Yoga Webinar_September_2016 This video is posted online with the following chapter markers: Chapter 1. Intro to Yoga Chapter 2. Starting a Yoga Class Chapter 3. Your Yoga Sequence Chapter 4. Questions & Answers Description of graphical content is included between Description Start and Description End. Transcript Start [Music] Fade up from black. Animation: Text for TSBVI transform into braille cells for TSBVI. [Music face out] Fade to black. Chapter 1. Intro to Yoga [ Slide start: ] Content read by narrator Narrator: Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired Outreach Programs presents Yoga Webinar Series: Introducing Yoga for Children with Visual and Multiple Impairments. A new publication from TSBVI. September 20, 2016. Facilitated by Kassandra Maloney, O&M Instructor. maloneyk@tsbvi.edu [ Slide end: ] Kassy: Hi everybody. Welcome to this webinar. I hope that you gain so much out of it. Today we are going to be talking about yoga for children with visual and multiple impairments. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Poll Qustion Content: How much experience do you have with yoga? A. None, but I am excited to learn. B. I've done yoga sparingly. C. I practice yoga regularly, but haven't yet taught it to my students. D. I already teach yoga to my students. Description End: I have a quick poll question for you, just so I know how much to get into everything, and what you guys might need to know. Will you let me know how much experience you have with yoga? If you have none, that's totally great, and if you practice at home or are a yoga teacher even or doing yoga with your students, let me know that, too. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Pole Results Content: A. None, but I am excited to learn. 20% B. I've done yoga sparingly. 53% C. I practice yoga regularly, but haven't yet taught it to my students. 20% D. I already teach yoga to my students. 7 % Description End: Good. Thank you so much for answering. So it looks like you guys have done some yoga, but sparingly. Cool. So, we'll go into a little bit of detail. [ Slide end: ] For those of you guys... who are joining us today, one of the major things I want you to learn are, "What is yoga?" and also "What yoga isn't." There's a lot of misconceptions out there. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Today You will Learn Content: What yoga is and what it is not Why kids with visual (and multiple) impairmetns benefit from yoga Description End: Why yoga is so beneficial and needed for kids with visual and multiple impairments. And I'm gonna be talking with all kids with visual impairments, but I just want you to know it's kids with just visual impairments, and kids with visual and multiple impairments, as well. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Today You will Learn Content: How to start a yoga "class" for students with visual (and multiple) impairments. A yoga sequence that you can use TODAY! Description End: And then you're also going to learn how to implement your first yoga "class," and you'll understand why I put it in quotes, as well. And you are going to be given a yoga sequence derived from the book that was just published by our great organization, TSBVI. [ Slide end: ] And it has been made specifically for you, for you to be able to do with all of your kids. So, I am Kassy, for those of you who don't know me. I'll give a little snippet about myself. I started off my entire career-- I graduated high school as a preschool teacher, and. so. I have a lot of experience-- actually, this is probably my only experience working, is with younger kids. And that's why I started off so I have that background. I graduated from Florida State with my Master's in Visual Disabilities. So I have a TVI but not practicing or certified in Texas. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Kassy (about me) Content: left-side photo: Figure 1 Kassy seated on a yoga mat holding her infant son, Roman. right-side text: • Former preschool teacher • TVI • Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist • Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT200) • Certified Radiant Child Yoga Teacher • Mom of two Description End: I've been a Certified Orientation and Mobility instructor for at least the past decade. We're not going to go into that. So, that's my background with kids and kids with visual impairments. I've been doing this for my entire career, but about, oh, gosh, I can't remember the exact date, probably 2009‑2010, I also became a yoga teacher, because I'd been practicing yoga since I was 14, and just felt like the next right step. [ Slide end: ] So, I did that, and it looked wonderful, and I've been teaching yoga all around Austin and I also teach yoga online. So, I have a bunch of different little bits and pieces of experience that I bring in from that. And I'm also a certified radiant yoga-- radiant child yoga teacher, as well. That's radiant child yoga. A practice that we-- that is great for kids, and we a lot of times take that and adapt it for our students here. We're gonna be talking about that, possibly, but not really so much. We're gonna really just focus on the poses for your students. And most importantly, I am a mom of two. That is my little baby Roman. [ Slide start: ] repeat previous slide My older one is really hard to photograph. He's 2-year‑olds now so you won't see him because they're all blurry pictures if you get what I'm saying. