Kripalu Yoga in the Schools
Kripalu Yoga in the Schools (KYIS) empowers adolescents to shape their own existence with skillful-living tools such as self-regulation, self-inquiry, and self-care. KYIS targets Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) competencies, including stress management, emotion and behavior regulation, self-appreciation and confidence, and strong relationship skills. Each KYIS session creates a safe environment during the regular school day for teens to cultivate mindfulness, which develops into compassionate awareness of self and others. The KYIS program builds a sense of community and connectedness for students within their school.
KYIS incorporates practices such as breathing exercises, warm-ups, experiential activities, yoga postures, deep relaxation, and meditation techniques to strengthen students’ awareness of the connection between their minds and their physical bodies.
Students who have completed the KYIS program have reported that yoga classes during the school day provides a much-needed break, allowing them to recharge, digest, and integrate their course work. Some additional benefits of the KYIS program gathered from student evaluations of the program include the following:
- Emotional Benefits
- Less reactive
- More optimistic
- Mental Benefits
- Increased focus and concentration
- Improved quality and duration of sleep
- Reduced stress
- Social Benefits
- Dissolved social barriers
- Enhanced peer-to-peer relationships
- De-emphasized belief in stereotypes
- Scholastic Benefits
- Improved academic performance
- Improved school attendance and enthusiasm for school participation
- Physical Benefits
- Improved athletic performance
- Increased bodily awareness
- Increased flexibility, alignment, and core strength
- Increased confidence in physical abilities
I’ve learned to take a deep breath in a stressful moment and not let it affect me as much.
It made me want to be nicer
to realize that I didn’t need stress in my life
and I became friends with people I wasn’t friends with before
I made up with people and I don’t have any drama
which would stress me out before.
When I get angry, I don’t lash out on my brother, I do breathing instead
I feel better.
In my opinion, the structure of the class has progressed absolutely beautifully. From a teaching standpoint, when you actually watch the progression, you see everything, from the foundations of breathing to the influence that the postures have on the physical body. To me, as a teacher, that is one of the most important things these guys can see. They can take it out of the class and apply it to their everyday life: on the field, at a performance, or taking a test
. the ultimate goal is self-sustainability.