Mediation or Yoga with young children?

[ilovemygirl]

This may sound really silly but has anyone tried doing meditation or yoga with their kids? Any recommendations for dvd's or cd's? Has anyone heard of Angel Bear Yoga? It's geared towards children but I worry it might make me a little insane ...lol and DD has shown interest in my regular yoga dvd's but they are too much for her at barely 3 y/o.

[fyrwmn]

rodney yee makes good yoga videos for the whole family. his kids even take turns demonstrating some of the moves. dd (4) is able to pretty easily follow along

[aprons_and_acorns]

My 5 yo DS loves the Indigo Dreams CDs. They are a guided meditation series for children.

There are a few of them but here is a link to the first one we got.

We were able to check it out from the library before buying which was a big plus.

[ShadowMoon]

I do yoga with my 3 year old. I don't have any instructional DVDs, I just try to make up fun routines he can join me in.

[SparklingGemini]

Ooh, ooh! Subbing!

[MamaMelis]

My kids (almost 3 and almost 2) LOVE yoga!

We aren't the video type, but I have been practicing for years so I just lead them through different poses. They have a blast My son is already doing headstands against the wall, with his little sister hot on his heels! We always incorporate a minute of deep breathing at the beginning, which is as close to meditation as I find it possible for us to get at these ages. Its turned into a part of our nightly bath routine. We do have a book that I really like, it is called "Yoga for you and your child" by Mark Singleton. Great photos and ideas for making it fun and enjoyable for everyone.

[dbsam]

I haven't done yoga in years and didn't remember enough to teach my children. I've heard good things about a local woman who teaches ABC yoga classes to children so I purchased her book 'Yoga Kids' (Marsha Wenig). My son loves it. She has videos also but we've never used them.

[Princess ConsuelaB]

My kids like Indigo dreams and Ocean Dreams.

We like The Yoga Garden game http://www.peapods.com/browse.cfm/4,390.html

My youngest also likes the Yoga Kids dvd.

[nmosur]

I'll start by saying that any kind of exercise is good for children.

From what I know of both yoga and meditation (I have done both in India) neither of them are suppoed to be suitable for kids below the age of 7 or 8. I suppose yoga is okay - these are exercises and "most" of the exercises that are shown on DVDs are not a pure form of yoga which includes the right breathing techniques, etc etc. But where meditation is concerned,I would definitely research age appropriateness before letting the kids do it.

Naveena

[Wild Lupine]

We take yoga classes geared towards children. They focus on body awareness and developing balance and coordination and make it really fun for the kids. My daughter started just before she turned two and loved them. A year later she still remember the moves and song that go along with them. The woman who teaches trained through an organization called Itsy Bitsy Yoga, which appears to have classes and teaches nationwide. We're just about to start with our son.

[St. Margaret]

We have used the book Itsy Bitsy Yoga to get ideas for child-appropriate yoga-based activities, and we like the (old, cheesy) Yoga Kids DVD, too. DD will do it every day for a while...

We also started in on John Gottman's emotion coaching at an early age (probably around 1yo, but DD is very verbally advanced), and DD totally understands why she and mommy will take time to stop and breath and visualize, if we've been upset, or it's just been a crazy or over-stiumlating day, etc.

[flapjack]

www.relaxkids.com has some nice guided visualisations.

Some of their tracks are available on itunes, too.

[MamaMelis]

Originally Posted by nmosur

I'll start by saying that any kind of exercise is good for children.

From what I know of both yoga and meditation (I have done both in India) neither of them are suppoed to be suitable for kids below the age of 7 or 8. I suppose yoga is okay - these are exercises and "most" of the exercises that are shown on DVDs are not a pure form of yoga which includes the right breathing techniques, etc etc. But where meditation is concerned,I would definitely research age appropriateness before letting the kids do it.

Naveena

I'm confused by your post ~ You say Yoga is not okay but then say it is. Do you have any more info on why you learned in India that they are not suitable until age 7 or 8? I'm confused on how anything that encourages balance, posture, alignment, joy, relaxation and a healthy body could be harmful to children.

Thanks!

[DaughterOfKali]

We love doing yoga together. My son loves Wai Lana Little Yogi's dvd's.
He also likes using the yoga decks that I sell. His favorite is Yoga Planet (you can get a look at it through my sig) but he still likes Yoga Pretzels, too.

[twinergy]

Great thread! I can't wait to check out some of these DVD's from the library.

[Materfamilias]

on the great ideas.
We've been doing some yoga for awhile now. We don't do meditation (though some deep breathing might help focus my son ) but we do about 20 minutes of yoga every few days. I have seen nothing but benefits for both my kids, 7 yo and 17 mo (who does a very cute down dog and says yoga and gets my yoga mat out when we talk about it)

[funkymamajoy]

I do some yoga with the kids. Mostly they name an animal and then we do the pose. They think its fun.

[meemee]

dd is now 7. she has been doing meditation since she was 3. i would first do it with her and then do mine. it would be just a short while. maybe a minute or two.

meditation has really helped with her anxiety. and it really helps her calm down. not breathing though. when she is panicking she cannot deep breathe. she is barely able to breathe. it has also helped her with nightmares. she puts herself in a bubble where she is safe.

there are resources, but honestly with meditation i didnt follow any. i just did my thing and dd joined me.

[Tigeresse]

A nice Kundalini Yoga based program is Shanti the Yogi with Snatam Kaur.

[staceychev]

Lucy has Yoga Kids (Marsha Wenig) and Wai Lana Little Yogis. She likes both of them. They're kind of annoying to me, but she loves them, so I deal.

(Oh, and the Wai Lana was purchased as a set that came with a yoga mat. It's just a regular yoga mat, but it's got screen-printed silhouettes of cartoonish kids in yoga poses, and DD loves that she's got her own yoga mat.)