Bringing yoga & mindfulness into your classroom can benefit your community in many ways.
Yoga helps children enhance concentration.
Yoga poses & breathing exercises help to increase focus.
With a regular practice, children gain body awareness, strength & flexibility.
A consistent classroom Yoga & mindfulness practice encourages kindness, compassion & community. The children also learn & practice tools for stress management.
Here are 4 tips to successfully bring yoga & mindfulness into your classroom:
#1 Practice With the Children
Always, always practice with your students.
The time you carve out of your busy academic day to practice yoga, benefits the children & YOU.
When you share a daily practice with your students, you will quickly notice benefits in the kids and within yourself.
Remember children emulate what they see. Children will always be more engaged when they see their teacher breathing deeply & practicing poses along with them.
On the Kids Virtual Yoga YouTube Channel, there is a playlist dedicated to school day yoga breaks. These videos are designed for you to play for your students as you practice with them.
Remember, practicing with the children is the most important tip for successfully bringing yoga & mindfulness into your classroom.
#2 Maintain a Personal Yoga Practice
If you are reading this, chances are you are a teacher, a homeschooling parent or a caregiver.
First, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Most days of the year, you put others before yourself. You are a caring & giving person. You deal with ups & downs, emotions, behaviors, parents, administrators, all on a daily basis.
You balance a lot every single day.
Making time for yourself to practice yoga & mindfulness away from your students is critically important.
Taking time regularly to come to the present moment, to unite with your breath, to unite with your body & spirit will have benefits that carry you throughout the day.
The amount of time you spend is irrelevant.
If you have 5 minutes to practice a quick breathing exercise, 20 minutes to find a practice on YouTube or an hour for a public class, just practice. Invest the time into taking care of you.
#3 Set Aside Scheduled Yoga Time Daily
Finding the time to practice with your students daily might be one of your biggest struggles.
Your day is already jam-packed with academics, meetings, prep work & grading.
A classroom yoga practice will only be successful if it is part of the daily or weekly routine.
Remember to be flexible.
You might only be able to find 5 minutes twice a week in your classroom schedule.
There is a lot of calm and focus that can be instilled in 5 minutes.
5 minutes is enough time for 1-2 breathing exercises and 1-2 yoga poses.
The more time you have, the more you can add to your daily practice with your students.
Just remember to be flexible and don’t skip daily yoga & mindfulness time with your students!
#4 Keep It Simple & Make It Your Own
Keep your daily yoga time with your students simple.
A few yoga poses and a couple of breathing exercises will noticeably improve focus & calm in your classroom.
As you practice with the children, move around the room, ask students to lead exercises, ask students to keep count.
Allow the children to see you struggle with difficult poses, let them see you fall out of a balancing pose.
Nobody runs your classroom like you do. Share this time with your students exactly how you see fit.
Remember that not every practice will end in a classroom full of calm and focused children. Some days are better than others.
The key is consistency and flexibility. When the class doesn’t go as planned, it’s ok, learn from it and take the time to re-focus again tomorrow.
Check out http://www.kidsvirtualyoga.com for more children's yoga & mindfulness information.
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