Yoga in the Classroom

I’ve been thinking more about yoga in school – not just in gym class but integrated throughout the school day: morning stretches to wake the students up, breathing techniques to calm the mind and reduce anxiety or excess energy, and concentration exercises to help with focus or preparing for a test. Yoga can be very helpful to students to counter the stress of school.

Here are a few simple exercises that kids could do at their desk and even better that teachers could guide the class through:

3-part breath:  Sit tall with feet flat on the floor.  Close your eyes and notice your breath. Breathe in and out through the nose with the lips sealed. Often, just paying attention to how you breathe allows the breath to slow down and it calms us.  A great image for kids (& adults) is blowing up a balloon.  As you inhale, the belly and ribcage expands and the chest lifts (think of filling the balloon with air).  As you exhale, we feel the air gently, slowly release out and the belly draws back toward the spine (as if you were slowly letting the air out of a balloon).  Continue for 6-8 breaths.

Letting go of mental chatter: As we’re breathing our 3-part breath, anxious thoughts or worries may surface – especially if we’re getting ready for a test.  Different images work for different people. Here are a couple of examples:  Imagine that each thought is coming into your mind on a cloud – you see the thought, but you let it pass right by you….as if the clouds were moving in, and moving out of the sky (your mind).  Picture in your mind a sunny cloudless day…allowing your mind to be still and calm.  Another example (sometimes more popular with boys) is that of cars passing by you on the street.  We’re standing on the corner and watching as our thoughts are passing by us in cars…we see them come to us and we watch them drive past…but we’re not getting into the car and hanging on to that thought.  These mental pictures teach us that we don’t have to be held hostage to our thoughts.  We can choose how we react to them.  And, as a way to relieve stress, we’re practicing acknowledging those thoughts without going down a “rabbit hole” of thoughts, worries, plans with them. We’re training our mind to be still, calm and relaxed when we want it to be.

Tree Pose: Balance poses are wonderful to improve concentration & focus. You can’t mult-task and balance. It doesn’t work.  Balances also teach us to become comfortable in the flux of things.  When we stand on one foot, that standing foot/ankle is moving and adjusting to the pose.  We’re usually not able to stand perfectly still.  This is a helpful lesson for kids in the learning  process of knowing some things and having more to learn.  It’s especially helpful for kids with type A/perfectionist tendencies (I’m speaking from experience).

Standing tall and evenly on both feet, begin to shift your weight to one side, keeping the hips square (no sassy hips).  Find something to look at that’s not moving.  In a classroom, it may be good to have the students look to the outer edges of the room to minimize distractions from fellow students. Keeping your eyes focused on your object, lift the balancing foot to be at the arch of the standing foot, the shin or inner thigh.  Avoid putting any pressure on the knee cap.  The balancing toes should be towards the floor with the balancing knee turned out to the side. Arms can be out at your side to help balance or in prayer hands at your heart.  Breathe….keeping facial muscles relaxed. It’s ok to bring the foot down and try again… Reverse to the other side.

Note for teachers: balance poses can create competitiveness in the classroom.  Try to encourage students to focus on their bodies, how they feel doing the pose and not on what their neighbor is doing.  Everyone’s balance changes every day – so it’s good to tell students that so that they are not discouraged.

For morning stretches, check out this previous post.

For yoga stretches to calm kids down and burn off energy, try this one.

Other resources:

Great article on yoga in the classroom and great results on test-taking, concentration: CNN Article

Step-by-step manual for K-12 Teachers on yoga in the classroom: Yoga in the Classroom

Yoga for Kids: Stretches to Burn off Energy & Calm Kids Down

My friend and client Jocelyn asked me for a 10-15 minute yoga routine for 4-7 year olds… something to maybe calm them down, burn off some energy and keep the parents or nannies sane… so, Jocelyn, thank you for the request (I love requests as I sometimes have blogger’s block) and here goes:

Start with activity (with kids, you wouldn’t want to start with sitting still & breathing — start with the most active thing first and save the quiet, reflective time for the end):

• 4-6 Full Flows or Sun Salutations – everyone has their own version. In a YogaXoga class, we follow this guide: Mountain Pose, Swan Dive to Forward Fold, Low Lunge, Downward Dog, Plank, Modified Crocodile (or Chatturanga) for kids, Cobra/Up Dog, Downward Dog, Low Lunge, Forward Fold, Mountain Pose.  Repeat 4-6 times alternating which leg steps back in the lunge.
• Pick just a couple standing poses: Triangle or Extended Side Angle are ones that kiddos can do and feel successful. They’re not too complicated.  Other options once your kiddos know a few poses is to take turns letting each one of them teach the rest of you their favorite pose. Hold each pose for 3-5 breaths.
• Move on to balance: Balance poses require concentration…be sure to take the competition out of the room by saying things like, “just do your best today” or “turn and look away from the group” to avoid that competitiveness.

