"Yogis for Kids," A team to help increase the accessibility of exercise to under-served youth in Virginia, Maryland, & DC through on-site yoga and meditation classes provided by the YOKID STRETCH YOUR LIMITS program.

"Yogis for Kids" is a team of Yoga Studios and like minded adults who want to see the benefits of yoga and meditation accessible to kids right here in our local community (ie, Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, DC, Marlyland).

Why YoKid Yoga & Meditation? Because 53% of kids in Virginia, DC, and MD do not exercise regularly and 32% of our local kids are overweight or obese. Instruction in yoga & meditation teaches our children how to exercise and move their bodies. Once learned, this form of exercise can be practiced anytime, anywhere, and without expensive equipment.

Known benefits of yoga for children include:

• Weight Maintance & Weight Reduction
• Increase in Circulation & Balance
• Increase in Patience & Tolerance
• Improvements in Self-Esteem & Self Confidence
• Improvements in Focus & Concentration

Participants in YoKid yoga programs have reported that yoga helped “a lot” or “some” with feeling healthy, concentration, patience, making friends, feeling calm, school work, being still, and anger problems. Students’ responses to open-ended questions also demonstrate some of the program’s positive effects. For example, students wrote that they learned: “to stay calm and not get worked up” (student, age 11); “to be patient” (student, age 12); “to center myself instead of freaking out” (student, age 11); and “being healthy is the most important thing” (student, age 9). The effects of the program are best described by the students themselves. An eighth grader from Washington, D.C. stated, “YoKid taught me to believe in myself, allowing me to do things I never dreamed I could do.” And, a middle school student from Arlington plans to “use [yogic breathing] to help me when doing a test.”

Monies raised by the team help to provide yoga & meditation classes for children in Virginia, Maryland, and DC.