The Yoga Room Studio

yoga in schools

Children experience stress in their daily lives much the same way as adults do. While a child's issues are different than an adult's, a child can still feel overwhelmed, lost and out of control of their situation especially in a school setting.

Do these issues sound familar in your classroom?

do your student(s) have anxiety during test time or other school related activities?
do you have student(s) new to the school and are they having difficulty fitting in?
are your student(s) experiencing learning difficulties in the classroom environment?
do your student(s) have challenges making friends or choosing the right friends?
are your student(s) displaying antisocial behaviour such as bullying or
do you have a student(s) being bullied ?

Yoga can help with all of the above issues and more.......

Teaching children yoga in school as part of their Physical Health Education curriculum can have amazing benefits for students, teachers and the whole school community.

Yoga not only helps to:

promote self awareness
but it also helps to increase the ability to focus attention
it helps with right/left brain coordination
and increases self confidence
encourages awareness of the spirit
exercises the physical body
enhances flexibility
increases strength
helps with physical co-ordination
and increases body awareness
bring about the awareness that all people come in different shapes and sizes...

Yoga also helps children to become aware of themselves from the inside out both physically and emotionally by:

improving children's concentration
improving a sense of calmness and
increases the relaxation response
and promotes personal accountability and
may help to alleviate symptoms associated with ADD/HD by increasing the ability to both concentrate and relax

Children who may not enjoy competitive sports will find a relaxed and non-competitive environment while participating in yoga. Not only do children enjoy the physical benefits, they also get to use their imaginations and creativity during the class. Yoga may also provide each child with a new opportunity for success that may have been otherwise overlooked. Yoga in School programs are held at your convenience, at your school, either in the classroom, gymnasium, conference room or weather permitting outdoors in a shaded area.

Yoga In School's yoga program can be as short as 15 minutes or 45 minutes. Yoga can be incorporated into any part of your teaching curriculum. As the program includes poses, movement, anatomy, breathing techniques, music, games, partner poses, reading, creative expression through different artistic mediums and math and languauge development. Younger classes can be built around theme's such as: Animals, Space Travel and the Environment and the older classes can be taught with more art and journalling components with emphasis on the physical aspect of yoga and the body - breath connection.

The Yoga in Schools program can be part of your schools physical education budget, a student paid fee, or you can fundraise to raise funds to have yoga instruction in your classroom. All materials including art supplies, photocopies, yoga mats and other yoga accessories are included in the cost.

The Yoga in Schools program is taught once weekly,concurrently for six weeks.

Students are asked to wear comfortable or gym clothes for the yoga session.

info for teachers

Yoga in Your Classroom

Large class sizes and different levels of learning can make for a challenging learning environment for both students and their teachers. By incorporating yoga into the classroom curriculum, teachers will automatically experience a dramatic improvement in the classroom attitude. Students will be more visibly relaxed, perform and stay on tasks more efficiently and experience better relationships between peers.

The Yoga in Schools program follow's a six week Yoga curriculum that is 15 to 45 minutes in length depending on the age group. It is taught once weekly by a certified Children's Yoga Teacher. Each weekly session follows a simple and fun routine, for example:

simple breathing exercises focusing on calming the mind and body
followed by warm up exercises, such as basic stretching of small and large muscle groups
and then the students will concentrate on learning a fun yoga vinyasa such as sunshine stretch, hero series etc..that will be built upon over the six weeks
then a quiet, time in practice, that will focus on cooling down the body, being peaceful and reflective
finally the last few minutes of each weekly session is spent on yoga related activities. Depending on the weekly theme I will use either art, journalling, songs and/or games. An example of some of the themes that will be discussed are: Anatomy/how our bodies move, Astronomy, Geometry, Nature, Physics, Friendships, Community, Family and Bullying awareness.
Yoga practices books are made by the students during their last yoga class. The books include yoga vinyasa's, journalling thoughts and art work. My goal is for students to take their practice books home where they can develop a home yoga practice.

The yoga practice is simple and fun and also easy enough to learn that the homeroom teacher will be able to expand on what is taught to their students so they can use the breathing/relaxation techniques or the yoga asana's when the need arises with their students.