Primary Schools


Is yoga for your school?

SpiritLevel yoga provides children and young people with a safe, calm and playful space to experience yoga and learn. Anyone can start yoga at any age, regardless of co-ordination, balance, flexibility or strength. These things will improve quickly with practice. The amazing thing about yoga is that it’s always evolving and changing, so it never gets boring.

One of the most difficult, but ultimately most liberating things about yoga is letting go of the ego and accepting that no-one is better than anyone else. Everyone is just doing their best on any given day.

Pre-school: yoga assists with co-ordination and balance. Through pairs work, it facilitates co-operation, emotional and social development. Yoga assists children to move with ease from the energetic to the calm self, using postures and relaxation.

Reception: yoga develops gross motor skills and aids sensory development. Visualisation helps with memory and language development. Games foster the ideas of winning, losing and co-operation. Yoga makes clear links with nature and children’s understanding of the world around them and the importance of looking after themselves and their environment

KS1: yoga increases confidence and provides a platform for children to show their developing skills (postures and balance). Yoga develops self-control through concentration/relaxation techniques, listening to others and taking turns. Yoga fosters a child’s curiosity about themselves and the world around them.

KS2: children begin the journey into puberty. They experience significant changes not only in their physical body, but in their emotions and sense of self. It can be a time of self-doubt and increased awareness and influence of peers, advertising, fashion and music. It’s a tricky time and yoga can assist children to know themselves and respond with confidence.

 

What are the benefits for children and young people?

Body: Yoga builds strength, stamina and flexibility. It develops and understanding of how the body moves & how to keep joints and muscles safe in different asanas (postures). Yoga develops co-ordination and balance.

Mind: Yoga increases self-awareness helping children face life with a greater belief in their potential and personal resilience. It fosters the development of each child’s own unique personality and supports creativity and expression.

Emotions: Yoga assists children and young people with learning how to take control of how they react to different situations. Understanding where feelings come from and how to respond to those feelings is a great skill to learn.

Yoga provides children and young people with a range of techniques they can use as they grow and enter adulthood:-

  • Pranayama (breathing) techniques
    • Controlling the breath
    • Breathing with movement
    • Improved breathing to assist with general health and well-being
  • Meditation / mindfulness
    • Developing concentration and focus
    • Being in the moment: learning to resist racing into the next moment without noticing the present
  • Asanas (postures)
    • Non-competitive exercise
    • Knowledge of joints and muscles
  • Relaxation
    • Learning the importance of stilling the mind and body
    • Focus & concentration
  • Chanting & music
    • Tools to manage life’s challenges
    • Focus/concentration and memory

 

What does your school need to provide?

Please provide yoga mats (one per child). Children should wear comfortable clothing that allows their bodies to stretch. A spacious room for the class to take place, free from obstructions/furniture.