveted calm and focused classroom demeanor.

 Between television, video games, and the internet, kids are exposed to constant on-screen stimulation.  It is no wonder why a child does not know how to act when this stream of visual entertainment is interrupted, as is the case during school and at the dinner table. 

  Enter yoga.  One of the discipline's most celebrated benefits is that it promotes a state of centering and total calmness.  Yoga practitioners of all ages boast unparalleled placidity with regular asana, or yoga poses.  The Mayo Clinic even reports that yoga breathing, known as pranayama, can help you "control your body and quiet your mind."  Just a few hours a week of yoga offers kids an escape from the fast-paced digital world, just like it does for adults.  

 Yoga practice can teach children that while there is a time for TV and NintendoDS, there is also a time to turn them off.  As a little yogi learns to find his calmness without digital stimulation, this calmness will come more easily to him in the classroom as well - it just takes practice.

  Even the simplest postures can yield measurable results in coordination and self-control.  A yoga routine tailored to the needs and developmental capabilities of young yogis is a safe and effective way to exercise their minds and bodies together.  Kids yoga class makes for good old-fashioned unplugged fun!