The four benefits of yoga for teens
Just like adults, regularly practicing yoga with teens goes a long way in improving their physical and emotional well-being.
It’s difficult to be a teen nowadays. Teenagers are subjected to numerous distractions, temptations, overstimulation, and peer pressure. Yoga can do more than improve your teen’s flexibility, strength and stamina. It can also help reduce stress and anxiety, improve sleep and mental clarity, and help your teen develop body awareness.
Yoga has a rich history
Yoga is thought to have originated around 5,000 years ago in India, but some researchers believe it dates back even further. While researchers disagree on when yoga became popular, the benefits of incorporating the practise into daily life are undeniable. Yoga has long been touted by doctors as a way to help adults manage stress, insomnia, arthritis relief, heart health, and other issues. So, if practising yoga as an adult is beneficial to overall health, what are the advantages of yoga for teens? It turns out that doing yoga with teens and introducing them to the practise is just as beneficial as incorporating it into your own fitness routine.
Children’s emotional and physical abilities and needs change as they grow older. Yoga can benefit teenagers in the following ways:
1. Physical health
Teenagers are under a lot of pressure to look a certain way. Yoga assists teenagers in improving their physical fitness without focusing on their physical appearance. Furthermore, as teenagers grow, yoga provides incredible benefits such as improved posture and spine health, flexibility, balance, strength, and coordination.
2. Stress management
Teenagers have a lot on their plates, from dealing with exams and college admissions to juggling extracurricular activities and homework, as well as navigating social situations. Yoga can help teenagers make time for themselves while also developing strong coping mechanisms for stress and anxiety.
3. Better concentration
Teenage brains aren’t built to sit in a classroom for eight hours a day. Add hormones, sports, activities, friends, and social media to the mix, and it’s easy to see why teenagers struggle to focus. Yoga can help teens focus their attention, increase their attention span, and concentrate better throughout the day.
4. Confidence
Puberty and peer pressure can sap a teen’s confidence, which explains why so many teenagers struggle with a positive self-image. Yoga can provide teenagers with a regular practice of self-love, which can aid in the development of confidence and a positive self-image surrounding their identities and bodies. Yoga practises that focus on the third chakra, or solar plexus, are especially beneficial for increasing confidence, self-esteem, ambition, and setting personal boundaries.
