Yoga parents kids
It’s time to talk about why yoga works so well for teens, and for the adults who parent them through teenage.
There have always been college kids in hot yoga – ages 18 – 22. These kids are up for a challenge and they need stress relief; hot yoga offers both.
Love yoga but now the hot secret is out: teens can benefit from hot yoga as much as young adults, as much as their parents, and perhaps more: the younger they are, the fewer kids need to “undo” before they can feel those hot yoga benefits.
Hot Yoga for teens
tiny yoga
The teenage is a rough territory, for boys and girls ages 12 – 16.
Those teen years can be tough as these teenagers, are not children anymore nor adult (another rough time) they fall somewhere in between the two, beyond the well-defined worlds of “child” and “young adult.”
My own two children started practicing hot yoga with me when they were 14 and 17. Both are athletes – my daughter Carly plays league softball and football and is an avid cross-country biker and hiker. My son Zach is a black belt in karate and recently started Capoeira. Both are still hot yoga students…and teachers (now ages 25 and 18).
My kids credit hot yoga with years of injury-free athletics. I credit it with maintaining my sanity through their teen years.
What is hot yoga?
A brief review for you newbies: traditional Hot 26 yoga is done in 105 degrees with 40% humidity, a 26 pose sequence for 90 minutes.
The hot yoga teacher is charged with keeping everyone both safe and challenged to their max, so rest assured: your kids will be well cared for in a traditional hot yoga class.
And then, in hot yoga class, they will learn the value of caring for themselves.
Hot Yoga for Young Athletes
Yoga poses I like
Kids can play rough. And I’m not just talking about sports. But let’s talk about sports first because so many teens are on that field, aiming for those college sports scholarships or just trying to find an easy way to feel accepted, to feel good about themselves.
Being a sports hero can offer that immediate gratification and popularity.
Starting with the physical aspects, true hot yoga enhances flexibility, coordination, and strength. That’s one reason more and more high school coaches – football, baseball, soccer, and hockey – are recommending hot yoga to their young athletes. Lots of young athletes in my studio tell me their coaches, teammates, and parents sent them.
Athletic kids get it right away: hot yoga can enhance their game, help them focus, and make them less injury-prone on the playing field.
And then there is the playing field called Life.
The Secret Life of teens
Your teens are navigating some emotionally choppy seas: changes in their bodies, in their childhood friendships, in their social strata, in their thoughts about the future.
What teen wouldn’t benefit from a large dose of self-esteem and self-direction?
Stress-free yoga love hot yoga offers both peace of mind and peacefulsanity. Teens who practice hot yoga often feels a surge of self-esteem.
There is something about facing yourself in the mirror in the hot yoga room that is about learning to look yourself in the eye, accept yourself, and feel good about what you see in the hot yoga room – and that feeling stays with you after you leave the room, too.
That feeling is an important foundation for handling the emotional confusion that accompanies the day-to-day grind of school, tests, homework, and where-do-I fit-in questions.
Teen Problems Deserve Your Attention
I know what you’re thinking; “They’re only 12, what do they have to worry about?”
My own Dad used to listen to my little problems for hours on end, on the other end of a phone when he was at work or across the kitchen table over his late-night dinner, eaten after working 18 hours standing on a cold cement floor, operating heavy machinery in his carpentry business in Corona, Queens.
yoga tip for tiny belly
My mother used to ask him why he did it, why he let me go on and on about a fight with my 12-year-old best friend that she knew would blow over in a day or so, especially when he was already so tired from his long day. His answer:
“It seems like a little problem to you, but in her world, there’s nothing bigger or more important.”
That alone made me feel as if I mattered, and everything would be alright. Wonderful things for a teen to know.
That was how I learned that everyone has their own world, and it is filled with their own challenges, none any smaller than yours. They may look like little people to you, but your kids have big feelings that can be overwhelming to them; issues that may seem insignificant to you can mean the world to them. And sometimes, only you can prevent that world from crashing down.
You, and perhaps hot yoga. I have seen it work. For the teen, and the parents.
Being younger doesn’t mean being lesser, or problem-free, or carefree, no matter how much you as an adult may look longingly at your children and wish to change places with them. Resist the urge to say, “You don’t know what problems are.” They do know.
Just look at the skyrocketing teen suicide rates. And now teens are making the numbers climb. They have problems.
Yoga-kids also tend to better manage their emotional challenges with patience, tolerance, and, let’s say the L word: love. Self-love. That’s the best kind to learn from the start.
Should parents bring their kids to hot yoga?
I love seeing parents and their children doing hot yoga together; there is a truly special bond that forms during the sharing of a sweaty class.
And let’s face it: when they’re teens, you lose the sweet children they were. Sometimes you even find raging monsters who have taken up residence in their bedrooms.
How do you love a monster?
Doing yoga together – especially hot yoga – gives you something to sweat through together, instead of sweating out the next fight over what your son is wearing in his earlobe, or what color your daughter dyed her hair this time.
No Parents in Hot Yoga
One caution for you, parents: stop being a parent while you’re in hot yoga class with your kids. Don’t correct them, scold them, don’t even place your mat where you can see them – otherwise the temptation to parent them will be too great.
Let the yoga teacher handle everything in the class; enjoy your practice and let your kid enjoy hers. After class, enjoy a long cold drink and some laughs together – and look forward to your next hot yoga class with each other.
At what age can children do hot yoga?
In my opinion as a yoga teacher, age 10 is about the earliest a young student can fully manage the stamina and balance, as well as heat acclimatization needed to fully enjoy the 90-minute hot yoga class.
Make sure they drink plenty of water – half their body weight in ounces – so they go into hot yoga class already well-hydrated.
Yoga teaches balance, body control, it even teaches focus and concentration. These yoga-inspired traits are something every youngster can carry well into adulthood and turn into lifelong habits for happiness and success. And a reminder of the value of patience, self-love, and a time when your body was a lot more flexible, are all great for adults, too.