Children's Yoga

Budding Buddhas (tm) is a children's yoga business founded by Certified Children and Adult Yoga Instructors, Michelle Valentine and Susan Fried. The inspiration from this blog will come from the hundreds of children we teach each week. 

People often ask us if children's yoga "helps" kids. Whether talking about a preschooler or a tween, our  answer is almost always the same...... we strongly believe yoga gives children important tools to use in their everyday lives and it almost always makes them feel good about themselves. The yogini's (little yogi's) might use these tools right away or they might pull them out in the future and without even realizing it.  

Our classes are fun and a bit challenging which keeps the child engaged while building a body and mind connection.

We have seen preschoolers who couldn't stand on one leg at first end up holding tree pose for 10 counts and we have been told by many tweens & teens that they use deep breathing to help calm themselves down before a test or sporting event.

As important is the feedback we get from teachers and parents.  So often the children go home and show their parents a pose they learned in yoga (ie. tree or down dog).  They are proud to be doing yoga and proud of their achievement.

We truly believe children's yoga helps improve focus, balance, flexibility and stress which comes at any age.  

For preschoolers, it helps with concentration, balance, focus and confidence and they learn through the breath work to calms their bodies when they are frustrated or angry and i can honestly say that it works!  

With tweens, it helps with confidence, focus, inner and outer strength and self awareness. Through the practice which may include partner poses or games, we often address issues relevant to that age group.  We may practice partner poses and heart openers which may lead to a discussion about challenges in friendships or what it means to be a good person.  

We tell parents that we are teaching their children life skills through yoga and we don't worry so much about the intricicies of the pose/asana.  If they are practicing safely and they feel good in the pose then our job is half done!  

We have found that at any age, if the Yoga Session is fun and engaging then the benefits will follow.

A new six-week series for children ages 4-6 at Yoga Haven in Scarsdale begins March 11.  Contact buddingbuddhas@gmail.com.