Teaching Kids to Love Their Bodies Through Yoga

The body positivity movement has made huge strides in recent years, especially in calling out fatphobia and the insidious effects of diet culture. But the sad truth is that many of our kids will experience issues with body confidence as they grow, especially during their teenage years.

64% of parents report that their children are self-conscious about something to do with their appearance – whether that’s their weight, skin, height, or other features (C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, 2022). Research also shows that girls often start showing concern about their bodies before the age of 6, and 40-60% of 6–12-year-old girls are concerned about their weight (National Eating Disorders Association, 2022).

As parents and carers, we want our children to feel confident and happy in their own skin. But with so much noise from the world around us, this can be a difficult aim to achieve.

At its worst, yoga as practiced in the Western world can contribute to this problem. We’re used to seeing yoga practiced by beautiful, bendy people—predominantly white, thin, and able-bodied—whose bodies represent a narrow slice of who actually practices yoga.

However, this narrow, physically-centered view of yoga is a long way from the full story. Done the right way, yoga can be a hugely empowering practice that helps kids and adults alike find acceptance for the unique wonder of their individual bodies.

More Than Just a Physical Practice

Yoga has become strongly associated with the physical practice of asana. With the proliferation of hot yoga and power yoga classes, as well as Pilates and other yoga-inspired workouts, it is no wonder that most of us think first of physical movement when we hear the word ‘yoga’.

However, physical poses are just a small part of what yoga is truly about. There are various different yoga traditions, and the role of the physical practice varies from tradition to tradition. Yoga is also translated as eight limbs where the physical postures, or asana, is just one of these. (Satchidananda, 2012).

While the practice of yoga has changed and evolved in the many years, it’s important to remind ourselves from time to time that it was never intended to be purely about physical movement.

In yoga philosophy, there’s no reference to advanced poses like headstands or deep backbends. In fact, there are no specific poses given at all. In the foundational texts, physical practice is important as a base for meditation, not a way to challenge your body.

Yoga invites us to bring all the parts of ourselves together. Indeed, the word yoga translates to yoke – in the sense of connecting or uniting. So, yoga connects the body, breath, mind, and spirit, providing an opportunity for us to be wholly present in our entire selves.

How Does Yoga Help with Body Confidence?

Firstly, just understanding that yoga isn’t focused on physical achievement, but accepting ourselves as we are, can be a powerful message when our children are experiencing body image issues.

The sports and athletics our children encounter through school or through extracurricular activities so often come with a focus on competition and physical prowess. Yoga can provide a space for kids to play with movement and connect with their bodies without judgment, expectation, or a need to achieve.

Yoga’s focus on mindfulness and gratitude can also support kids in developing a positive relationship with all aspects of their being, including their bodies. Research into the impact of yoga on body image in young adults shows that it can increase self-confidence and deepen our sense of appreciation for our unique bodies (Neumark-Sztainer et al., 2018).

Although physical movement isn’t everything that yoga is about, even an asana-based practice can help with body image if done in the right way. Students learn to appreciate what their bodies can do and realize they don’t need to change anything – the body they have is already capable of so much.

Building Body Confidence Beyond the Yoga Mat

Helping our children develop a positive relationship with their bodies is not a quick fix or a single practice. It's an ongoing conversation, a commitment to choosing media and experiences that reflect their full humanity, and a willingness as parents to examine our own beliefs about bodies, food, and worth.

If your child is struggling with body image, know that you're not alone—and that support exists. Resources like Virginia Sole-Smith's work on diet culture and the First Conversation book series offer grounded, compassionate guidance. But more importantly, your child needs to witness you modeling self-acceptance—not apologizing for your body, not complaining about how you look, not using food as punishment or reward. They need to hear you speak kindly about bodies (theirs and yours), and choose practices that connect rather than compare.

Yoga, when taught with integrity and trauma-informed care, can be part of this journey.

Whether that's through gentle movement at home, breathing practices during stressful moments, or simply teaching them to notice sensations in their body without judgment. These are the yoga practices that matter most. It's one tool among many alongside honest conversations, diverse representation in books and media, and communities that celebrate all bodies as worthy.

Your child's relationship with their body begins with witnessing yours. That's where the real practice happens.

Dr. Michelle El Khoury is the founder of Yogamazia® and creator of The S.M.A.R.T. Journey to Parenting®. She offers yoga, mindfulness, and doula support for women, families and organizations navigating every season of change. Learn more at yogamazia.com

References

C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. (2022). Parent’s perceptions on their child’s body image. Mott Poll Report, 41(5). Retrieved from https://mottpoll.org/sites/default/files/documents/091922_BodyImage.pdf

National Eating Disorders Association. (2022). Statistics & Research on Eating Disorders. Retrieved from https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/statistics-research-eating-disorders

Neumark-Sztainer D., Watts A.W., & Rydell S. (2018). Yoga and body image: How do young adults practicing yoga describe its impact on their body image?. Body Image, 27, 156–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2018.09.001

Satchidananda, S. (2012). The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Translation and Commentary by Sri Swami Satchidananda. Integral Yoga Publications.