Back-to-school time may bring up many emotions for kids and parents alike. Maura Bradley of Bee You Yoga in Manasquan shares some tips on how to use yoga and mindfulness to ease back-to-school anxiety.
Kids are busy, that’s a fact! Kids of all ages are being shuffled from many activities--sometimes more than one--on a daily basis. They have school, sports, after-school clubs, tutors, enrichment activities, and more. Just the process of getting to all these different places is enough to exhaust most people, imagine the impact it is having on our kids? Our kids need downtime, they need permission to just be. Most times, they even need to be taught how to just be. This is where yoga and mindfulness come in.
Teaching kids yoga and mindfulness is giving them tools they can use for their entire lives. It gives kids skills that they can practice on and off the mat.
Use Yoga To Calm Back-to-School Stress
Try these five yoga and mindfulness exercises with your kids to help ease those back-to-school jitters.
- Take Five. Take a moment to breathe with your kids. A great exercise to try with them is five-finger breathing. Have your child hold up their left hand and then using the pointer finger of their right hand the can begin to practice breathing as they trace each finger beginning with their thumb. Start at the base of the thumb and inhale as you trace up the finger and exhale as you go down the other side of the finger. Repeat using all five fingers.
- Rainbow Walk/Drive. Next time you are walking or driving your kids to school, play the “Rainbow Walk/Drive?” game. This is a simple mindfulness exercise to help kids focus and be in the moment. Ask your kids to look around on your walk or drive and name one thing that they see that is each color of the rainbow. For example, beginning with the color red, find something that is red, maybe they see a fire hydrant? Continue until you find something for each color of the rainbow.
- Balancing Poses. Practicing balancing poses (tree pose, eagle pose, warrior poses) will help your kids feel grounded, confident, focused and ready to begin their day. Do it together and have fun creating your own balancing poses!
- Movement. Get them moving! Any big movements using multiple muscle groups will help your kids release a lot of energy while also helping them to feel energized for the day. It does not need to be complicated or take a long time, try a few rounds of sun salutations or jumping jacks to get them going.
- Legs Up the Wall. This is a great pose to practice with your kids at the end of a long day. Simply lay down, scoot your bottom to a wall and put your legs up the wall so your body is in an L-shape. The pose is believed to help relieve many ailments including anxiety, digestive issues, insomnia, mild depression, and more. Practice this restorative pose with your kids before bedtime to help ease them into a restful night of sleep.
For more information on yoga and mindfulness for kids, visit www.beeyouyoga.com or call (732)722-7133. Classes are ideal for infants, kids and teens! Bee You Kids Yoga Studio is located at 74 Main Street, Manasquan, NJ 08736.
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