Setting up your Classroom for Mindfulness - Guest Post for Smiles with Miss S
I wrote this blog post for the wonderful Smiles with Miss S. You can read it and her other posts on her site- here.
It’s that time of year again and teachers up and down the country are setting up their classrooms. There are working walls everywhere, every tray has a smart new label and visual timetables are ready to be fixed to whiteboards. Many if you are also squirrelling away to create your calm corners - I have so many freely available resources to help you with this on my website www.innerchildyogaschool.com. But, I can’t help but ask, is a calm corner really enough?
I was a Primary school teacher for six years, so I know how much you’re already trying to think about. But I ask you, just for a moment, to really think about the mental health of your class. Is every child benefitting from your calm corner or only those who actively seek it out? And if I child does go into the space, do they know how to use it? It is essential for all children to learn about their mental health and build a range of strategies to help them notice the very early signs of struggling and then know what they can do about it. The good news is that you can actually teach these strategies, whole class, in a very short period of time - and once children know them, they can use them throughout their entire lives! For example, when I child knows they can ease feelings of anxiety by lengthening their exhale, they can do this anytime, anywhere without anyone knowing!
I find transition times are a great pocket of time to introduce mindfulness. Why not begin the day with everyone rubbing their hands together to generate some warmth, then placing them on their chests and taking a deep breath. When everyone is slumped on their desks after lunch could they take some deep woodchopper breaths to re-energise? Could children spend five minuets in the day jotting some some things they feel grateful for or journaling about how they felt when they tried something new or faced a setback? If our ultimate goal is for children to grow up as happy, fulfilled and contributing member’s of society we need to teach them these skills.
As a specialist children’s yoga teacher, I would of course, highly recommend fitting yoga into your curriculum. Yoga has a host of physical and mental benefits for children and is great for building confidence, giving a lifelong form of fitness and increasing attention spans. Take a look at your PE curriculum or after school club offerings and see if you can make a little space for some yoga.
If you’re interested in sharing yoga within your school on a wider scale I have an entire programme to enable any teacher to set up a safe and effective yoga club. The programme is usually available for schools to purchase but if you are a student teacher and passionate about children’s mental and physical health please reach out to me and I may be able to help you invest in the programme at a heavily discounted rate.
Vic is a specialist children’s yoga teacher, experienced classroom teacher and founder of The Inner Child Yoga School. It’s her mission to share the benefits of yoga with all children. She has online programmes for children and schools and a variety of free resources to help parents and teachers share yoga and mindfulness with children. Find all the resources and more information on www.innerchildyogaschool.com or get in touch on social media @inner_child_yoga_school