Best of 2014: Yoga Poses for Kids

Yoga literally means “union” in Sanskrit. Originating in India, yoga is the union of mind, body, and spirit. People around the world practice it for relaxation and health. It’s a lifestyle that combines physical postures, breathing techniques, meditation, character education, positive affirmations, and service to others.

Kids yoga is a lot like yoga for adults, but it focuses more on creativity and incorporating movement into life than it does on practicing perfectly aligned poses. Kids yoga encourages having fun while learning the basics of yoga. It’s spontaneous, light-hearted, and encouraging.

Like the inventors of yoga thousands of years ago, children can imitate their natural surroundings through yoga postures. Encouraging them to imitate what they see is an easy way to get children hooked on this ancient wisdom. Children practice yoga poses naturally right from infancy.

My daughter’s first three yoga poses were Downward-Facing Dog Pose, Tree Pose, and Butterfly Pose. As my daughter grows, we try new yoga poses together. She is my muse for writing more yoga stories, and I am constantly looking to incorporate different yoga poses into the stories.

And that brings me to the most popular post of 2014.

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Most Popular Post of Kids Yoga Stories in 2014

The most viewed post (according to Google Analytics) for the whole year was our alphabetical list of yoga poses for kids, which features one of our yoga kids (Anamika, Baraka, Luke, Sophia, Pablo, and Elizabeth) in the pose, the name of the yoga pose, a list of sample keywords for the pose, and a brief description. Currently, there are 57 yoga poses listed, but this post is constantly being edited and updated.

Remember that this list of kids yoga poses serves as an inspiration guide, so please encourage your children’s creativity.

List of 57 Yoga Poses for Kids
Most Popular Post of 2014

Bedtime Yoga Cards

From readers’ request, we were so excited to release our first 26-pack of bedtime yoga cards to match Good Night, Animal World (a bedtime yoga story for toddlers and preschoolers). Read four simple ways to play with the bedtime yoga card pack here. Purchase your bedtime yoga cards here.

Monthly Yoga Pose for Kids Challenge

This year, we started a monthly focus yoga pose to challenge you to try a different yoga pose with your child each month. Each post has the Sanskrit name of the pose, benefits of the pose, associated keywords, and a description. Plus there’s a list of photos of people practicing the focus yoga pose and those photos are compiled into a yoga pose video. At the bottom of each post, you’ll find a list of our yoga stories that feature this monthly yoga pose. The first eight yoga postures featured are:

Boat Pose	Bow Pose
Bridge Pose	Butterfly Pose
Cat Pose	Chair Pose
Child’s Pose	Downward-Facing Dog Pose

How to Integrate Yoga Poses for Kids

If you are wondering how to practice a few of these yoga poses for kids in a sequence, try taking your children on a yoga journey with these resources as inspiration:

Yoga Stories for Kids	Holiday Yoga Lesson Plans
Seasonal Yoga Lesson Plans	Kids Yoga inspired by Books

Get Updates from Kids Yoga Stories

For yoga tips and kids yoga sequences, join our weekly Kids Yoga Stories newsletter by adding your name and email to the box at the top of the page.

Best Kid Blogger Posts of 2014

I have joined 50+ Kid Blogger Network members for this Best of 2014 Blog Hop. Below you find three categories (Craft, Education, and Parenting) with a link to each of the Best of 2014 posts, so that you can more easily target your search. Hope these kids activities bring lots of joy and learning to your home or classroom!