Many adults practice yoga and love it, but it is also a fun, educational and healthy activity for the preschool set. The flexibility and balance necessary for yoga, as well as the discipline, make it a great way to help kids stay fit, while appealing to the perpetual desire of little kids to twist their bodies into as many different shapes as possible.

The East Harlem Head Start children channel some positive ‘Zen’ on the new, recreational roof at the East Harlem Center

We are not the only ones recognizing the benefits of yoga for kids. “Yoga is wonderful for children,” says Rebecca Whitford, author of Little Yoga: A Toddler’s First Book of Yoga. “It helps them retain their natural flexibility, which they can lose, slumped over a PlayStation or at a desk in school.” Actress and yoga enthusiast Gwyneth Paltrow is also a fan of yoga for children, narrating the DVD adaptation of Little Yoga.

Early childhood yoga is offered through the Children’s Aid Society’s Go!Kids Obesity Prevention Program, a program launched in 2003 to combat childhood obesity plaguing the low-income, urban communities we serve. Go!Kids is offered at community schools P.S. 5 and P.S. 8 in Washington Heights, at our Bronx Family Center’s Day Care program and at the East Harlem Center Head Start Program .  There is also Grown-Up and Me Baby and Toddler Yoga, for adults and children ages 2-24 months, offered at the Philip Coltoff Center in Greenwich Village, which makes yoga a family activity for parent and child.

As keeping kids fit and fighting obesity become increasingly important goals, we are always incorporating new and fun activities for kids and their parents to enjoy while staying healthy. The Children’s Aid Society’s East Harlem Center’s weekly yoga class, provided free by University Settlement’s Butterflies Program,” teaches the children to exercise their bodies and positively focus their energy.  And what better place for a ‘Downward Facing Dog’ than outside on our beautiful new roof?” said Moria Cappio, Director of the East Harlem Center Early Childhood program.

Tags: Bronx Family Center, Children's Aid New York City, East Harlem Center, exercise, Go!Kids, Gwyneth Paltrow, Head Start Program, Little Yoga, obesity prevention, Philip Coltoff Center