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: What is Yoga? Description End: So let's get into the gist of what we're talking about. So what is yoga? There are a lot of misconceptions about this. [ Slide end: ] Yoga is the union of your mind, and your body, and your breath. What yoga means, specifically is two yoke, to unite, you are uniting your body, and mind, through your breath. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title:“Yoga” – To Unite Content: • Union of the Body, Mind, and Breath • Language: Sanskrit • Form of exercise that uses the mind and breath to strengthen and calm the body Description End: A lot of times in yoga we use the language Sanskrit, and... you don't have to use Sanskrit. I just want you to know that you don't have to use that. We just use it... because it's tradition. Yoga started off simply as meditation, and a way for people to find enlightenment, and Nirvana, and all that good stuff. [ Slide end: ] But they were really just sitting there, and we brought poses into it to help us sit there. And I think you guys can kind of understand where they needed that. And from there, then different lineages, and different practices, and different people have brought us to where we are, today. And luckily we've been able to take what we see here in America for yoga, and make it really applicable for our students. It's been- it's been really good. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: WHAT yoga is NOT Description End: What yoga isn't. For our purposes, yoga is not a spiritual practice. [ Slide end: ] Yoga is not anything that has to do with religion. Yoga is simply a form of exercise. Just like any other form of exercise. It doesn't include any prayers. You're not... bowing down to anybody. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: For our purposes, yoga is NOT Content: • Yoga is NOT a religious or spiritual practice. • Does NOT include prayers, deism, or honoring any other presence besides thyself. Description End: The most that you're going to honor, is yourself, and your fellow students. And your fellow... I guess peers, when you're doing yoga. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Benefits of Yoga (for anyone) Content: left-side photo: Figure 2 Student standing on yoga mat in Warrior 1 pose. right-side text: • Increases oxygenation of the blood • Increases strength • Lowers stress levels • Increases self-efficacy skills • Increases happiness and health through exercise • Increases flexibility Description End: As a form of exercise, there are definite benefits for everybody! For one, exercise increases oxygenation in your blood. It helps your blood move better, it helps your circulatory system. It helps you feel good. It helps in so many ways. Like, it increases your strength. Yoga also lowers your stress levels. It increases your self‑efficacy skills, and I'll talk a little more about that in a second. [ Slide end: ] And as with any form of exercise, you're going to get all of the good things that happen with exercise in your yoga practice, even though you're not, like, going out running for a marathon, you're not going out and doing all these big things. You're going to trigger all those responses in your body and your students are going to trigger all those responses in their bodies to help them feel really good, and improve their happiness and their health. And of course we all know that yoga increases your flexibility, as well, just because you're stretching. So for students with visual impairments, yoga is sooo good, you guys. First of all, you usually have a space, like a mat, and it's contained. And our students feel safe in that space. And they need, as you probably know, our students need direct instruction in so many areas. And so yoga provides a safe place where they-- for them to have direct instruction. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Benefits of Yoga for Children with Visual Impairments Content: • Creates a safe space for positive movement experiences • Increases motor planning • Increases self-determination/ leadership skills • Increases motor development, spatial awareness, proprioceptive awareness Description End: Yoga, because you're asking them to move in different ways, yoga increases their motor planning and it increases their self‑determination and leadership skills. [ Slide end: ] This one happens a lot, and it's not something I expected to happen, but all the time, you will see students ask to... show a pose, or they will tell you which pose is coming up next, once they have the routine down. And that right there shows that they are stepping out of their comfort zone and they are really taking leadership skills, leadership. The self‑determination-- scientifically it's been proven if you do a exercise routine once a week for 12 weeks you will increase your self‑determination, your self‑efficacy skills, so there you go. And of course the O&M person in me loves the fact that it really does help with your motor development, your spatial awareness, your proprioceptive awareness, and all this understanding of where your body is in space. Because in order for you to move past that, you have to know where you are right here. