Yoga for Children: Easier Than You Think (With a Little Help!)

Tim and I put a rather unusual thing on our baby registry when we were expecting: a child-size yoga mat. Are we yoga maniacs? Not by a long-shot. We really wish we did yoga more than we do now. We used to do yoga together most every morning, and it was an amazing way to start the day. While our discipline stinks at the moment, our heart is definitely in the right place, and we are prepared with a mat for little D so that she can join us!

When Darah was an infant I did a little bit of yoga with her, especially moves that would help with her digestion. But as she has become a toddler, I’ve been completely floundering about how to introduce some basic moves to her.

Yoga for Children

Fortunately, there’s a wonderful woman out there who anticipated my confusion at this stage (and the confusion of thousands of other parents with similar desires). Abbie Davies has created a book called My First Yoga.

From the site, “This award winning book uses kid friendly vocabulary and vibrant illustrations to lead readers through a series of easy to follow yoga poses. Learn to become a strong dog, quiet turtle and proud lion – stretching mind and body to improve focus, balance and concentration.”

My review can be summed up in one word, “HOORAY!” This book is absolutely PERFECT! Darah likes to look through the book and talk about the sounds that each animal makes, and she has been working on a few of the poses, because she likes to imitate what she sees the children in the book doing. While there are a few poses that she isn’t going to be able to do for a little while, there are several in there that she can try out now, at just 16 months old. Her very favorite, at the moment, is the butterfly.

This also provides a terrific activity for the two of us to do together. And while Darah is trying out the different poses, I’m getting a good stretch or two in there for myself. BLISS!

Abbie has a great video of one of her classes on Youtube, if you’d like to check it out. It shows just how interested young kids are in yoga, and how much fun they can have learning different poses!

I’m absolutely thrilled to have this book, and now my dream is coming true of having yoga be something that I share with my daughter on a daily basis. I know it is good for her, and it is also so good for me. She seems to really enjoy the challenge of the poses and also has a lot of fun whenever we do our poses. She laughs and smiles, and also really concentrates from time to time. It’s awesome to watch!

In addition to this wonderful book, Abbie also offers Activity Blasts that can come straight to your inbox with poses and activity ideas for you to do with your child. I just signed up, and can’t wait to get those emails!

Buy it!: My First Yoga is available at many different places online, including Amazon.com for $11.69 and is worth every penny!

Edit: this giveaway is now closed.  

Win it!: Here’s your chance to bring a little contemplative time (and oh yes, a whole lot of laughs) into your daily routine with your little one! Abbie is offering up one copy of My First Yoga: Animal Poses to one lucky Stuff Parents Need Reader! The contest will run until January 8th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected using Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

Mandatory entry: Tell me anything about your experience with yoga. Never tried it? Practice daily? Somewhere in the middle? Do you have any questions or concerns about the practice? Any funny stories to share? Anything related to the topic that you want to share works for me!

My answer: I tried yoga for the first time in college. I distinctly remember feeling as though I had a workout and also not feeling like crap at the end of it. I didn’t know combining those two feelings was possible!

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my homepage.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of the book for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own. This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you.