Yoga’s Benefits Include Boosting Mood, Healthier Eating, Flexibility
This year she’s introduced free yoga in the park taking place the first Saturday of the month now through September at the Greenbrier Commons.
“This is the first time outdoor yoga is taking place in Parma Heights,” said Pawloski, 42, who has called Parma Heights home since 2006. “I’ve been here for a long time and just thought this year why am I not doing this in my own community?
“Because we don’t have a rec centre or any ago studios, I met with Mayor Byrne and told him this would be great for the city of Parma Heights. There’s really nothing that we have in our community that allows fitness and people to come together. He loved the idea.”
Parma Heights Mayor Michael P. Byrne said the free yoga event, which next takes place with registration opening at 9:30 a.m. and yoga starting at 10 a.m. June 1 at Greenbrier Commons, is a perfect community offering.
"We’re fortunate to have community yoga in the park because Parma Heights resident and yoga instructor Jill Pawlowski offered to share her talents in the community in which she lives,” Parma Heights Mayor Michael P. Byrne said.
“We provide yoga classes through our recreation department, and this event gives residents an opportunity to see if they enjoy it. More importantly, events like this bring our community together in the heart of our Greenbrier Commons. It’s a wonderful opportunity not just for a free exercise class, but also for residents, who probably wouldn’t otherwise, to get to meet and know one another.”
Also attending the yoga events are local vendors selling items ranging from massages to lotions and lip balms.
Because of rain, the first yoga in the park affair was moved inside of the NEO Soccer Field. The upside was roughly 30 community members showed up. Pawloski is hopeful that number will continue to increase as word spreads.
“The misconception is that people think they can’t do it because they’re not flexible or too old or they have limited motion,” said Pawloski, a Parma native who graduated from Valley Forge High School in 1995. “The beauty of our first event was everybody came out -- the old and young, kids and even people who bought chairs and did chair yoga.
“The way I teach I make it as accessible to everyone. Whether you’re a new beginner of yoga or if you’ve been doing yoga for years, it’s just something you want to try out. It’s not even just about the physical practice, but it’s about the community coming together. Even if you don’t practice yoga, you can come and breathe and listen to the music and just kind of maybe be inspired.
The lights area unit dim and soft music plays as new-minted yoga teacher Tony Ranieri, 69, of Hempfield, teaches a beginners’ category at Greensburg’s Red Brick Yoga.
“I’m going to ask you for the next hour to be mindful, not focus on things you can’t control,” he tells the group.
Always active, and still working part-time as a personal trainer, Ranieri came to yoga less than two years ago.
He soon began the certification process with studio owner Angela Merendino.
“I lifted weights and did cardio, and I stretched a bit. A friend told me how much she liked yoga and recommended I call Ange at Red Brick,” Ranieri says.
“The mental and physical aspects of it really changed me. … I noticed a difference in flexibility right away,” he says.
He was more calm and tranquil. “The breathing part of yoga is the essence of yoga,” Ranieri says.
Yoga lets you go to “your edge” as far as one can go without pain or injury, he says.
The majority of his students are young women, Ranieri says. “I would like to get more men involved. … You oughtn't to tie yourself up during a cracker. It’s not a prerequisite to be female, flexible and young,” he adds.
“Yoga brings balance between effort and ease,” Merendino says.
“People come here for the physical part of it. (Then) they say, ‘Oh, I’m much calmer, I didn’t holler at that person,’” Merendino says.
Men, she says, tend to be tighter in the hips and hamstrings because they may lift, but don’t always stretch.
“Yoga can help with flexibility and balance as you age,” Merendino says.
According to the American Osteopathic Association, yoga’s benefits can range from increased flexibility, weight reduction and improved athletic performance to mental clarity, stress relief and sharpened concentration.
Options for all
Various faculties of yoga exist, from hatha to prenatal to the currently trendy hot yoga, performed in very warm, humid studios. What most have in common are breathing exercises, meditation and assuming poses that stretch and flex various muscle groups.
Most categories need minimal gear — usually a mat, water and a towel, along with comfortable, breathable clothing.
All age groups can do yoga, notes Bethany Connelly, who owns Greensburg’s Moonglow Yoga with husband Sean Connelly.
Options include beginner, private lessons and Buti, more high energy, cardio-infused class, Connelly says.
Weight loss can be one benefit, as one becomes more in tune with one’s body; increased physical strength and flexibility will start to knock off a few pounds. “Honor your body,” Connelly says.