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: WHY students with Visual impairments NEED structured movement opportunities Description End: Vision is a motor motive. [ Slide end: ] So, in college we were told this really... interesting story about this little baby. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Vision is a Motor Motive Content: left-side photo: Figure 3 Baby laying on a yoga mat looking up. right-side photo: • Watches mom • Learns movement incidentally • Movement is MOTIVATING • Movement is SAFE Description End: This is Ro during one of our yoga practices, and, you know, Roman watches me do everything. He watches me make lunches. He watches me... he watches me do yoga. But he watches me, like, clean the house. He watches me pour water into a cup. He watches me do everything. [ Slide end: ] And he's learning so many different things to do with his body, and how hard to push, and how it opens, and all of those concepts about where things are stored, and how to move his body just by watching. And without that, then we have the student, the next slide is a student who has a... visual impairment, [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Vision is a Motor Motive Content: left-side photo: Figure 4 Child with a visual impairment sitting on a yoga mat with his legs crossed, looking down. • Lack of incidental learning. • Movement patterns may be delayed. • Structured movement classes provide a safe environment to facilitate movement Description End: and for them, they don't get to watch their mom do everything that she does. They're not gonna be able to watch thousands upon thousands of times of her opening the fringe, or stirring something, or moving her body, or putting a plate of food down. [ Slide end: ] How many times have you guys, like, put a plate of food down in front of a student, and they had no concept of, like, "Okay, the food is here, I have to get it to here." Things like that. The kids who have-- who don't have visual impairments can see all of that. Where our students don't have all of those opportunities of repetition to watch and to learn. So, motor development has been proven that it starts off the same for kids with visual impairments and for kids who don't have visual impairments. And only does it start to dip... when motor development reaches out further away from the body. So, when you start getting into-- starting the child needs to begin to roll, the child needs to begin to reach out, that's when the motor development for students with visual impairments is gonna lag. And then the motor development for "typical" students will continue along that typical range. And we don't develop reaching to hearing at the same age as we do reaching to sight. Also, movement is scary. And it's not safe. And they don't necessarily know what's coming up. So, we have all of those things going on. But, the point I want you to take away, is that we can get them there. Because it starts off the same. It's just the lack of vision as... a motor motive, and lack of feeling safe and motivation that hinders our students. Chapter 2. Starting a Yoga Class [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: HOW to start a Yoga “Class” with students with Visual Impairments Description End: So, this is where yoga comes in, and it's super wonderful. [ Slide end: ] You are going to leave here and tomorrow or whenever you can, you are going to start a yoga "class." Okay. "Class" because it can be-- it can look like a wide variety of situations. You can have a one‑on‑one. You can have... you being the teacher with a bunch of different aides. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Let’s Define Yoga “Class” Content: left-side photo: Figure 6 Students at TSBVI sitting in chairs with their arms lifted above their heads. right-side text: • Can look like a variety of experiences. • 1:1 • Many teachers, students • In a classroom for 5 minutes • In a pull out situation in a gym. Description End: You can have... a bunch of different students in a class, in their classroom. You might pull them out and go to a different space. You could just do yoga sitting up, and breathing, and reaching your arms up, or something for a few minutes. [ Slide end: ] It's going to look so different for everybody. But I really like the word "class," so we are gonna still call it class, because that's what resonates with me. Just know that it could look so different. I've had students doing yoga in my office, and one-on-one, which is how it is most of the time, and then I've also pulled an entire group of students and we do it in a gym. