Empowering Children with Yoga

Although being a young mom was scary at times, I grew up alongside my children in a playful loving way that felt intuitive, trusting and nurturing. Yoga taught me to weave contemplative practices into everyday life, from playtime to story-telling, art and dance. As a yoga teacher, I enjoy sharing mindful movement and social emotional awareness with elementary school children through imagination by playing with body shapes, breath rhythms, choices and laughter. I love seeing science catch up to ancient wisdom and sharing the power of playing yoga.

In 2003, The Program Evaluation and Research Collaborative (PERC) at Cal State University’s Charter College of Education published research conducted on yoga education and programming at The Accelerated School in South Central Los Angeles.

Findings showed statistical significance for markers in self-esteem, student behavior, physical health and academic performance. After one year of participation, students reported feeling good about themselves. Findings showed a significant negative correlation between student participation in yoga and misbehavior, as measured by school discipline referrals, for both elementary and middle school students. Participation in yoga classes helped improve students’ physical health when compared to the school district mean levels. Even academic performance was positively influenced by…