Playful Yoga at Talbot & Reiche Community Schools: June Program Spotlight
Have you ever played Giant Jenga Yoga or Musical Mats? Have you ever participated in a breathing wave, or tried buffalo breath? These are just some of the fun activities you could find in our Kids Yoga classes at Talbot and Reiche Community Schools this spring.
SCY was able to build programming at both schools according to the school’s needs. At Talbot, Becca Garibaldi taught 90-minute classes to 2nd and 3rd grade students over seven weeks of after school programming.
Talbot Community School Coordinator Kristin Rogers reports, “It was so cool to see a group of energetic 2nd and 3rd graders engage in both yoga games and silent breathing techniques. I had students and parents telling me that they were doing yoga at home and even teaching their siblings! I still have students asking when it's their turn to get to do yoga!”
The pace was faster at Reiche, where the school requested 30-minute classes for Kindergarten & 1st grade students at the start of the school day. Our SCY teachers, Julie Campilio and Becca Garibaldi, taught four classes per day twice a week at Reiche for five weeks.
One of the Kindergarten teachers at Reiche shared, “I wish we could start our day with yoga every day!”
““Julie [...] created a welcoming and safe space for everyone, and especially for a brand new ELL student. He was able to participate in a way he often doesn’t across the rest of his day. His face just lit up every time he saw her!!”
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Teachers and students all noticed a difference in their energy after yoga class. 100% of the teachers who responded to our survey noticed improvement in their students' ability to emotionally regulate themselves as a result of the yoga classes. Julie noted, “It seemed like everyone left the class with more focus, ease, and relaxation in body and mind. The teachers commented on how yoga helps the students settle down after an energized morning.”
When asked how they felt inside their bodies after doing yoga, one Talbot student replied, “I feel really relaxed because my body’s calmed down. And yoga has kind of helped me when I get angry. It helps me with my emotions.” A Talbot student described the way she felt at the end of class as “ like an ocean wave”.
Our community’s teachers deserve high praise for creating safe and reliable places for our students to land after the havoc the pandemic has caused, and also need opportunities for self-care and healing.
When asked how the yoga classes served them, one Reiche teacher offered that they felt “peace of mind, grounding, and another source for connection.” “I will continue to use the activities I observed, and it's just a really welcome, peaceful part of a hectic week.”
Becca shared this story about how she closed most of her classes: “We ended our class with a humming meditation circle and a singing bowl. When I asked what the students heard and felt in their bodies after listening to the singing bowl, one student shared, ‘I feel a vibration in my body.’ Another student chimed in, ‘Me too! I still feel a vibration!’”
Here’s hoping we all find opportunities to get quiet and feel the subtle vibrations of the natural world this summer. And our young friends at Talbot and Reiche would also remind us to PLAY!