It’s important to bond with your family regardless of your age. You only have one, so you must spend time with them as much as possible before time beats you to it.
According to a Straits Times article, 70 percent of Singaporean parents said they were too busy during the pandemic to bond with their children. This may be a result of these parents’ weariness, brought about by the virus and the sudden shift in their lives.
Now that the pandemic restrictions have eased, you may want to ramp up what you have missed out on, one of which is improving your family’s bond.
Where do you begin? A good way to do this, which won’t cost you a fortune, is by learning yoga and meditation.
Let’s examine how yoga and meditation can tighten the bond and strengthen your family.
How Yoga and Meditation Can Improve Bond with Family?
Yoga is therapeutic and one of the most popular forms of meditation. However, it also requires guidance at first to ensure that you’ll be able to perform the necessary poses efficiently and safely.
It’s good that it is now easier to find the best yoga teacher training in Singapore. Even during the height of the pandemic, yoga and fitness gurus have started offering their services through online courses.
So why yoga? If you will bond with your parents or children, why can’t you just eat out in a restaurant or watch a movie?
You can do whatever you like to spend time with your loved ones. However, yoga and meditation are not one-time or two-time moments. They will give you something to look forward to and do with your family on a regular basis.
Here’s a look at the ten ways in which yoga and meditation can improve the bond with family:
1. Fun times
You may think that yoga is a simple form of exercise or meditation, but it’s not. You can be playful and encourage your kids or elders to join in.
You can play music while doing yoga, dancing, or humming together. Besides, if you haven’t bonded with the family for some time now, being in the same room as they are will hit you differently.
You will instantly feel the connection. You can share stories or laughter after each yoga pose.
You may all be gathered to do yoga and meditation, but the time you spend together will create lasting memories you can all look back on one day.
2. Benefitting from the mind and body connection
Yoga makes it possible to connect the mind and body. It will benefit the younger members of the family to make their minds understand that their body shape or physical appearance does not define them. It will help them grow more appreciative and more confident.
3. Promotes health and wellness
When doing yoga together, you no longer need to impose healthy eating on your family members. As the practice becomes part of your family’s lifestyle, it will follow that your family will start leaning on healthier choices in activities and foods.
Yoga, as a form of meditation, offers many health benefits. They include the following that all members of the family will gain something positive from:
Yoga boosts your blood flow by getting more oxygen into your system, which helps pump blood.
It protects your spine and makes the spinal discs more flexible.
Regular yoga practice leads to a lower resting heart rate, which decreases your risk of a heart attack or stroke.
Exercise helps increase your good cholesterol (HDL) levels and decrease your bad cholesterol (LDL) levels.
It boosts your immune system, protecting your body from infections and cancer.
4. Helps the body develop better posture
Everybody in the family will gain a lot from having a good posture. The younger ones will not have a hard time doing physical activities, and the older family members will find it easier to continue doing difficult tasks like they used to.
Yoga will not only improve your posture, but it will also make the muscles and bones stronger. With all the stretches involved in the practice, the calcium in the bones remains intact for a long time, making the bones healthier and stronger.
On the other hand, having stronger muscles will boost the physical appearance of the younger family members, and the older ones will have sufficient protection from conditions such as back pain and arthritis.
5. Yoga and meditation promote better sleep
Nowadays, people of all ages will gain a lot from getting enough rest each night. There are yoga exercises specifically designed to improve a practitioner’s sleeping pattern.
Yoga equips you with a better coping mechanism to deal with everyday life struggles. As you continue the practice, all the family members will get enough rest to make them feel less stressed and tired.
6. Reduces stress and anxiety
Yoga helps manage people’s moods and gives practitioners a better sense of well-being. This is why it can help prevent you from having chronic illnesses such as heart ailments, pain, depression, and insomnia.
This will ensure the younger members of the family have a better coping mechanism as they go through life. This will also make the older family members find it easier to cope with problems, no matter how complicated they seem.
7. Promotes better understanding
Each family member must decide whether they want to practice yoga or not. You can talk to them about the benefits of the practice or your intention to bond. But in the end, it is still their decision whether they’ll do it or not.
The good thing here is that it gives you a topic or a reason to talk about. You won’t impose on what you want, but you can tell the others how much more fun it could be if the whole family is present at each session.
8. Creates lasting memories
The good thing about yoga is that you can start small and eventually open your world to practice with other enthusiasts. After learning the basics, your family can join yoga sessions within the community.
This will give each of you a chance to meet new acquaintances or friends who are also into yoga. The older family members will probably enjoy each chance they get to talk with others or share experiences with others who are also into yoga.
9. Teaches the family never to give up easily
Yoga may look easy, especially when you see people meditating. But the practice entails commitment.
The younger family members can learn a lot from the commitment of the adults to continue doing yoga regularly. They can use the inspiration when they don’t feel like doing yoga or think about the point of doing the practice.
10. Promotes happiness and wellness
Aside from the physical benefits of yoga, practicing it together with the family will make the experience happier and more memorable. You will all realize it’s more fun to do things when you share the experience with the people you love.
Final Thoughts
There are more than ten ways yoga and meditation can improve the bond with family. It’s high time you tried something like yoga as a bonding activity with your family. All members can do it, even if it seems hard at first.
Like any form of meditation and exercise, you will get used to the practice as you go along. It will also make your family members stronger and closer to one another.
