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Yoga as a Holistic Treatment for Kids with ADHD: Enhancing Focus and Calm

Yoga is highly beneficial for children with ADHD, enhancing focus, self-regulation, and mindfulness.

 
 
 
 

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can present unique challenges for children, particularly when it comes to focus, impulse control, and managing hyperactivity. 

While medication and traditional therapies have been common approaches, there is growing interest in yoga as a complementary treatment. Yoga, focusing on mindfulness, movement, and breathwork, offers a holistic way to support kids with ADHD, helping them cultivate a sense of calm and improve their concentration.

What is ADHD?

ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects both children and adults. It is characterized by symptoms such as difficulty maintaining attention, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness.

There are three types of ADHD:

  1. Inattentive: Kids might get easily distracted or forget things.

  2. Hyperactive-Impulsive: They might be very active, fidget, or act without thinking.

  3. Combined: Some kids have a mix of both.

ADHD is believed to be caused by a combination of genetic, environmental, and neurological factors. It is typically diagnosed in childhood, but many people continue to experience symptoms into adulthood. Treatments for ADHD often include behavioral therapies, lifestyle changes, and medication, such as stimulants that help regulate attention and impulse control.

Can ADHD be cured? 

ADHD isn’t something that can be entirely cured, but with proper care and a healthy lifestyle, its symptoms can be effectively managed and gradually diminish over time, empowering children and adults with ADHD to live happy and successful lives.

While medication can help, maintaining a balanced lifestyle is one of the most important factors. Simple activities like yoga or mindfulness can be highly effective in managing symptoms.

How Yoga Benefits Kids with ADHD

Yoga is a powerful tool for children with ADHD, offering more than just physical exercise. Here's how yoga can make a difference:

  1. Enhances Focus and Attention: Children with ADHD often struggle with maintaining attention, especially in school or during structured activities. Yoga can help improve focus through mindfulness practices that encourage children to stay present. By guiding them through simple poses and focusing on their breath, yoga helps kids anchor their minds, leading to better concentration over time.

  2. Reduces Hyperactivity: Hyperactivity is one of the hallmark symptoms of ADHD. Yoga allows children to channel this energy in a constructive way. Physical postures like Warrior Pose or Tree Pose engage their bodies, offering a productive outlet for restlessness. The act of holding poses and concentrating on their movements helps reduce impulsivity, leading to greater self-control.

  3. Promotes Emotional Regulation: Children with ADHD can often feel overwhelmed by their emotions, leading to frustration, anger, or anxiety. Yoga teaches them how to connect with their breath, which is a powerful tool for emotional regulation. By incorporating breathing exercises like "belly breathing" or "lion’s breath," kids learn how to calm themselves in stressful situations, helping them respond to challenges with more resilience.

  4. Builds Confidence and Self-Awareness: Yoga offers a non-competitive environment where children can progress at their own pace, which boosts self-esteem. As they master new poses and become more aware of their bodies, they build confidence. This self-awareness also extends to understanding their own triggers and learning how to manage them effectively.

What is the best yoga for kids with ADHD?

Yoga is highly beneficial for children with ADHD, enhancing focus, self-regulation, and mindfulness. While many general kids’ yoga classes can be suitable, it's essential to ensure that the instructor understands your child's unique needs and can adapt the practice accordingly. Talking with the teacher or school in advance is a good way to confirm this.

Ideally, finding a specialized yoga class designed for children with ADHD or other special needs would provide the most tailored support. In these classes, instructors are specifically trained to share the benefits of yoga in a way that resonates with kids who need extra guidance.

For further details, feel free to reach out to the Yogi Beans Bean Team. With nearly 20 years of experience teaching children with special needs and training yoga teachers, we’re here to help!

Tips for Teaching Yoga to Kids with ADHD:

  • Keep sessions short: Children with ADHD may struggle with longer classes, so aim for 20-30 minute sessions.

  • Incorporate games and fun: Use playful themes, props, or storytelling to make the practice engaging.

  • Focus on breathing: Teach simple breathing exercises to help kids learn to self-regulate.

  • Encourage movement: Suggest active poses and transitions to maintain energy and interest.

  • Create a calming environment: Use soft music, gentle lighting, and comfortable spaces to promote relaxation.

Overall, the key is to make yoga enjoyable and adaptable to meet each child's needs.

ADHD Yoga Poses You Can Practice at Home

Below are some simple yoga poses that you can safely practice at home with kids. These asanas focus on relaxation and boosting concentration, making them especially beneficial for children with ADHD. Start with short sessions (30 seconds per posture initially) and gradually increase the duration over time.

1. Tree Pose (Vrksasana)

  • Benefits: Enhances balance and focus.

  • How to do it: Stand on one leg and place the opposite foot on the inner thigh or calf of the standing leg. Bring hands to the heart center or reach them overhead.

