Yoga PLAN Time

 

Yoga PLAN Time

This summer I've been working on a little project that combines my love of teaching, yoga and supporting educators. The idea for Yoga PLAN Time started with seeing and hearing about educators frequently experiencing stress during their day. There have been a few times as a school leader that I've attempted to organize a time in the day for educators to practice yoga within my building. However, it became quite clear that the timing of the activity, being vulnerable around colleagues or just having your principal lead out a yoga session, made people feel uncomfortable.

The benefits of yoga, that I see during my own practice and when I teach at ARIS Yoga or VASA Fitness, convinced me to think of a way to expand the opportunity for educators to experience yoga in their own way and on their own time. That is when Yoga PLAN Time became a reality on YouTube. 

Yoga PLAN Time - Pause, Listen to your body, practice Asanas (movement) & Namaste (self-compassion & compassion), is a chance for educators (or anyone) to understand the connection between their own wellness and student success. Each video allows educators to practice yoga asanas/poses while learning practical strategies to regulate their nervous system and reduce stress. The short videos can be viewed and practiced during a plan time (or at home) with not getting too sweaty and not taking their entire plan time to practice. 

Each person deserves to feel balanced within their work. As educators, that can become challenging when you are giving 100% of yourself to your students, families and colleagues. Before I started practicing yoga, I would be able to keep my emotions in check at school, but the moment I got home, I would become irritable, snap at my own children and husband and my health was out of control.  

True wellness is beyond just your body - Yes, being physical well is part of a wholistic wellness approach, but to have a balanced sense of wellness includes a multifaceted approach to feel well within your mind, body and soul. 

During Yoga PLAN Time we explore those eight dimensions of wellness though, what I call, short nuggets of Namaste. Where I share real and practical strategies that have worked for me, revolving around physical, emotional, mental, social, occupational, environmental, financial and spiritual wellness that as an educator, I've experienced and been able to get myself on the other side of. 

When we are overly stressed, our own trauma responses bubble up to the surface. We notice this within our students, however sometimes we forget to Pause and notice this within ourselves. Practicing during Yoga PLAN Time gives you that time to Pause. 

My own trauma response is fight. I feel a need to respond with resistance, being argumentative or aggressive and I immediately feel the need to defend myself. As a child that manifested in physical retaliation and as an adult it came in more verbal or bitchy stance to not feeling like I was in control. Through yoga I've been able to recognize that within myself, name my feelings and choose an alternative route when dealing with stress. 

There are still times where that fight response still comes through, we are all human. But that is why Yoga is called a practice. We have to continuously practice our personal awareness, how we respond to stressors, where we may be out of balance and try strategies to get us back into a better place. 

All behavior is a form of communication. Majority of the time challenging behavior in our students or in ourselves comes from a lack of feeling in control. This school year, my personal goal is to recognize when that feeling of being out of control is warming up inside of me. Instead of reacting within my fight trauma response, I need to Pause, Listen to my body, practice Asana (movement) and Namaste (self-compassion & connection). I can do this through Yoga PLAN Time. 

It's important to me to start with Consistency which will allow clarity for my own goals as well as our goals as a school and for my staff. I will check my Ego at the door - meaning that I don't always need to have the last word, or always be right (or think that I'm right). I will Surrender to ideas, directives, or procedures that I sometime believe are a direct attack on me, but are in the best interest of my school and district. 

I created the above graphic with AI, printed it and placed it behind my desk in my office to remind me of my commitments to myself and to the people that I lead. There are going to be times that I faulter and screw up. But I will come back to these ideas and messages to remind myself that having balanced wellness is just as important to my personal wellbeing as to the wellbeing of my staff and school. 

I hope you get a chance to enjoy Yoga PLAN Time. There are currently 15 videos that are recorded around my cabin in Wisconsin and around my home in Woodstock. I don't have professional lighting and my equipment is amazon purchased. But my videos are thoughtful, authentic and fun. My goal is to continue recording several times a week to share my practice with you, while promoting wellness for educators. 

Share Yoga PLAN Time with your friends, colleagues or principal. Practice alone or with your team during plan time or at home in your living room. Just take time to Pause, Listen to your body, practice Asanas (movement) and Namaste (self-compassion & connection).