The practice of yoga is a pretty special activity to bring into children’s lives, as well as our own. There’s plenty of good reasons why yoga continues to be practiced (and popular) over 5,000+ years. 

Just a few of the proven benefits of yoga include: 

• Better emotional awareness and control
• Boosted self-esteem 
• Improve memory and concentration
• Better sleep
• More flexibility and strength
• More balance
• More happiness and positivity

If you tried yoga in your service but have let your daily practice slip, this blog is a reminder to get back into it. If you haven’t tried yoga as part of a daily routine with your children visit our program page to find out more about joining our Ultimate music and wellness program. We will be sure to help you embed yoga with all your educators and kids! 

Let’s look at just 5 of the key reasons daily yoga should be on your to-do list.

• Daily yoga can be easier to fit in

Doing yoga each day might sound like a challenge, and it is in a way. But sometimes it’s easier to have something built into each day rather than trying to squeeze it in here and there. Think of it as creating a habit of doing yoga daily. Once you establish it, it can really stick. 

• Your early childhood education service will benefit

As well as being hugely beneficial long-term, yoga can have an immediate impact too. By incorporating yoga into each day you are helping children to get their mindset right for the entire day. This can mean experiencing improved concentration, memory and mood, better emotional awareness and control, and much more. It goes without saying that these benefits can make a notable impact on the way your day runs in centres.

• Maximise the outcomes

Daily practice means you can get more from that time spent doing yoga than if you do it less frequently. While any amount of yoga is good, undertaking it daily means getting more noticeable results in a shorter period of time. 

• Keep everyone healthy

Staffing shortages and spreading illnesses through centres can be frustrating, and while it’s just a part of life for us all in early childhood education we’d all prefer to limit illness where possible. Research has shown that yoga boosts the immune system and improves our body’s ability to recover from injury and illness. More yoga = better overall health so you can get on with business as usual by keeping families as safe as possible.

• It’s fun!

Doing yoga can be so much fun! Not only do you finish up your daily practice feeling amazing, but during the practice you can really enjoy yourself too. Children love to move their bodies, explore their capabilities and learn new things, so why not make the wonderful practice of yoga something they can discover!

At Bonkers Beat we incorporate yoga each day into our morning sessions. We call it ‘Welcome a New Day’ and this session includes yoga, meditation and mindfulness exercises for around 20-25 minutes.

You can also use yoga or meditation to aid transitions in centres, such as heading indoors after playtime or preparing for rest. To help you get started, try out our yoga cards and other yoga and music resources — they are available here. 

The Bonkers Beat programs incorporate daily yoga and meditation that children and adults absolutely LOVE. To learn more about our programs and the wellbeing initiatives, take a look here.