Chair Yoga for Students
“Yoga is the golden key that unlocks the door to peace, tranquility, and joy.”
Make Your School Awesome Staff
June 11, 2021
Introducing yoga exercises inside your classroom can promote mind-body awareness, self-regulation, and physical fitness. Incorporating chair yoga practices and mindfulness activities can affect overall student behaviors in your classroom by positively contributing to a healthy school climate. Yoga can increase one’s focus, self-esteem, and even memory. Both students and staff can benefit from engaging in these calming, and therapeutic practices.
Yoga for the Classroom | Chair Yoga - Yoga with Rachel
Students performing physical yoga postures such as "mindfulness in motion" can help students improve body awareness and teach them the important foundational principles of staying in the present moment. Physical stretching and holding specific poses enhance flexibility, balance, breathing function, and can increase individual strength. Specific breathing exercises can teach stress regulation, emotion regulation and promote self-efficacy.
Chair Yoga For Slowing Down | 10 Minute Kids Yoga Class with Yoga Ed. | Ages 3-12
Incorporating chair yoga and mindfulness activities in your classroom can assist with a child's ability to concentrate and develop social awareness skills. Including such practices regularly in your morning meeting or any whole-group instruction time that focuses on SEL can be a healthy and fun activity that your students will love.
Yoga in the Classroom: K–4 Chair Sequence
Great resources to check out:
Yoga4classrooms.com
Kidsyogastories.com
YogaEd.com
Teacherspayteachers.com (chair yoga cards)
Namastekid.com
Make Your School Awesome . Com
Important teacher takeaways! Incorporate a little chair yoga in your morning meetings. Create a list of basic breathing exercises for students to use when they become upset. Search the web and find the perfect mini-yoga sequence and flow that will work with your age group. If you have a large StarBoard or interactive board, use YouTube tutorials to walk your students through the basic steps and beginner yoga sequences. Remember to have fun and breath!
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