Yoga in the Early Elementary Classroom: A Narrative Inquiry

Abstract

This research focuses on the introduction of yoga into two elementary classes. The yoga sessions were delivered over the course of three months, and included a breathing practice, followed by the reading of a children’s book, and then a yoga practice. Employing a narrative inquiry methodology, data were collected through three methods: student journals and related artifacts, classroom observations, and individual interviews. Using an inductive process and thematic coding, three common salient themes were constructed through the data collection: students’ understanding and experience of yoga, story and yoga, and yoga in the world. Relying upon the lotus flower as a metaphor, a discussion of these results is offered. This discussion focuses, primarily, upon the following six broad topics: mitigating challenges, consistency and routine, body and mind, being versus doing, yoga and story, and yoga in the world. This discussion and subsequent conclusion offer affirming evidence and potential applications related to the introduction of yoga into early elementary classrooms.