Yoga In Schools’ mission is to empower students and teachers with yoga-inspired exercises to promote lifetime wellness. Our vision is to make yoga available in all schools so that students and teachers develop body-mind awareness and the ability to nurture their own well-being.
We understand that yoga is just one of many mindfulness practices, all of which bring benefits. Many school programs incorporate mindfulness in the form of seated meditation, focused attention through guided visualizations, or mind-body stillness. We do not dispute that teachers and students benefit from moments of quiet rest; we incorporate rest into all of our training programs and curriculum products. However, many of our teacher-trainees and students tell us that they have trouble being still (physically and mentally) during a mindfulness practice that does not include movement. The addition of movement to any mindfulness practice, we believe, makes that practice accessible to more people. Our vision is to make yoga widely available in schools so that students and teachers develop body-mind awareness and the ability to nurture their own well-being. We do this by seeking grant-funded projects that introduce and support a professional-development training program for HPE teachers and a set of classroom-ready tools for teachers, with an eye toward sustainability of the program after project completion.