Spring is a wonderful season for everyone—it’s the time of year full of growth and renewal.

Welcoming the season of spring provides rituals for all of us—whether you plant new flowers or take a bike ride through the park, the repetition of a springtime activity helps us all welcome the ever-changing world.

One way to welcome the new season is with a revitalizing yoga sequence that you can do with your kids. Teach your kids to feel the vibrations of the universe and to be open to what the world has to offer with a heart-opening yoga sequence.

Poses to open your heart this spring

Heart-opening sequences are poses where you bring your chest forward and let your heart shine. Practicing these poses with your kids is a great bonding activity to bring you both closer together.

Through this sequence they’ll see that, though you’re together, you practice on you own. It helps kids feel like solo-play is a normal and a natural part of life.

Here are a few heart-opening yoga poses for you and your child to try.

Sphinx pose

Sanskrit: Salamba Bhujangasana

Step by step:

Begin by lying on your stomachs on your yoga mat. Put your elbows under your shoulders and make sure your forearms are parallel. Inhale, and lift your torso upward, like you’re trying to push your heart up to the ceiling.

Cobra pose

Sanskrit: Bhujangasana

Step by step:

If it’s within your ability, raise up to Cobra pose from Sphinx pose by rolling your shoulders back and lifting yourself up, so that you’re resting on your hands instead of your forearms. Keep pointing your toes and reach back with your heels while your heart still works to move forward.

Fish pose

Sanskrit: Matsyasana

Step by step:

While you and your child lay on your backs, lift your bottoms enough to squeeze your hands beneath you. Pull your shoulder blades together, inhale and lift your chest and head up off the mat. Open your neck so that the crown of your head barely touches the mat.

Wheel pose

Wheel pose is a pose to work up to, but if you can do it, it has endless benefits. Similar to Fish pose, your head will likely graze the ground.

Sanskrit: Urdhva Dhanurasana

Step by step:

Start on your back and with your knees bent. Put your hands behind your head so that the palms land close to the ears. Lift your lower body up using your leg muscles. End by lifting your chest off the ground with just the strength of your arms.

It’s fun to see how quickly and easily kids can pop into the pose. Make sure everyone’s alignment is correct for safe practicing.

Bridge pose

If Wheel pose is too difficult, try Bridge pose. It accomplishes most of the same movements while being more gente to the back.

Sanskrit: Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

Step by step:

For this one, lie on your back and press your feet into the mat. Exhale, and then lift your hips to the sky. Roll your shoulders back, then under your body. Make sure your feet and thighs stay parallel. Take your time as you come down.

Why heart-opening sequences are important

Every yoga pose does something amazing for the body, but heart-openers are particularly important in today’s world.

Kids and adults are alike in many ways, especially when it comes to technology. Many of us spend hours bent over looking at computer screens. Heart openers are back-bends, which is essentially a counter pose to the slump of our daily tech life.

Here are a few benefits of practicing heart-opening poses with your kids.

Strengthen the back muscles

Strong back muscles are crucial to kids and adults. As we age, we slump. Women in particular have overstretched abdominal muscles that need support from a strong back. These back muscles also help with your child’s posture.

Stretch the torso

The front side of the body spends a lot of time scrunched up. Unless we take a moment to actually stretch it, our flexibility will weaken.

Improve focus

Perhaps this is true of all yoga poses, as holding poses is a natural concentration builder, but backbends tend to be more challenging to hold. When you and your kids spend time holding those poses, it helps train the brain to focus on the task at hand.

Help with breathing issues

Your respiratory system works to supply oxygen to every part of your body. Most of us don’t breathe deeply enough to let that happen, though. Yoga helps train your body to breathe when it is challenged—a lesson every child could benefit from. When you’re in a heart-opening pose, your lungs are expanded and your body can fill with oxygen.

Practice yoga for you and your kids this spring

Sometimes, the challenge of a heart-opening sequence can mean we don’t fully explore it and miss out on some amazing benefits. Treat yourself and your child by doing a daily kid’s yoga sequence together to welcome the season of spring!

Jennifer Landis is a lover of wellness, the written word, being a mom, and yoga. She has practiced yoga since 2005. But, it was not until she became pregnant in 2013 that she discovered the true and wonderful healing properties yoga can provide. Jennifer is an aspiring yoga instructor. She hopes to enroll in her 200-hour teacher training in the coming year, so she can share her passion with all those who share it.