2. Child's Pose (Balasana)

  • Benefits: Promotes relaxation and reduces stress.

  • How to do it: Kneel on the floor, sit back on your heels, and fold forward, resting your forehead on the mat with arms extended in front.

3. Cat-Cow Stretch (Marjaryasana-Bitilasana)

  • Benefits: Encourages spinal flexibility and breath awareness.

  • How to do it: Start on all fours. Inhale, arching your back (Cow), and exhale, rounding your spine (Cat). Repeat several times.

4. Seated Forward Bend (Paschimottanasana)

  • Benefits: Calms the mind and stretches the back and hamstrings.

  • How to do it: Sit with legs extended in front. Inhale, lengthen your spine, and exhale, folding forward over your legs.

5. Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose (Viparita Karani)

  • Benefits: Relaxes the nervous system and reduces anxiety.

  • How to do it: Sit next to a wall, lie on your back, and extend your legs up the wall. Relax and breathe deeply.

Yogi Beans’ Training: A Kids’ Yoga Training for Everyone

With hearts full of love, Yogi Beans offers a comprehensive kids yoga teacher training to ensure future teachers are equipped to deliver beautiful and inspiring yoga lessons to every little bean, without exception. The training includes an in-depth section on teaching yoga to children with special needs, such as ADHD. Led by compassionate experts like Maggie McHugh, this part of the program celebrates the uniqueness of each child and supports their individual journey.

Designed for educators, caregivers, and service providers, this section equips participants with practical tools to support children with diverse needs. While it isn’t intended to provide medical guidance or replace therapy, it addresses the unique, overlapping challenges many children face. For instance, a child with ADHD might also experience anxiety, just as a child on the autism spectrum or with Down syndrome might struggle with impulse control.

This part of the training isn’t prescriptive based on medical diagnoses; instead, it focuses on holistic strategies that promote each child’s well-being.

Join us to learn how yoga can support children across a range of needs, empowering you to make a positive difference.

 

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5 Simple & Relaxing Classroom Yoga Exercises for School Kids

Find simple, effective methods to help maintain focus and calm.

 
 
 
 

In a classroom, kids' energy can often take over in unexpected ways. Sometimes, their creativity and spontaneity bring joyful moments and connection, but at other times, things can become a bit chaotic and difficult to manage. 

For teachers, it’s important to find simple, effective methods to help maintain focus and calm, without taking too much time away from the lesson plan. That’s where incorporating classroom yoga exercises can be incredibly helpful.

These exercises don’t have to involve a full yoga session—just a quick 2-3 minute practice can make a significant difference. By allowing students a short moment to breathe, stretch, and ground themselves, you can help them reset and refocus, creating a more balanced and peaceful learning environment. These mini-breaks are easy to fit into the school day and won’t take away from valuable teaching time.

Read this article until the end and you’ll discover 5 easy and fun classroom yoga exercises that you can easily introduce to bring calm and concentration to your students, while still having plenty of time to cover the rest of the lesson.

Introducing Yoga and Mindfulness in The Classroom?

If you’re part of the Yogi Beans community of yogis, teachers, and parents, you’ve likely already read our article, How Does Yoga Affect School Children? In that piece, we emphasized that yoga and mindfulness go beyond simply helping kids relax—they have a deep impact on emotional well-being and body awareness, ultimately empowering children to navigate both school and life with greater confidence and emotional intelligence.

While introducing full yoga sessions in schools can be a gradual process (click on the link for more info), you don’t need to commit to a lengthy routine to bring a sense of mindfulness into your classroom. A simple 3-5 minute breathing exercise is often enough to create a calming and joyful atmosphere, helping students reset and refocus.

If you’re looking to go beyond a quick practice and dive deeper into the benefits of kids' yoga and mindfulness, we invite you to explore our various training options. Whether you prefer joining one of our live online programs or learning at your own pace with our video-on-demand course, you'll find everything you need to integrate yoga and mindfulness into your classroom effectively.

5 Yoga Exercises for The Classroom

Here are five easy yoga exercises that can help bring calm, focus, and balance to your classroom without requiring much space or time:

1 - Breathing Anchor

The Breathing Anchor exercise is a simple yet effective way for children to connect with their breath and enhance their mindfulness. This practice encourages awareness of different areas of the body, helping students find calm and focus in the moment.

Instructions:

  1. Have children sit comfortably with their hands resting on their bellies.

  2. Instruct them to take three deep breaths, focusing on expanding their bellies as they inhale and deflating as they exhale.

  3. Next, slide hands up to the sides of the ribs. Encourage children to send their breath into their ribs, allowing them to expand like an accordion with each inhale.

