200 • Part III: YOGa FOr EDUCatING FOr SELF-rEGULatION aND ENGaGEMENt CHaPtEr 9: YOGa aS EMBODIED SELF-rEGULatION aND ENGaGEMENt • 201
Language. While there is still so much more for researchers and educators to understand,
current research and experience suggest that the basic practices of school-based yoga (i.e.,
poses, breathing exercises, relaxation, and meditation) offer students the opportunity to
develop their inner mental tools via the integration of mind and body (Cook-Cottone et al.,
2016a; Cook-Cottone et al., 2016b).
Mental tools extend mental faculties in the same way that a physical tool can extend
human physical faculties (see Chapter 1 for the MY-SEL model; Baron, Evangelou,
Malmburg, & Melendez-Torrez, 2015; Cook-Cottone et al., 2016a; Karpov, 2014). For exam-
ple, many years ago Vygotsky described how students can be taught to use private inner
speech to concentrate even when there are distractions around them (Baron et al., 2015;
Cook-Cottone et al., 2016a; Cook-Cottone et al., 2016a; Karpov, 2014). For example, as
described in our paper, “What is Secular Yoga in Schools: Conceptual Review and Inquiry,”
a student named Mathilde might say to herself, “Mathilde, yes, your friends are talking;
really listen to the teacher. Breathe and focus. Physically engage. Press your feet into the
floor, connect through your seat, and take notes so you are sure you are listening to each
thing she is saying” (Cook-Cottone et al., 2016a). Here, the student uses her mental tool of
inner, private speech and her yoga skills to enhance her baseline ability to focus and engage
(Cook-Cottone et al., 2016a). In this way, school-based yoga focuses on the teaching and
practice of mind-body tools that help students manage stress, self-regulate, and engage in
learning. More on the formal and informal practices of school-based yoga in Chapters 11
and 12 of this text.a SECULar aPPrOaCH tO YOGa FOr SCHOOLS
At the 2015 National Kids Yoga Conference, a panel presentation of the text, “Best Practices
for Yoga in Schools,” included a discussion on the best practice, “Offer Secular Programs”
(Childress & Harper, 2015, p. 21). More specifically, the editors and contributors of the
book agreed that best practice holds that yoga service providers working in schools have
both a legal and ethical obligation to recognize and uphold the principles of secularism
(Childress & Harper, 2015; Cook-Cottone et al., 2016a). What followed was a deep and
thoughtful discussion on keeping yoga in schools secular with strong beliefs, feelings,
and arguments for integrating spirituality and working toward absolute secularism. These
types of discussions are exactly why it is so important to be at the conferences. Following
the conference, a few of us spent several months working on a paper addressing the key
issues related to offering secular yoga programs. There were a variety of ideas and con-
cerns presented. Next, Traci Childress, Jennifer Cohen Harper, and I began developing
a working paper to offer as a guide or placeholder to generate further discussion and
perhaps to begin to develop a set of guidelines (i.e., Cook-Cottone et al., 2016a, manuscript
in preparation).
To be secular, yoga instruction should follow several key grounding principles: (a)
teach practices that are research based, (b) prioritize access and inclusion, (c) eliminate
religious content, and (d) align with legal imperatives and secular ethics (Cook-Cottone
et al., 2016a; Cook-Cottone et al., 2016b). A secular approach to yoga shares the core fea-
tures of yoga with traditional and spiritual approaches to yoga (i.e., physical postures,
breathing exercises, relaxation, and meditation; see Figure 9.2; Cook-Cottone et al., 2016b).