Yoga offers many benefits to children, such as improving concentration and focus, promoting calm and reducing stress. If you have wanted to teach your child the benefit of yoga, but haven’t found the right resources, Create a Yoga Practice for Kids by Yael Calhoun and Matthew Calhoun may help.
There are a growing number of programs for children and parents are sharing their practice with their kids for the physical and emotional benefits. This book provides an easy way to introduce children to yoga. It’s a good choice for parents, teachers and yoga teachers working with children.
One thing that sets this book apart from most other yoga books for kids is the yoga lesson plans. Most books teach poses, but not sequences. This leaves the parent or teacher with the job of trying to string together a series of poses to create a custom practice for the child.
The flowing practices in this book are based on themes and provide a good way to teach yoga, whether you are teaching your own child or introducing yoga to your class. Some of the themes include Poses that Melt, Poses that Kick and Poses You can do in line and those you cannot.
The authors have created a comprehensive, user friendly guide for parents and teachers. The book has concise and easy to understand descriptions and illustrations that are easy to follow and understand.
In addition to the yoga sequences, the book has yoga games that are fun to play with a group of children, such as siblings, a classroom or after school program. The yoga games include an alphabet game, awareness games, breathing games and more.
There is a section of the book that is devoted to yoga in the classroom. The exercises in this section are easy to include in the daily flow of the school day. Yoga in Your Chair and Yoga at Your Desk are quick exercises that use the desk or chair, which is perfect for busy teachers with limited time and limited space.