Recently, Good Morning America ran a segment on how – and why – more doctors are recommending yoga for young patients. One situation in which yoga is increasingly recommended is for children diagnosed with ADHD, as it is well recognized that yoga-based activities of all kinds can be extremely effective in helping kids learn how to focus and self-regulate.

We see this efficacy regularly in our work with children – Lynea’s at the school where she is a counselor, and our work together in conducting children’s classes at a clinic. And because so many other teachers, counselors, occupational therapists and other adults who work with children are regularly faced with the special challenges of working with kids diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, we found it beneficial to create special Yoga Calm trainings focused on ways of meeting those challenges. (Parents, of course, find these workshops invaluable, as well!)

We teach the ADHD workshops with Jeffrey Sosne, PhD, a clinical Psychologist and Director of The Children’s Program. Widely recognized as one of Portland, Oregon’s leading authorities on ADHD, Jeff is the author of two practical guides for parents and school personnel: The ADHD Notebook and The Anger Notebook. Together, we cover Dr. Sosne’s strategies and games for working with ADHD and show how Yoga Calm activities – both the physical yoga and the social/emotional games – can be used to help nurture self-control and focus in kids for whom such things have been difficult.

Here are five of the tips we teach for doing so:

Practice Making Eye Contact

Eye contact helps children show that they are interested and paying attention. A lack of eye contact leads to “divided attention,” which makes it harder to focus and follow directions.

To practice “shifting” attention, introduce activities in which the children must switch between two (or more) adults giving signals or eye contact for directions (e.g., Steal the Bacon). Also, parents can get closer to their children when they are talking or giving directions, and stop speaking if their kids aren’t maintaining eye contact. If necessary, parents can schedule time to practice eye contact by having their child watch them as they move about the room while reading a story to their youngster. As the child improves, he or she can practice while learning to look away from distractions strategically placed in the room.

Model and Instill a Can-Do Attitude

In workshops, we use different games (e.g., Jenga) and positive self talk (e.g., “I am in control,” “I can do it,” “I can be responsible.”) to illustrate how a positive attitude improves performance and how helpful it is to decide what you can do instead of what can’t be done.

At home, parents can encourage their children to decide what they can do to help before dinner or what they can clean up before going to a movie. We will not respect tasks that are accomplished with a negative attitude, and we value accomplishment of reasonable goals that have been set by the child more than tasks that we have defined and the children have reluctantly completed. Positive self-talk should also be encouraged, leading children to focus on their strengths and accomplishments, nurturing a sense of self-mastery.

Practice Listening and Giving Feedback

There are lots of games you can play with children that require them to listen and to give feedback in a calm, clear manner. For instance, in workshops, we may play Hot and Cold, in which players give each other feedback about finding a hidden object. To find the object, of course, the child who is searching for it must listen, evaluate and respond to the feedback given, while those giving the feedback must do so clearly.

You can build opportunities for reflection into any game or activity, and, of course, give compliments after activities done well. In group situations, Yoga Calm’s Compliment Game can be an especially fun and effective way of learning how to give and receive praise. And it provides another opportunity to reinforce the importance of eye contact!

Practice Stillness

There are many activities in life that require staying in control and not going too fast. To teach this, you can have children participate in several activities that create a bit of excitement and then challenge the kids to stay calm and go slowly to be successful.

The Yoga Calm Mat Tag activity can provide just such a challenge. When any of the children get too excited or out of control, simply ask them to sit down. Once they have shown they can calm down, they may re-join the activity. During any activity, if a high level of chaos or excitement is reached, just stop until everyone is calm, or remind the children to say something to themselves like, “Go slow, easy, easy,” to help them think about staying calm.

Encourage Setting Goals and Making Plans

A goal is something we want to work toward, while a plan is the strategy used to get to the goal. For this concept, we will do some activities several times to work on adding parts to a plan to lead to a more accomplished goal. For example, we may ask students to do a number of increasingly difficult tasks involving tapping a balloon in the air: using just one finger, using only the feet, behind the back and so on. Because the tasks become more difficult, we stop after a child cannot complete the challenge and come up with plans that could help make reaching that goal easier. The children realize that sometimes they needed several points in their plan to be able to reach their goal.

