Yoga in the Classroom

An early learning environment can be a very stimulating place sometimes. There is always so much going on and so many learning experiences happening and connections being made in one single room all at once. So how can we regulate the children downwards after so much stimulation or even overstimulation? Using yoga in the classroom is a wonderful tool for many reasons, for starters it promotes self-regulation. It also teaches children how to utilize their breath in high-adrenaline situations. When we learn to use our breath in calming scenarios we allow more oxygen to move towards our brain, and this helps to settle our nervous system which regulates us into a calm and ready-to-learn state, otherwise known as "rest and digest".

 I started doing yoga myself about thirteen years ago, and it became a necessary part of my daily routine. I decided four years ago that I wanted to share this tool with the children I interact with every day so I began the process of becoming a certified yoga teacher. While this is an ongoing learning process, it has been one of the most beneficial tools I use while working with little people. Whether it be to calm a room, for fun, or to help a child regulate their emotions after a particularly difficult moment, yoga always comes through for me. September is "National Yoga Awareness Month." If you're not sure how to incorporate yoga and mindfulness into your primary classroom but want to try, here are some small tips, tricks, and tools to try in the classroom.

Books: There are a plethora of books out there that are all based around yoga, breathing, kids' meditation, and mindfulness. You can simply read the books, or take ideas from the books that you think resonate for you.

Calming Music: Using nature sounds or calming music in your environment is a great energy shifter. You can invite the children to lie on a mat (or the floor), close their eyes and listen to the music, or have them color or move to it. You could even invite them to share with you how the music makes them feel.

Games: One of the easiest ways to keep the children's attention when leading yoga activities is through games. Two that always get a great reaction for me are "Simon Says" and "Freeze Yoga." If you are new to yoga or don't know many poses, you can purchase easy to follow yoga cards with poses on them on Amazon for as little as $10, or check out Pinterest for many (free) great examples.

Breath Work: Explore different ways we can breathe to help change our mood. A short and simple one is, "Smell the flowers (deep inhale), and blow out the candles (exhale)."

Guided Meditation: Being mindful of little attention spans, you can guide the children through their own personal adventures using their imaginations. This is also a great bedtime activity, but keep it to a maximum of about 5 minutes for little humans.

Using yoga in the classroom is a really simple way to provide SEL experiences in your learning environments in an organic and fun way. Yoga is a great opportunity to engage in mindfulness using a holistic learning approach that can work for all children. What yoga tip or trick will you try in your classroom?

Brought to you by KristenM@NU