“While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is about.”
—Angela Schwindt
Once I had a baby, I became one of those people who had the best intentions to practice yoga. Even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to walk to the yoga studio for those hour-long classes anymore, I figured I would figure it out somehow, that I would find a way to keep my practice alive.
Like almost every parent I know, I was devastated when the little one finally arrived.
I tried taking a baby yoga class, but I spent the entire time feeding her. No time for my personal practice there. While she was asleep, I was so exhausted I couldn’t leave the couch, let alone give my practice the attention it deserved.
For a while, I mourned the loss of those studio lessons. I missed the guided sequences, the community, and the space just to exercise. Once we settled into a simple routine, I stopped fighting my pain in the yoga studio I left behind.
Discover a new way to practice
Somehow, I found this new way of practicing out of necessity. I started meditating with my daughter on my lap. These were short sessions, nothing fancy. Just breath and presence.
As I got older, we started doing yoga poses together. We would imitate the trees we saw on our walks or the animals we saw at the zoo. I’ve been practicing mindfulness as I swing at the playground, bringing awareness to the present moment and practicing gratitude for these precious days.
Somewhere in all of this, something changed. My yoga practice became more consistent than ever, not because I was going to a studio or following hour-long sequences, but because I was actually there with my daughter, breathing, moving, and being present with each other.
Somewhere in all of this, something changed. My yoga practice became more consistent than ever, not because I was going to a studio or following hour-long sequences, but because I was actually there with my daughter, breathing, moving, and being present with each other.
So, if you’re struggling to maintain your practice, I want to share something that may seem counterintuitive: Practicing and teaching yoga to the children in your life, whether they’re your own children, nieces and nephews, students, or neighborhood kids, may be the key to deepening your own practice.
Easy practices to teach and try
Here’s how to turn everyday moments into yoga opportunities, without adding anything to your schedule. I encourage you to try one or more of these methods, and then modify them to suit your specific needs.
1. Waking up in the morning stretching in bed
Before you even set foot on the ground, before the day begins, there is a window for exercise. Instead of jumping straight into the morning rush, take two minutes to curl up in bed with your baby. Extend your arms overhead. Bring your knees to your chest. Gently twist side to side.
Make it an invitation, not an instruction: “Do you want to lie down with me?” Most children will naturally join in these activities, and you are teaching them that movement and breathing can be the first choice of the day.
Make it an invitation, not an instruction: “Do you want to lie down with me?” It’s natural for most kids to join in these activities, especially if it means a few extra minutes of contact before the day requires their attention elsewhere.
You’re teaching them that movement and breathing can be the first choice of the day. You give yourself those moments too. No mat, special clothing, or transportation to the studio is required.
Want to make this morning ritual even more powerful? Add an item from Gratitude. After a few stretches, share one thing you’re grateful for or one positive thought about the next day. “I’m grateful for this comfortable bed and this time with you.”
Keep it simple. Children often reverse this practice, starting their day with appreciation rather than rushing straight into demands and tasks.
2. Thoughtful moments while waiting
Waiting is everywhere in life with children. Bus stops. Doctors’ offices. School delivery lines. Instead of filling these moments with phones or mental to-do lists, turn them into opportunities to show up.
As my daughter and I wait for the bus together, we start to really notice what’s going on around us. Snow falling in winter. Leaves change color in fall. Rain beats on the sidewalk. Birds are singing in the nearby trees.
“What are you hearing now?” Become our game. or “How is today different from yesterday?”
This practice of tuning into the present moment, noticing what is already there rather than rushing to what is next, is mindfulness in its purest form. Children learn to see the world with new eyes, and so will you.
3. Deep breathing throughout the day
You can practice Conscious breathing anywhere– Before moving home, in the car before going to the appointment, standing in line at the post office, sitting in the doctor’s waiting room, walking from the car to the entrance of the grocery store.
Keep it simple. Inhale for four counts, and exhale for four counts. That’s it. No fancy techniques needed. Just a deliberate breath shared together. The breathing practice I thought I was teaching my daughter? She took it, made it her own, and reflected it back to me when I needed it most.
The more you practice in small moments throughout the day, the more natural it will become for both of you.