Parents can work with their children at home on the idea of setting a goal and coming up with a plan to reach it. We suggest making a chart with a diagram of a sun with many rays coming off it. Inside the sun, write the goal; in the rays, parts of the plan that will be followed in reaching that goal.

To learn more about helping children with ADHD:

• Buy and watch Dr. Sosne’s ADHD DVD
• Attend a Yoga Calm ADHD workshop (next scheduled for Portland, OR; Feb. 6-7, 2010)
• Find an ADHD class at The Children’s Program

Originally published October 31, 2008

Halloween can be a wonderful time for children to explore their imaginations. Or, as many teachers and parents can attest, it can be a nightmare of sugar-fueled over-excitement and big emotions. There’s nothing wrong with “big energy”and excited children, of course. They just need to learn when it’s appropriate, where to “channel it” and how to turn it on and off. So in our Yoga Calm classes at The Children’s Program and at school, we prepare students for the big day with several activities that help them practice shifting gears and calming themselves.

While waiting for all of our kids to show up for today’s Yoga Calm class at The Children’s Program, we played Mat Tag, where children practice shifting from active to calm states. Its a great way to run off a little energy before class while learning important skills. Then we talked about how around Halloween our bodies get very excited, and how we need to learn to move from excited to calm to prevent ourselves from getting in trouble.

We started out with activities that were regulating and calming, such as Hoberman breathing, Pulse Count and Volcano Breath. Then we practiced Mat 20 to a drum beat, with students holding each pose for four beats. We have found this to be very regulating, and if the child does a good job of leading, then they have the honor of beating the drum for the next student leader. Compliments for the student leaders give children an opportunity to reflect on what they did well.

We then moved to Activate/Relax Walk, where students shift from a relaxed walk to a yoga pose. This was a good preparation activity for practicing how to get under control for the upcoming Archetype Game. We shifted from activated to relaxed, and the kids had to do it several times without disruption before moving on to the game.

Then we gave them each a glow stick, gave firm direction about how to use the sticks and the consequences of using them incorrectly. We turned off the lights and let our excited, wild sides out, all while staying under control. The kids were great, and they loved the game.

Jim then closed with a relaxation that included a pouch that held different rocks that could change us into different characters. We used these parts of ourselves to solve problems in the story.

We wanted to share these ideas with you as a way to help you through the wild Halloween energy. We are sending heart thoughts to you all!

– Lynea and Jim Gillen

More information about these activities can be found in the award-winning book Yoga Calm for Children: Educating Heart, Mind and Body.

Kathy Flaminio is one of our trainers and a social worker at a Minneapolis K-8 elementary school. Along with Julie Hurtubise, she has helped bring Yoga Calm to the Minneapolis Public Schools district-wide. (To learn more about their pilot program, click here. To see news coverage about it, click here.)

Recently, Kathy told us about how they’ve been taking time at her school each morning to bring the school community together through a simple Yoga Calm breathing activity that she first taught in classrooms and to school staff. Daily, over the intercom, she – or sometimes a student – says something like this:

Good Morning, Jefferson Staff and Students. We want to welcome everyone back to school this morning.

Every day at 9:40, we will bring our entire school community together by joining our breath with the breathing ball [Hoberman sphere, which is now “standard equipment” in many classrooms].

 

 

If you are in the hallway or in a meeting, please take a moment to pause so we can all breathe together. If you are in a classroom, please get your sphere out.

Begin to come into stillness, letting go of the morning and all that has taken place before coming to Jefferson. If you in a chair or on the floor, sit up nice and tall. If you are standing, press your feet into the earth and lengthen through the spine.

Let’s begin with shoulder circles…taking our shoulders up to the ears …back and down. Do this two more times. Breathe in and lift the shoulders up to the ears…and breathe out as you bring your shoulders down. One more time. Now begin to watch the breathing ball, or close your eyes and begin. Breathing in…let the belly puff up, and breathing out…let the belly move back toward the spine. Again, breathing in…and out. Six more times. Inhaling and exhaling…. Five more….

Take a moment to notice how your body and mind feel after taking eight deep breaths. Know that at anytime today when you feel frustrated, angry or nervous, you can come back to your breath and find center.

Have a great day! We are so glad you are here.

