Ensure that your practice is safe and secure with these best practices.
GAIN COLLECTIVE APPROVAL
This practice is only possible if everyone is involved. Be sure you have the support of both parents and administration.
BUILD A SAFE SPACE
The most effective classroom layout is laying the mats in one large circle. This might not be possible because of the size of your space, but understand its key benefits, and try to emphasize these if you can’t use a circle layout in your classroom.
Everyone in the room can easily see each other and make eye contact, establishing trust and security
It prevents kids from kicking each other with their feet accidentally, and provides maximum space width-wise for long arms.
This keeps each students’ backside pointed away from the center of the room, and prevents students from seeing if their shirt falls down a bit when in upside-down poses like Downward Dog.
Unlike rows, where students could be situated very far from another, a circle enables everyone to be relatively close to one another (either next to or across from, diagonal from) which makes it easier to sit friends near friends - and easier to split groups up without distancing them greatly.
USE INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE
EMBRACE OUR EMOTIONAL SELF
Staying still, breathing deep, and finding comfort in unfamiliar poses comes with time. And the practice can bring up difficult emotions. Ensure your students that this process is normal; there's nothing to force, tame, or control. Instead, we listen, understand and reflect.
Although yoga can help students foster body-positivity, negative language – however harmless – can significantly shift students' relationship with their physical selves. Avoid language that encourages kids to "work towards a bikini bod", "suck in their gut" or "be strong like a man". Instead, focus on encouraging kids to practice to feel strong, centered and balanced.
PRACTICE GROWTH MINDSET
Remind students that they might not be able to balance well...yet! Yoga is a practice, so it's never about being "perfect". And there's no "best" "top" or "favorite" pose in the room.
embrace props for MODIFICATIONS
Desks and chairs can both be leveraged to help support safe movement in the classroom by providing stability, supporting alignment cues, and modifying a pose for students' varying levels of physical ability.
Here's a few ways that you can use with ClassDojo:
– Use the back of the chair to ground students in Tree Pose
– Place your palms on the desk while practicing Triangle Pose
SECURE EMOTIONAL SUPPORT
This practice can bring up complex emotional responses that may call for additional support. Communicate this practice with your school's counselor or other mental health resource in your school or surrounding community. Ensure your students know they have access to this resource to discuss.
This practice can also bring up emotions for teachers. Consider talking about it with a loved one, therapist, or mental health resource in your community.