The children in 2M enjoy breathing exercises, using the Go Noodle website and they love going on Cosmic Kids yoga adventures that can be found on YouTube. They get to stretch their bodies, flex their muscles and enjoy some well-deserved relaxation exercises. My class is very positive about yoga - they even choose to say Namaste as their greeting at register time!
Depending on how the children are feeling, I will do quick ad hoc sessions with them throughout the week. If children are full of energy, we perform a short session of animal yoga poses to help them calm down; if they have a short attention span, we perform balancing poses which helps us to refocus and if we feel tired and lethargic we choose to do some deep breathing exercise to get oxygen to our brain and limbs.
I think that an approach to learning that embraces yoga and breathing techniques promotes a lovely feeling within the classroom. It helps the children to be more aware of their bodies and gives them a range of techniques to calm down and deal with any stress that they may feel. These approaches can be used in the children’s everyday lives to help them deal with challenging situations in a calm and kind manner.
Ms Emma Spencer, Year 2 Class Teacher