Yoga For Autistic Children
Yoga For Autistic Children
These specific yoga poses for autism/asperser’s can help a child with ASD, child with attention and Sensory challenges These skills apply to other areas in life, ultimately helping those with ASD to lead more balanced, healthy, socially integrated, and independent lives.
- To both calm and energies their bodies
- Help them develop sensory and body awareness
- Improve focus and attention
- Improve sensory information processing
- Improve communication
- Increase their self regulation
- Enhance speech, language and motor control
- Promote social interaction
- Ease transitions
- Help them learn to monitor their anxiety levels
- Foster independence and enhance self-esteem
A List of Yoga for Kids (1-15)
1-Boat Pose:
(Balance on your buttocks with your legs up. Then rock in the water like a boat).
2-Bow Pose:
(Lie on your tummy, bend your knees, lift your chest, reach your arms back towards your toes, and hold onto your feet.)
3-Bridge Pose
(Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the ground. Rest your arms down alongside your body, tuck your chin into your chest, and lift up your buttocks and back to create a bridge)
4-Cat Pose
(Come to an all-fours position, round your back, and tuck your chin into your chest. Pretend to be a kitty cat.)
5-Chair Pose
(Stand tall in Mountain Pose with your feet hip-width apart, bend your knees, and hop like a kangaroo)
6-Child’s Pose:
(Sit on yours heels, slowly bring your forehead down to rest in front of your knees, rest your arms down alongside your body, and take a few deep breaths.)
7-Cobbler Pose or Butterfly Pose
(Sit on your buttocks with a tall spine, bend yours legs, place the soles of your feet together, and gently flap your legs like the wings of a butterfly.)
8-Cobra Pose
(Lie on your tummy, place palms flat next to your shoulders, press into hands, lift head and shoulders off ground, and hiss like a snake.)
9-Cow Pose:
(On all fours, look up, arch your back, and open your chest.)
10-Cresent Moon Pose:
(From Mountain Pose, reach your arms up high over your head, bringing your palms together. Tilt your upper body to one side. Come back to center. Tilt your body to the other side.)
11-Dancer’s Pose:
(Stand tall in Mountain pose, stand on one leg, reach the opposite leg out behind you, place the outside of your hand, bend your torso forward with your arm out in front for balance, and arch your leg up behind you.)
12-Dancing Ganesha Pose:
(From tree pose, release your right foot and take it out front of you, with a bent right knee. Bring your hands out in front of you and hold your hands like the trunk of Ganesha, the elephant god.)
13-Dolphin Pose:
(On your hands-and-knees, bend your elbows, rest your forearms on the ground, with your palms flat, lift up your knees to straighten your legs, and look forward.)
14-Downhill skier:
(Stand tall in Mountain Pose with your feet hip-width apart and then bend your knees. Rest your elbows slightly above your knees, clasp your hands together, keep a straight spine, and look forward, pretending you are skiing down the mountain.)
15-Downward-Facing Dog Pose:
(From a standing position, bend down and place your palms flat on the ground. Step your feet back to create an upside-down V Shape with your buttocks high in the air. Straighten your legs, relax your head and neck, and look down between your legs.)
16-Eagle Pose:
(Stand tall in mountain Pose, wrap one leg around the other, bring your bent arms out in front of you, wrap your arms together the opposite way, and slightly bend your knees. Perch on a tree like eagle.)
17-Easy Pose:
(Sit comfortably cross-legged, and rest your hands on your knees.)
18-Extended Child’s Pose:
(Sit on your heels, slowly bring your forehead down to rest in front of your knees, place the palm of your hands flat out in front of you, and take a few deep breaths.)
19-Extended Cat Pose:
(Come to all fours, extend one leg out behind you, and look forward.)
20-Extended Mountain Pose:
(Stand tall in Mountain Pose, Look up, and reach your arms up to the sky.)
21-Extended side Angle Pose:
(From triangle Pose, bend your front leg, rest your front elbow on your thigh, and reach your other arm straight up high to sky. look up. Repeat on the other side.)
22-Flower Pose:
(Come to sit on your buttocks with a tall spine, lift up your legs, balance on your sitting bones, touch the soles of your feet together, and weave your arms under your legs.)
23-Gyan Mudra Pose:
(Sit on your heels, with both hands in A-okay sign over eyes to look like the badger’s eyes.)
24-Half Shoulder stand:
(Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor, arms resting alongside your body, and chin tucked in. on an exhale, push your palms down and lift your legs straight up, making an L shape with your body. Stay in this position or squeeze your belly and raise your hips. Then, bend your elbows and place your palms on your lower back for a half shoulder stand. Pretend your feet are the flickering flames and your legs are the candlesticks.)
25-Happy Baby Pose:
(Lie on your back with your chin tucked in, hug your knees into your chest, then grab the outer part of your feet with both of your hands, and rock like a happy baby.)
26-Hero Pose:
(Come back to rest upright on your heels, and twist your upper body like an owl. Turn your upper body one way and then the other.)
27-Horse Stance:
(Stand with your legs apart, feet facing slightly outwards, bend your knees, and stand firm like a horse.)
28-Kneeling:
(Stand on your knees, open your chest, look up-, and reach up to the moon like a fox)
29-Knees to chest:
(Lie on your back, with your arms flat alongside your body. Bend your knees and hug them close to your chest. Then circle your legs as if you are riding a bicycle upside-down.)
