Latest Issue of the MindBrainEd Think Tank + (ISSN 2434-1002) 6 MindBrained Bulletin Think Tank V4i6 Mindfulness | Page 14

Yoga in the Classroom
I was not the first yoga instructor / school
teacher to combine the two together. Many
Basically, for 8 weeks, I led
organizations exist to empower teachers to
the class in a physical
bring yoga into the classroom for the very
warm-up activity that was
same benefits listed above. Many of my
only 3 -5 minutes in length.
resources and research comes from an
American-based organization called Yoga 4
Classrooms. Check out what they offer here.
I’ll tell you what I personally loved about bringing yoga into the
classroom - mental clarity and increased focus. Giving the
students a focus point - standing like a tree, doing a spinal twist,
or stretching their arms up in the air - got them to move their
bodies in atypical ways for a classroom setting.
Yoga in the Japanese Classroom
While there is a lot of positive data about using yoga in the American classroom, I
wonder if many of you would see it being used in your classrooms in Japan. Let me
tell you about my experience.
My experience
I work in a private university in Kyushu, Japan. The students’ majors are mostly
technical or science-related – Mechanical Engineering, Nanoscience, Biotechnology,
Pharmacy, etc. There are no English majors in this institution. We provide
compulsory English communication courses for all first and second year students.
Sometimes motivation can be low in the language class mostly because it is not their
concentration of study.
My second year curriculum has a 3-week health unit, which is when I did my yoga
unit. I started with buy–in. I had to convince students that doing yoga was beneficial
to their concentration, academics, and overall health. I showed them the infographic
shown above, and asked them comprehension questions, such as “What are the
benefits of yoga?”
Basically, for 8 weeks, I led the class in a physical warm-up activity that was only 3 -5
minutes in length. I instructed them to do a pose similar to the poses you read about
at the beginning of this article. They were simple, often performed seated, and did
not need the use of a yoga mat or much space. Here are some examples.
Results
With 3 groups of approximately 25 students, and after doing yoga at the beginning of
every lesson for 8 weeks, there were 1008 journal entries, which I collected through