  4. Finally, place hands on the chest and invite them to send their breath into their heart.

  5. At the end of the exercise, ask children where they felt their breath the most. Remind them that there are no right or wrong answers—each experience is unique!

2 - Lion’s Breath (Simhasana)

This fun and energizing breathing exercise helps release tension and can bring laughter and joy to the classroom. It also encourages deep breathing and mindfulness.

Instructions:

  1. Come onto your knees, sitting up tall with a straight spine and puffing out your chest like the "King of the Jungle."

  2. Pretend to scratch your lion "paws" to get into character.

  3. Take a deep breath in, filling your lungs with air.

  4. When exhaling, let out a big "roar" while sticking your tongue out as far as possible. You can also try a quieter lion roar or a purr, as if the lion is stealthily hunting in the jungle.

  5. Explain that this breathing exercise helps release frustrations and can be useful when feeling angry, upset or frustrated.

3 - Tree Pose (Vrksasana)

Tree Pose is a great way for students to ground themselves and reset their focus. To enhance this experience, encourage creativity by allowing kids to choose the type of tree they want to embody that day. For example, they can raise their arms high like a tall pine if they’re happy, bring hands together like a calming cactus for peace, or lower their arms if they’re feeling sad or angry. This imaginative approach fosters emotional awareness and playful exploration of their feelings in a safe space.

Instructions:

  1. Start in mountain pose (tadasana), press feet firmly into the ground, close your eyes and take 3-5 deep breaths, feeling your connection to the ground.

  2. Gently shift your weight onto your left or right foot and find a point in front of you to focus on, which will help with balance.

  3. Lift your right or left foot and slowly position your ams.

  4. Avoid pressing your foot into your knee during Tree Pose; instead, place it above or below.

  5. Ask students how it felt to balance on one leg and what strategies they used to stay steady.

4 - Centering in Pairs

This calming partner activity encourages children to become more aware of their breath while also fostering a sense of connection with a classmate. Through synchronized breathing, children not only enhance their focus and relaxation but also build trust and mindfulness in their interactions. It's a simple yet powerful way to promote calm and connection in a shared space.

Instructions:

  1. Find a partner and sit back-to-back on the floor with legs crossed.

  2. Start mirroring your partner's breath, inhaling and exhaling together.

  3. Start ask them to alternate their breathing, where one child inhales while the other exhales.

  4. Encourage the children to reflect by asking, "How did it feel to focus on your own breath? And how did it feel when you shifted your attention to your partner’s breath?" 

5 - The “Loving Kindness” Meditation

Have you ever heard of the enchanting “Loving Kindness” meditation? At Yogi Beans, we cherish this practice so much that we’ve dedicated an entire article to exploring its benefits and techniques. 

Rooted in traditional Buddhist teachings, this meditation invites participants to cultivate love and compassion, both for themselves and for others. It's a beautiful way to foster positive emotions and deepen connections, making it a beloved part of our curriculum. 

  1. Self-Love: Ask children to send love to themselves by silently repeating the mantra, “May I be happy. May I be healthy.”

  2. Sending Love: Have them picture someone they love and send that person love with the mantra, “May you be happy. May you be healthy.”

  3. Community Connection: Encourage children to visualize someone they see often but don’t know well (like a bus driver or crossing guard) and send that person loving thoughts.

  4. Transforming Annoyance: Guide them to think of someone who annoys them, perhaps a bully or a sibling. Ask them to recall a fun moment shared with that person and send loving thoughts their way.

  5. Global Love: Finally, invite children to extend their loving thoughts to the entire city, state, country, world, and universe.

These simple exercises can seamlessly integrate into your classroom routine, helping students achieve balance both at school and in their lives. By incorporating these mindful practices, you create an environment that supports emotional well-being and enhances focus, allowing children to navigate their day with greater ease and confidence.

Yogi Beans Programs for Schools and Teachers

If you enjoyed reading this article, we have more for you!  Yogi Beans is proud to be an approved vendor for the New York City Department of Education and a registered service provider with the Nassau BOCES Artists in Schools Program.

We take great pride in providing our programs to over 60 private and public schools throughout New York City, Long Island, Westchester, and New Jersey. Our reach doesn’t stop there; we also cater to a variety of learning environments, including homeschool settings, preschools, nurseries, special needs schools, youth organizations and summer camps.

Whether you’re a school administrator or a teacher looking to introduce more mindfulness into your classroom, we offer a diverse range of programs tailored to meet your needs. Our pillars hold the formula for a healthy, happy, and thriving child! 

We invite you to explore our “Education” page to discover the various offerings we have available and how we can support your community in fostering mindfulness and connection.

 

Connect with us!

Welcome Friends!

Yogi Beans is a yoga and wellness company for children. Come make the world a brighter place with us!

 

On Demand Development Course

 
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