Success of 2023 Mental Health Awareness Week in My Local Schools

 Time to reflect on our success after Mental Health Awareness 2023.  I taught 13 session last week in our local infant and junior primary schools. The objective was to introduce Yoga and Mindfulness to little beginners and yogis alike and in particular to examine how the value of ‘Connection' can help our Mental Health.

I described Mental Health Week as a week during which we are focusing on taking care of our bodies (physical health) and our mind (mental health) and how yoga and mindfulness can help with both areas. Physically, exercise, good nutrition and good sleep are critical. Mentally, breathing in particular can help bring clarity of mind by calming us down. Good mental health is also the result of how we talk to ourselves about ourselves.

I asked children to tell me about the Special Relationships in our lives, and special connections. Most infant school children did not know what relationship means therefore we changed the question to Special People and special connections that make us feel good.

Connections are very important in particular when it comes to make us feel safe; in terms of the nervous it means that we are in the ventral part of our nervous system.  During the class plans, I had built practices and group exercises that aimed to regulate and co-regulate to ventral, for instance using the following tools

  • Feel connected to the Planet

  • Feel love and understanding to Family and friends and other special people

  • Our love for our Pets is critical for our Mental Health.

  • Our special interests and Hobbies can be too!

  • A very special way to feel safe and grounded, is to connect to Nature (Mountain, Tree, Flower). Our imagination can transport us there and we can use our 5 senses to feel connected to nature. We see that we belong together in the environment and share these similarities as a group: this is ‘connection'

  • Heartfulness Practice: connecting to your heart with breathing in and out of the heart and also feeling ‘Love'. We sang the song ‘This little heart of mine'

Games and group poses can be instrumental in developing experiences such as

  • Help someone in class: help each other  balance and form a chain to see how we are interconnected

  • Notice how each and every one of our tiny action has a ‘chain reaction' effect on other parts of the group!

  • Play a FUN game together involving making up a Yoga sequence with the game of ‘Unfortunately; Fortunately' involving Pets and Nature elements

  • Practice saying something nice to someone

Other Yoga and Mindfulness techniques that can be useful in the classroom

  • Change our ‘state' with movement (yoga poses can be done anywhere!)

  • Change our nervous system with breathing techniques

  • Smile at each other in groups, or Sing smiling at each other, or play  ‘pass the smile'

  • Change perspective to give ourselves space (distanciation)

  • Repeat affirmations

  • Remember what to be grateful for

Yogamoo delivers Workshops in school and provides training for school teachers who would like to integrate yoga and mindfulness practices in their classrooms

Online Classroom Yoga and Mindfulness Teacher Training Course