That can mean practising a vegetarian or vegan diet, or simply being mindful while “eating that chocolate cake,” she says.
Connelly reaps a mental boost “through breathing and staying in the moment for that hour.”
“You get your brain to stop … you say, ‘hey, brain, I didn’t give you permission to think about that. You are focused on body and mind and breath. … It’s a coping mechanism for stress reduction,” she says.
Connelly recently began a class for new moms, BYOB — Bring Your Own Baby — following the birth of son Maverick, 4 months.
Physically, mentally challenging
“The centeredness, the meditation, the concentration is what is different about yoga,” says Erin Annarella-Kreidler, owner of The Yoga Folk, near Leechburg.
She has students from age 14 to 70, high school football players to marathon runners.
Her studio teaches restore, heal and power yoga classes.
Restore is “very relaxing, very low in terms of physical difficulty. It’s good for anybody, it’s having an hour of ‘me time’. You work connective tissues in the body, but it is non-aggressive,” she says.
Heal features the same postures in the same sequence. She calls it “accessible to all, but challenging.”
Power yoga works on strength, and class sequences may switch from balance postures to core work or strengthening postures.
Annarella-Kreidler says there still is some confusion that yoga “is a religion.”
“Westernized yoga is a physical practice that can highly benefit anybody,” she says.
“Any yoga is best than no yoga,” Annarella-Kreidler says. But like other instructors, she advocates attending classes more regularly, even daily.
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Keyla Huerta, 8, puts her hands to her heart during yoga club at Doull Elementary School in Denver. After the school replaced after-school detention with “reflection yoga" twice a week, the principal added yoga club for students who also wanted to take part in the practice.
—Rachel Woolf for Education Week
Andres Gonzalez, Holistic Life Foundation’s co-founder and director of marketing and communication, said that he saw the impact that yoga and meditation had on what were previously seen as “problem kids” in the school.
“Instead of us picking up 10 kids from detention, we were picking seven, then we were picking up five, and soon, we weren’t picking up any kids,” Gonzalez said.
Schools’ move toward efforts to foster positive school environments seems to be finding favour with the public. According to a 2019 Gallup poll conducted on behalf of Communities in Schools, 54 per cent of 1,000 American adults surveyed said most teachers are “unprepared” or “very unprepared” to handle discipline. But when asked which solutions would be effective in addressing discipline issues in schools, 90 per cent said increased efforts to foster a positive school environment would be somewhat or very effective, while 86 per cent said focusing more resources on students’ social and emotional development would be somewhat or very effective. Alternatively, 55 per cent said that stricter disciplinary practices, such as more detentions, suspensions, or expulsions, would be equally effective.
Research on Effectiveness Is Mixed
Despite anecdotes from schools that have seen positive results from using mindfulness practices, the research on its effectiveness is varied and lacking.
In a 2018 study by researchers Anna Long, Tyler Renshaw, and Devon Camarota, a sample of 73 predominantly African American 5th graders from an urban, high-poverty alternative school were managed using either behavioural or mindfulness-based approaches. One group was managed using the good behaviour game, which reinforces positive behaviour through either earning or losing privileges from a student-generated list, including snacks, a preferred activity, or small trinkets. In the other group, students were taught mindfulness skills and encouraged to restrain themselves from participating in inappropriate behaviour by stopping, taking three deep breaths, observing themselves and others, and proceeding positively.
The results found that neither strategy was notably more effective than the control group, in which students received a warning after the first infraction, a seat change after the second, and a phone call home or office discipline referral after the third. However, those in the mindfulness group indicated that the practice was slightly therapeutic.
In another 2018 study by Kansas State University professor Tonnie Martinez and graduate student Yuanyuan Zhao, a small sample of 7th and 8th graders who averaged five or more discipline referrals to the principal’s office for two consecutive semesters completed a series of guided meditations using the Muse headband and app, which measures users’ brain waves. For those who participated in meditation, office referrals dropped significantly, from 6.33 to 1.78 between September 2016 and April 2017. Those who did not participate in meditation saw a slight increase in referrals from 4.22 to 4.44 in the same time frame.
A 2016 meta-analysis by researchers David Klingbeil, Aaron Fischer, and Renshaw of 10 single-case studies related to the impact of mindfulness on disruptive behaviour found such interventions overall have a medium effect. The report concluded that “school psychologists are likely to find [mindfulness-based interventions] as feasible interventions—with these results providing initial support of their effectiveness in reducing problem behaviour.”
