The Benefits of doing Family Yoga with your Preschooler

At Carmel Mountain Preschool we are lucky to have our very own expert preschool yoga instructor, Ms. Claire Cafri.  Ms. Claire offers weekly yoga to Carmel Mountain Preschool students – for more information see our Extra Curricular page.  We interviewed Ms. Claire to find out why she encourages families to do yoga together.

What are the benefits of doing yoga as a family?

It’s a fun interactive activity to do. It teaches your children healthy lifestyle through movement. It teaches children and adults to balance their body and mind through a playful way as a family. As a family it brings you closer together and allows you to share a special experience. Many children are kinesthetic learners so by parents participating and showing them the yoga poses the children have an easier time learning and absorbing and feeling accomplished at something they can succeed at.

What ways can families introduce yoga into their home?

Parents can use their children’s favorite story books that have animals or nature and have the children act out what they see in the book. There are so many different children’s yoga books, cards, and board games to help parents teach child-friendly poses. Parents can google “children’s yoga poses” and demonstrate for their children. There are also lots of videos and family yoga classes offered throughout San Diego.

What are the easiest yoga poses to teach?

Downward facing dog, butterfly pose, tree pose, and warrior poses.

Downward Facing Dog

Butterfly Pose

Butterfly Pose

Tree Pose

Warrior Pose

What are the most fun poses to do together with your child? Boat pose, lizard on a rock pose, and airplane pose.

Boat Pose

Lizard on a Rock Pose

Airplane Pose

How can parents teach their children techniques to calm themselves?

Parents can practice breathing techniques so that their children have the chance to emulate them. When you are teaching your children these breathing techniques do it at the end of all the fun yoga when the children are energetic. Talk to your child about how you can use your breath when you are angry, frustrated, scared, or sad to help us feel better. It’s important that parents practice the breath with their child and then reiterate to the child when they are upset to again use their calming breath.

What are your favorite yoga calming breaths?

Lion’s Breath is good when a child is angry or upset. Balloon breath or blowing out your candles breath is good for when a child is crying and upset.

Lion’s Breath: Breathe in through your nose and then exhale out through the mouth while sticking out your tongue and make an audible breath.

Balloon Breath or Blowing out your candles breath: This is a slow breath in and a slow steady breath out.