Our Story of Yoga

Participatory Learning and Action with Young Children

Abstract

*Focus on the United States and Canada | Reports from the Field

Young children become “brave warriors” and “balanced trees” when they participate in yoga. This article presents a case study of participatory work with nine kindergarten through third grader children in special education who were involved in a school-based yoga program. Through visual activities, such as drawing and mapping, the children communicated about their internal experiences during yoga and further developed their capacities for reflection, perspective taking, and dialogue. They presented their observations to other students and school staff involved in the yoga program as their final action project, which enabled the children and the yoga teachers to collaboratively develop knowledge about the functioning of the program. Additionally, the children learned about their internal experiences, which complemented the development of self-awareness that they practiced in yoga classes.