School: yoga, an activity to include in the curriculum?
Yoga has conquered the world. The postures of the crane, the crow or the half-jay are all images of an activity that has become a worldwide phenomenon in just a few decades. A sporting activity, a spiritual awakening, an art of living, yoga has become a "world activity". How can one of the world's most widespread sporting practices be transposed to the school environment? How can yoga help transform teaching?
Sylvain Wagnon, University of Montpellier and Sihame Chkair, University of Montpellier
"Global soft power
Marie Kock has shown how the worldwide diffusion of this ancestral activity has metamorphosed it into a "new age" practice, a relaxing activity for people in search of personal development and happiness. A victim of fashion and reinvented by the West, yoga has become a business.
It's also a political weapon. Narendra Modi's Indian government has turned it into a tool of nationalist political glorification, and seeks to maintain its world leadership in yoga. Celebrated on an international day, June 21, yoga has gone beyond the simple status of an activity of bodily expression.
The activity is also recognized as part of humanity's intangible heritage, and is now practiced worldwide by nearly three million people in France and hundreds of millions more worldwide. As a sporting activity, it has national, regional and local structures, as well as a multitude of associations that promote its various practices.
Stress management
During the lockdown, the word yoga was one of the most requested words in search engines. We saw a spectacular increase in the purchase of yoga mats during the first month of the lockdown in France! Similarly, during this period of unprecedented health crisis, blog articles and live or replay yoga initiation videos grew exponentially.
A sport and relaxation practice, yoga aims to awaken the spirit through knowledge of the body and breathing. Studies show the benefits of combining yoga with meditation. Regular practice improves attention, concentration, and stress and emotional management by reducing levels of the stress hormone cortisol. The positive effects of yoga on cognitive learning are beginning to be recognized, as are its contributions to the well-being of students and teachers.
School transpositions
Yoga is already present in French schools, at nursery, primary and secondary levels. This movement seems to be growing, and we are currently undertaking a study to quantify this still little-known boom in France. Many teachers are expressing a growing interest in introducing yoga into education.
The first initiatives to introduce yoga into schools were taken by teachers who themselves practiced yoga. For them, yoga was defined as a set of bodily and respiratory exercises that did not exclude a spiritual aim. Today, more and more teachers are emphasizing the value of yoga as a coordinated approach to breathing and body awareness. The spiritual dimension is less and less present in favor of physical and mental well-being, as well as the creation of a quality school climate for learning through active relaxation.
Approved associations, such as RYE, support the many initiatives within the French education system, which in turn offers yoga training and workshops.
Du yoga dans les écoles (A Thousand and One Lives, 2016).
Schools are becoming less and less reticent about integrating this physical expression activity. Teachers who practice it with their classes emphasize the favorable reception it has received from parents and children alike.
The question that remains is yoga's place within the school. Such alternative activities highlight the need for an education that takes the child and teenager as a whole, with cognitive as well as physical and emotional learning. Will school yoga remain the preserve of militant teachers, will it be integrated into existing disciplines, or will it become a lever for developing cross-disciplinary activities and creating a truly integral education?
Sylvain Wagnon, Professor of Education, Faculty of Education, University of Montpellier and Sihame Chkair, Doctor in Health Economics and PhD student in Educational Sciences, University of Montpellier
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.