• Balancing Mountain: Standing in Mountain pose, have them pretend that they are tall trees….focusing their eyes on something, have them balance on their tippy-toes – the tree is growing taller….encourage them to draw their belly toward their spine — keeping a strong tree and balancing as long as they can comfortably.
• Eagle: Another great pose for concentration…guide them with the arms first. Start by holding up both forearms like goalposts and stacking the right elbow on top of the left and draw the shoulders down. Next, shift your weight into the right side and cross the left foot over (like Gene Kelly).  Then, we’ll sink back into the right leg, bending the knee and squeezing the inner thighs together. Overtime, lifting the left foot from the floor or wrapping the left leg around the right. Reverse to the other side.
• Calming Stretches:  Butterfly is a great stretch – drawing the soles of your feet together and holding onto the ankles… you can also practice a slow, steady breath here to calm the kids.  As they inhale they draw the knees up towards them and as they exhale, they release them.  Have them think about the breath being more important than the movement of their legs – so that their movement really matches their breath. You can do this with other poses too — where they can focus on their breath and move with it (Full Flows, Cat/Cow).  For Straddle Fold, you might pretend that you are all in the kitchen making something — encourage each child to share what’s for dinner today in their kitchen. From a seated position, legs in a V, have the kids “stir their pot in one direction and then the other, circling their upper body forward towards the floor and around in a circle. Continue for 4 circles each way.

• Alternative Nostril Breathing – this breath is great for sinuses and allergies but also wonderful to improve concentration and focus (great for older kids before tests).  Start in a comfortable seated position. Using one hand, close off the right nostril and breathe in through the left side. Switch and close off the left nostril and breathe out through the right side.  Breathe in on the right, switch and out the left.  Continue for 6-8 breaths and then breathe normally for 4 more breaths. To make it more fun — you might have the kids think about climbing a mountain or going up the stairs at their house and then realizing they forgot something and had to go back down…up and down – breathing in and out….
• Bridge Pose – All inversions are great for calming the mind and nervous system.  For Bridge pose, have everyone lie on their backs with knees bent.  With arms by their side, they’ll inhale and lift their hips up toward the ceiling and exhale to lower the hips again. Have them move with their breath a few times, getting used the movement and trying to time their breath to match their movement. Some may want to hold their Bridge, drawing shoulders underneath them…Stay for 4-6 breaths and rest.
• Breathing & Relaxation – Have the kids find a comfortable position lying the floor (usually on their backs) with one hand on their belly.  Have them feel their inhale as their belly lifts and their exhale as the belly lowers.  Have them try to make their breaths move in slow motion.  You might try a visualization here — having them close their eyes and imagine their favorite room in their house or favorite vacation…have them fill in all the details of that place and just rest quietly.  For 4-7 year olds, you might want to start with just 2-3 minutes of quiet, rest time and work up to 4-6 minutes.  2 minutes can be awfully long at first.

Yoga for the Runner, Walker, Cyclist

Forward moving, repetitive activities like running, walking, biking are great forms of exercise. We can get the cardio workout we need while building strength in large muscle groups, namely our legs.  But, like anything, we need balance in the body. That’s where yoga comes in. Yoga helps with these activities in many ways.

First, with yoga we can stretch the overworked, sometimes overdeveloped muscles such as the quadriceps and hamstrings. This will bring balance to the body and help avoid injury.  Second, yoga is an all-direction endeavor. We’re moving side to side, front to back and all around. This is helpful to counter the forward moving direction of running, walking and cycling. Finally, yoga brings about better body awareness and concentration. When we’re in the “zone” of our favorite exercise, it’s important to be very aware of our bodies – how we’re feeling…so that we can ease back or rest when we need to and avoid an injury. Yoga teaches us that the “no pain, no gain” theory is outdated and dangerous.

Try these hamstring stretches after your next run, walk or ride while your muscles are still warm:

Seated Forward Fold:  With this one, you may want to place a pillow or rolled mat under your hips if it’s uncomfortable for you to hinge forward.

Seated Forward Fold

Start with bent knees and hinge at the hips, continuing to look out past your toes.  If your back feels tight, bent the knees. Hold for 6-8 breaths.

Downward Dog: this is a great pose for the entire body, but here we’re focused on the backs of the legs – hamstrings, calves and achilles tendon.  Start from all 4’s.  Curl the toes and lift the knees off the mat.  Draw your shoulders back toward the middle of your mat and spread your hands wide and evenly into the floor.

Downward Dog

Think about lifting your hips up toward the ceiling and sinking your heels toward the floor. Hold and breathe for 4-6 breaths, coming down to child’s pose to rest.