Yoga in the Classroom

 As a new teacher, the educational statistics that catch my attention are along the lines of “helped 15% of students improved their math achievement scores”, “helped 81% of children to make themselves happy” and “90% of students agreed it helped kids get along better” (Hawn Foundation, 2014). But what is the magical secret to improving math potential, social behavior, well-being and self-concept? No, it cannot be found in the latest research on brain scans, robotics and technology. You must look back, way back about five thousand years and take a long trip across the world to India to find the long forgotten, yet completely obvious answer to optimal brain functioning in the classroom: yoga. No, not the sweaty “downdog” side of yoga that we see more and more on television these days, but the other seven limbs of yoga (yes there is more than bending yourself like a pretzel): dhyana, dharana, pratyahara, pranayama, niyamas, samadhi, and yamas; better know to us in North America as meditation, concentration, turning inward, mindful breathing, observances, union of the self with object of meditation and moral restraints (Gates, 2002, p. 1). Although there are very separate and distinct components of yoga, most articles, research, and debates on the topic boil these seven other limbs of yoga down into one word: meditation, which I will also do for this article. Meditation, as the famous Canadian yogi Eoin Finn points out is like a brain hammock™ that allows our minds to let go of the constant stream of thoughts and attachments in our heads (2009, p. 16-17).

When neuroscience and ancient yoga philosophies team up, programs such as MindUP™ are created in classrooms, where the mentioned statistics on students’ success are from. MindUP™ is a “research-based training program for educators and children” that includes 15 lessons designed from neuroscience (Hawn Foundation, 2014). MindUP™ teaches self-regulatory behavioral control but also teaches strategies for learning and living (Hawn Foundation, 2014). It supports children, educators and parents with “vital social and emotional literacy skills, helping them increase focus, improve academic performance, reduce stress, gain emotional resilience and optimism” (Hawn Foundation, 2014). Besides the statistics mentioned above, MindUP™ argues that it aids students in having a positive outlook, increased empathy and support for each other, increased executive function, faster reaction times, more attentive students, greater emotional control and better planning and organizational skills (Hawn Foundation, 2014). There are so many different learning disabilities that can affect a classroom and the students, but programs like these and what they claim they can help drastically change, perfectly align with these disabilities that students may have from improper brain functioning. For example, the program promises to increase attentiveness, which could be used to treat students with right parietal lobe ADHD, in which medication cannot help treat (Hale, 2014). Another example is when teachers are attempting to increase reactions times and successful memory of say, math facts of students with perhaps left-hemisphere dysfunction, the MindUP™ program has proven to aid in faster reaction times (Hale, 2014; Hale and Fiorello, 2004, p. 262-263). Moore also argues these strategies of relaxation, concentration, and meditation aid students in using their subconscious mind to retain greater amounts of vocabulary and structures. (1992, p. 1-3).

Intervention such as that just mentioned can give students the skills via meditation to function not only in the classroom academically but emotionally and socially as well. Moving even further, meditation can aid in the plasticity of the brain by recreating neuronal connections: both minimizing dysfunctional ones whilst recreating and building up more efficient and workable pathways (Hale and Fiorello, 2004, p. 44). According to Bergland, Dr. Dawson’s research shows that meditation accesses different parts of the brain, which allows for neuroplastic changes that promote positive emotions and learned optimism (2013). Moore also maintains that that the conscious mind immensely limits the intake of knowledge and by accessing the subconscious mind and moving into a suggestive state of mind, the student (or human) has the potential to become a “superlearner” (1992, p. 1-3).

By adding a simple technique of an old practice, yoga in the classroom, studies and research has shown immense improvement for not only brain functioning but social and emotional functioning as well. As a future teacher this is most definitely an avenue I will explore and utilize in my classroom.

 Check out: MindUp

 And a little yoga from my life, hence the passion...

Teaching inversions for Volunteer yoga classes at lululemon

Yoga at sunrise at Nose Hill Park

Meditation Next to the Bow River

Yoga on the West coast of Bali, Indonesia

Bergland, C. (2013). The Neurobiology of Grace Under Pressure. Pyschology Today .

Finn, E. (2009). The Blissology Project: Yoga, Meditation, and Lifestyle with Eoin Finn. Eoin             Finn & Blissology .

Gates, R. (2002). Meditations from the Mat. New York: Anchor Books.

Hale, James. (January 2014). Individual Learning: Theories and Applications Educ 445.             Science Theaters 148. Calgary, Alberta.

Hale, J, B., & Fiorello, C.A. (2004). School Neuropsychology: A Practitioner’s Handbook. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Hawn, G. (2014). MindUP. Retrieved March 8, 2014, from The Hawn Foundation :             http://thehawnfoundation.org/

Moore, M. (1992). Using Meditation in the Classroom. American Association of Teachers of             Spanish and Portuguese , 75 (3), 734-736.