Long, an assistant professor of school psychology at Louisiana State University said that although her study did not show benefits of mindfulness-based interventions, other research suggests that the practices have potential to make a positive impact in the classroom.
“I think where the disconnect may occur is helping parents and schools understand the differences that there might be between where these interventions have been researched and their own setting, as well as what it actually means to get something implemented properly,” Long said.
Trying such tactics for managing behaviour won’t be effective unless schools are thoughtful about training teachers to deploy them effectively and in a consistent, sustained way, Long said.
Concerns Over Discipline Disparities
Many educators and civil rights advocates have been pushing policymakers and schools to turn to alternative discipline. Data has consistently shown that black and Latino students and students who are in special education are disciplined with suspensions and expulsions at much higher rates than their white and Asian American peers. For example, in 2015-16, black students made up 15 per cent of K-12 students nationwide, but 27 per cent of those restrained at school and 31 per cent of school-based arrests and referrals to law enforcement, according to federal civil rights data. Black boys, specifically, made up 25 per cent of out-of-school suspensions and 23 per cent of expulsions, despite being only 8 per cent of the student population.
Using meditation as an alternative discipline can go beyond teaching students breathing techniques, said Raisa Martinez, the New York-based senior manager of education for the David Lynch Foundation, which works with schools, prisons, veterans, and other groups to reduce stress and trauma through the practice of meditation. Alternative discipline can build trust between students and staff that traditional discipline can fracture, according to Martinez.
Yania Gonzalez, 7, carries her mat to yoga club at Doull Elementary School in Denver. The school offers after-school yoga three days a week—twice a week as a replacement for detention and once a week as a club for students who want to participate. The school’s use of yoga is part of its larger efforts to meet the social and emotional needs of students.
—Rachel Woolf for Education Week
“Students don’t feel as much as targets [because] they realize that teachers are seeing them more like humans,” Martinez said.
However, a 2018 review of 183 peer-reviewed articles and studies on school discipline issues found that alternative approaches to discipline do not effectively reduce discipline disparities.
Furthermore, there is little research that explores the long-term benefits of mindfulness, including if and how students are using the practices in their daily lives outside of the classroom.
“Sometimes we take for granted how hard it is for people to change their behavioural habits, so we might be hard on teachers that are having a hard time implementing something new, not appreciating how difficult it is for them to do something new, and I think that we’re hard on students as well when they’re not changing their behaviours as quickly as we want to see,” Long said. “Anybody who has made a New Year’s resolution will let you know that the behaviour change didn’t happen as readily as they had hoped.”
Many groups rely on research to convince wary parents and teachers. Holistic Life Foundation has gone as far as to partner with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Penn State University, Loyola University, and the University of Baltimore to conduct research on the effects of mindfulness on classroom environments, grades, brain activity, and depression.
Scepticism About Mindfulness in Schools
Still, research is only one part of the puzzle. There’s also scepticism and reluctance on the part of teachers and parents to endorse mindfulness practices in schools.
When yoga was first introduced at Doull, many teachers and parents were worried that the practice may be religious, and therefore had no place in the schoolhouse, Carrigan said.
“Hindsight is 20-20, and I do wish we would have called it something like reflection, or deep breathing after 3 o’clock. Anything but yoga,” Carrigan said.
But for Maleah Kagan, a teacher who uses a mindfulness curriculum and breathing exercises to help prevent disruptive behaviour in the classroom at Pearl Cohn High School in Nashville, Tenn., implementing mindfulness was less about the specific techniques and more about finding a way to introduce social-emotional learning to her students.
“When you become a teacher, social-emotional learning feels like this big beast where you’re like, ‘I’ve studied English and I’ve studied pedagogy, but psychology might not be my wheelhouse,’” Kagan said.
Even so, Kagan said that mindfulness practices are not one-size-fits-all. While one student may enjoy mandala colouring—the activity of using colours related to the emotions that a student feels—another may become frustrated with the process. The key, according to Kagan, is understanding your students and reading the energy in the room.
“I have some kids that love it, that talk about it … I have other kids that were in the exact same class and paint a very different picture of it, the breathing doesn’t feel good to them,” Kagan said. “It’s about finding a strategy that works for them.”
While using yoga after school as an alternative to detention is a major plank in Doull Elementary’s effort to foster a positive school climate, the school is using many other strategies as well. Before students even enter their classrooms, they are greeted by multiple adults to ensure that they are ready for the day.