30-Legs up the wall:
(lie flat on your back then slowly raise your legs up straight towards the sky, making an L shape with your body. Flex your feet, keep your legs together, spread your arms out to either side, and keep your neck in a neutral position. You could rest your legs on wall instead.)
A List of Yoga for Kids (31-45)
31-Locust Pose:
(Lie on your tummy, lift your chest and shoulders up, look up, clasp your hands back behind you, and glide through the water like a shark.)
32-Lotus Mudra Pose:
(Sit on your heels, stretch fingers out in front of you, and place heels of palms together in mudra to represent spines of hedgehog.)
33-Lotus Pose:
(sit with a tall spine, cross your legs, and rest the palms of your hands on your knees. Relax and breathe.)
34-Lunge Pose:
(From downward-Facing dog pose, step your right foot forward to rest on the inside of your right hand. Keep a flat back, and open your chest. Switch sides.)
35-Mountain Pose:
(Stand tall with legs hip-width apart, feet facing forward, and straighten your arms alongside your body.)
36-Pigeon pose:
(From Downward-Facing Dog pose, bring right knee to rest behind right hand, placing right foot slightly inwards, and perch like a bird.)
37-Plank Pose:
(Step back to balance on your palms and on your bent toes, keeping your arms straight and your back long and flat. Pretend to be an alligator floating in the water.)
38-Puppy Pose:
(From all-fours, take your hands out in front of you while lowering your chest towards the ground. Keep your arms straight, with your elbows raised off the ground, but rest your forehead between your extended arms. Let your spine curve naturally.)
39-Reclining Butterfly Pose:
(From lying on your back, bend your legs and bring the soles of your feet together. Take your arms out to rest at your sides. Let your whole body melt into the ground and take a few deep breaths.)
40-Resting Pose or Do nothing Pose:
(Lie on your back with your arms and legs stretched out. Breathe and rest.)
41-Riverse table top Pose:
(Come to sitting with your palms flat behind you and the soles of your feet flat in front of you, Lift your buttocks to create a table, then walk like a crab.)
42-Seated Forward Bend:
(Come to sitting on your buttocks, with your legs straight out in front of you. Bend your torso forward while keeping your spine Straight. Dangle your arms in front of you like the tentacles of an octopus)
43-Seated Twist:
(Start in staff Pose with your body in an shape. Bend your right knee and place your right foot over the other side of your left knee. Check that your spine is straight and your right foot is flat on the ground. Twist your upper body to the right. Take your left elbow to your right knee and your right hand back behind you.)
44-Shark Pose:
(Lay flat on your tummy, lift up your shoulders, and clasp your arms behind your back)
45-Staff Pose:
( Sit with a tall spine with your legs straight out in front of you. Use your hands to mimic the wheels of the train going around and around.)
A List of Yoga for Kids (46-58)
46-Standing Forward Bend Pose:
(From Mountain Pose, bend your upper Body, reach for your toes, and sway your arms like a jelly fish.)
47-Squat Pose:
(Come down to a squat, and waddle like a duck.)
48-Table Top Pose:
(Come to an all-four position with your fingers spread out and palms flat on the ground. Ensure that your back and neck are in a straight but neutral position. Your shoulders should be over your wrists and your hips should be over your knees. The tops of your feet are flat on the ground.)
49-Three Legged Dog Pose:
(Step back to hands and feet, like an upside-down “V” and gently lift one leg up at a time.)
50-Tortoise Pose:
(Sit on your buttocks with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Then take your feet out wide and be you are sitting with a tall, straight spine. Slide your arms under your knees and place your hands flat on the floor outside your legs. Being forward, keeping your back and neck straight.)
51-Tree Pose:
(Stand on one leg, bend your knee, place the sole of your foot on your inner thigh, and balance. Sway like a tree.)
52-Triangle Pose:
(From a standing position, step one foot back, placing the foot facing slightly outwards, take your arms up parallel to the ground, bend at your waist, tilt your upper body, reach your front hand to gently rest on your shin, and reach your other arm straight up.)
53-Triangle Forward Bend:
(From Mountain Pose, take your right foot back, keeping your ankle bent at a 30 degree angle. Place your hands on your hips, ensuring that your back is flat and that you are looking straight ahead. Then slowly bend forward as if your hips are a hinge, keeping a flat back and a long neck. Lastly, bring your hands to your hands to your shins, ankles, or the ground, depending on what feels comfortable, all the while checking that your spine straight.)
54-Upward-Facing Dog Pose:
(Lay on your belly. Place the palms of your hands next to your shoulders and look up. Then straighten your arms and expand your chest.)
55-Warrior 1 Pose:
(Come to standing in Mountain Pose. Step one foot back, slightly angling it outwards, bend your front knee, and bring your arms straight up towards the sky, and look up.)
56-Warrior 2 Pose:
(From standing position, step one foot back, placing the foot so that it is facing slightly outwards. Take your arms up in parallel to the ground, bend your front knee, and look forward.)
57-Warrior 3 Pose:
(Stand on one leg. Extend the other leg behind you. Bend your torso forward and take your arms out in front of you to pretend that you are gliding through the water like a submarine.)
58-Wide-Legged Forward Bend:
(From Mountain Pose, step your feet out wide, bend your upper body, clasp your hands together, and pretend that your arms are the trunk of an elephant.)
