在這個科技主導的時代，兒童的成長環境正面臨前所未有的挑戰。長時間使用電子設備、缺乏運動、課業壓力等因素，都可能影響孩子的身心健康。面對這樣的情況，越來越多家長和教育工作者開始關注兒童瑜伽，將其視為培養孩子全面發展的有效方法。
兒童瑜伽在歐美已風行數十年，不僅在英國、法國、澳洲等地的部分小學列為必修課程，最近義大利的教育政策更鼓勵兒童學習瑜伽。在台灣，兒童瑜伽也逐漸受到重視，開始在安親班與國小的課外活動中出現。這股風潮背後，是人們對兒童全面發展的期待和重視。
兒童瑜伽的好處
兒童瑜伽不僅僅是一種運動，更是一種促進身心靈均衡發展的綜合活動。它的益處涵蓋了孩子成長的各個層面：
1. 身體發展：提升協調性與平衡感
兒童瑜伽能夠提升孩子的協調性、柔軟度與平衡感。通過各種有趣的瑜伽姿勢，孩子可以增強肌肉力量，改善身體姿態，提高運動能力。兒童天生就是瑜伽大師，擁有極佳的柔軟度。然而，隨著年齡增長，缺乏運動會導致柔軟度下降。因此，及早開始練習瑜伽，能夠幫助孩子保持和發展這種與生俱來的身體優勢。
2. 心理健康：減低焦慮、增強情緒管理力
瑜伽練習能夠增強孩子的自信心，改善情緒管理能力。通過瑜伽，孩子學會了解自己的身體，增強身體意識，從而建立自信。同時，瑜伽的呼吸練習和放鬆技巧，可以幫助孩子更好地控制情緒，減少焦慮和壓力。
3. 認知能力：提高專注度、改善過動
兒童瑜伽有助於提高孩子的專注力、觀察力與想像力。在瑜伽課上，孩子需要集中注意力聆聽指導，觀察動作示範，並運用想像力完成各種姿勢。研究曾指出，瑜伽練習對於改善注意力不足過動症（ADHD）也有正面的影響。https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25988743/
4. 社交技能：培養耐心、尊重他人
瑜伽課堂為孩子提供了培養耐心、同理心與合作精神的機會。通過群體活動和互動遊戲，孩子學會尊重他人，理解差異，發展社交技能。
5. 親子關係：珍貴的互動時光
親子瑜伽是加強家庭連結的絕佳方式。通過共同參與瑜伽活動，父母和孩子可以增進彼此的理解，加強情感連結。這種共同體驗不僅提供了珍貴的互動時光，還能幫助家庭成員建立健康的生活習慣。
兒童瑜伽的特點
兒童瑜伽與成人瑜伽有著顯著的差異，這些特點使得兒童瑜伽更加適合孩子的身心發展需求：
1. 適合的年齡與學習方式：
兒童瑜伽沒有嚴格的年齡限制，但考慮到語言理解能力，三歲以上的孩子最適合開始學習。相比成人瑜伽強調持續時間較長的姿勢，以達到效果，兒童瑜伽更注重短時間內的多樣化活動，以適應孩子較短的注意力持續時間。
2. 遊戲化與故事化教學：
兒童瑜伽的重點不在於嚴格的體位法練習，而是通過遊戲或故事來引導孩子學習。例如，教導「獅子式」時，老師可能會說：「抓一抓獅子頭、秀一秀長爪功、數到十大吼一聲。」這種方式不僅讓孩子玩得開心，還能自然而然地學會放鬆，喚醒學習樂趣。
擁有171萬訂閱的 Cosmic Kids Yoga 曾以「冰雪奇緣」為主題，一邊說故事一邊引導孩子做瑜伽動作
五個適合幼兒的簡單有趣瑜伽動作
兒童瑜伽指導師曾點出五個特別適合小朋友的簡單瑜伽動作：
推薦兒童瑜伽動作 1：嬰兒式
- 跪坐在地板上，屁股貼著腳跟
- 慢慢向前彎腰，讓額頭輕觸地面
- 雙手自然伸展，放在頭的前方
- 深呼吸幾次，感受全身放鬆
推薦兒童瑜伽動作 2：眼鏡蛇式
- 趴在地上，手掌平放在肩膀下方
- 通過用手推地，慢慢抬起頭和胸部，就像蛇昂起頭
- 手臂稍微彎曲，肘部貼近身體
- 在不會疼透的程度下，保持姿勢幾秒鐘，感受背部的伸展
推薦兒童瑜伽動作 3：星星式
- 站直，雙腳分開比肩略寬
- 雙手向兩側平舉，像星星的光芒
- 挺直腰背，抬頭挺胸
- 想像自己是天空中最亮的星星
- 深吸一口氣，感受自己的力量
推薦兒童瑜伽動作 4：下犬式
- 四肢著地，手掌與肩同寬，腳與髖同寬
- 抬高臀部，讓身體形成一個倒V字
- 頭自然下垂，放鬆頸部
- 想像自己是一隻伸懶腰的小狗
- 保持姿勢，感受全身的拉伸
推薦兒童瑜伽動作 5：樹式
- 站直，將重心放在一隻腳上
- 另一隻腳的腳掌貼在站立腿的小腿或大腿內側
- 雙手合十放在胸前，或高舉過頭
- 想像自己是一棵在風中挺立的小樹
- 保持平衡，專注呼吸
香港演員兼瑜伽老師 Coffee 林芊妤曾在Youtube上分享親子瑜伽的互動、增近與孩子間的感情
練習兒童瑜伽的需注意事項
雖然兒童瑜伽充滿樂趣，但在練習時仍需注意一些重要事項：
- 確保練習環境安全，動作不宜過於激烈，避免受傷。若是無瑜伽基礎建議可以報名坊間的兒童瑜伽課程，由專業老師指導。
- 教導孩子正確的呼吸方式，已達到放鬆效果。
- 尊重孩子的極限，不要強迫孩子做到「標準」姿勢，讓他們在舒適的範圍內探索自己的身體。
- 保持耐心，每個孩子的學習速度不同，重要的是讓他們享受瑜伽的過程。
- 鼓勵孩子養成規律練習的習慣，但不要給予過多壓力。
兒童瑜伽不僅僅是一種運動，更是一種全人教育的方式，教導孩子如何傾聽自己的身體，管理自己的情緒，培養專注力和想像力。這些寶貴的品質，將成為他們面對未來挑戰的重要資產。
Source：
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/yoga-for-kids
https://www.parents.com/benefits-of-yoga-for-kids-7406600
