Yoga moves for kids are becoming increasingly popular in today’s hectic lifestyle. Stress has infiltrated the lifestyle of both the young and old. Yoga is more recognized than ever as a way to promote a happy and healthy lifestyle.

Today’s families, as well pre-schools, daycare centers, and special education classes are teaching yoga to kids. A positive response can easily be noticed in the learning of yoga moves for kids.

Coordination, flexibility and self-control are just a few of the benefits kids receive from yoga. It is a great way for kids to release bottled up energy and promote relaxation.

Yoga provides a terrific way for a family to engage in bonding. As you practice yoga, moving at your own pace is an important part of the practice. When practicing always remember that yoga is not a competitive sport. As your child practices yoga moves for kids, be sure to keep in mind their moves need not be perfect.

A family activity sets the stage for a great way for kids and parents to bond. Practicing yoga as a family activity is a great way to achieve family bonding. Fundamental to yoga is a life of harmony and kids, like adults, with practice will reap the benefits of yoga.

The theme of yoga poses often resemble animals or nature. Kids have a natural tendency to love nature and animals. They are easily captivated by the poses emulating these themes. Yoga for kids provides a fun and stimulating way to channel a child’s robust energy levels into a healthy direction.

A few of the most popular yoga moves for kids include:

* Camel pose is a kneeling backbend that resembles the shape of a camel.

* Cat pose created by being on your hands and knees and arching your spine toward the sky.

* Tree pose is known as a balancing posture pose. It improves your balance and performed standing.

* Warrior pose is known for strengthening the entire body and improving one’s self-control. This is often identified as one of the most favorite yoga moves for kids.

* Dead corpse pose is directed toward complete relaxation performed lying on the floor. This pose, as the name implies, imitates a corpse.

It’s been over two years now since I gave birth to my daughter. I had some belly fat to lose before I became pregnant, now there is even more. I have been trying to lose belly fat all my life it seems, but since giving birth it’s become a mission.

I have pulled together some great resources that I use to lose belly fat the right way, which will allow you to keep it off once you lose it. Don’t give up, don’t give in. It is totally possible to lose belly fat and keep it off.

First of all don’t try “spot reduction” that is a complete myth and just doesn’t work. You are not going to lose belly fat by doing a million crunches. It just doesn’t work that way. You are going to have to do some overall body training. This is good news because not only will your belly get flat the rest of your body will get fit and tight right along with it.

Here are the three main components of losing belly fat ~ even baby belly fat. ;)

1. Food

2. Exercise

3. Stress

Let’s break it down.

Food: Here are the basics.

You need to have a steady stream of fuel being provided to your body. This means you need to eat small meals every 3 hours or so. You will never lose weight skipping meals. It puts your body into survival mode and it will hold on to everything you’ve got, not knowing when it will get more.

Eating every couple of hours increases your metabolism and will help you lose fat much easier.

You need to eat healthy and well balanced meals. This means protein first, fruits and vegetables second, and complex carbohydrates third.

If you only remember protein and produce you will be well on your way. Make sure each and every meal you prepare has a bit of protein and some produce and you will start to notice change.

There are more factors and nutrients you will need, but this is the basic recipe to get you started.

Eating well will get you nowhere without increasing your metabolism with some exercise.

You’re going to love this. I am NOT going to tell you to get on the treadmill and run you life away.

The best thing you can do for your body to lose body fat is to do interval training, both cardio and resistance.  You will find you can do short burst interval training anywhere and anytime. Especially the cardio. You can do jumping jacks, jogging in place, walking down the road. There’s no need for a gym here.

To do shortburst cardio just start out at a level that feels comfortable. I walk quickly.  Warmup with that for a couple of minutes. Then do a short 30 second burst of all out ~ as fast as you can go, whether that’s running or walking even quicker. Just do what you can do. Then walk again, a little faster than your warm up, but slower. This will allow your body to slow down. Do this pace for 2 minutes. Then do another short 30 second burst of fast. Keep doing this for 15 minutes.

You will notice an improvement pretty rapidly in your ability to move faster and be less winded,  you can always increase the speed or length of time of intervals as you improve.

For your weight training you want to do whole body exercises. This means you only need a few exercises to work out your entire body, this piece of the exercise puzzle only takes about 15 minutes as well. I follow the Fit Yummy Mummy workout plan. She provides excellent images of the exercises as well as an excellent explanation of why you do each one and how.  This is the first exercise program I have found that I can stick with.

You can manage your workouts to fit your schedule. You can do 30 minutes 3 days a week or 15 minutes every day. Just make sure you are doing both the strength training and the cardio three times a week.

The last piece of the puzzle is stress.

Now I can hear people groaning already. How am I going to get rid of stress with a two year old running around. Believe me, I hear you. I have the same problem.  Here are a few things you can do to help manage your stress.

Sleep well. This can be a hard one with little kids, but make sure you go to bed as soon as you can. The chores and laundry that you try to get done after they go to bed can wait. Go to sleep!

Take small breaks. If you are at work, take  a break every couple of hours, walk around, move your body, take a few deep breaths. You can do the same thing at home with your kids. Breathing is a huge part being able to manage stress. Try to remember to take some deep breaths every hour.

Yoga. If you have time do yoga. It will help you feel so much better. If you have small kids, why not get a yoga for kids DVD, and do your yoga with them. It may not make for the BEST practice, but all of you will reap the benefits.

Meditate. Take a couple minutes to be silent and commune with yourself and the universe. Even if you have small kids you can take a moment, during naps, or after they have fallen asleep to sit and be still.  Don’t think of meditation as this huge thing you have to do perfectly. Just sit and breathe, in and out. You can review your day, think about the things you have to be grateful for, just take a moment. If you can wake up a few minutes before the kids it would be a great way to start the day.

So as you can see, losing belly fat is not about your belly at all. It’s about you, the whole person. You have to take care of you and you will see your belly begin to shrink.  Take heart, if your belly is where you store most of your fat, it will be the first place you start to lose.

It’s a basic recipe, Burn slightly more calories than what you are taking in using the
Factors of Fat Loss – Supportive Nutrition and Short Burst Exercise

Resources:

Fit Yummy Mummy

Body for Life for Women

Yoga for Kids