Mindfulness and Yoga in Schools A Guide for Teachers and Practitioners

50 • PART I: A MODEL FOR SELF-REGULATION AND ENGAGEMENT

embrace a growth mindset and emphasize effort and presence over ability. Mindfulness and
yoga offer what Yeager and Dweck (2012) suggest:

As students move through our educational system, all of them will face adversity

at one time or another, whether it is academic or social in nature. A central task

for parents and educators is to prepare students to respond resiliently when these

inevitable challenges arise. (p. 312)

THE MINDFUL AND YOGIC LEARNER (MY-SEL)

The MY-SEL model holds that mindfulness and yoga approaches and practices can help
students cope, engage, and learn by helping them develop a sense of what we call mindful
grit (i.e., positive embodiment and hard work toward long-term goals with an eye to self-
care, compassion, and sustainability) and mindful growing (i.e., a growth mindset supported
by mindfulness and yoga tools). The 12 embodied practices reflect the body of work on
yoga in schools. Note, several of these principles were developed as part of work with Yogis
in Service, Inc., and with research assistants Melissa LaVigne, Lindsay Travers, and Erga
Lemish as part of curriculum development for a trauma-informed, growth-oriented yoga
intervention developed in partnership with the Africa Yoga Project. Figure 3.2 illustrates
how the 12 principles are points of action helping the student manage internal triggers and
challenges as well as external stressors and obstacles (Cook-Cottone, 2015).
As a member of the school faculty, staff, or administration wanting to integrate mind-
ful and yoga approaches, you may feel overwhelmed by the thought of having to select
and review all the books on kids’ yoga, as well as the research articles on yoga in schools.
This text is organized to distill these readings, traditional to the recent, into a practical set of
12  essential practices to facilitate embodied self-regulation, self-care, and intentional, reflec-
tive engagement for you and your students. The 12 embodied practices are briefly reviewed

EXTERNAL

Family, Community,

and Culture

INTERNAL

Thoughts, Feelings,

and Body

• Worth
  Breath
  Awareness
  Presence
  Feeling


• Inquiry
  Choice
  Self-Determination
  Sustainability


• Compassion
  Kindness
  Possibility

12 PRACTICES OF EMBODIED GROWTH AND LEARNING

(MINDFUL EMBODIMENT, EMBODIED SELF-REGULATION, MINDFUL GROWTH)

FIGURE 3.2 The MY-SEL as 12 embodied practices.

Note, several of these principles were developed as part of work with Yogis in Service,

Inc., and with Melissa LaVigne Lindsay Travers and Erga Lemish, as part of curriculum

development for a trauma-informed, growth-oriented yoga intervention developed in

partnership with the Africa Yoga Project.