Mother And Child Yoga

Happy Mother’s Day! Why not start with a bit of mother and child yoga? We should always look at ways we can bring connection to our family, but there’s never a better time than Mother’s Day. Plus, practising yoga with your child can be so much fun!

You’re guaranteed to laugh a lot, find yourselves tippling over or losing balance and stretching your bodies with love and compassion.

Why Should We Practise Mother And Child Yoga?

Well, it’s such a great experience, creates new adventures, you get to test out new poses, spend time with your child, and a build new level of your relationship. Don’t forget that laughing at each other when you fall over is allowed and that the movement releases feel-good endorphins, so you will both be happier after your sequence.

A regular routine of yoga with your child can create healthy habits. Pick out your active wear together, or simply stay in your pyjamas! Make rolling out the yoga mats together a fun ‘ritual’ to begin your practise.

Taking The Busyness From Your Life

Yoga, especially mother and child yoga, outweighs the busyness of life. It helps us pause from the constant hustle. Removing the busyness makes the distance between us smaller. It means we become closer and we make time to stop and have fun together!

How Mother And Child Yoga Helps Children

It’s important to remember that children are just as busy as we are, if not more. They go to school all day, they have sports after school, homework, tutors, and don’t forget devices! It’s important to factor in being together, playing games (that aren’t on the tablet or phone), having family time and especially, having fun.

By practising yoga together, as mother and child, you will both learn self care. This is such an important lesson. When you are kind to yourself, your child will not only see this, but follow suit.

Yoga can help your child harness the power of positive thinking, and practising it from a young age can improve immunity and mobility, as well as promote wellness in later years. It helps them to hone and retain skills and compassion that last a lifetime. It creates healthy habits, improves posture, creates positive words and thoughts and gives them clarity of mind.

Yoga also helps to relieve stress and anxiety, it boosts self esteem and improves emotional regulation and processing of thoughts and events.

So, here are a couple of yoga poses that will be so much fun for mother and child to practise and reap all the wonderful benefits!

Mother and Child Plank Pose AKA Kumbhakasana

This Is an arm balancing yoga pose that helps to tone abdominal muscles, while strengthening arms and spine. There are many core muscle benefits for this pose, and the main concepts are posture and alignment.  

How to get there

• Start on hands and knees.

• Keep your hands beneath your shoulders and your knees beneath your hips.

• Engage core as though you are bringing your belly button to your spine.

• Tuck your toes and step your feet back, as you bring your body into one straight line.

• Thighs are lifted, no rounding through back, or dipping of hips.

• Keeping core drawn in. Holding this pose for five breaths.

To exit this pose

• Keep your core engaged.

• Exhale anda bring your knees to the floor

• Come into Child’s Pose to balance the posture. It’s a wonderful counter pose.

Benefits of Plank

• Helps with posture.

• Strengthens core.

• Aids in strengthening wrists, shoulders, chest and lower back.

Variations

• Keep knees on the floor.

• If you have wrist issues, use your forearms to balance on.

Contraindications

• Carpal tunnel

• Elbow issues

• Lower back injury

Mother And Child Forward Fold

• Begin sitting opposite each other on the floor, legs stretched out and wide with Mother’s and Child’s feet touching, sole to sole. Keep legs and core engaged at all times.
  
• Take each others’ hands and as you inhale and exhale deeply, move backwards and forwards with your upper body, resisting each other’s movement as you go. So, Mum will be holding back as child tries to pull her towards her and vice versa.
  
• Do this as many times as you like. It will help stretch and strengthen both the legs, hips and the arms shoulders and upper back.

Enjoy your mothers day and I hope you have lots of fun.

Love, Trudy x