Yoga Poses and Ideas for Practicing Family Yoga

Yoga is more than just good exercise for your family. According to Danielle Levy, the word yoga means "spiritual discipline" in Jainism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Exercise your family's body and mind by adding the mental element of storytelling into your family yoga night.

Set a zoo scene to turn these animal yoga poses for children into an imaginary adventure. The first thing you might see are the gorillas. Pretend to join them while doing the gorilla yoga pose with your kindergartner and the whole family.

To do the Gorilla Yoga Pose spread your legs and slightly bend your knees. Bend over at the waist and let your upper body hang loosely. Start swinging your arms and making gorilla noises. Walk around with the gorillas and interact with each other as if you were actually gorillas. Take a deep breath before standing up, leaning slightly back, and banging your chest while making a gorilla call.

When your kindergartner starts to lose interest roll your shoulders and head back and become people again. The next stop at the zoo is the aquarium. Look at the sharks and strange aquatic life before turning into fish.

To do the Fish Yoga Pose lay on your back. With your hands on your tummy breath in and out peacefully while imagining the sound of the ocean. Point your toes and squeeze your legs together. Place your palms on the floor and use your elbows to lift your chest and stomach off the ground. Your head should rest on the floor. Push your chest up and pretend you are jumping out of the water. When you come down exhale and rest on the floor again.

Yoga can get exciting so make sure your child uses good form while you are being chased by the sharks out of the aquarium. Once you turn into people again you can walk in place over to the butterfly garden.

To do the Butterfly Yoga Pose sit down and let your knees fall down while the soles of your feet touch. Hold onto your ankles and imagine that you are a beautiful butterfly sitting in the trees. Encourage your kindergartner to stretch their spine by showing off their wings and pushing out their antenna.

Space Yoga Poses for the Whole Family: Relax in space with these family friendly yoga poses.

Relax after a long day by practicing these yoga poses with your family. Start with the Corpse or the Sponge Yoga Pose. Lay on your back with your palms up and let all of your muscles relax. Pretend that you are looking up at the stars, or if possible do these relaxing yoga poses outside and actually look up at the stars.

Roll over onto your stomach to start the Cobra Yoga Pose. You can play pretend with your family while doing the cobra pose and turn yourselves into jets, flying between the stars and planets. Start with your arms close to your sides, inhale and lift your head, shoulders and chest off the ground. When you need to dodge space debris exhale and lower your body.

Roll back over and finish off your space yoga adventure by doing the corpse or sponge yoga pose again. After this yoga exercise your children should be relaxed and ready for bed.

Sources:

Danielle Levy, Yoga (Fall 2005)
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Fall05/levy/yogadefault.html

Animal Yoga Poses Make Kindergartners Strong
http://cbs4denver.com/strongschool/strong.school.yoga.2.1444003.html

Gorilla Yoga Pose
http://www.parents.com/fun/activities/indoor/yoga-for-kids/?page=11

Fish Yoga Pose
http://www.parents.com/fun/activities/indoor/yoga-for-kids/?page=8

Butterfly Yoga Pose
http://www.parents.com/fun/activities/indoor/yoga-for-kids/?page=5

Relaxing Yoga Poses
http://www.yogasite.com/postures.html