Several times when I was in a mental funk about something, she would put her hands on my shoulders and say, “You’ve got this, Mom. Take a deep breath.”
The more you practice in small moments throughout the day, the more natural it will become for both of you.
4. Drop and Roll game.
This is one of my favorite practices for converting energy quickly! Any time you need to change your mood, change your way of thinking, or get a new perspective, get into a yoga pose.
Kids feeling anxious in the grocery store? “Drop and roll into downward facing dog here!” (Yes, right there next to the cereal aisle.)
Do you feel stuck in a problem at home? “Let’s get into tree pose and see if we can think differently while balancing.”
Energy gets chaotic before dinner? “Everyone drop into child’s pose for ten breaths.”
The nice thing is that it works anywhere. In the garden when emotions are high. In your living room when everyone needs a reset. Even in the waiting room at the dentist’s office when nerves need to be stabilized. any The moment can become a coaching moment.
Movement changes everything. It changes your physical state, which changes your mental state. Children learn this through play, and so should you. Sometimes, the quickest way to get back to center is to move your body in a new way.
Movement changes everything. It changes your physical state, which changes your mental state. Children learn this through play, and so should you. Sometimes, the quickest way to get back to center is to move your body in a new way.
5. Meditate before bed
If you’ve ever tried to meditate while the kids are awake and active in your home, you know that it’s nearly impossible. But bedtime? This is your window.
After stories and sharing, try doing a simple body scan or visualization with them. “Close your eyes and imagine you are a starfish floating in warm water. Feel your arms getting heavier, and your legs becoming soft.”
By guiding them through the relaxation process, something happens to your nervous system. settles down. Dilutes. Your breathing slows down. Your shoulders go down. Your mind, which has been working all day, finally gets permission to rest.
This thing you already do every night becomes your meditation practice.
6. Travel days and yoga in a hotel room
Traveling with children often means cramped spaces and restless energy. As it turns out, these are the ideal conditions for yoga. The hotel room turns into a studio. Waiting at the airport gate becomes an opportunity for seated twists and neck twists. During a stop, the back seat of the car becomes a place for shoulder shrugs and gentle stretching.
When you reframe “practice” as something that can happen anywhere, you stop waiting for ideal conditions that rarely come.
Hotel rooms became unexpected training places for us. We keep it playful (animal poses are a favorite), but my body still gets the stretch it needs. My breath continues to deepen. My mind is still settling. When you reframe “practice” as something that can happen anywhere, you stop waiting for ideal conditions that rarely come.
7. Yoga through acts of service
The mat is just one place where yoga lives. It also lives on in how we show up in the world and care for others. There are endless opportunities to incorporate ministry into your life with children. Volunteering at a food bank. Helping an elderly neighbor with yard work. Making cards for people in nursing homes. Participate in a community clean-up day.
For ten years, my family has hosted a pajama drive in our city, collecting new pajamas and delivering them to children at the city’s less fortunate school. This practice Karma yoga– Selfless service – has become one of the most important parts of practicing yoga together.
When children see you model a yoga lifestyle that extends beyond poses and breathing to include compassion, generosity, and showing up for others, they learn that yoga is a way of being, not just something you “do.”
When children see you model a yoga lifestyle that extends beyond poses and breathing to include compassion, generosity, and showing up for others, they learn that yoga is a way of being, not just something you “do.”
And you? You’re training too. Not on the mat, but in the world, where it matters most.
A practice that has always been there
What children really need from us is not perfection in our practice. They need ours presence. By teaching them simple practices of presence, whether through breath, movement, or awareness, you create your own practice without having to be anywhere other than where you already are.
My practice looks different now than it did before I became a parent. It has changed and adapted over the years as my daughter has grown. But it remained alive, ingrained in our days together in ways I never could have imagined when I thought “real” training only happened in the studio. The practice is in the slow breaths we take together. In the gratitude we share during the mornings. In our mental moments waiting for the bus. In the service projects we do as a family. The body undergoes tests that help it settle into sleep.
This practice was never meant to be separate from life. It was always meant to be woven through it. Children, with their natural presence and ability to find joy in the simplest moments, are some of our best teachers for remembering this.
