Yoga ideal activity for tweens

Question: Your tween daughter is begging to take a weekly yoga class with her friends. Should you steer her toward a sport instead?

Answer: Adolescence is actually a prime time for yoga, says Paula Walker, yoga instructor at Miami-based Green Monkey yoga studios, which partners with schools to offer children’s yoga classes.

“Self-confidence, self-esteem and self-respect are the three most important things for preteen girls to develop as their bodies are changing,” Walker says. “Yoga teaches them to become very in touch with their bodies from the inside out.”

The breathing techniques, spiritual teachings and mindfulness meditations that accompany the stretches and other physically taxing parts of yoga classes can give tweens the tools they need to navigate any number of stressful situations.

“It teaches you to calm down your nervous system,” Walker says. “You learn to calm down your anxiety and panic modes so when you’re 13 and you’re facing a big test or pressure from the outside world, you can control your breathing and think more clearly.”

A few other benefits for tweens, Walker says:

Nutrition awareness: “Yoga becomes a lifestyle that permeates the rest of your life. So when you leave yoga, you’re not going to want to go eat at McDonald’s. You start to choose all kinds of healthier ways to live.”

Connectedness: “It builds a sense of belonging and community with the other people in your class. And preteens can take adult classes, so it’s something that moms and daughters and sisters can all do together.”

Crossover: “Yoga makes you more flexible and strengthens your core. So if you do ballet or gymnastics, it’s a great add-on. If you swim, if you do any other sport, it’s going to elevate your skill set.”

Posture: “It makes you sit up straighter and roll your shoulder blades back and just be more mindful of your posture.” Just in time for prom photos.