Wednesday, August 17, 2016

7 Acro-Yoga Exercises for Parents and Children, ages 3y to 12y (or more)

In this post Sharon hosts Sarit, who is an Ashtanga instructor from Kiryat Shmona, and together we want to introduce you to Acro-Yoga (light) for parents and children.

Parents-children Acro-Yoga strengthens the parental connection, builds trust, builds confidence, improves self-esteem and generally speaking broadens the heart.
We recommend that you perform the exercises when another adult is around to stand on guard and prevent injuries. The exercises are performed slowly and while maintaining balance and attention of the child.
2 basic terms are: a. base – whoever lifts the other (in this case the parent) and b. flyer – the person being lifted up and balancing on the base (in this case, the child).

1.  "Airplane" – parent as base, child as flyer.
The parent lie on the ground, lifting his legs with a mild spread of the hips, while the child "free-falls" on the parents legs and shifts all his body-weight to it. The parent then stretched its legs at a 90° angle, while the child spreads his hands to both sides while maintaining balance.



2. "Bat" – from the airplane position the child will move the weight of his upper body downwards with the parent supporting him by the back, while the parent legs are still in a 90° angle to the ground in order to maintain balance. Later on the parent can fold his legs if it's comfortable (in our case the height differences were too big).



3. "Bridge" – the parent is base, the child is a flyer.
The parent places his legs around the upper buttocks (where they meet the back) with a mild spread against the waist, while the child leans backwards when he is supported around the shoulder by the parent. The parent stretched his legs, and the child can hold the parent ankles, and with the help of another adult roll up towards the parent head and all the way to standing up.





4. "Bridge on the ground" - the parent stand with his legs spread above the child's head. The child holds his hands against the parent's ankles while his buttocks leans outside. While lifting the pelvis and placing the head on the ground the parent helps the child by holding his pelvis until a full bridge is formed.