Mindfulness and Yoga in Schools A Guide for Teachers and Practitioners

(Ben Green) #1

278 • PART iii: YogA foR EduCATing foR SElf-REgulATion And EngAgEmEnT


appears in color on the inside back cover of this book). The authors concluded that emotions are
represented in the somatosensory system as categorical somatotopic maps and perception of
emotion-triggered bodily changes may play a key role in generating consciously felt emotions.
Allowing the sensations and experience of feelings, without action, is critical for
self-regulation. Feelings often come with a felt sense of an imperative to act. Students, especially
young students, are not aware of this process. They simply feel and do. The sensation, that one
must act on, or escape from, a feeling is a disrupter of self-regulation. To enhance self-regulation,
students can work with getting comfortable with their feelings (see Practice Script 12.2).


TABlE 12.1 mindful and Yogic Processing of feelings


Stage emotional Regulation
(Koole et al., 2011)

mindfulneSS and Yoga PRoceSS
(aSSociated PRinciPle, See chaPteR 3)
Stage One Situational triggers encountered
(e.g., situational selection,
situational modification)

Situational shifts over time:


  • Yoga practice (poses, breathing exercises,
    relaxation, and meditation) shift
    neurological reactivity to triggers over time.
    In present time:

  • External challenges and triggers; thoughts
    and memories.
    Stage Two Attention/inattention to
    emotionally relevant features
    (e.g., attentional deployment)

  • Mindful awareness (Awareness, 3)

  • Selection of: attachment, avoidance, or
    allowing (Choice, 7).

  • Physical Presence (Presence, 4).

  • Honoring breath and physical experience
    (Breath, 2; Presence, 4).
    Stage Three Cognitive appraisal of the
    situation (e.g., cognitive
    change)

  • Remembering that you are worth the effort
    no matter the challenge (Worth, 1).

  • Understanding of how and why brains and
    bodies feel the way they do (Inquiry, 6).

  • Awareness of impermanence, not-self,
    nonjudgment, and allowing (Awareness, 3;
    Choice, 7).

  • Maintaining equanimity (Sustainability, 9).
    Stage Four Emotions expressed in
    behaviors (e.g., response
    modulation)

  • Expression of authentic self (through
    intentional choice of movement or voice;
    self-determination, 8).

  • Doing the work (Self-determination, 8).

  • Cultivating compassion and kindness
    (Compassion, 10; Kindness, 11).

  • Working toward new possibilities
    (Possibility, 12).


Source: Adapted from Cook-Cottone (2015); informed by Jackson (2013); Koole et al. (2011).


The mindful and yogic approach to emotional regulation is explicated in Table 12.1.
The table aligns this approach to Koole, Van Dillen, and Sheppes’s (2011) model of emo-
tional regulation. In yogic approaches, regular practice of yoga poses, breathing exercises,
relaxation, and meditation cultivate neurological integration and reduced reactivity over
time (Cook-Cottone, 2015). Further, these practices are down-regulating, decreasing the

Free download pdf