Resiliency and Early Learning

US News just published an article – Why Kids – and Schools – Need Yoga.  There’s continued science-backed evidence that yoga is beneficial to everyone.  Yoga for Recovery, Foundation has a goal to reach adults recovering from addiction, systematic oppression, acute-stress, and trauma but what if we started with the kids being ahead of the curve in growing a generation with imbedded resiliency?   Our trademark could be Everybody is Resilient!

It begins by changing our overall human reaction and mindset for both kids and adults in recovery from a negative thought pattern to a more positive one.  University of Rochester psychologist Ed Deci, found that teachers who aim to control students’ behavior—rather than helping them control it themselves—undermine the very elements that are essential for motivation: autonomy, a sense of competence, and a capacity to relate to others.  See the article – https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/schools-behavior-discipline-collaborative-proactive-solutions-ross-greene/?fbclid=IwAR3TgX0gU9mI827i5nKFWOMAoBKwjJQH7OsTQrFFNVzEglJC4yDe8cPBZY8

How can mindfulness and yoga provided to kids help?  The same way it helps adults!  Kids who regularly practice gain a sense of competence by ‘mastering’ a pose.  They start to learn and positively anticipate how to move and engage their bodies not only in the space assigned to them on their mat but also with the other kids who are all suddenly speaking the same body language.  Very often, a skilled yoga instructor also offers their students opportunity toward autonomy – choosing their own calming visualization or mental stimulus, making a decision on what way ‘feels’ best to arrive at a pose, or even how many counts to hold a breath.  The entire expression of yoga is based on mastery of ‘self’.   Even as Sage Patanjali taught us – Prayatna saithilya ananta samapattibhyam or “Perfection in an asana is achieved when the effort to perform it becomes effortless and the infinite being within is reached.”