Yoga, Mindfulness, and Meditation Instruction
I share yoga as it has been transformational to my own life. As part of my yoga tradition, I typically rise early and began my day with 60-90 minutes of breathing, stretching, practising yoga sets, and meditation. In 2009, I spent 5 months in India as an interim principal at an international boarding school that focused on yoga and teach yoga in schools. I bring my first-hand experiences from India and leading a school with yoga and meditation at the heart of its practices, as well as knowledge and insights from ancient yogic traditions, to all of my work, ensuring that we use secular practices without religious connotations in all we bring to schools.
I have taught yoga, mindfulness in schools, and meditation since 2001, teaching adults in my local community, and teaching meditation in schools and inserting “Heart Beaming” and other yoga, breath, or mindfulness exercises into online and in-person classes. During COVID, I began teaching online courses and will continue to teach online at 7 am on Wednesday mornings.
Working with Tim Mills and Jeff Donald as well as the staff at the 3HO Foundation, I am coordinating plans for the mindfulness and meditation in schools Summit on November 5, 2022. Stay tuned for more information on this effort!
Here is an excerpt from our book Cultivating Happiness, Resilience, and Well-Being Through Meditation, Mindfulness, and Movement: A Guide for Education (Mason, Donald, Kaur, Rivers Murphy, and Brown).
“In 2020, the need for mindful breath work, yoga movements, and meditation was so great. As so much of the world faced the gloom and doom of COVID-19, as so many educators truly wondered if their district’s plan was so wise, and as so many families struggled in their makeshift home schools, we realized the time for Cultivating Happiness, Resilience, and Well-Being was right... Educators play a crucial role in promoting mental health and well-being. At the very heart of a child’s resilience is often an educator who plays a consistent, protective supportive role in their life.” (Mason et al., 2022, p. 8).
Each chapter of Cultivating Happiness has tips for implementing yoga and meditation in schools s… Each chapter also has a Key Principle. Here are three of them:
Chapter 2: Metacognition, focus, learning, and healing will be accelerated when mindful breath work, meditation, and yoga are infused throughout the day.
Chapter 3: Teacher stress can be alleviated through mindfulness, yoga, and meditation.
Chapter 4: Yoga and meditation can bring a sense of peace and calmness to your classroom. A few strategic considerations will enhance the yoga-mindfulness-meditation experience for you and your students.
Dr Mason teaches yoga under the name “Ravi Kaur” which translates as “power of the sun.”
“Ravi’s Kundalini yoga classes have been an important part of my life since I started taking them several years ago. I’d taken yoga classes before and enjoyed them, but there is no comparison to Ravi’s classes. Ravi’s sets are always different, but with familiar elements. Her narrative during the exercises is so helpful in getting to the “right place” in your head, creating wholeness of being. Some classes are more physical, some more meditative. I love them all, but the meditative exercises bring such a sense of utter peace. And who doesn’t need that?”
- Cheryl Karoly Preschool teacher and Yoga student, Virginia
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