Why Yoga Is Important for Students
and how it can help you
Yoga can be an amazing tool for students of all ages.
Many teachers, parents, caregivers, and instructors acknowledge the benefits that yoga can deliver and recognize the meaningful transformation in students’ mental and physical wellbeing.
Statistics show that students suffer from high levels of stress due to various reasons including:
- Pressure to get good grades
- Looking good
- Fit in socially
- Separation distance from family
- And student loans
Acknowledging this fact has led to numerous incentives and initiatives that aim towards stress reduction and techniques that teach students how to cope with it and its implications.
Yoga is vital for students because it effectively reduces stress and improves academic performance, mental wellbeing, and self-regulation. Research has shown that yoga has numerous beneficial effects on students on multiple levels. For instance, pilot projects that included yoga in schools as a part of PE education have pointed to a significant rise in students’ performance, self-awareness, self-confidence, and body appreciation.
However, yoga is still under authorities’ scrutiny, and many ongoing studies explore its potential.
To help you grasp the concept better, this article provides in-depth information on yoga, its benefits, and why it is crucial for students of all ages.
Benefits of Yoga for Students
Even though yoga is often associated with slow-paced activities and strange, hard-to-perform poses, its benefits range from learning how to breathe correctly to achieve ultimate peace of mind.
Below we discuss the most significant effects that yoga has on students.
1. It Helps Students Deal With Stress and Anxiety
As they grow, students endure almost constant family, school, and social challenges that are often the core reason for feeling under pressure.
They struggle to outperform themselves, meet their parents’ expectations, find their place in society, and attract other people.
The obstacles on their way are another reason for additional stress and anxiety.
Students who have taken up yoga report drastic changes in how they anticipate stress and approach problems. These students feel more relaxed, relieved, and confident that there is always a way to tackle issues. In addition, the state of peace and serenity boosts hormones of happiness which are critical factors for increasing students’ self-love and academic performance.
2. Improved Memory, Retention, and Concentration
While practicing yoga, students practice mindfulness, which helps them filter out all the negative energy that they have accumulated during the day.
Consequently, this leads to a higher ability to see things through another perspective, providing relief and peace of mind.
When students release negative thoughts, fear, and frustrations, they can focus and concentrate more. As a result, the ability to learn and retain new information fortifies, and this inevitably leads to improved academic performance.
3. Emotional Control and Conflict Reduction
Considering the fact that 75% of U.S. high school students stated that they frequently endure negative emotions (fear, sadness, anger, anxiety) at school, it is more than evident that students need a mechanism to cope with and release these adverse feelings.
Research has shown that students who do yoga have a higher level of self-control, don’t easily get angered, and can resist provocation without entering into verbal and physical fights.
4. Enhances Flexibility and Strengthens Core
One of the greatest attributes that yoga has is its ability to enhance body flexibility and endurance. At the same time, most postures are developed to strengthen the core, as it was the main reason yoga was invented.
The physical benefits of yoga are invaluable, particularly if we consider that students spend hours sitting on uncomfortable chairs while at school, and it continues at home. Therefore, doing yoga will help them develop their bodies properly.
5. Helps Students Develop Discipline, Patience, and Resilience
Doing yoga means connecting your body, mind, and soul to a meaningful whole.
While meditating, students develop a sense of purpose, understanding, and self-worth.
In addition, meditation helps them subtly increase their tolerance levels, learn how to be patient, and practice discipline.
These skills are key factors to foster their ability to bounce back after a negative turn of events.
6. Helps Students Breathe Properly
The peculiar, prana breathing that accompanies all yoga poses is the critical component of the physical exercises.
This breathing technique involves deep breathing that has the power to release negative energy and stimulate positive thinking.
Furthermore, since this intentional breathing is controlled and lasts for a particular time, it sends signals to the brain to calm down and relax, so it is an excellent way to remove stress.
Why Yoga Should Be Taught in Schools
Schools are a tense environment. Students spend half of their day there, facing various challenges, from learning difficulties to examinations, from social integration to bullying.
Experimental studies have shown that yoga has optimum potential to enhance students’ wellbeing by reducing anxiety, excessive fatigue, anger, and mood changes. At the same time, it improves mental and physical well-being, positive body image, and resilience.
