Yoga Kids

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Did someone post something a while ago about Yoga Kids? If so I would love some info about it. Our OT has suggested some yoga to build upper body strength for my son and I remember someone saying these videos were very good.

Thanks for any info!

yes, we use Yoga Kids ABCs...haven't tried the others...that one is great! I got it at Sprouts, but Target also has it, etc...

What about for a 9 year old? Or is it just for younger children?

Hi, I would love to know how yoga helped your kid. I am getting really into doing kids yoga class for ASD children so any opinion would help me! I even take part in fun competition called #YogaArt, just to show how fun is doing yoga with kids! (you can like my photo if you like on Rainbow Kids Yoga fb web-page hahaha)
But seriously, as I have experience as an ABA therapist I know how important is to stick to eveidence-based therapies. Do you have any experience with combining ABA with yoga? Thanks for all replies!

I don't know if Yoga Kids is the right choice. "Why not?" Because it requires physical flexibility. And from my experience as an aspie child, I was as flexible as a slab of marble. Weightlifting is also exponentially more aspie-friendly than yoga can ever be. "How so?" When lifting weights, you perform actions in discrete, quantified sets of repetitions. Namely, "push two dumbbells upwards from the shoulder level ten times", often accompanied by a visual demonstration. As contrasted with yoga, filled with vague, schmaltzy instructions like "relax your body", "focus on your breathing", "think peaceful thoughts", while contorting your body like a pretzel.

If you want to build up upper body strength, I'd say weightlifting is a better choice. As long as it's modified for kids, and combined with extra water and protein in the diet. Studies showed that it's safe to work out with light weights starting at age 8. Since most machines are too big for kids to use safely, dumbbells and short barbells (but not full-width ones used for bench presses) are the best available options. One catch is that the weights must be heavy enough to provide resistance when lifting, but light enough not to put dangerous pressure on the joints.

If you're against your son doing weightlifting, then perhaps he might like cardio boot camp classes for kids. They have fast, energetic music and military-style exercise routines. The moves look and feel very masculine, which might raise your son's self-confidence as an added bonus. (Of course, if your son is anything like I was, he might enjoy the music and hate the exercises, but let's hope not. )

I think this is one of those YMMV things. I like weights, but my son is not good at form or grading his movements so he would probably bonk himself or drop the little weight on his foot. My husband does manly yoga with him. DDP Yoga is the name and the instructor is an ex pro-wrestler so it is not touchy-feely and there are kid versions on the more recent release. My husband is working on him with form which would be an issue no matter what the form of exercise. He has trouble imitating, and it is the same issue that makes him have issues with replicating non-verbal gestures.

Some autistic people are hypertonic and I think they have to worry about being too flexible and hurting themselves. My son seems to be in a more typical range for flexibility, but again YMMV.