International Day of Yoga

The International Day of Yoga is on June 21. This day, which is also the longest day of the year, has been celebrated since 2015 with people all over the world bending and twisting together in a class, or in their own practice. At CP, we’ve been incorporating the practice of yoga into our childcare and adult program for a while now, so it seemed fitting to highlight these programs, just ahead of the day that celebrates yoga around the globe.  

Children’s Yoga & CP Early Education & Care

Yoga has long been shown as an effective way to reduce stress for children, which is one of the reasons why CP Early Education & Care has made it a part of their curriculum for older kids. The class tries to practice at least twice a week, using books and flashcards to help make it fun and kid friendly. Just check out a few of our childcare kiddos in action:

Practicing yoga at an early age also teaches kids body awareness and gets them active without being competitive with others, leaving more room to teach compassion, sharing and develop friendships.

The best part is that our childcare kiddos find yoga fun and a real highlight to the week.

Yogabilities in Adult Day Services 

Yoga has proven to be just as effective for clients in our Adult Program as well. Yogabilities is a newer class that was introduced about a year ago and has been popular among clients.

For those with disabilities, yoga offers many physical benefits, the main one being an opportunity to stretch muscles, especially for those who spend a majority of their time in a wheelchair. The stretching done in yoga can help with range of motion and help prevent muscle stiffness as well.

Mental benefits are also plentiful. In addition to stretching, yoga offers an opportunity to focus on the breath, creating a calming and relaxing environment that has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety. This works especially well with some clients with sensory processing issues who do better in a calm environment.

Yoga is a great practice because of its adaptability. Poses can be modified as needed depending on flexibility, range of motion, whether the person is in a wheelchair or has more mobility. A yoga practice may also aide in helping clients achieve other physical goals such as standing or walking as yoga can help improve strength and stamina. 

But perhaps one of the best things about yoga is how empowering it can be. With yoga, the client starts where they're at in their current level of functioning and move toward meeting goals from there. It’s a perfect representation of what we do in all of our adult classes at CP: help build not only physical strength but self-confidence.  

Yoga has infused positivity, a sense of calm and self-confidence throughout CP, and we are fortunate to have partners and staff to help make it happen. To them, and everyone that practices yoga, we celebrate International Day of Yoga with you!

Namaste.