Parenta Magazine January 2020

Yoga, meditation and
mindfulness for toddlers
Yoga, meditation and
mindfulness
Now the question here is not about
us controlling our own outburst or
exasperation, (albeit desirable) but
rather, what are we teaching our
children when this happens?
Children learn by copying. They
observe, they copy, and then learn
from their own experiences of copying
what we do – good and bad. So
when we all push ourselves to the
brink of collapse (often physically and
mentally), with no time or space to
breathe easy or release our tensions,
children will pick up on this, and
eventually try to emulate us. They think
it’s important to get everything ‘right’
and to be ‘perfect’. And we all know
what an elusive and impossible master
that can be!
What can we do to redress this
balance and teach our children that it’s
ok to just ‘be who they are’; to spend
time sitting quietly with their own
thoughts; and to experience the world
in a different way? We suggest trying
yoga, meditation or mindfulness.
for toddlers
In a busy world, where time always seems to be ‘of the essence’, we are all straining to
be effective parents, productive professionals, and happy to boot, it’s no wonder that
sometimes our patience snaps and our tolerance wanes. But who then is at the end of our
frustrated outburst or our annoyance? It’s often our children or the children in our care.
What are they?
Yoga is an ancient form of physical,
mental and spiritual practice about
revealing the true essence of our
being. It originated in India thousands
of years ago, but is not considered a
religion; it’s rather a philosophy, in
which the practitioner uses certain
techniques such as controlled
breathing, stretching and poses
to understand themselves and the
oneness of all things better. There are
different branches of yoga that put
emphasis on different techniques.
Meditation is one branch of yoga in
which you quieten your mind and just
observe what is left when you remove
all the ‘mind chatter’. It is a simple
practice that you can do almost
anywhere in order to clear out the
clutter in your head and find an inner
calm.
Mindfulness could then be said to
be an extension of meditation in
which, having quieted your mind, you
then take control of your thoughts
and your attention to focus on the
moment; observing and experiencing
it fully. The Greater Good Center at
Berkeley, have an easy-to-understand
definition:
“Mindfulness means maintaining a
moment-by-moment awareness of
our thoughts, feelings, bodily
sensations, and surrounding
environment, through a
gentle, nurturing lens.”
Benefits for children
These practices have been
shown to have many benefits for
adults and children, including:
1,2,3
• Boosting the body’s immune
system
• Increasing suppleness and
strength
• Reduced negative emotions,
anxiety and stress
• Changes in areas of the
brain linked to learning,
memory, emotionalregulation
and empathy
• Improved sleep patterns
• Reduces behaviour problems
and aggression
• Increased sense of self
How to start meditation,
mindfulness and yoga with
children
Unless you are a practicing yoga
teacher, you might think it is difficult
to start helping children to meditate
or learn yoga, but you’d be wrong. Of
course, there is a place for having a
dedicated yoga teacher to come into
your setting and share their experience
and knowledge with your children, and
if you can arrange that on a regular or
one-off basis, then that will be a great
way to start.
But there are also many simple ways
that you can use to introduce these
practices into your setting. Here are 3
short exercises to get you started.
Yoga: move and pose
One way to engage toddlers in
stretching their bodies and beginning
yoga poses, is to get them to pretend
to be animals. Many yoga poses
themselves are based on characteristics
observed in animals. You could ask the
children what kind of traits they think
certain animals have, such as a cat
(suppleness), a tiger (strength), a snake
or cobra (curling and twisting) and then
ask them to show these traits with their
bodies. You can then build these into
the real yoga poses.
Meditation: breathing
Ask the children to sit or lie down
quietly and focus on their breath
coming in through their nose, filling
their tummies so their tummy rises
up; and then blowing out through
their mouth. You can do this to slow
counts; in for four counts and out for
four counts. Remind the children that
their tummies should rise up like a
balloon when then breathe in and go
down/deflate like a balloon when they
breathe out.
Mindfulness: focus
Ask the children to sit or lie down
quietly and try to listen to every sound
in the room. Guide this by pointing out
different things e.g. a fan, the hum or
a radiator of the ticking of a clock. Just
spend a few moments really listening
to and focusing on each sound, then
move on.
You can do the same with areas of
the body. Get the children to listen
for their heartbeat and then to sense
how their feet feel, or how their hands
feel on the floor etc. The purpose is
to get them to consciously focus on
individual things one at a time, without
judgement.
Continuing and building on
your practices
Once you have run a few sessions,
expand on your practice by either
inviting a yoga teacher in, or
researching and building on things.
One of the best ways to help children
is through stories and children are
naturally drawn to stories, and they
often want to act out or physically
engage with them. The website
kidsyogastories.com has some great
information and resources especially
designed to help teach yoga and
mindfulness to toddlers. You can even
start with the babies in your setting too.
Top tips
1. Start slowly
2. Lead by example
3. Use some guided
meditations to start with
4. Connect to ideas/concepts
they understand – e.g. cats
stretch, snakes curl, trees
stand still
5. Do not expect children to be
perfect meditators – just plant
the seed and let it grow.
References
1. bit.ly/2Zavhol
2. bit.ly/2EtyMwn
3. bit.ly/2Z2awes
For more resources and ideas, visit:
www.parenta.com/ymm-resources
30 January 2020 | parenta.com
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