Yoga for Kids in the Encinitas School District

Imagine a class of first-grade students that are calm, relaxed and self-confident—enjoying quiet time and having fun. That’s what U-T San Diego columnist Matt Hall found when he visited a school in the San Diego Encinitas school district, where a recently expanded Ashtanga yoga class for young students is producing positive results.

What exactly did he see? Classes of 12 to 15 students lying on yoga mats, focused in “airplane” and  “alligator” poses. A room full of quiet children enjoying exercise and letting off some steam. They were repeating after their instructor how each student was “awesome, great, unique, creative, smart, special and, most important, important.” It was a classroom of kids that were openly enjoying themselves in a peaceful and relaxed environment.

Roughly half the schools in the district are providing these yoga sessions twice a week for 30 to 40 minutes as part of an enrichment program that also includes gardening, reading, music and physical education.

“I think that we’re slowing down the game at school a little bit so kids can be more thoughtful about what they’re doing and learn how to deal with stress and pressure, whether that’s coming from a test or coming from another kid,” Assistant Superintendent David Miyashiro told Hall.

This year the program received a $533,000 grant from the K.P. Jois USA foundation and will soon offer yoga instruction to 5,456 students in the Encinitas school district.

Read the article from Matt Hall at: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/oct/22/to-parents-exercised-about-public-school-yoga-rel/?page=1#article