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Yoga Environments – What to Look for Content: right-side photo: Figure 7 A picture of floor space in an office. right-side photo: Figure 8 Students practicing yoga in an open space in a classroom. right-side photo: Figure 9 Picture of a gym, with a gym mat in the center of the floor. left-side text: • Lighting o Soft, but adequate lighting o Can turn off lights o No glare from windows • Sound o Quiet environment • Space o Free of obstacles, extra clutter Description End: So your yoga environment. These are three areas that... you can see-- I'll describe the pictures that I've done yoga in. One is my office. The second one is our OT/PT room. The third one-- I actually got this off the Internet, and, unfortunately, I forget where I got it from. But they are in their classroom. For your students, you're gonna want to make sure that the environment has some things that make it safe for them. Like you're going to want to make sure that all the clutter is taken out, it's free of obstacles. You're also gonna want to make sure that the lighting is softer, but adequate. Of course kids with glare, if you're in a room that has a window, you might want to make sure that the window is closed, or make sure there's a covering on it. [ Slide end: ] If you have students with low vision, you might want to make sure there's some light. If you have students who don't have any vision, and that's all that you have, then the lights may not necessarily matter. You can turn off all the lights and, then, again, the no glare from the windows. So that's the environment that you're going to go into and then your yoga routine is super important. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Yoga Routines Description End: Millie Smith has a bunch of different articles on the the TSBVI website. [ Slide end: ] If you are at all interested about routines. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: What is a Yoga Routine? Content: • “A routine is an instructional strategy developed to increase the level of participation in activities for students who require consistency and repetition in order to learn.” Description End: And routines are really important in yoga. If you ever go to the yoga class or take a yoga class online, you'll notice that they all have a routine. [ Slide end: ] There's a beginning, a middle, and an end. And it's all kind of predictable. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: What is a Yoga Routine? Content: • Routines provide consistency of expectations and anticipation of what is coming up so that the students can focus on practicing new skills. • http://www.tsbvi.edu/therapy/routines.htm Description End: Your routine is going to set the expectation for your student. It's going to let them know what's coming up, so that they can anticipate it, and it's going to allow them to not have to worry about, like, what's coming up? [ Slide end: ] What are we doing next? What's expected of me? They can just focus on learning new skills, and focus on the things that are really important instead of, like, I decided to change the yoga pose around, or... different things like that. You want to make sure that no matter what is going on in your routine, that the beginning and end are always the same. I'll say that again on this next slide. So, your general yoga routine. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: General Yoga Routine Content: 1. Breathing 2. Movements a. Seated/Warmup b. Standing c. Cool down 3. Relaxation 4. Valediction Description End: The first thing that you're going to do, just for the yoga routine part, is you're going to have them focus on their breathing, and then you're going to do your movements. And just like with any exercise, you need to warm up the body, and you need to warm up the spine. So you're going to do some seated movements at first. If you warm up their spine, they can be laying down, but the one that I'm giving you today is seated. So, I find that seated is pretty easy, since they're already seated to do the breath work. And then you're gonna have them come up to standing and do their standing poses. And then they can come back down to kneeling, and then eventually seated, and then eventually relaxation, which is laying down. [ Slide end: ] The last thing that we do, is say goodbye. In yoga we say Namaste. It's another way we bring in Sanskrit, and you don't have to say it in Sanskrit. You can say it in a different way. That's totally fine. But every yoga class will begin with breathing, go to movements, relaxation, and then end up in-- with you saying goodbye. But there are also some other expectations that you can ask of your class. You could have it so that they walk in and the yoga mats are all placed there and all they have to do is sit down and take off their shoes. Those are fine expectations. But if your students are ready to move past that ,or if they come into the situation at a level where they can do more than that, then expect them to, because they can. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Additional Expectations Content: Enter room, store belongings, gather/unroll cane, take off and store shoes. 1. Breathing 2. Movements a. Seated/Warmup b. Standing c. Cool down 3. Relaxation 4. Valediction Put on shoes, roll/store mat, gather belongings, exit room Description End: Some other expectations for them are when they enter the room, they can store their belongings, put way their cane, put away their backpacks, gather their mat, lay it down, unroll it. This part they usually need help with if it's... a group of mover than one or two students because a lot of times they overlap and they're in different places, but that's totally fine. [ Slide end: ] And then they can sit down and take off their shoes and then they can place their shoes next to them, so that way at the end then they can put their shoes back on. And then they can roll up their mat and they can put it away and gather their things and then they can live the room. And it gives them more of those self‑efficacy skills. It gives them more of the leadership, self‑determination skills, and a sense of empowerment, and not like it's just somebody else doing things for me. