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MPS News Release - Classroom yoga action research showing promise

The following news release was issued by Minneapolis Public Schools regarding Yoga Calm, a classroom-based yoga practice.

Classroom yoga action research showing promise

MINNEAPOLIS -- For Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) school social worker Kathy Flaminio, yoga is more than an extracurricular activity. The certified yoga instructor and her co-worker, MPS occupational therapist and fellow yoga instructor Julie Hurtubise, are over halfway through a 12-month action research project designed to measure the benefits of integrating yoga techniques into all types of classrooms.

Flaminio and Hurtubise, both on sabbatical for the 2007-2008 school year, implemented their pilot program in September of 2007 at Jefferson Elementary School using the Yoga Calm curriculum, which was created by Portland, Ore., youth and yoga experts Jim and Lynea Gillen. Yoga Calm uses mindfulness, centering and breathing techniques to help students calm their bodies in the classroom.

"It's about movement, creating stillness, getting grounded and working on the nervous system to get kids ready to learn," said Flaminio.

In addition to working with classes of students and teachers at Jefferson on a weekly basis and offering staff development seminars to 500 Minneapolis and St. Paul teachers, Flaminio and Hurtubise have also provided two-day curriculum training sessions for 50 MPS teachers interested in integrating yoga into their classrooms. Of these, about 25 are participating in classroom-based action research designed to measure the effects of implementing the Yoga Calm curriculum.

The official findings of the action research project will not be available until after data from the study, which concludes at the end of the year, have been analyzed. Until then, Flaminio, Hurtubise and their Yoga Calm teacher corps are relying on their observations to measure student behavior change.

By integrating Yoga Calm into the practice of teaching in a variety of classrooms, including those geared toward regular education, special education and Developmental Cognitive Delay (DCD) education, teachers are noting improvements in attention span, comprehension and respectfulness. For students in a fourth-grade classroom, Yoga Calm has resulted in "a calmer class," "more focus," "feeling stronger," and "more energy for those students who slouch."

Susan Saly, a fourth-grade teacher at Jefferson, reported that her students are better able to sit, listen, stay on task and deal with stress when they spend up to 15 minutes a day doing breathing, stretching, balance and positive self-talk exercises. Saly said, "Yoga Calm has been a positive force in helping the students with their physical well-being and health. Yoga Calm has also been helpful in establishing a positive classroom climate. Our behavior referrals have decreased from 14 per month to three per month. Students want to be in the classroom."

Furthermore, teachers themselves are feeling the positive effects of classroom-based yoga practices.

"There are not a lot of curriculums in which teachers are impacted as much as students," Flaminio noted.

With Yoga Calm, however, teachers leading purposeful movement also participate in it and gain the same benefits, which include increased concentration and fitness skills and a greater sense of community. For Saly, incorporating yoga into the classroom is truly a group endeavor. Saly said, "The students and I now begin each morning with a simple yoga flow to get us ready for our classroom meeting and for the day."