Tell a roomful of grade schoolers how important it is to develop healthy habits in childhood, and you may get a roomful of blank stares.
But show them how to yoga pose like a frog, and suddenly you have their attention.
That was the idea behind Kids Yoga, the latest offering in Penn Medicine Princeton Health’s series of kid-friendly and kid-focused healthy living programs.
The inaugural yoga class—held on a weekday September afternoon in Princeton Junction, N.J., a few miles from Princeton Medical Center—drew 10 children, ages 8 to 10. Debbie Millar, director of Community Wellness and a certified kids yoga instructor, led the young students through a series of games and warmup exercises before launching into beginner-level yoga poses, such as the tree, the spider and the aforementioned frog.
“Yoga has the same benefits for kids as it does for adults,” Millar said. “It improves posture and concentration. It helps people learn to be mindful and present in the moment. Most importantly, yoga can be fun, and that gives us a great chance to engage the kids. Adult behaviors can be ingrained in childhood, so we are trying to give kids a good start toward a healthy lifestyle.”
Read more at Penn Medicine News.
