Add These Fun Yoga Breathing Exercises in your Fitness Routine to Practice with your Child
During this ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it is necessary to understand that mental health is really important for survival. Being confined at home for such long periods of time can be mentally challenging for everyone, especially children. Not being allowed to go to the park, play with friends, or even attend schools offline, children are dealing with various circumstances such as loneliness, anxiety, or stress. With our changing lifestyles due to the current pandemic, yoga is the best way to keep our mind, body, and soul healthy.
The important component of yoga is ‘Pranayama’ which is a Sanskrit word. ‘Prana’ means vital life energy or breath and ‘Yama’ means to control, which states practicing ‘pranayama’ daily with different techniques help in regulating breaths. There are various benefits such as it helps the mind stay calm, helps you get quality sleep, improves the digestive system, reduces blood pressure and stress, helps in focusing and concentration, and more. Practicing ‘Pranayama’ daily boosts immunity and helps in the purification of the blood.
According to Sabrina Merchant, founder of Li’l Yogis, a certified Kids Yoga Expert and the author of ‘Ocean Yoga’ states that you should regularly practice yoga with the children by adding some fun breathing exercises that will also help them boost their immunity.
- Take Five Calm Breaths
The benefit of this yoga practice helps you stay focused, rejuvenated, and calm.
How to do:
- The first step is to stretch your hand out like a star.
- Now get the pointer finger of your other hand ready to trace your finger up and down.
- Slide up each finger slowly- slide down the other side.
- Now breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.
- Put it together, so as you slide up- breathe in and breathe out when you slide down.
- Keep going until you have finished tracing your hand.
2. Penguin Breath
It helps in developing coordination and balancing skills among children.
How to do:
- Interlace the fingers underneath the chin and as you inhale, life the elbows up to frame the face.
- Exhale while lifting the head up and make a whispered ‘hah’ sound towards the sky.
- At the same time, at the end of the ‘hah’ exhale, lower the elbows to meet at the bottom again.
- This technique is a good energizer and also builds strength.
- Practicing this technique helps you be more charged and you will feel less nervous when tired.
3. Whale Breath
Practicing this technique helps you get more oxygen into your bloodstream which helps in keeping calm and deals with anger management.
How to do:
- The first step is to place your hands on the head.
- Now take a deep breath through your nose while lifting your hands up.
- While exhaling, bring your hands back to your head.
- This yoga is really good when you are feeling angry and need to calm down.