In telling us about the success they’ve had with this activity, Kathy commented on how those unfamiliar with Yoga Calm initially may see such activity as a distraction, taking away valuable classroom time. “But of course,” she said, “the breathing helps students and faculty alike quickly get calm and focused, and so better prepared to do good work. It prevents even greater distraction. And this is exactly why it’s time well spent.”

Laura Barbour is a counselor at a suburban Oregon elementary school who uses Yoga Calm in her work with children and is now one of our newest Certified Instructors.

Recently, she shared an experience with us which we think shows both a great adaptation of Yoga Calm practice and how it can help develop intention and community. When we asked Laura if we could share her story here on the blog, she said yes without hesitation.

For the first assembly of the new school year, the staff and administration wanted to set a positive tone for the coming year. They wanted to welcome the new students and create a sense of community. Most of all, they wanted to nurture a sense of “collective responsibility” about the school, Laura told us. “We wanted to focus on what we value as a school and give others – especially the students – a say in it.”

At the last assembly of the previous year, Laura’s yoga groups had demonstrated Hoberman sphere breathing and the Mat 20 sequence, and ended by leading the whole school in Volcano Breath. It was so well-received (“Cool!” said a lot of the kids) that for the new assembly, Laura offered to start it off by leading the group of 600 in Hoberman breathing to help the students calm and focus. Then, after students had shared their thoughts about their ideal school – the main business of the assembly – she would lead them all in Volcano Breath.

Now, when Volcano Breath is done in a Yoga Calm session, we usually ask students to send out their “heart thoughts” with each exhalation. Laura decided to ask them to do something a little bit different: create intention.

“Imagine how you see the school,” Laura prompted the group upon the first breath.

On the second breath, she suggested, “Now imagine the school as you would like it to be.”

And on the third, “Imagine what you can do to make the school that way.”

“When the students and staff envisioned their ideal school, it was an act of making the school their own and creating ideas for making our collective vision a shared reality,” explained Laura. “And being with 600 people, all of us breathing together as one, was very powerful.”

And to that, we say, “Well done, Laura!”

Download the Volcano Breath activity sheet at Scribd.

We’ve been talking a bit about stress lately and the need for quality sleep and other habits to counter it and make ourselves more stress-resilient. Yet another means of letting go of the tension is the kind of deep relaxation that ends every yoga practice. As B.K.S. Iyengar, a well-respected yoga teacher who has played a large part in bringing yoga to the West, states, “The stresses of modern civilization are a strain on the nerves for which [deep relaxation] is the best antidote.”

Indeed, the relaxation poses that end each session of practice are often considered the most important part of yoga in that they allow the mind, body, and emotions to heal, grow, and integrate.

Here’s a sample 12 minute relaxation from Jim’s Yoga Renewal CD. As he mentions, it is to be done in “Savasana,” which is the Sanskrit name for the traditional relaxation that is done at the end of a yoga class. Lie on your back with your arms at your sides but slightly away from your body and with palms up, and let your feet fall they will to either side. Breathe deeply and slowly from your belly as you go through this guided relaxation, which can be done by itself or at the end of a full yoga session.

Yoga Renewal: Relaxation mp3

Yoga Renewal, designed for the beginning yoga student, is 50-minute guided practice that will take you through 15 gentle poses that will stretch and revitalize your entire body – taking the knots out of those tight shoulders, strengthening your back and abdomen, loosening up legs and hips, and relaxing your mind. It – and its musical soundtrack from the CD Anjali – are available for purchase at the Yoga Calm Store.

sean dreilinger/Flickr

In our book Yoga Calm for Children: Educating Heart, Mind, and Body we write:

When we rest, the body heals and the mind and body integrate experiences. Rest allows us to reflect on the day and notice the effects of our activities on our emotions, mind, and body. In rest, free of distractions and stimulation, we are able to dream, to imagine, to work on solutions to our daily lives.

Sleep deprivation, on the other hand, can negatively affect mental performance, muscle control, and mood. Furthermore, strong, mounting evidence indicates that lost or damaged sleep is associated with serious long-term health problems including heart disease, diabetes, viral infection, cancer, depression, and substance abuse.

