I have two passions in my life, family and yoga.
What is better than joining them together.
Playing with the kids while doing your yoga practice and they get a bit of exercise yoga at the same time.
The video (best is to play it large so you get music) is of our son Eric (aged 3) playing on my back while I was trying to do mayurasana, which is one the most important postures (in its various forms) to master in hatha yoga. It is great doing it alone, but with the challenge of a child on your back!
This is when eric discovered he could balance on my back .
He had just seen the animated kids penguin movie ‘Surfs Up’ and thought he could surf so he jumped on my back and and exclaimed to his mother ‘ Look Ma! I am surfing!’
The most important thing in Mayurasana is to keep your abdomen relaxed and breathe into your abdomen (diaphragmatic breathing). This really does wonders to the health of your lower back and your internal organs, but it takes much more control than the simple method of tensing the abdomen to balance in the pose in a more gymnastic version of the exercise.
Eric thought it would be also fun to try to surf balance on me while I was on one arm!
Our daughter Amaliah (age 6) wanted to try one arm balance ballet. Just about to start dancing now!
If you want to learn more about yoga for adults and kids, and especially about how to make it safe and effective, then consider doing one of our upcoming courses on the applied anatomy and physiology of yoga at https://yogasynergy.com/shop/anatomy-physiology-yoga-online-course/
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Comments 8
what fun!
Awesome Simon … looked hard enough until Eric jumped whilst on your back … :-/ !!! xx
Looks like good fun – for the kids that is!! 😉
Those pictures are awesome! How great to see Dad and kid enjoy yoga together! Yoga is not only really calming for kids, it can also help them learn better. Being calm enables the kid to be more receptive and retentive to learning. Here are some really good poses to try with your kids: https://addriya.com/category/free-yoga-poses
You might be interested in this, we’ve created a card deck set that has all 26 letter of the alphabet with pre-reading and language questions tied to each pose-Learn With Yoga; ABC Yoga Cards for Kids (https://addriya.com/products/) . There’s a virtues book, border and coloring book too.
This is amazing Simon-even without a two-year old on your back the posture is quite the feat. You’re quite obviously a great dad and your kids are very lucky.
Much love and good health to you, Vitoria, amelia and Eric in 2011.
Maria
Hi Simon, just showed Reuben (5 yo) – he wants a turn! Simone
Great blog – partic the breathwork.
Amazing book I am in the midst of, which makes sense of it all, is “This Is It – Enlightenment with CYoga” – do you have it?
That’s very cool. I particularly like the Mayura-trampoline-asana variation from Eric.