Y.O.G.A. for Youth's Teacher Training Program

Our goal is to send 5 of our teachers through the Y.O.G.A. for Youth teacher training program this August 2019, so we need your support now!!!

Whether it’s before end of grade tests or when a student is in real crisis, as a school psychologist and Kundalini yoga instructor, the breath has long been my go-to for bringing students out of their minds and into their bodies. When we slow our breathing, we improve our mind and our body. Teaching children how to properly breath through movement and stillness can help to improve their mind-body awareness, self-regulation, physical fitness, and overall performance in school.

R.N. Harris is nestled in the McDougal-Terrace/Hearthside community, a historically low socioeconomic area in Durham. We service a majority minority population with a school demographic of 48% Hispanic and 45% African-American students, providing 100% free and reduced lunch. Too many of our students have experienced gun violence, death, and all that comes with living in poverty. They routinely experience trauma, and these consistent and all-too-frequent encounters have led to a variety of mental health disorders.  Our students need easily-accessed strategies to channel their frustrations so they can learn to de-escalate, self-regulate, manage stressors, and have the capacity to learn successfully. 

In an effort to provide a safe school environment that supports the whole child as outlined in the 2018- 2023 DPS strategic plan, priority two, RN Harris is rolling out two new action plans:    1. Horticulture therapy and 2. Y.O.G.A. for Youth.

Our goal is to send 5 of our teachers through the Y.O.G.A. for Youth teacher training program this August 2019, so we need your support now!!! After the training, our teachers will then be able to offer breathing exercises and yoga to their classrooms regularly. Our long term goal will be to continue sending our teachers through the training until we are able to offer yoga in all of our classrooms!



Y.O.G.A. for Youth is one of the oldest youth yoga programs in the country. Founded as a 501(c) 3 nonprofit in the mid 90’s in Los Angeles, it has spread all over the country, with North Carolinians founding a satellite in 2007. Y.O.G.A. for Youth has served over 5,000 youth in Durham, Orange, Wake, Chatham and Buncombe counties, with multi-year partnerships including Bull City Fit, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, the Durham Arts Council's CAPS Program, and Justice Theater Project's summer camps.  The Y.O.G.A. for Youth curriculum is a comprehensive youth development program based in ancient yogic techniques to foster confident, healthy, emotionally stable individuals with higher levels of scholastic aptitude and expanded behavioral management skills.

Where the Funds will go:

$125 for gently used yoga mats

$1500 -  5 teachers to attend a 40-hour teacher training held August 2 – 6th in Durham.

http://www.yogaforyouth.org/teacher-training/

(Full funding for the training is $3250 – a portion of which is coming from the Y.O.G.A. for Youth partial scholarship fund)

*Funds will go to our PTA, a 5013C, and are therefore tax deductible.


Thank you so much for your support!

With  immense gratitude,

RN Harris Elementary School PTA (and mental health team)



 


             Benefits of Yoga

·       Y.O.G.A. for Youth provides urban youth with tools of self-discovery that foster hope, discipline and respect for self, others and the community and relief for those youth who have experienced trauma and stressors that affect their ability to learn successfully in the classroom.

·       Based on the study in the article Effects of a Kundalini Yoga Program on Elementary and Middle School Students’ Stress, Affect, and Resilience, the yoga program significantly improved students stress and resilience. Moreover, results indicated that students, school teachers, and yoga teacher all found the program to be beneficial for students’ well-being.

·       By training students how to pay attention to the relationship between their mind and body, school-based yoga helps children notice the impact of stress on their well-being.

·       Psychological and neuroscientific research is starting to show that yoga and meditation may help youth manage their stress and mood and behave more positively.

·       An important difference between yoga and mindfulness meditation is that yoga includes physical postures. In essence, yoga is a practice of “mindfulness in motion” that uses the body to promote awareness of the present moment.

·       Early evidence is also beginning to show that yoga and meditation might help students be more self-aware, manage their emotions, enhance their relationships, and make better decisions.

·       Research also suggests that school-based yoga may improve academic achievement and classroom behavior. In addition, yoga-based physical fitness may result in numerous positive outcomes including improved mood, reduced risk of psychological disorders, and enhanced cognitive performance.

·       Recent research suggests that providing educators with training in yoga- and mindfulness-based skills may have several beneficial effects for educators, as well, including increases in calmness, mindfulness, well-being, and positive mood, improvements in classroom management, emotional reactivity, physical symptoms, blood pressure, and cortisol awakening response, and decreases in mind and body stress.

 

1.       Y.O.G.A. for Youth: http://www.yogaforyouth.org/northcarolina/

2.       Scientific Evidence for Yoga in Schools: http://www.yoga4classrooms.com/yoga-4-classrooms-blog/scientific-evidence-for-yoga-and-mindfulness-in-schools-how-and-why-does-it-work