Adequate sleep and rest are important not only for growing bodies but also for mental development and emotional health. Scientists believe that sleep helps to weave disparate, emotionally fragmented, or weakly coupled memories together into coherent structures that the brain can then use more effectively during wakefulness. The more complex the physical or mental experience, the more important sleep is for efficiently integrating and remembering the experience.

Sleep deprivation is a significant yet often hidden health issue. In Healing Night,
Rubin R. Naiman notes that, in recent years, the amount of sleep adolescents get has been reduced by two or more hours a night. (According to the National Sleep Foundation, school age children need 10 to 11 hours nightly for good health, with teens needing 9 1/4 hours.) This affects children’s health on many levels. For example, a lack of sleep often results in increased consumption of high calorie foods and caffeinated products, which can trigger behavior problems and mental health conditions like ADHD.

Good sleep is important for adults, too – and for the same physiological and psychological reasons. But when it comes to the hows, many of us are stumped.

So here are 10 tips for getting better sleep:

1. Relax before retiring. Take some time for a pre-sleep ritual to break the connection between stress and bedtime. Listen to some calming music. Meditate. Read a bit. Do some light stretching. Try some lavender aromatherapy or a hot bath. But remember, TV watching and bright lights can interfere with our bodies’ natural release of melatonin – the hormone that helps us to fall asleep.
2. Make the routine routine. Go to bed around the same time every night. Your body will learn that time is bedtime and relax accordingly, especially if a regular bedtime is in conjunction with some relaxation ritual as described above.
3. Remember the purpose of the bed. Avoid TV, reading, eating and emotional discussions while in bed. The mind and body associate bedtime activities with being in bed. So don’t let a bad habit keep you awake.
4. Eat right and sleep tight. Avoid eating a large meal just bed bedtime or going to bed hungry. It’s about balance. Also, when possible, opt for foods that promote sleep, such as milk, tuna, pumpkin, artichokes, avocados, almonds, eggs, peaches, walnut, apricots, oats, asparagus, potatoes and bananas.
5. Watch the caffeine. Coffee, most sodas and many teas contain caffeine and may keep you up. If you’ve already had too much, consider eating some carbohydrates like bread or crackers to counter the effects. Adults should also watch alcohol intake, for although it may help you fall asleep, it can also cause sleep-disturbing nightmares, sweats and headaches as your body clears the alcohol from your system.
6. No drinks after 8 p.m. To enjoy sleep uninterrupted by bathroom breaks, shut down your fluid intake early.
7. Exercise at the right time. Regular exercise relieves stress and encourages good sleep. However, if a little exercise really gets your blood pumping, you’d be wise to avoid working out in the evening or just before bedtime.
8. Cut down on noise, light and extreme temperatures. Try earplugs, a night light, an eye mask or drape clip. The best temperature for sleep is 68° to 72°F.
9. Understand jet lag. A few days before you cross time zones, try waking up later or earlier as needed, to help your body adjust to the time difference. It takes a few days for your body to fully adjust.
10. Nap smart. A 20 minute power nap early in the day can really refresh you. But sleep too much, and you may spend the night staring at the ceiling.

Children are so perceptive, so often aware of things that we “grownups” may not be tuned into. They know when something is wrong. They may not be able to say what it is or why it is, but they pick up on our attitudes, feelings and values. It’s one of the ways they learn from us.

Unfortunately, this is the time of year when what many of us are is stressed out.

Those of us who are teachers, school counselors, administrators or staff are learning new names and faces, and getting to know dozens of new students and parents. We’re cranking out class plans, jockeying for scarce resources, working to meet federal and state education mandates. Parents and families are adjusting to new schedules and competing demands of children’s school and afterschool activities.

While some of that stress is negative, some aspects, of course, are positive. This is an exciting time of year, ripe with new possibilities. But when it comes all at once with no let-up, it can place a heavy burden on our shoulders. And the children around us are likely aware of this – which, in turn, can add to their stress.

Obviously, it becomes even more important that we do what we can to deal with our own.

As we mentioned last time, yoga itself can be a big help.

One of the benefits of sustained, regular yoga practice, however, is that it trains both the mind and body to stay calm. It instills and reinforces the mindfulness that can become a powerful force against the pressures of daily life. It rejuvenates and restores, making us better able to face the tasks and challenges each day brings. It provides an antidote against stress.