Numerous Benefits of Children's Yoga! 5 Simple Yoga Poses for Kids to Cultivate a Healthy Body and Mind from an Early Age
In this technology-dominated era, children's growth environment is facing unprecedented challenges. Prolonged use of electronic devices, lack of exercise, and academic pressure can all affect children's physical and mental health. Faced with this situation, more and more parents and educators are starting to focus on children's yoga, viewing it as an effective method for cultivating children's all-round development.
Children's yoga has been popular in Europe and America for decades, not only listed as a compulsory course in some primary schools in the UK, France, and Australia, but recently, Italian education policy has also encouraged children to learn yoga. In Taiwan, children's yoga is also gradually gaining attention, appearing in after-school care centers and extracurricular activities in elementary schools. Behind this trend is people's expectation and emphasis on children's comprehensive development.
The Benefits of Children's Yoga
Children's yoga is not just a form of exercise, but a comprehensive activity that promotes balanced development of body, mind, and spirit. Its benefits cover various aspects of a child's growth:
1. Physical Development: Enhancing Coordination and Balance
Children's yoga can enhance children's coordination, flexibility, and balance. Through various interesting yoga poses, children can strengthen their muscles, improve body posture, and increase athletic ability. Children are natural yoga masters, possessing excellent flexibility. However, as they grow older, lack of exercise can lead to a decrease in flexibility. Therefore, starting yoga practice early can help children maintain and develop this innate physical advantage.
2. Mental Health: Reducing Anxiety, Enhancing Emotional Management
Yoga practice can boost children's self-confidence and improve their ability to manage emotions. Through yoga, children learn to understand their bodies, enhance body awareness, and thus build confidence. At the same time, yoga's breathing exercises and relaxation techniques can help children better control their emotions, reducing anxiety and stress.
