214 • PART III: YOGA FOR EDUCATING FOR SELF-REGULATION AND ENGAGEMENT
(Harper, 2013); students today have a tremendous amount of worry and anxiety. They feel
the tensions and stressors of their parents, hear about the ongoing violence in our commu-
nities, hear talk of ongoing war, and feel tremendous pressure to succeed academically and
to perform within the arts as well as physical realms (Harper, 2013). As students get older,
they also feel pressure to look the right way (Cook-Cottone, Kane, Keddie, & Haugli, 2013).
It seems that today’s students do little for the sheer joy or play of it, living to negotiate stress
and to perform, trying to live up to some set of standards academically, physically, and emo-
tionally. Living in this way, students become disembodied.
Interpersonal neurobiologists posit a similar understanding of integration and healing
of the mind-body system. They describe mental life as an embodied relational flow of energy
and information (Siegel, 2012). That is, the mind is not separate from the body—it both arises
from and regulates it (Levine, 2010; Siegel, 2012). Therefore, speaking both from a yogic
and neurological point of view, self-regulation is, most certainly, an integrated, embodied
experience (Cook-Cottone, 2015). Yoga practice integrates. When practiced as intended, it is
believed that yoga brings all of the split-apart aspects of the self together allowing for inte-
gration and healing (Cook-Cottone, 2015).
Supporting Access to Reflective Engagement and Restorative States
Many students do not have knowledge of or a sense of regulating themselves emotionally,
psychologically, or physically. They often feel as if they are subject to their external world
and any stressors that come from it, their unsettled internal world, or both (Cook-Cottone,
2015). Access to reflective engagement and restorative states of being is critical for engaged
learning and positive relationships (Cook-Cottone, 2015). Stephen Porges (2011), the
author of The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment,
Communication, and Self-Regulation, suggests that yoga training may improve the ability
to self-regulate, dampen physiological reactivity, and help students feel more comfortable
in their bodies. The general physiological and neurological bases of self-regulation lie in
the ability to respond to the outer world and to inner events (e.g., thoughts, memories) in
a neurologically integrated and non-reactive manner (Cook-Cottone, 2015; Levine, 2010;
Siegel, 2010). In part, this means that we have the capacity to access the reflective and rela-
tional aspects of the nervous system even when we are triggered, threatened, or challenged
(Porges, 2011).
We need tools for bringing the body away from stressed, defensive reaction and toward
healthier and more productive states such as calm, alert, and engagement and states of rest
and restoration (Flynn, 2013; Levine, 2010; Porges, 2011). Many of us, and our students as
well, get stuck in a stress-response cycle, with chronically activated stress hormones surg-
ing through us, causing tension, increased blood pressure, and diverting resources away
from digestion, restoration, and healing (Flynn, 2013). Over time, this way of being leads
to illness and may have cognitive and learning implications. To develop the skills that we
and our students need to manage stress and calm our bodies and minds, we need to engage
in practices that require active engagement of the central nervous system while in action,
intention, and challenge. We must practice using tools that empower us to intentionally
move from one state (e.g., activation, defensive reaction) to another (i.e., restoration and
repair; Cook-Cottone, 2015).
Yoga can help students and school personnel to understand what is going on in their
bodies and within their nervous systems. There are specific neurological systems that regulate