First, administrators meet them at the entrance, as they’re dropped off by their buses and parents. Then teachers greet them as they come into their classrooms. Lastly, before students start learning, they eat breakfast as a class, and have a “mindful moment.”
“You can spot a mile away from the kiddo that’s coming in with their head down and their shoulders down,” Carrigan said.
For Carrigan, it’s about pinpointing students before they misbehave and providing them with the right tools for the next time that they are upset.
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The Reconnect With Your True Nature Yoga Retreats facilitated by Sara Black works with mind, movement and spirit to help participants achieve wholeness.
Photos courtesy of The Farm San Benito
Bedtime was early on a Friday night. The following day would begin early as a van filled with girls from all walks of life headed to The Farm at San Benito at 5AM. Some were previous friends, other new acquaintances and a few complete strangers. It was Sara Black’s Reconnect together with your Nature Retreat that brought the fascinating mixture of people to 1 house.
Sara Black is a high artist, wellbeing advocate and yoga teacher. She holds the house for people trying to urge started or enhance their wellbeing journey through varied retreats, a number of that square measure control in idyllic destinations around the Philippines.
Photo courtesy of Sara Black
Skies were clear once the van drove past the gates of the sprawling wellbeing resort. After fast registration at the Reception space, participants crammed the Oriental Lounge that offered views of lush gardens and tropical blooms. Questions were thrown around concerning program flow and sequence. “Should we wear our yoga outfits? Do we leave our bags here?” Days previous, a quick had been sent via email with info on what to bring and the way to organize for the retreat however very little had been disclosed on the program. Sara, in her email, wrote: “I can share with you the day’s schedule at our Welcome Circle. What is essential for now is to be open to this new experience and everything you will learn as a result of being in a state of receptivity.”
Sattva Yoga at the Amphitheatre wherever views of sprawling greens and a tranquil lagune put the mind, body and spirit at ease.
Photo courtesy of The Farm San Benito
The experience began at the Amphitheatre where a circle had been formed for welcome remarks and brief introductions. It was followed by Sattva yoga, which, unlike most yoga styles integrated mind, breath and flow. The apply commenced with many respiratory exercises meant to extend and awaken prana (energy). It seamlessly transitioned into meditation. Practitioners of Sattva explained that meditation is important for “developing the concentration of one’s mind to pierce the veil of potentialities.” The movement followed to incorporate sun salutations, twists and heart gap poses that helped to align the body and unharness tight tissues. The practice was ideal for yogis of all levels. “We accept people where they are at. Some may not be into the fitness yet. Or some not into healthy eating yet. That’s not the point. The point is that the want of the individual to grow,” opined Sara.
Meditation and journaling under a stately mango tree.
Photo courtesy of The Farm San Benito
Sattva yoga integrates meditation, breathwork and movement to align the body and create an overall sense of balance.
Photo courtesy of Sara Black
Clarity, energy and harmony from the mornings apply to set the tone for reflection and journaling. A sitting space by AN previous, stately mango tree was the preferred place for putting down thoughts in a journal. “There are no judgments here. Let your thoughts flow onto the pages,” schooled Sara. It was opportune time to require a stock of things that yielded feeling. The time spent for reflection additionally paved approach for locating new perspective and answers.
“Wellness needs to be holistic. It’s body, mind, spirit the least bit points in time. Mindful nutrition is a necessity. We eat five times a day. It’s basic that we need to be equipped with the right knowledge to make good choices. Food directly affects the resonance of our energy, so it's also still part of the energy work that I do with my students,” said Sara. A plant-based lunch from The Farm’s vegetarian eating outlet, Alive, had been arranged to be served following an enlightening nutrition talk by one of The Farm’s resident doctors. The meal was amazingly filling and attractive, even by standards of participants who still enjoy an occasional burger or slab of rib eye.
Plant-based cuisine from Alive Restaurant
Photo courtesy of The Farm San Benito
Coconut Noodles with Mushroom
Photo courtesy of The Farm San Benito
Nutrition is part essential to yoga retreat expertise. The principle for this being that higher food decisions is a component of the wellbeing journey and could be a result of learning to measure additional advertently.
