Does Chair Yoga Help Kids?

Written by A. Simon - December 2019

Copyright - Minnesota Kid’s Yoga Co. LLC

Kids spend a good portion of their day sitting in chairs at school…

If you think about where education has gone, and how it has transformed in America over the past 100 years, it is actually astonishing. In the book, “Free to Learn” by Peter Gray, he researched and recorded that kids spend an average of 2-3 times more hours in a desk at school than they did 80 years ago. Kids used to do a lot more exploring in school as well. School wasn’t a place for childcare as much as a place to learn, build curiosity, formulate the basics of reading and writing through hands on experiences, and through play, learn basic communication purposes. Now, school is a place to learn pre-requisites for college. It’s a place that kids must attend. It’s a place where kids are told what to do, with little room for curiosity, and with little-to-no chance for unique interpretation. Standardized tests have become key roles in guiding education, and if kids don’t answer A,B,C,D answers correctly, they aren’t as “smart” as their peers.

With that said, school is NEEDED. It is a wonderful place filled with new and rich experiences. It allows kids to learn from peers, teachers, obstacles, and challenges. However, kids are being diagnosed with ADHD and behavior issues at alarming rates. Why? Because they are spending too much time in desks, listening and following rules, rather than spending time feeding their curiosities.

Therefore, many schools nation wide our now implementing mindfulness and/or yoga sessions. Chair yoga, among these concepts, has really blossomed. Does chair yoga really help kids? If so, how and why? Let’s dive in…

Firstly, any yoga in school is WONDERFUL. Yoga allows kids’ brains to relax and receive more oxygen. Secondly, although chair yoga isn’t a full body work-out per say, it is still lettings our bodies move, in new ways, which promote blood flow, and muscle stretches. Lastly, if a teacher is working on doing chair yoga with his/her students, that is already a step in the right direction — which is implementing ways for kids to explore their world in a new way, beyond simply learning rote facts.

Therefore, YES, chair yoga works. Although many teachers don’t know how to guide kids in yoga, chair yoga is the easiest to guide kids in. Simple movements such as head rolls, arms stretches, belly breaths, and arms lifts, allow kids to interact with their bodies and minds, alleviating some school stressors! In short, get kids moving in school — in any way. All the little things, can add up to be a big deal for kids. As they say, “sometimes the littlest things take up the most room in our hearts.”