Would you be surprised to hear that the latest innovation being touted to improve American schools and student performance is yoga? Thats right, the Eastern spiritual practice many of us know as movement classes. When you understand that yoga is a lot more than an exercise routine, you begin to see how well it could fit into a childs education. Hatha yoga uses physical poses, breathing techniques, and meditation to achieve spiritual and physical health. What could our overstressed, overweight, overstimulated kids need more?

Yoga Ed., the organization that is making all this happen, has to date reached nearly 90,000 children and trained 9,000 teachers. It all began in the 70s when founder Tara Lynda Guber went along to yoga classes with her stressed-out movie producer husband, Peter Guber, as spousal support. She was so taken with yoga as a practice and a way of life that she became a full-fledged yoga practitioner.

A Teacher First
Guber started her working life as a public school teacher in Brooklyn, NY, some time before ADD and other conditions that interfere with childrens learning became household words. “In those days if a kid acted up, I just told him to shut up and sit down,” she admits. “Now that Ive studied yoga and really made it part of my life, I have more compassion. Im committed to helping solve the crisis in education. Thats what Im here for.”

Yoga Ed. came into flower in 1998 in South Central Los Angeles at The Accelerated School (TAS), a new charter school that Guber helped get off the ground. It is now an impressive showcase for the Yoga Ed. method. The students, who have regular yoga instruction, far outperform those in other district schools, and the school won Time magazines Best Elementary School award in 2001. A state study in 2003 showed that the schools performance is closely linked to the Yoga Ed. curriculum. The study examined the relationship between yoga instruction and academic performance, discipline, attendance, and students attitudes about themselves, yoga, and school. It concluded that students self-esteem increased 20 percent and also found a significant correlation between yoga participation and improved behavior, physical health, and academic performance.

Classroom Strategies
The yoga curriculum created by Yoga Ed. is taught by certified yoga teachers and now covers grades K-11 at TAS (grade 12 is on the way). By the end of this year, there will be 300 certified Yoga Ed. teachers. Teacher training courses have been held in Chicago, Austin, Detroit, Big Sur, at Kripalu in Lenox, MA, Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY, and other venues. To qualify for full-scale Yoga Ed. training, teachers must either already be certified as yoga instructors, have completed a yoga teaching course, or be a phys ed, dance, or other movement teacher who also practices yoga proficiently.

Any teacher can participate in Yoga Ed.s Tools for Teachers program, however. These workshops, given over three weekends, train teachers to use yoga principles in the classroom: for instance, how to provide a yoga break for kids, help them get centered before a test (“Lets all close our eyes and concentrate on what we really know” might be a typical beginning), wake them up after lunch, or help them express themselves.

In addition, Yoga Ed. physical education programs are in 120 U.S. schools and in Canada, Mexico, and Australia. According to Guber, yoga fulfills phys ed requirements in a noncompetitive way at less expense, and yoga can help fight obesity and diabetes by educating kids about smarter choices in diet and in lifestyle. That could be why the federal government has given Physical Education Program (PEP) grants for Yoga Ed. teacher training through TAS.

Sherri Sharkins, executive director of Yoga Ed., describes the program as a “giant mission to transform the school environment.” Considering Yoga Ed.s effects and growth so far, she doesnt seem to be overstating the case.