Winter Olympics #OlympicMoms and #OlympicDads can look to Olympic athletes for inspiration and motivation to introduce yoga for stress management. Many Olympic athletes use yoga in an effort to prevent injuries, improve their center of balance, and increase their range of motion. Yoga can calm the mind and warm up stiff or cold muscles. Now you can integrate yoga poses into your Winter Olympic viewing routine.
Get the kids off the couch, take a few deep breaths, and strike a yoga pose, just like your favorite athlete.
Follow the athletes along and encourage kids to use their imaginations, yoga poses, and pretend they are a downhill skier or even a mountain.
Talk to your children about how American snowboarder Jamie Anderson prepared for her big Olympic day.
“I put on the meditation music, burnt some sage and did some yoga.” ~ Jamie Anderson
Yoga also involves breath work, which helps athletes increase their endurance. Oxygen is transported to the muscles with less effort and this helps protect the muscles from muscle fatigue. Olympic athletes know the importance of concentration, strength, breathing, and flexibility.
#OlympicMoms and #OlympicDads want to know if I really do yoga! Yes, I do and one my teacher’s favorite pose is Downhill Skier which is just perfect for watching the Winter Olympics with your family.
Kids Yoga Stories put together a terrific list of yoga poses that support the Winter Olympics theme. Try watching the Olympics together and explore a few poses with your kids. You and your children will benefit.
Winter Olympics Yoga Poses
Ski Jumping – Mountain Pose variation
(Stand tall with legs hip-width apart, feet facing forward, and straighten your arms alongside your body. Open your chest and arch your back slightly, pretending to be ski jumping.)
Cross Country Skiing – Mountain Pose variation
(Stand tall with legs hip-width apart, feet facing forward, and move your arms as if you are cross country skiing.)
Snowboarding – Warrior 2 Pose
(From standing position, step one foot back, placing the foot so that it is facing slightly outward. Take your arms up into a position parallel to the ground. Bend your front knee and look forward as though you are snowboarding.)
Figure Skating – Warrior 3 Pose
(Stand on one leg. Extend the other leg behind you. Bend your torso forward and take your arms back behind you. Pretend to be gliding down the ice like a figure skater.)
Hockey – Horse Stance
(Stand with your legs apart, with your feet facing slightly outward, bend your knees, and stand firm like a hockey goalie clutching a hockey stick.)
Alpine Skiing – Chair Pose
(Stand tall in Mountain Pose with your feet hip-width apart, bend your knees, and pretend to be skiing down the mountain.)
Speed Skating – Standing Forward Bend variation
(From Chair Pose, bend your torso forward. Take one arm back behind you and swing the other arm back and forth like a speed skater does.)
Curling – Lunge
(Come to a lunge position by stepping back with one leg and bending your front knee. Swing your right arm as if you are sliding a curling stone along the ice.)
Bobsleigh – Staff Pose
(Sit with a tall spine and your legs straight out in front of you. Pretend that you are in a bobsleigh racing down the mountain.)
Luge – Resting Pose variation
(Lie on your back with your arms and legs tight to your body as if you are going down the luge. Then stretch them out. Breathe and rest.)
Yoga pose list is courtesy of Kids Yoga Stories
Balancing Bear is another fun yoga pose. Listen to Indigo Dreams: A Boy and a Bear and your child will learn to do deep yoga breathing…. just like the bear.
Stress Free Kids founder Lori Lite is a freelance blogger, social media strategist, parenting expert, and successful entrepreneur. Her line of books and CDs are designed to help children, teens, and adults decrease stress, anxiety, and anger. Ms. Lite’s books, CDs, and lesson plans are considered a resource for parents, psychologists, therapists, child life specialists, teachers, doctors, and yoga instructors. Lori’s award winning books received national attention on Shark Tank and her sort after accessible tips have been featured in hundreds of publications to include: CNN Living, Real Simple Magazine, USA Today, Family Circle, Working Mother Magazine, and Web MD. For more information visit Stress Free Kids and for daily advice follow Lori on Twitter and Facebook.