Like any kind of exercise, yoga can be an outlet: a means of release of tension, nervous energy and negative thoughts. Even the simplest yogic acts of breath regulation can bring a sense of calm and stability in an otherwise chaotic world.

evanbdudley/Flickr

Three other skills in particular can help you manage stress effectively – skills that stem from the practice of yoga or are part of the Yoga Calm curriculum:

Sense of Control

Negative stress often comes with the feeling of life being out of control, of helplessness. But we must stop and ask: Is this really the case? Often, the problem is not with life but our perceptions of it. If we can develop a sense of control, we feel calmer and stronger, more able to handle challenges and hurdle obstacles. As the practice of yoga depends on the regulation of breath and body, it can nurture feelings of self-control – feelings summed up by one of our favorite sayings in Yoga Calm: I am strong. I am in control. I can do it. I can be responsible.

Self-control also involves being able to step back and evaluate a situation on its own terms: to see what is happening, how it is affecting you and what you can do to change the situation or deal with the problem. This is, of course, also part of the art of mindfulness that comes through the practice of yoga.

Social Connections

It’s easy to feel helpless when we feel alone. For this reason, social affiliation is another crucial component to dealing with stress. We need to know that we are not alone, that we are part of many communities – families, friends, work, social or civic groups and so on – and that we are important parts of those communities. In fact, it’s not only crucial to our mental wellbeing but to our physical health, as recent research has shown that

“the quality of a person’s social life could have an even greater impact than diet and exercise on their health and well-being. There is growing evidence that being a member of a social group can significantly reduce the risk of conditions like stroke, dementia and even the common cold.

Consequently, it’s important for us to make time for the relationships in our lives, or to establish social connections where we find them lacking.

Positive Attitude

Above all, it’s important to keep a positive outlook, which can organically arise from the practice of yoga, developing a sense of self-control and nurturing our social connections. These activities can create a positive feedback loop, boosting our spirits and our sense of possibility. And when we’ve got a good attitude, we’re much more resilient in the face of stress and other challenges. We can endure a lot if we’re happy. And our happiness can bolster that of those around us, creating another positive feedback loop and reinforcing our other strengths.

These are all qualities that can be nurtured through the practice of Yoga Calm, and shared with children so they, too, can become more stress-hardy. For more ideas on how to give this gift to children, please see our article “Stress-Proofing Kids through Yoga” (PDF).

Summertime is important to teachers with nearly three months off to recover from the school year and renew yourself. Some pursue personal and professional enrichment activities. Others take up summer teaching, whether by choice or necessity. Many will travel or just enjoy the blessing of having more relaxed, quality time with family and friends close to home. Most, though, find that it’s easier to maintain life balance through these months: keeping priorities in perspective, making time for oneself and meaningful activities, eating well and having plenty of time for exercise, fitness and, of course, play.

Yet as summer rolls to an end, many of us begin to tense up. We’re already feeling the pressure of the school year as we make our class plans, set up our classrooms, work out how we’ll get all of the teaching supplies we’ll need. And once the term begins, so returns the cycle where the greatest part of our days is given over to teaching, grading and planning – not to mention things like faculty meetings and parent conferences.

Then it becomes all too easy to lose the balance we achieved and thrived with throughout the summer.

We all know it’s important to keep balance. We know that in order to nurture and give to others, we must first nurture and give to ourselves. We know, for instance, the importance of a healthy, nutrient-rich diet to our health and wellbeing, including our mental health and ability to control stress. But when the pressure is on and we face rivaling demands, many of us fall to eating on the run, grabbing whatever we can – a sugary snack from the staff room, say, or a candy bar from a vending machine.

One of the benefits of sustained, regular yoga practice, however, is that it trains both the mind and body to stay calm. It instills and reinforces the mindfulness that can become a powerful force against the pressures of daily life. It rejuvenates and restores, making us better able to face the tasks and challenges each day brings. It provides an antidote against stress.

The reality of this is brought home to us repeatedly and regularly by the teachers, counselors and other education professionals who participate in Yoga Calm trainings. Not only do they tell us about how the principles and activities have a positive impact on their students; they tell us that they, themselves, benefit, as well.