In the ocean of benefits, the following appear indisputably consistent:
Integrates Everyone
Yoga is not a selective discipline and does not require meeting certain conditions to do it. Its poses and techniques can be practiced by anyone regardless of their physical shape, stamina, or inclination to do a specific sport.
It is particularly recommended for children with special needs, so nobody would feel left out, which is not the case in physical education classes.
Helps Prevent Weight Gain
Obesity in children is one of the leading causes for concern nowadays, as it directly affects about 14.4 million children in America, a study of 2018 shows. However, contrary to common opinions, unhealthy food is not the sole reason for excessive weight gain.
Inactivity, spending time in a sedentary position, emotional overeating, and emotional dissatisfaction are accompanied causes of obesity in children.
Yoga involves exercises that strengthen muscles, burn out extra fats, and deliver mental balance. It can directly impact preventing weight gain, and it can work against internal, psychological reasons related to overeating.
Helps Maintain Proper Body Posture
Students spend most of their days in sedentary positions. This habit continues at home in many families, as most teenage students love spending their free time playing video games.
Unfortunately, parents often don’t have the time or feel helpless in their attempts to exert meaningful changes in their children’s habits.
If yoga were part of every school’s curriculum, all students would benefit from learning how to sit and breathe properly.
It Creates a Positive Classroom Atmosphere
The positive implications of yoga go beyond personal benefits. The feeling of calmness can spread in the classroom, creating a relaxed, working atmosphere.
Why Yoga Isn’t Taught In Schools
Despite its positive implications, yoga is still not part of many schools’ curriculum. The main reasons that hamper its introduction in every school are related to religious and legal concerns.
Religious Reasons
This is the fundamental argument why many religious schools, parents, and teachers oppose yoga in schools.
They perceive yoga as spiritual teaching, which in many cases is different from their personal religious beliefs.
However, Yoga is not a religion, yet it finds its roots in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Bear in mind that contemporary yoga is merely a combination of philosophical, spiritual, and physical practice.
Political Reasons
Some states, such as Alabama, have ruled against any form of teaching school children guided imagery or meditative practices, including yoga.
For example, the Alabama State Board of Education’s Administrative Code lists yoga as inappropriate, and therefore it can’t be introduced in schools.
Benefits of Combining Yoga and Meditation for Students
Meditation complements yoga, and the bond between the two is inseparable for anyone who strives to achieve an ultimate connection between their mind and body.
All the benefits mentioned above occur only when meditation takes a significant part while doing yoga.
To be more precise, when doing yoga only, the benefit is more physical, while meditation helps improve breathing, relax, and clear the mind.
The benefits of combining yoga and meditation are the following:
Enhanced Physical and Mental Health
As mentioned before, doing yoga poses and meditation leads to strengthening the body while relaxing the mind.
In addition, the breathing techniques included in yoga and meditation send a signal to the brain to relax and calm down.
Happiness hormone levels start to increase, creating a feeling of content, satisfaction, and relief. This state of balance reduces tension and fatigue, which are leading causes of health deterioration.
Improved Focus and Concentration
The process of meditation helps to clear the mind and perceive things from another point of view.
It can help students get a broader perspective of their current issues to find a way to resolve them.
When they learn how to deal with stressors, they can easily focus on their academic performance.
Increased Self-Confidence
Self-confidence is considered a critical factor for academic achievements as it fosters students to move forward and seek knowledge.
Yoga and meditation can help students see the beauty within themselves and find the purpose for their existence.
Importance of Yoga for School Teachers
It is not just students who endure stress while at school, but teachers often feel overwhelmed with their job responsibilities.
Statistics show that about 15% of teachers leave their jobs due to burnout from dealing with difficult children, paperwork, being held accountable for students’ misbehavior, and spending six to eight hours in the classroom.
Many teachers who have had the chance to participate in yoga classes with their students report significant pressure relief and improved mood. They also claim that they feel more energized to carry out their daily responsibilities and feel inspired and more creative to assist students.
One study confirmed that teachers who took 20-minute yoga for four days per week boasted improved classroom management, positive mood and tackled stress more efficiently than the control group.
Conclusion
Even though yoga is still struggling to find its place in schools, many studies show its beneficial effects on students and teachers.
It has considerable potential to improve students’ and educators’ mental and physical well-being. In other words, it can prevent stress, promote healthy habits and discipline and support overall classroom performance.
All these arguments provide a solid explanation of why yoga is essential for students.