3. Cognitive Ability: Increasing Concentration, Improving Hyperactivity
Children's yoga helps improve children's concentration, observation, and imagination. In yoga class, children need to focus on listening to instructions, observing demonstrations of movements, and using their imagination to complete various poses. Research has shown that yoga practice also has a positive effect on improving Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25988743/
4. Social Skills: Cultivating Patience, Respecting Others
Yoga classes provide opportunities for children to cultivate patience, empathy, and a spirit of cooperation. Through group activities and interactive games, children learn to respect others, understand differences, and develop social skills.
5. Parent-Child Relationship: Precious Interactive Time
Parent-child yoga is an excellent way to strengthen family connections. By participating in yoga activities together, parents and children can enhance mutual understanding and strengthen emotional connections. This shared experience not only provides precious interactive time but also helps family members establish healthy lifestyle habits.
Characteristics of Children's Yoga
Children's yoga differs significantly from adult yoga, and these characteristics make children's yoga more suitable for the developmental needs of children's bodies and minds:
1. Suitable Age and Learning Method:
There is no strict age limit for children's yoga, but considering language comprehension ability, children over three years old are most suitable to start learning. Compared to adult yoga, which emphasizes longer-duration poses to achieve effects, children's yoga focuses more on diverse activities in a short time to accommodate children's shorter attention spans.
2. Gamification and Storytelling Teaching:
The focus of children's yoga is not on strict asana practice, but on guiding children to learn through games or stories. For example, when teaching the "Lion Pose," the teacher might say: "Scratch the lion's head, show off your long claws, count to ten and roar loudly." This method not only makes children happy but also naturally teaches them to relax and awakens their interest in learning.
Cosmic Kids Yoga, with 1.71 million subscribers, once used "Frozen" as a theme, telling stories while guiding children to do yoga poses
Five Simple and Fun Yoga Poses Suitable for Young Children
Children's yoga instructors have pointed out five simple yoga poses that are especially suitable for children:
Recommended Children's Yoga Pose 1: Child's Pose
- Kneel on the floor with your buttocks touching your heels
- Slowly bend forward, letting your forehead gently touch the ground
- Stretch your arms naturally in front of your head
- Take a few deep breaths, feeling your whole body relax
Recommended Children's Yoga Pose 2: Cobra Pose
- Lie on your stomach with your palms flat on the floor under your shoulders
- By pushing your hands against the ground, slowly lift your head and chest, like a snake raising its head
- Slightly bend your arms, keeping your elbows close to your body
- Hold the pose for a few seconds without causing pain, feeling the stretch in your back
Recommended Children's Yoga Pose 3: Star Pose
- Stand straight with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart
- Extend your arms out to the sides, like the rays of a star
- Keep your back straight, lift your head and chest
- Imagine you are the brightest star in the sky
- Take a deep breath, feeling your own strength
Recommended Children's Yoga Pose 4: Downward-Facing Dog
- Get on all fours with your hands shoulder-width apart and feet hip-width apart
- Lift your hips, forming an inverted V shape with your body
- Let your head hang naturally, relaxing your neck
- Imagine you are a little dog stretching
- Hold the pose, feeling the stretch throughout your body
Recommended Children's Yoga Pose 5: Tree Pose
- Stand straight, shifting your weight onto one foot
- Place the sole of your other foot on the inner calf or thigh of your standing leg
- Bring your palms together in front of your chest, or raise them above your head
- Imagine you are a small tree standing firm in the wind
- Maintain your balance, focusing on your breath
Hong Kong actress and yoga teacher Coffee Lam once shared parent-child yoga interactions on YouTube, enhancing the bond with children
Precautions for Practicing Children's Yoga
Although children's yoga is full of fun, there are some important things to note when practicing:
- Ensure a safe practice environment, avoid overly intense movements to prevent injury. If you have no yoga foundation, it's recommended to enroll in children's yoga classes offered in the community, guided by professional teachers.
- Teach children correct breathing methods to achieve relaxation effects.
- Respect children's limits, don't force them to achieve "standard" poses, let them explore their bodies within a comfortable range.
- Be patient, as each child learns at a different pace. The important thing is to let them enjoy the process of yoga.
- Encourage children to develop a regular practice habit, but don't put too much pressure on them.
Children's yoga is not just a form of exercise, but a holistic educational approach that teaches children how to listen to their bodies, manage their emotions, and cultivate concentration and imagination. These valuable qualities will become important assets for them to face future challenges.
Source：
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/yoga-for-kids
https://www.parents.com/benefits-of-yoga-for-kids-7406600
