Deep Breath In…the Classroom…And Out
We talked about how to get our students active while learning but what about when they’re not learning. Well guess what, they always are. Students observe what we do as teachers and absorb information all day. As educators, it’s our job to make sure that what the student is absorbing during the day while they are in our classroom, is positive and productive. So let’s get them moving in a productive way. It’s yoga time!
While promoting our student’s learning academically, we also need to be teaching them how to take care of themselves and their mental state. While we only have our students for a year, we can use that year to make sure they develop and grow in all aspects of their life, physical, academic, mental, and emotional. To do this we can teach them safe and healthy, longlasting practices that can be fun and a nice break from the standard learning.
Teaching and practicing yoga in the classroom can not only teach students self regulating practices, but it can also improve students’ memory and attention span, reduces students’ stress and anxiety, and promotes a classroom that values mindfulness.
The best part about yoga in the classroom is it does not have an age or ability limitation. Whether your a special education teacher, a high school teacher, or even a college professor, or a first grade teacher of some rambunctious kids, there’s a yoga lesson for you! What even better about promoting yoga in the classroom is as more and more teachers use it, the need increases and we get a variety of themes to choose from. My client has lots of energy and loves dinosaurs so I found the perfect video for him!
The theme and pace of the yoga session can very depending on what you, as the teacher, think your classroom needs. Maybe you would like a calm, slow paced yoga session to help your students relax. Or maybe your kiddos are like mine and they just want to get up and moving. Either way, there’s a yoga session for you out there and all it takes is a few minutes of your day. Take that time transitioning from one lesson to another to do a few minutes of yoga with your kids. Who knows, maybe by the end of the year you’ll have a couple yoga gurus…
So let’s do it! Join me and my kids and let’s get our yoga on!