Photo courtesy of The Farm San Benito
Massages were scheduled in the afternoon. Guests at The Farm fly in from all across the world to urge treatments at the Healing Sanctuary Spa. It would be a violation to go to the resort and not book for a spa treatment. The resort's spa enjoys world-class recognition and acclaim for good reason. A body scrub victimization barako low and virgin vegetable oil forthwith placed the body during a state of complete relaxation and ease. A delicious fragrance of ground beans, emulsified in a thick oil consistency, wafted through as the warm mixture was applied onto the skin’s surface. Coffee beans square measure employed in body scrubs as they revitalize and stimulate the skin, resulting in a radiant glow. They are also known as purifying agents and has been said to help reduce cellulite. The afternoon of indulgence was topped off by a 60-minute relaxation massage. Therapists kneaded tensions points and tired muscles like rolling pins. It was expertise that set the bar high for exceptional spa indulgences.
The Healing Sanctuary Spa at The Farm is world-renowned for exceptional healing and wellbeing treatments.
Photo courtesy of The Farm San Benito
Barako Body Scrubs for revitalizing and purifying the skin. It is also said to be helpful in reducing cellulite.
Photo courtesy of The Farm San Benito
Ingredients used for treatments at the spa square measure naturally sourced, following traditional of Philippine healing arts.
Photo courtesy of The Farm San Benito
The spa expertise at The Farm's Healing Sanctuary could be a destination in itself.
Dr Greg Bisignani of Latrobe, his wife, Audrey, and their young adult sons, Collin and Ryan, tried yoga for the first time recently, with Ranieri as an instructor.
“I’m an orthopaedic surgeon. I could definitely feel which muscles I was using. One thing I tell patients all the time is to maintain your flexibility and strength,” he says.
“I’m excited about doing it more and learning more. It can help me stay loose and limber and do those things I tell my patients to do,” says Bisignani, 52.
He also noticed reaping some mental benefits. “I have a very stressful job. There were plenty of times here when I forgot about that. It was very relaxing,” he says.
Many instructors and students complete a yoga session with a respectful term translating to “my soul honours your soul.”
As his students wind down and Ranieri completes his class, he expresses that sentiment aloud. Treasure López, 8, stretches during yoga club after school at Doull Elementary School in Denver. In addition to yoga club, the school uses “reflection yoga” twice a week as a replacement for after-school detention for students who misbehave.
—Rachel Woolf for Education Week
By Sasha Jones
May 23, 2019
In many schools, when kids consistently see their behaviour card flipped from green to yellow, and finally, to red, they know to expect some punishment. For some, that discipline may come in the form of after-school detention, a math worksheet, or staying in for recess.
At Doull Elementary in Denver, when students misbehave repeatedly, they are assigned to a new after-school activity—yoga.
Doull’s version of alternative discipline is part of the school’s embrace of social-emotional learning and is emblematic of the growing trend of K-12 schools to cultivate school environments that are attuned to the social and emotional well-being of children. For many schools, the pursuit of social-emotional learning often starts with overhauling traditional approaches to student discipline and misbehaviour.
One way they are doing so is through the use of mindfulness-based interventions in an attempt to tackle the reasons behind the disobedience.
At Doull Elementary, when a teacher notices that a student is constantly misbehaving, the student is referred to the after-school program, working with parents to make sure students’ schedules allow them to attend the yoga classes.
“What we love about yoga is that they leave with some actual skills that can help them in life,” said Doull Elementary Principal Jo Carrigan. “Doing a math sheet or handwriting sheet didn’t help them solve a problem, didn’t help them recognize what anger feels like in their body.”
Spread of Mindfulness in Schools
The new form of discipline led to fewer students skipping out on detention, and the yoga program also began drawing interest from students who weren’t ever likely to be referred for behaviour reasons, Carrigan said. Demand became so great that the school added an extra day for students who wanted to join yoga as a club activity.
Before students get assigned to yoga for misbehaviour, however, teachers first try to address the issue by sending them to the school’s “cool-down room,” where they can do breathing exercises and talk to a staff member about what might be bothering them.
Carrigan was inspired to replace detention with yoga after reading about Robert W. Coleman Elementary School in Baltimore, where a partnership with the Holistic Life Foundation, a nonprofit that works with over 40 schools, had brought meditation to the classroom and a “mindful moment room,” where disruptive students can go to meditate and calm themselves.
Yoga’s Benefits Include Boosting Mood, Healthier Eating, Flexibility yoga, benefits, flexibility, strength, breathing, posture, stress, hot yoga, yoga types, poses, health benefits, breath, relaxation, Rebecca Buffum Taylor health benefits associated with yoga, including improved flexibility, more strength, better concentration, improved posture, better breathing, and lowered stress. Find out how yoga can help you
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