A Wisconsin elementary school is using yoga to help teach children life skills, like controlling anger and staying calm despite stress.
For one week, Glenbrook Elementary School students in Pulaski will learn yoga breathing techniques and poses in their gym classes.
The idea started with physical education teacher Dennis Bogacz, who had heard of professional athletes, like the Green Bay Packers, doing yoga to help them become better athletes both physically and mentally.
He approached second grade teachers Amanda Mcallister and Kristin Maciejewski, who are both certified yoga instructors and had been teaching yoga in their classrooms, asking if they would be willing to teach all the students in school.
Mcallister and Maciejewski both taught yoga in their classes to help students prepare for the day, they said. They're hoping these yoga classes will help all the children in the school recharge and reflect.
"Students have shown a lot of growth throughout the practices," Maciejewski explained. "They are able to be very calm, which being a teacher, we don't always see in the classroom."
A common theme in the practice is encouraging students to get back up if they fall, a message teachers hope will transfer into everyday life.
"I've actually been really impressed with the way that our kids have accepted the challenges of being focused, being calm, and trying some of these new moves that I don't think they ever thought they could accomplish before," Bogacz said.
Mcallister and Maciejewski also tell the students if they can remember poses, they can remember their math facts or spelling words, they explained.
"We hope that they can incorporate some of these skills into the classroom," Maciejewski said. "When they're upset, or being over-silly, that they can use their yoga breathing to help them calm down and help them focus."
The yoga classes are happening in Glenbrook gym classes for a week, but both Mcallister and Maciejewski said they will continue yoga practices in their classroom throughout the year.
