Mindfulness and Yoga in Schools A Guide for Teachers and Practitioners

CHAPTER 11: on THE mAT: foRmAl YogA PRACTICES foR SElf-REgulATIon And EngAgEmEnT • 255

CAlm: Relaxation

The goal of this section of the yoga session is to quiet the body, slow the breath, and bring
the students to an awareness of the effects of their practice. This section begins with floor
stretches (e.g., Supine Leg Twist, Happy Baby) and moves into relaxation techniques
(Herrington, 2012). In traditional studio classes, this section may also include inversions.
However, many inversions are considered to include too much physical risk to be inte-
grated into school-based yoga (e.g., headstands and handstands; Childress & Harper, 2015).
If you do want to include an inversion, consider the Modified Candle Pose (see Flynn, 2013,
pp. 118–119). In this pose, ask the student to place a block underneath his or her sacrum (i.e.,
the triangular bone at the base of the spine) and let the feet float up toward the ceiling. This
gives the sensation and benefits of an inversion without the risk. Follow with resting pose.
Yoga classes typically end with students in a seated position with one hand on their bellies
and one on their hearts as they tune into their own breathing. It is a good time to practice
mindfulness meditations (see Chapter 6 and the mediation section of this chapter).

Happy baby Pose

Happy Baby Pose stretches the hips, gluteus muscles, and the groin as it soothes the lower
back (Flynn, 2013). To modify, students can hold the back of their knees instead of the out-
sides of their feet.

PoSE 11.26 HAPPY bAbY PoSE

Pose Happy Baby Pose

Instruct Lying on your back, bend your

knees taking your thighs to the

sides of your body. The soles

of your feet face the ceiling.

Grab the outer edges of your

feet with your hands and

draw your thighs more deeply

toward the floor and the

outsides of your body. You can

gently rock from side to side

here or straighten your legs

and push through your heels.

Anchor

Point

Your back on the floor. The

focal point is the ceiling or

internal awareness with eyes

closed.

Breath

Work

Breath should be smooth and

natural.

Photograph by Madison Weber; model Kayla Tiedemann.
Source: Flynn, 2013; Walsh, 2008)