Yoga for Kids: 10 Easy Yoga Poses and Their Health Benefits

Fitness

Yoga is an amazing practice and lifestyle for people of all ages. However, the style of one’s practice changes depending on one’s age and specific needs.

Children, in particular, can greatly benefit from a regular yoga practice for many reasons. These benefits include but are not limited to:

Sensory input
Balance
Release of excess energy
Helping with anxiety/depression
Better sleep
Focus
Relaxation
Stress reduction
Better alignment of the body/posture
Increased strength

Due to the many ways children can benefit from a regular yoga practice, some schools have begun to integrate yoga into their curriculum, programs, and philosophies. However, this change has only been made in a fraction of schools worldwide, and a lot of kids do not receive the opportunity to do and learn about yoga.

Yoga can be done outside of school as well, and children can also practice at home with family. Doing yoga with parents is a great bonding experience for everyone involved and also gives kids some often needed one-on-one time.

For kids, yoga is very different from what it is for adults. While many are used to a quiet, calming, hour-long class, children cannot sit still for very long. Yoga can be done through storytelling, singing songs, dancing, playing games, and even while watching yoga on TV.

There are many amazing yoga poses for children to do, and each kid is different. Therefore, some poses may benefit one child more than the others depending on the individual need.

Ten Yoga Poses for Kids

Each of the poses is amazing for all ages, and performing these together makes for a fun and enjoyable practice.

1. Easy sitting pose (Sukhasana)

The easy sitting pose is one of the easier poses to do, hence the name. It involves sitting up straight with the legs crossed; many kids know this as the “crisscross applesauce.”

2. Child’s pose (Balasana)

The child’s pose is another simple pose to do, and it involves sitting back on the heels and folding forward, bringing the arms out in front of the body, and resting the forehead on the ground. By curling up like this, one can feel held.

3. Half-lotus pose (Ardha padmasana)

The half-lotus pose is an easier version of the lotus pose, but it still provides the advantages of the full pose. It is important to note that this pose should be done on both sides of the body to get equal results on each side.

This pose can be done while pretending to be a flower, making it creative and exciting for kids. One can pretend that roots are going down through the legs into the earth while growing into a flower and “blooming.”

4. Cobra pose (Bhujangasana)

The cobra pose is a very fun pose that includes laying on the belly, bringing the hands flat to the ground beneath the shoulders, and straightening the arms just enough to lift the chest up.

When doing this pose, one should make sure to only press up as far as one can go using the muscles in the back. This prevents overextending and keeps the body safe.

5. Wide-angle seated forward bend (Upavistha konasana)

Benefits of this pose include but are not limited to:

Strengthening muscles in the core and spine
Increasing flexibility in the legs and hips
Correcting posture
Improving digestion
Decreasing frequency of belly aches
Promoting relaxation

Another fun way to perform this wide-angle seated forward bend is as a team. To do this stretch, two people can face each other, bringing the feet out to the side and touching them together. Both people can then join hands and carefully take turns pulling each other deeper into the pose. As one person leans forwards, the other leans back.

6. Seated forward fold (Paschimottanasana)

Benefits of this pose include but are not limited to:

Promoting relaxation
Decreasing stress
Improving digestion
Decreasing frequency of belly aches
Decreasing anxiety
Relieving headaches
Reducing fatigue

The seated forward fold is similar to the wide-angle seated forward bend. The difference, however, is that instead of having the legs out to the sides, the legs are out in front of the body, creating a much different stretch.

7. Butterfly pose (Baddha konasana)

Benefits of this pose include but are not limited to:

Promoting creativity
Strengthening the muscles in the legs and abdomen
Improving digestion
Decreasing anxiety

The butterfly pose is very popular with kids. It allows for super fun bonding experiences, especially between parents and their kids. By sitting with the feet flat together and the knees out to the side, the child can flap their knees up and down like wings and tell a story or imagine flying.

8. Tree pose (Vrksasana)

The tree pose is often a favorite among children. While challenging, the pose has many variations, making it accessible for people of all ages and abilities.

Benefits of this pose include but are not limited to:

Promoting creativity
Strengthening the muscles in the legs, hips, glutes, and core
Promoting balance
Providing sensory input
Correcting posture

Kids love to turn this pose into a competition to see who can hold it the longest. A fun way of practicing the tree pose is to imagine roots coming down from the feet in the ground and to lift the arms to create “branches.”

9. Warrior I (Virabhadrasana I)

Benefits of this pose include but are not limited to:

Strengthening the muscles in the legs, hips, chest, arms, and back
Promoting balance
Providing sensory input
Correcting posture
Increasing circulation
Increasing focus

While all of the warrior poses are fun to practice, warrior I in particular emphasizes balance, strength, and focus. Therefore, it is a great pose to do with kids.

10. Corpse pose (Savasana)

The corpse pose is a very simple pose to do and just involves lying flat on the ground with the arms by the sides and the legs straight out in front of the body. This is usually when one meditates during a yoga practice.

Benefits of this pose include but are not limited to:

Promoting creativity
Decreasing anxiety
Promoting relaxation
Calming oneself
Grounding oneself
Increasing focus

There are lots of online meditations for kids, but they can also create their own by thinking of a fun or happy place and focusing on everything that is seen there.

Yoga is a powerful tool for children and teenagers to have as they face the stresses of school, social drama, and peer pressure, among other challenges.