Yoga in the Classroom

As a teacher who has worked with children in the classroom and online, I know a thing or two about the behavior of kids in a learning environment. Some give you their undivided attention no matter the lesson you teach, a few will focus only when you’re teaching a topic they have an interest in, and then there’s the group that wiggle in their chairs just itching to go outside or play a video game. It can be quite difficult to manage this mix of students, but we do the best we can.

One thing I’ve learned along the way is that some type of warm-up or physical activity is a great option for almost every student. Yes, that includes the ones who are already attentive. I use yoga and mix in a story to teach them the poses without boring them with complicated names. This is done to get the blood flowing and endorphins going, which also bonds us as a group. I want the students to trust me and know that this space is for them and that I have their best interests at heart. The yoga sessions we do are quite low intensity and won’t prepare them for the Olympics, but it has had a positive impact on their attitudes toward learning, improved participation in class, and grades. Now, my experience is only subjective and not sufficient enough evidence that yoga helps kids, so I did some digging and found a scientific article on the matter.

I have a student, we’ll call him Gavin. Gavin is a good kid and quite smart, but he struggles to focus on anything other than recess. He is a kid that needs a lot of physical exertion before he will even consider calming down enough to focus on a book. Unfortunately, when given the opportunity to burn off that energy, he is then too tired to read a book or listen to anyone instruct him. One perk I have is teaching small groups and even one-on-one, so I get to focus my attention on just a few kids at a time. Therefore, I am able to give a little more attention to Gavin and can get him to answer my questions and grab his attention when he begins staring out the window. I imagine he is thinking about 4 pm when he’ll get to feel the breeze hit his face as he runs at full speed and kicks the soccer ball toward the goal while his friends with matching energy levels pursue him down the field. Before we began these activities, I would often have to call his name more than once to wake him from his daydream after only a minute of writing notes or drawing pictures on the whiteboard to begin the lesson.

When I first started doing physical activities in the class, I did what the admin suggested, which were some silly wiggles, musical chairs, and generic stretches. This article isn’t to criticize those, but I didn’t find them to be sufficient, and in fact, they were more distracting than anything else. I began to think about what I do at home when I’m writing or filling out reports and find myself spacing out in wonderland or getting antsy in my chair. The answer is almost always rolling out my yoga mat and doing a session. The times vary depending on the amount of time I have, but the point is that even a few minutes of this movement makes a difference in my concentration levels and brings me back to the work I need to do. Yoga has been shown to improve focus and calm the mind, and this is true for both kids and adults. I decided to incorporate stories into them because I am an ESL teacher and it’s a great listening and participation activity that I hope will also improve their English. These days, I no longer have to say, “Gavin, Gaaavvvin, Gaaaaavvviiin,” as he is now more attentive to me and less bound to the window and clock. Not every day is perfect, but we take it one pose at a time.

Now let’s look at my other student. We’ll call her Chiaki. She is actually attentive in class and makes good grades, but always seems stressed. Chiaki has a full schedule at only 11 years old, and I’m sure she excels at most of what she does, but I see she needs a release. We didn’t evolve to be under constant stress, so it takes a toll on people of all ages. When I thought about my students who are inattentive, stressed, and/or addicted to screens, I knew that bringing a few minutes of yoga into the class could have positive effects on their classroom and personal lives. I wanted to show Chiaki and students like her that there are healthy ways of dealing with stress. To tell you the truth, I’d like to reduce her schedule to something more manageable, but that isn’t up to me. The next best thing I can do is provide a nurturing environment, not only for the sake of education but for my students’ mental health. Exercise is well-known to lower stress levels, but my class doesn’t offer the space for everyone to do jumping jacks and push-ups, nor am I interested in incorporating them into my classroom. So, I teach them yoga through less childish stories, and sometimes I don’t even do stories. I do pose challenges and breathing exercises that I hope they continue on their own. I don’t force my students to participate, it is completely voluntary. I’d say around 95% do participate, which isn’t bad at all. In the end can I relieve all of Chiaki’s stress? No, but I can be a guide to managing it as she gets older and likely has even more piled onto her schedule.

Yoga isn’t always the most intense workout, although I’ve certainly taken classes with some teachers who challenged me quite a bit. The idea of bringing yoga into the classroom is not about wearing out the kids, but the opposite. It’s to give them some movements that produce a kind of meditative state through engaging the mind and body, thus alleviating stress and bringing the focus to what is happening in the present, which is English class, not soccer. Sorry, Gavin.