What's So Good About Non-Competitive Kids Activities Like Yoga?
Exercise is no longer for athletes. Exercise is something to enjoy, not something you have to do. Exercise improves health and combats stress. It’s for a lifetime not a competition. Yoga is the best exercise for these criteria.
Kids love yoga! Getting physical can be embarrassing for kids who are out of shape or un-coordinated. The thought of embarrassment discourages many kids from even starting a team sport. In yoga, the learning curve is more private and personal. It’s easier to get started and you continue at your own pace. Kids may not want to join a team, but kids love yoga!
Affordable for any school/daycare/family: Competitive sports need equipment, referees, a team of players and another team to play against. Many sports are just plain expensive. Yoga is a great value - all you need is some open space. All of the props in yoga are really just extras. After kids take yoga, parents often witness them downward dogging or meditating on the living room floor or in their bed – that’s something you won’t find a hockey player doing.
It’s never been easier to get kids active: In competitive sports only a few people make the team and the rest are spectators. In yoga everyone participates, there are no spectators!
The foundation for a lifetime of health: Many kids who are athletes in school find a void once they finish school. Most eventually stop playing sports which means they stop exercising. Yoga is a lifelong practice that grows with you as you grow older.
Learn to relax with yoga: In the end, competitive sports are a win/lose proposition, that’s why we keep score and stats. In yoga everyone feels like a winner after practicing.
Perfect for Beginners: Yoga allows people to go at their own pace more easily than competitive sports. In yoga, the individual can determine the intensity of their effort. Five minutes of yoga is different for each person because there is no group expectation. Working at your own pace makes exercise a more enjoyable experience which may keep kids exercising!
Kid-Friendly tools for success: Balance, coordination, and focus carry off the court and the yoga mat. These skills can be derived from sports, but they are learned directly in yoga. In fact, many athletes use yoga and meditation to help them control stress and anxiety and to visualize success. If you practice yoga, you learn skills to use in real life.
Help Children deal effectively with stress: Life is a battlefield. We all need to find our inner compass to guide us through the battle. Sports build us to be tough competitors. Yoga helps us decide what team to play for.
Yoga can be done for life. It can be practiced with different intensity over the years, but it will always be there for you no matter where you’ve been
- Aruna Kathy Humphrys (Young Yoga Masters)