That’s why Bloom Yoga, a program managed by Sarah Crisafi at Illuminate Colorado, offers supportive, trauma-informed yoga for anyone who plays a part in family strengthening. That means kids, caregivers, and professionals alike! 

Taking care of yourself is the first step in taking care of others.

Professionals have a lot on their plate. Helping families to work through a variety of difficult situations is mentally and emotionally draining. No professional should have to deal with stress on their own, which is why Bloom Yoga teaches skills that promote resilience– like self-awareness and self-regulation.    

The definition of yoga is to build connection or union.

Through Bloom Yoga, professionals gain the tools they need to connect with themselves, which allows them to build more meaningful connections with the families they serve.

Bloom Yoga is for everyone– even kids!

Bloom Yoga isn’t just for professionals. Sarah Crisafi also uses yoga to work with kids and families on strengthening the social emotional skills they need to thrive. When families participate in Bloom Yoga, they are having experiences that embody the protective factors.

In the Bloom Yoga kids class, Sarah works with kids to build the social emotional tools they need to develop into healthy and thriving adults. Classes include the idea of being aware of feelings, understanding how the body reacts to those feelings, and then using tools to regulate or make changes if needed.  

Bloom Yoga addresses child maltreatment prevention from multiple sides by supporting not only the professionals who work with families but also parents, caregivers, and children alike. Bloom Yoga truly embodies Illuminate Colorado’s mission of strengthening families, organizations, and communities to prevent child maltreatment. 

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Six Benefits for Kids

1. Builds Confidence

Yoga is a naturally non-competitive environment that can build confidence in all ages, shapes, and abilities.  Whether your child is an active athlete just looking to increase flexibility, or a bookworm with little interest in sports, yoga provides an environment to introduce new physical challenges in a safe and all-accepting environment.  Overcoming challenges ON a yoga mat, can lead to overcoming challenges OFF the yoga mat, increasing overall confidence. 

2. Decreases Anxiety

Yoga and Mindfulness are researched and known for their ability to regulate the physiological systems associated with anxiety.  When we use yoga to decrease a physiological response, such as reducing heart rate, we can have more control over our stress response systems. 

 “There is also evidence that yoga practice help increases heart rate variability, an indicator of the body’s ability to respond to stress more flexibly.”  -Harvard Medical School

3. Builds Focus and Concentration

Yoga encourages present moment awareness.  When faced with a physical challenge in yoga, it’s almost impossible to think about the past or dwell on the future.  As children practice yoga, they develop the ability to focus on the situation at hand, which helps them with school and other problem-solving tasks. 

4. Promotes Self-Care

Building a foundation of this practice in childhood is essential.  Children can learn about healthy habits early so they are more likely to continue that practice into adulthood.  Time spent during yoga may be the only time a child spends focusing on caring for themselves.  It’s so empowering to have a child know the benefit of a deep breath or know how to keep their body healthy. 

5. Increases Self-Awareness

Yoga has a way of helping us get to know our inner self, feelings, thoughts, and sensations. Without paying attention to these things, we may not be able to shift or change them, if we wanted to.  This is called Introspection and is the idea that you can pay attention to what is going on inside your body and mind.  Without self-awareness, we tend to respond unconsciously to things.  Yoga and Mindfulness helps us to shift so that children are making more informed decisions about their bodies and responses to stress.

6. Builds Balance and Flexibility

You do not have to be a pretzel to increase flexibility through the practice of yoga.  In fact, you don’t even have to consider yourself “flexible” to start a practice.  When you start incorporating yoga movements in your body, such as forward folding, twists, and balances, you increase the body’s intelligence by improving flexibility.  You increase the range of movement in your body, building new neural pathways in the brain, as well as pathways in the muscles and tissues in your body.

“After 8 weeks, the average flexibility of the yoga group improved by 13 percent to 35 percent and the gains were significantly greater than the non-yoga group.” – A study by the American Council on Exercise

As you can see, yoga and mindfulness can be instrumental in how we raise children of the future to be healthy, well-regulated, and responsible members of our communities. So next time you’re looking for something fun to do with your kiddos, try yoga!

To read more about Bloom Yoga, visit our webpage. And for some great yoga activities to try out, visit our Bloom Yoga YouTube playlist.

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Some fun partner poses are demonstrated in our video HERE.

These are some of the fun poses we used:

• • • Double Dog
    • Back to Back Chair
    • Double Tree (Forest)
    • Partner Seated Twist
    • Airplane
    • Double Gate
    • Double Plank

Trauma-Informed Yoga Tip: Always give your child the option to be touched prior to partner poses or games.  Choice is important for children when learning about their bodies and healthy boundaries.  Always talk first!

A Bloom Yoga Partner Relaxation Activity: Back Writing

Take a seat behind your child and use your index finger to firmly write letters, shapes, or words on their back. Have them guess what you have written or drawn. Or have them draw or write it down themselves on a piece of paper. Take turns guessing what you write on each other’s backs! Connect and relax!

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