25CHAPTER 2
DYSREGULATION TO DISORDER:
DEVELOPMENT, RISKS, AND OUTCOMES
RELATED TO A LACK OF SELF-REGULATORY
SKILLS—A THREE-TIER APPROACH
The Africa Yoga Project teachers said
these were the three most important ways
yoga had changed their lives:
“I value my life more.
I trust myself more.
My life has more meaning and/or purpose.”—Klein, Cook-Cottone, and Giambrone (2015, p. 121)In the mindful and yogic framework, there is an acceptance of vulnerabilities, challenges,
and life events. These things are expected. Ultimately, the practice is in the effective manifestation
of your life’s work within the context of what life has presented to you. It is an empowering way
to view the world and one’s life. In this way, your work is not about fixing anything because
nothing is considered broken. As you read, you may wonder how this framework fits within a
school system that spends a lot of time assessing, tracking, diagnosing, and labeling children.
The system of sorting children out by their needs and abilities is complex and multitiered. It is
based on a long history of schools working to effectively manage the specific learning needs
of each and every student. Accordingly, there is a body of literature and research supporting
current school-based practices. Despite the many years of progress, there is always more to do
as educators continue to face new and complex challenges.
Teaching for the 21st-century learner means looking beyond the concept of the whole
child. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) and the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) agree (ASCD, 2014): When a student
does not have the skills or support to negotiate stressors and the trials of daily life, these
challenges can interfere with learning as well as academic progress, and may cause additional
struggles that preclude the completion of school (e.g., learning disabilities, attention deficits,
substance use, student alienation, mental health issues, and violence; Greenberg et al., 2003).