Yoga in Schools
10 ways yoga in schools can help children & teens
Written by A. Simon, July 2019, MN USA
©️Minnesota Kid’s Yoga Co., LLC - Blog
Should yoga be a daily-routine within schools…
Having read several articles recently, all written by international media organizations (ex. The Irish Times, The Washington Post, ABC News, The University of Berkeley’s Greater Good Magazine, & TIME Magazine), and all rooted on the same topic, “Yoga & Education,” I realized I am not alone in thinking yoga should become a common occurrence inside schools.
As a teacher for a number of years, and having worked beside children with varying abilities for even more years, I’ve seen first-hand the negative impact stress, anxiety, and over-stimulation had on kids in today’s world. Not all children’s anxieties manifest the same. Further, not all anxieties occur on a daily basis. When thinking about kid’s anxieties, and adult’s anxieties, often times the ebbs-and-flows are similar. Certain times of the year, various activities, increased expectations, and even changes in outside factors such as family dynamics, or societal happenings can cause emotional changes in children. For instance, one child might have increased anxiety around report-card seasons, whereas another child’s emotions can become heightened due to a season (such as the end of a school year, which is often spring-time). All too often, come spring, I would notice my students begin to act out, or become overly sensitive to things that normally never bothered them. Children often struggle to express their worries through words — adults even struggle to do this! Therefore, when kids are fearful, they might cry, bite their nails, pinch a friend without cause, or even refrain from engaging in fun activities.
Therefore, I believe that all kids can benefit from yoga and meditation, throughout some point within each year. All kids, much like adults, have moments of increased stress. Yoga has the same benefits for kids, as it does on adults. Yoga and meditation, teaches us several beautiful things. I will point of 10 things, some of which have been paraphrased from the international media organizations listed above.
1. Yoga teaches kids to breathe.
Not only is yoga a fun way to break up desk-work, but further, yoga helps kids learn to breathe and focus while sitting for extended amounts of time. If you’ve ever been in a kindergarten classroom, then you are well-aware that kids at this age have short attention spans. Can you blame them? After all, they are only five or six years old. Needless to say, sitting at their desks for too long is simply not possible. As a teacher, I had to learn many unique ways to get kids to refocus on a task-at-hand. If I needed kids to get their wiggles out after a long storybook, I used breathing breaks. I would have my students start out in tiny balls, squatting on their carpet square. We would then slowly rise up to stand, breathing in deeply, then, once we couldn’t reach any higher we would exhale our way back down to the carpet. I would do this several times (sometimes even remaining seated, but still using our arms to breathe in and out). By the last set of breaths, my students could regain focus for the remainder of time I needed to introduce an at-desk task. It was magical!
2. Yoga is key to controlling anxiety & stress.
Yoga teaches kids to meditate. Meditation is a mindful way of telling our bodies to relax and breath. When we teach kids to control the way their bodies feel by teaching them to relax their bodies when the feel tense, we are teaching our kids how to manage stress and anxiety.
3. Yoga helps increase flexibility.
When we teach yoga, we are helping kids learn how to move and flow in different ways. Yoga essentially is bending and stretching, as well as, holding postures for various amounts of time. The more kids move their bodies, the more flexible and agile they become. Further, when kids learn to exercise at a young age, they often keep carry it with them into adulthood (as reported by a study listed here).
4. Yoga increases emotional regulation.
In a recent article titled, “School Sends Kids to Meditation Instead of Detention,” it was made increasingly clear that if kids are taught how to cope with their emotions in a healthy way, rather than shunned, they will exhibit less behaviors in the future. In other words, if we teach kids how to handle negative emotions, then they can better understand how to identify them and further regulate them in healthy ways.
5. Yoga helps kids perform in school better.
Further, within the same article listed above, “Schools Sends…” it was reported that after implementing yoga instead of detention, a local high school’s attendance rate increased dramatically. As a teacher, I know full well how important attendance is, especially in regards to learning and curriculum. Also, yoga has been proven to increase kid’s grades and academic performance as well. Read more here.
6. Yoga decreases stress, making kids more resilient.
A few summers ago, I taught a kid’s yoga class at local public school’s enrichment camp. Although the camp was only 6 weeks long, myself and the other teacher I worked alongside, noticed positive changes in our students’ behaviors. From week one, to week 6, many students were able to focus for longer periods of time, and were able to hold yoga poses without becoming frustrated or bored. It was interesting to see how the more yoga kids did, the less bored they became. We recognized that if you teach kids to take pride in doing something well, kids are eager to take-on the challenge. By week 6 of the camp, our students were proud to show how well they knew the names of each posture, as well as, the kids were eager to share how long they could hold even some of the most challenging balance postures. This goes to show, resiliency is a key part in teaching yoga to kids.
7. Schools report having less problem-behaviors.
In the article, “Yoga Helps Inner City Kids Deal with Stress…” it was reported that a California school whom implemented yoga in its school system, showed an increase in student’s levels of self-esteem and fitness. Further, they reported that through the state’s YogaEd program, the school’s kids had less anger issues and were better able to deal with life’s tremendous challenges.
8. Classroom climates improve when teachers implement yoga.
As a kindergarten teacher, I saw how my overall classroom climate changed with yoga. My students were calmer, less agitated by peers, and were better able to focus at their desks.
9. Kindness towards others is a philosophy rooted within yoga practices.
As I taught my student yoga, I made sure to explain to my students what yoga was to me. As a adult yoga teacher, and as a yoga practitioner myself, I explained to my students that yoga creates happy emotions in our bodies, which in turn allow us to feel happier and be kinder to the people we care about around us.
10. Teaching kids yoga at a young age makes for healthier adults.
Finally, having been an athlete my whole life, I have grown-up learning to stay physically active for my mental and physical health. Witnessing many adults who never grew up exercising, it is amazing to see how an active childhood can reap benefits into adulthood. Fitness is part of my life, and it makes me a happier healthier human. By teaching our kids to stay active when they are young, we are aiding in setting them up to be active adults too.
In short, what is NOT to love about teaching yoga to kids, especially while they are working hard at school.