We think the new school year is the perfect time to reinvest in your commitment to yoga – or invest for the first time – as a way to help you manage and deal with the inescapable pressures of the school year, find more joy in the innumerable pleasures of teaching and equip yourself with additional tools and knowledge for helping your students achieve. For yoga, of course, has proven benefits on academic achievement, just as the Yoga Calm curriculum provides for their social and emotional growth, as well.

We have a good number of trainings scheduled through this fall, including workshops in Minneapolis, Seattle and, for the first time ever, in Denver, and are in the process of working out our winter schedule right now. You can see our whole slate of offerings and register at the main Yoga Calm website.

Italy and food: two words that are synonymous for anyone who has been here. The Italians love their food – not just the act of eating but food as a metaphor for life. We see it everywhere here in Casperia, where we are conducting our first international Yoga Calm workshop. We see it in the connection with growing their food, the markets, the time spent preparing meals, and hours (yes, hours!) spent eating casually with friends and family.

The first time I recognized this was thirty years ago in Venice, visiting a friend who had married an Italian goldsmith. Our long, leisurely meal, eating course after course of delicious food with ten friends in a beautiful setting – and in the middle of the day, no less! – struck me profoundly as a testament to community and the importance of appreciating life. It was timeless and seemingly indulgent departure from my usual “productive” American life.

Now here I am again in Italy. It’s kind of a time warp, really, sitting here now in a 500 year old village high in the Sabine mountains, once again enjoying leisurely and carefully prepared meals. Even two hours away, there amidst rush and madness of Rome, people still relax and thoroughly enjoy their food. It feels as though nothing has changed.

And yet, as I just discovered from our Italian host, things are changing, particularly for children. They, too are under the same pressures as American kids, with modern media, video games, fast food and the like. The Italians are trying to hang on to humane and mindful ways of living, just as we are.

This is one of the reasons why we created activities such as “Mindful Snack” in our book, Yoga Calm for Children. This one centers on conscious eating: enjoying and appreciating our food, the people who grow and bring it to us, and the art of polite conversation. It is about community, the connections among us, our need for each other.

And in this way, it’s also about hope for the next generation, as Lynea recently saw after using the activity with a group of 7th graders. At the end, they spoke at length about how much they “liked having a quiet party with their friends.” For all the distractions rivaling for kids’ attention today, they still appreciate the experience of being appreciative, of being mindful, of feeling connected.

- Jim Gillen

It never ceases to amaze us, the many talented and passionate educators we meet each year during our Summer Intensive. They come from all over – Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Michigan, Minnesota, Washington and Oregon – yet all share a similar commitment to children’s growth and an interest in rekindling their love of teaching.

This year, we met at  Still Meadow a beautiful retreat on the Clackamas river in rural Oregon.

Still Meadow Retreat, we believe, is the perfect environment for learning, with inspiring architecture, beautiful landscapes and incredible food.

Ah, yes the food.

For many of us educators, who often have only a few minutes to eat during the school year, a 90 minute gourmet lunch is a delicious indulgence. It’s a great time to appreciate the blessings of summer’s bounty and to actually have a moment or two to digest our food. And as we all know, a leisurely meal is ultimately more satiating and satisfying than one that is mindlessly gobbled and gulped.

We believe the same holds true for teaching. Unlike traditional approaches to teaching, in which the aim seems to be to cram as much information as possible into the minds of learners, our method is rooted in the belief that we all need time to integrate new knowledge. So, for instance, we sequence cognitive learning between physical activity and a relaxation processes. The physical yoga oxygenates and activates the brain, preparing it to learn, just as tilling soil prepares a garden to grow the seeds that will be planted in it. After cognitive learning, we use relaxation stories rich in imagery and metaphor to reinforce key concepts and themes, while also providing the space and time to integrate what we have learned. It’s an effective approach that meets our needs on many levels, witnessed by workshop participants who report over and over again that they can’t believe how much they learned, yet feel refreshed and replenished.

Our teaching method also provides a model for participants to use back in their own classrooms. They learn to create calm and supportive environments for all learners as well as experience new, fun and engaging tools that maximizes students’ opportunities for academic, emotional and social growth – nurturing their students and themselves in the process.