Benefits of Doing Yoga as a Family

If you have been practicing yoga for a while, you must be familiar with its multifold benefits and when an activity like yoga can help different aspects of your health, why shouldn’t your children benefit from it too?

Specialists believe that making yoga a family affair might be beneficial for the children and the parents because it could give everyone some exclusive bonding time while supporting health.

Benefits of Doing Yoga as a Family

A normal weekday usually comprises a hectic morning with people scrambling in all directions to get ready for school and work, a series of drop-offs and pickups, dinner and bedtime.

People rarely get the time to sit down together for a quick recap of the day, unless maybe if they sit down to dinner together. That too is rare today with each person spending more time on their smartphones or tablets even at the dinner table.

So, what can you do to get the family together a bit more often? You could, maybe, try taking a few yoga classes together or put your kid(s) in a class and practice with them at home.

Some parents who have tried it swear by it and recommend setting aside at least one hour per week for a proper class, a private session in the park or even in your backyard.

Benefits of doing yoga with kids:

One of the major benefits often discussed involves mindfulness, where the children and adults learn to be in the present moment. Children are typically impulsive and rush through activities, but the deep breathing exercises associated with yoga practices might help them become more mellow and aware of their emotions. This can help them in the long run too, to become well-balanced adults.

Another benefit that many parents appreciate is the opportunity for an interesting conversation that arises from a family yoga session. Children who might typically be engrossed in their gadgets or books might open up to discuss something new they learned in the class or talk about a new friend that they made.

Discussions can often include yoga poses that they found easy and others that were difficult. This gives both the parents and kids a chance to practice together and bond over simple, everyday topics. Another important lesson that children and adults can learn from taking classes together is the importance of having a positive body image.

Yoga can be done by people of different ages, shapes and sizes and seeing a variety of people in their class might help kids, especially girls who are influenced by peer pressure to be a certain size, understand that the key to being happy is to accept one’s body as is. This understanding might also help children understand the importance of mindful eating and the essence of following a healthy diet.

It is said that practicing yoga regularly might even help children, especially teenagers feel more grounded and emotionally stable as they go through the turmoil of adolescence. Along with understanding themselves, yoga and meditation might also help children understand others, bond with the community and develop qualities that can help them all the way through adulthood.

Though yoga cannot be forced upon anyone, if your family is up to the practice, one or two sessions of family yoga a week might prove beneficial for better bonding and understanding, enhanced mood, stamina, concentration and overall well-being for all.

Benefits of Doing Yoga as a Family



Waite, L. (2017, August 10). The Benefits of Family Yoga. Retrieved from