Goddess Pose: Help Kids Stretch, Strengthen, and Feel Grounded
/Feeling the need to move and stretch after sitting all day?
Want to build some heat and strengthen your core?
Looking to reground and activate your proprioception?
Feel the Full Body Burn in Goddess Pose!
Goddess pose is a yoga pose that stretches and strengthens the trunk and the entire lower half of the body. In practicing Goddess, our core muscles, hips, glutes, thighs, calves and ankles all get a great workout and we stabilize and lengthen our spine.
Goddess yoga pose also builds heat and energy in the body, which in turn can energize and motivate us after a long day. It anchors us firmly to the Earth, giving us a sense of feeling grounded and strong, and knowing where our bodies are in space.
Holding a tough yoga shape like Goddess pose teaches us to be present and strong in challenging situations. By cultivating the skill to notice that strength, we can tackle anything the day throws at us!
How To: Goddess Yoga Pose
Begin by standing tall and strong in Mountain Pose
Step your feet wide apart and take a look down at your toes – turn them out towards the corners of your mat
Take a deep breath in, and on your exhale, bend your knees deeply – make sure knees stay in line with your toes to protect the knee joint
Reach your arms out to the side at shoulder height, then bend at the elbows to make “cactus arms”
Practice Goddess Pose With Us!
Practice Goddess pose with children by pretending to dig for dinosaur bones on an archeological excavation! The song progressively takes children into a deeper squat, challenging us to sustain the pose for longer.
Tips for Mastering Goddess Pose
If you are new to Goddess, keep an eye on your knees. Our knees tend to collapse in towards the front when we’re in this pose or to bend past our ankles. Press your thighs open to keep knees from falling in, and stack your knees directly over your ankles.
Release your tailbone toward the ground and engage your low belly. Feel your spine releasing up through a long neck. Relax your gaze forward.
Notice if you’ve stopped breathing – then simply start again!
Variations for Practicing Goddess Pose with Children
Goddess can really challenge our balance! A great way to start with young children is to try the pose with your back against a wall. This way everyone can feel the lengthening of their torso up the wall as well as the grounding of their feet into the Earth.
Alternatively if you and your kids would like to challenge your balance, take the pose up to tippy-toes. Remember to keep breathing!
More Kids Yoga Videos!
Did your kids love digging up dinosaur bones? Now try balancing in Goddess while pretending to be a snow monkey! And if you notice animal yoga receives lots of enthusiasm, we have tons more animal yoga poses for kids to choose from!
“70% of our brain’s information about movement comes from our feet.” (source, Yoga Journal) By teaching children to ground down into the Earth, we can teach them to develop their proprioceptive sense of their bodies in space!
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Help other educators and caregivers learn the benefits of Goddess Pose.