Teaching Teachers Yoga Skills

Sam was keen to explore the spiritual aspects of yoga, and first did so over 25 years ago. After becoming a primary school teacher, she noticed that children were struggling with their mental health and thought that yoga may be of help.

I attended various yoga classes as a weekly de-stress but stopped going for four years. It was when my friend returned from India after her Sivananda Yoga Training and I remember lying in Shavasana, thinking, ‘wow! I did not realise how stressed I felt and how tense my body was.’ This feeling of relaxation swept over me and I just thought: I want other people to feel this.

Becoming a Mum, I maybe lost a part of myself – putting everyone else’s needs before my own. When my husband was struggling with his mental health, that’s where all my energy went and I realised how important it was to look after yourself. I could see it in schools and it’s getting worse. I’m on a mission to prevent this rise in poor mental health in young children through these well-being practices.

Ten years ago,  I received a phone call from a headteacher I knew who found out I was teaching yoga. She had been on a training course on how children’s spines and postures were getting worse and how yoga could help develop their core and muscle strength to improve their posture.  She said they wanted yoga in their school and would I do it? That’s where it began.

Having teaching experience, I knew I needed to connect with the pupils. The sessions needed to be fun and exciting because younger children don’t want to be still. Too much mindfulness when they’re too young will only make them bored and switch them off from yoga in the future.

Generally, I follow their energy.  I bring the energy up and then down until they are able to self-regulate and calm their own nervous systems. I also use props to demonstrate what different body parts are doing and the science behind the practice which the children really love. You’ve got to meet them where they are and plant little seeds.

Lots of teachers join in too and they really love it – even attending my adult classes afterwards. I do let them know that an adult yoga class is very different!

I filmed some videos for a PE company to host on their website and opportunities started coming from that. I had the Honeypot Charity reach out and they bought my videos for young carers to use at home. And it was around that time I got all the content together to start training primary schools. I started with inset days, but quickly realised that just wasn’t enough time to answer all the teachers’ questions, which is when I decided to create the online course. Then it felt like it made more of a difference.

The content on the platform covers anatomy, the physiology, the science and philosophy of yoga, the benefits and cautions of postures and wellbeing techniques, effective teaching practice of yoga, as well as planning, lesson plans and resources.  I work with teachers  on a 1:1 basis for all the practical elements of the training. We have WhatsApp chats set up so that when they need me, I’m there. If someone asks how to implement yoga techniques into a lesson on any theme I am there to support active learning!

In this whole school approach, trained teachers become Well-being Yoga Leads in their settings. Other teachers can then go to their leader for techniques when a child is dysregulated. It’s amazing to see yoga extend beyond PE.

One the schools who attended my session at the Hampshire School Games in 2023 was Berrywood Primary School. The teacher who attended with the children must have gone back to the head teacher and spoken really positively as she got in contact with me. She wanted to bring yoga to her school and was interested in starting my training course.

I’ve upskilled 8 teachers so far. I also mentor and train other yoga teachers who want to teach in schools to ensure specific standards of teaching are adhered to without losing the authenticity and impact of the practice. Which brings the total of people I’ve trained up to 16.

Yoga helps give children more confidence and a place to belong. It helps them feel self-assured and empowers them because they can then emotionally regulate themselves. It just helps generally with their stress levels and to sleep better.

I’ve got a whole folder of feedback forms from pupils and teachers who’ve been positively impacted. At the Hampshire School Games, one of the boys came up to me and said ‘that was really good. I feel relaxed. I didn’t think I was going to like it, but I did. Can we have it every week in our school?’

I’ve been teaching yoga in schools for 10 years, and it’s still part of my mission to change people’s perspectives and their misconceptions of yoga. Those tiny shifts in children’s mindsets, in their ability to know themselves, when they’re getting stressed and to control it, those moments are why I do what I do.

Some PE companies are putting yoga into their programmes, but it’s not coming from the right place. Yoga is not a “fix mental health in 10 easy steps”, it takes time. In fact, you are setting them up for lifetime wellbeing practice.

Teachers do an incredible job, often at the detriment to their own health. When you start looking after yourself, then you’re going to be able to look after your pupils at a much deeper level. I support and provide research for an all-parliamentary group of like-minded teachers and professional that are campaigning to get yoga into the school’s curriculum, the NHS and CAHMS. It is a therapy and people deserve to feel the benefits: lower blood pressure, helping with inflammation, balance, reduce the feeling of stress.

If the teacher meets your needs, you will feel supported, and leave at the end of a class with a blissful feeling of deep contentment and peace. If you don’t, then you can find another teacher. There are so many different types of yoga practices that there will be one to suit you and your well-being. Maybe you would prefer to start a slower floor-based class, a chair yoga or meditation class, or a more physical based class. Yoga encompasses all the wellbeing techniques even diet and nutrition. Everybody is different and have different needs so choosing the right teacher and discipline is essential for the longevity of your well-being practice.

Get In Touch

If you’re a teacher interested in Sam’s yoga training, get in touch: sbernice@sambyoga.com