Edmunds Adopts Yoga for the Classroom

The Edmunds Elementary staff met for a busy day of training in June to prepare for a new program, “Yoga 4 Classrooms®,” an innovative program for improving student’s physical, emotional and comprehension skills.

Yoga 4 Classrooms® helps increase student performance by improving adaptive and coping strategies, promoting school time as a more safe and stress free place. Even though Yoga is a 5,000 year old discipline practiced around the world, the Yoga 4 Classrooms® initiative is a fresh concept in U.S. schools.

The Edmunds teachers learned how to lead meditation, revitalizing stretches and other routines right in the classroom – even in the student’s chairs or while standing in line. Program creator Lisa Flynn managed instruction and commented, “…the Edmunds teachers were a particularly open and impressive group. It’s neat to see they are already using some yoga principles in their classes. Yoga’s language of wellness and stress reduction will build a greater sense of wellness and community. Edmunds students will demonstrate success with improved learning.”

There was  a positive response from the teachers for the Yoga 4 Classrooms® philosophy too, and they are eager to start the program to help students concentrate more on learning.

Principal Jaynette Rittman believes that this creative program will provide a boost to student focus and comprehension, helping them gain the skills and knowledge needed to be successful at the next stage of their lives.

Yoga 4 Classrooms®  will begin at Edmunds in August and the 2014-15 school year with daily morning sessions and short periods throughout the day.