4 Ways to Practice Yoga with Toddlers

One of the more common questions I get from moms are, "How do you practice yoga with toddlers?"

It is true, the typical quiet, dim lit, and calm yoga room filled with soft instructions, meditiative music, and deep breathing are not in the slightest bit inticing to a young child. It is an invitation to make noise and find things to get into it is what it is.

So how do you get your loud, hyper, curious child to practice something that seems to be their exact opposite?

One way is to find a yoga for toddlers class. These are specifically designed for your child in mind. They involve stories and music to go along with the yoga poses. If you have ever been to story time at your local library, it is a lot like those. This method is more engaging to a child and actually is a great way to teach them other things too!

The second way, and the way you will find it done at my house most of the time, is for you to practice yoga while they parallel play in the same room. This concept I borrowed from how montessouri schools set up preschools. They make everything in the classroom engaging and easily accessible to the childen, they have various ages in the room meaning various skill levels too, and the children are encouraged to independently explore. The idea is that younger children will see how something is done by an older child and be curious to learn how to do it themselves too. This works really well with younger children because right now they don't truly grasp sharing or playing together and they dont really enjoy being told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it, but they LOVE imitating. So while they play kitchen, color, or experiment with making shapes in play dough....I practice yoga. My oldest on a rare occasion would try to do it with me, usually she would experiment with yoga on her own though later. She currently is interested in learning handstands. She is three. My younger child likes to sit and observe me. Whenever I come to downward dog or squat, things my son can do as well, he will do them along side me.

The third way is to observe your child and see what yoga poses they already know and create a yoga practice with them in mind. Children without ever seeing anyone practice yoga already know several yoga poses. Interesting isnt it? Yoga is developed with our bodies in mind and babies naturally do poses like downard dog for development. Every child is different of course and my daughter would easily get bored with the idea of her own yoga practice as a toddler so I left it alone. I love yoga, my daughter doesnt have to. My son who is 12 months old enjoys doing about 3-5 yoga poses so he does downward dog, upward dog, a variation of squat, childs pose, and cow pose for his personal practice. I dont pressure him to do them all or for a long time. My general time frame is about 10-15 minutes.

The fourth way is babywearing yoga. Toddlers can still be babyworn and for some moms who are more interested in being able to do yoga themselves, but have a child who is needy, this may be your way to sneak it in for you, but it also gives children a passive way to experience yoga. Plus, it works wonders for getting them to sleep if you just want a gentle session in a dim lit room and spices up the walking around routine a lot of us get stuck doing. Not to mention, the extra weight really works out your chaturanga arms!

Each child and parent are different as well as your relationship with each child. So one way may work while another may not or a combination of all four. If your child doesnt seem interested in any of them, dont push it. I know studies are coming out left and right saying yoga is great for children and it is, but forcing it on them will make them dislike it. If you find your child is not interested, if you practice it around them from time to time they will eventually be interested just because they want to do what their parent does.

So there you have it! Now enjoy some yoga with your toddler!

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