"Close your eyes. Center your awareness within. Focus on the quiet in your mind and let your hips sink to earth. Physically exhale out. The problems of the day - or your problems with your class - are leaving as you exhale out. Just concentrate on the moment."
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Wendy Tawaratsumida and fellow Redwood City Teachers Association members are finding they can use yoga breathing techniques in the classroom. |
The yoga students listen to the words of their teacher. Spread out on individual mats throughout the room, they begin a series of stretches and postures that will make them more flexible and relieve their stress.
"Hold your hands together in the prayer position by your armpit," intones their teacher. "We'll do some classical poses and then squeeze and relax the body."
Yoga teacher Jill Korengold and her students are all members of the Redwood City Teachers Association (RTA). Korengold was hired by RTA three years ago to teach classes one afternoon a week in the spacious teachers' lounge at Taft Elementary in Redwood City. Occasionally administrators join the class, which is fine with teachers since it tends to make administrators more relaxed and serene.
"Teachers today are under so much stress that they are tense, fatigued and mentally scattered," says Korengold, who explains that most RTA members teach in Title I schools where there is tremendous pressure to raise test scores. "People are bursting into tears right and left, constantly feeling like they are trying their hardest and it's never good enough. Yoga helps to relieve the stress and alleviate some of the physical problems that go along with that."
The goal of yoga, says Korengold, is to make practitioners calm and centered, especially when dealing with stressful situations. "It's a concept that you can bring with you into the classroom. If you are calmer and more focused, you will be a better teacher."
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Lee Baker exhales the problems of the day. |
"I've always been a type A person," says Amanda Gullingsrud, a first-grade bilingual teacher. "But when I come here, I can let go of everything. At home, before I go to sleep, I do my breathing exercises."
Wendy Tawaratsumida finds that it has relieved backaches caused by stress. "It really has made a difference," she says.
"It's changed my life," says Darcy Anderson, a second-grade teacher at Clifford School. "At one point I considered quitting the profession because of the stress. Now I am more reflective and patient with my students. I can see my mistakes and improve upon things."
She has taught her students to use relaxation-breathing techniques to relieve tension before taking the STAR test or similarly stressful events. "I also have them do exercises where they visualize themselves doing well," she says. "I think yoga techniques have improved their academics. Sometimes we forget that students have stress, too."
A recent event made Korengold realize the importance of yoga. "When the copy machine broke for the third time, my reaction was, 'I guess I'll have to figure out something else to do.' Before yoga, I would have been livid with smoke coming out of my ears. I might have kicked the copy machine. Instead, I took a step back and considered alternatives. Yoga has made a tremendous difference in my life. It's much better than Prozac."
