Benefits of Baby & Toddler Yoga

I completed my Baby & Toddler Yoga Teacher training program through ChildLight Yoga in April 2017.  I was a little over 7 months pregnant, but still able to move and absorb all that was taught!

For those of you that don't know- I took my first Child Yoga Teacher Training through ChildLight Yoga in January 2016 and fell in love!  I knew this is what I wanted to do going forward- teach kids and special populations yoga! ChildLight Yoga is a Registered Yoga School through Yoga Alliance and they have a Registered Child Yoga Teacher (RCYT-95 hours) program.  In order to get the recognition of a RCYT-95, you first needed to become or have already been a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200 hours).  I completed my 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training program through Yoga NH in December 2016- almost one year from the time I wanted to become a Kids Yoga Teacher!

So long story longer- in order to be eligible for the RCYT-95 hour program, you have to complete a written exam and teach multiple community classes (with evaluations completed by attendees) for the area of the course you've taken.  I'm FINALLY teaching my Baby & Toddler Yoga community classes tomorrow! I'm so excited to teach these classes to my community and share my love of Baby and Toddler Yoga!

I wanted to share the Benefits of Baby & Toddler Yoga from the manual from ChildLight Yoga to my group tomorrow!  I figured- why not share the love and maybe get another family excited about the benefits of Baby & Toddler yoga!

Benefits of Baby and Toddler Yoga
© ChildLight Yoga 2016
Lauren Young Yoga
www.laurenyoungyoga.blogspot.com
Social Media: @laurenyoungyoga

Language Development- As a child’s brain develops, the first 3 years are the critical period for language development. The more language a child is exposed to during those first three years, the better. Language is developed through hearing spoken words. Yoga for babies & toddlers expose kids to language through song, words with actions, and attention to body awareness.

Body awareness- Body awareness helps with children self-regulation, self-monitoring, and learning to navigate physically in the world around them. Learning to name, recognize and move specific parts of the body connects the child to their physicality. Understanding how the body works and moves is a lifelong discovery made easier through the practice of yoga. In baby & toddler yoga, kids and caregivers will move and sing about and identify parts of the body.

Gross motor skills- Toddlers will stomp, jump, spin, bear weight on the arms, cross the midline, balance on one foot, transfer weight between the feet, pass an object from hand to hand, clap, pat the floor, and experience moving their bodies many ways. Over the course of weeks and months in a yoga class, toddlers (and their parents) will experience a new level of confidence as their large muscle groups gain strength and proficiency of poses increase.

Strength- Sitting in a stroller or car seat doesn’t do much to strengthen the muscles. However, crawling, holding down dog, and trying to jump- these all lead to stronger muscles for life. Practicing yoga encourages weight bearing on the hands, which builds up the muscles of the arms and shoulders, that gives young children the strength to support themselves as well as for fine muscle control. Many postures encourage and develop strength in the core. All of this strength helps with sitting taller, which allows for proper lung function, digestion and elimination.

Balance- Balance is often called the sixth sense, and tends to be overlooked when talking about strength and coordination. Learning to balance on one foot helps you balance on two feet, improves overall coordination, requires core strength, and confidence. When a child starts to shift weight back and forth, she is learning to balance. Soon that shift- almost a dance (with feet still firmly planted on the floor) becomes a full rock, lifting one foot as she transfers weight back and forth in star pose. Before long she will be picking up one foot, towards tree balances or knee lifts- feeling confident and with a sense of accomplishment.

Socialization-Connection- to the people around us, it’s how we navigate the world. Infants’ first connections are to faces, looking into the eyes of parents, eventually reacting with smiles and coos. This initial bonding is important for babies to feel safe, secure, and loved. Learning to play with others is an important life-skill; it’s one that has to be experienced. The more opportunities a young child is given to interact the better to develop social skills. Infants and toddlers do not “play together” - but they do smile, laugh, and notice that there are other babies in the room. Eventually they will enjoy playing side-by-side (parallel play) with other children, and sometimes even engaging. Starting with small moves- passing a ball, handing a scarf, offering a scarf,-yoga provides as afe space for infants and toddlers and their caregivers to interact together and with others of a similar age group. It is beneficial for parents, who might not have a lot of experience with babies and children, to observe how the interaction takes place. The yoga instructor can provide important cues and reassurances that the actions and behaviors of the infants and toddlers are completely normal and age appropriate. Seeing it first hand with other kids of the same age is even more instructive and comforting to experience- that it’s not just my child who does that.

Fun- Yoga is fun at all ages. Young children learn best through play, and yoga for infants and toddlers is all play. Providing information for parents and caregivers about how each pose benefits the child, does no take away from the pure joy of flying like a butterfly or jumping (whether assisted or alone).

Fine motor skills- According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, young infants typically only have the ability to rake objects with all five fingers. Older babies can use a true pincer grasp (picking things up between thumb and forefinger), and toddlers can manipulate items such as toys easily. All of these skills can be improved with stimulation and practice. In an infant or toddler yoga class- grasping mom’s fingers, balls, blocks, scarves, or the edge of a parachute- all of these can encourage and develop the fine motor skills.

Bonding with caregiver- Yoga class gives a caregiver an opportunity to respond to an infant’s needs in the moment by encouraging feeding, cuddling, and diaper changes as needed. A Trusting relationship and lifelong attachment develops by attending to the baby’s immediate need. This sets the state for the growing child to enter healthy relationships with other people throughout life and to appropriately experience and express a full range of emotions. This first relationship leaves baby feeling secure by knowing she can trust this person to take care of her most basic needs. Having a fun, shared experience- is something baby and caregiver can take away from class, continuing to share the songs and poses learned in class.