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Introducing a New Movement to a Student with a Visual Impairment Description End: When you are introducing a movement to a kid with a visual impairment, [ Slide end: ] you're going to use the same levels of assistance that you usually would when you are asking them to do something. It's really nothing new if you've worked with kids with visual impairments before. But we'll just go over them. And in a few minutes you'll see some clips of people in yoga classes, and them actually doing these things. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Levels of Assistance Content: • Verbal: Step-by-step verbal instructions. “Lift your arms above your head.” • Sound cues: Voice your voice or tap on an object. “Find the mat...” (tap gently on mat.) Description End: The first one that you want to try is verbal. Just give them step by step instructions. [ Slide end: ] In the yoga book, I give you step by step, word for word, what you can say for each yoga pose. Today we'll go through it, and we'll show clips of me demonstrating it, but I just don't have enough time to give you every single word. So you can look it up in your yoga book, or ask your friend some times. [ Slide start: ] repeat previous slide. So your levels of assistance. First you're going to verbal, just give them step by step verbal instructions, for example, "lift your arm above your head." [ Slide end: ] For this one, when you're going through it with your students, you might want to start with the ground, like what are their legs doing, and then move up. It seems to really help them feel grounded, and understand where they need to be in space so they can build it up. If they don't get that, and they're all out here, it happens, then you might want to give them a sound queue. You can bring your hand to tap on the mat or sometimes I tell them I'm gonna snoop they don't think I'm treating them like a dog, and then... snap your fingers above their head, and have them bring their hand up to that. That seems to work really well. And then the next types are physical modeling. And so that's where you do the pose. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Levels of Assistance Content: • Physical modeling: You, the adult, do the pose. Use Hand-Under-Hand to guide them to the position of your body parts. “Do you feel how my arm is extended in a straight line out from my body?” • Physical assistance: Use gentle physical prompts to assist the students’ body into the pose. “Do you mind if I touch you? I am going to help you bend your knee.” Description End: And then they feel you. So you will do the pose, and then guide them hand-under-hand to the position of your body parts. [ Slide end: ] So you might extend your arm out and bring their hand to your arm and say, do you feel how my arm is extended in a straight line out from my body? So that way they can, like, oh, okay, and then they can feel it. Then, if none of that is working, then you can get in their space; and ask them, of course. But that's when you would use physical assistance, and you could move their body. And asking if you can touch them, so that way you can move their hand to where it needs to be. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Different types of kids need different types of yoga sessions Description End: But different types of students are gonna need different levels of assistance and they're gonna need different types of yoga. [ Slide end: ] You're not gonna except a 3‑year‑old to sit through an hour‑long yoga class, you know? With students who have multiple impairments, combine your song-- combine your movements with songs. Radiant child yoga is a really good one, karma kids yoga is also another really good one. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Yoga for Young Students and Students with Multiple Impairments Content: left-side photo: Figure 10 Carolina and a student seated, facing one another. The palms of their hands are clasped in front of their bodies. • Combine songs with movements. • Consider a short (7-10 pose) sequence. • Get other adults or sighted peers to help! • Keep it light hearted and fun! Description End: You also want your sequence to be really short, seven to ten poses. [ Slide end: ] And sometimes even seven to ten poses, if you are talking about it, demonstrating it, helping them with it, and doing it with a song, that can take up to 30 minutes, or more. So keep it short, especially at first. And then you're also gonna want to get some adults and maybe some sighted peers to help you. It's so much more fun when you have a group. And they seem to get a lot more out of it when they can have people with them, as well. And if you're gonna have a big class, you need more support for kids who have multiple impairments, because you're gonna be running around, like all crazy, and you don't really want that. You want it to be a fun experience where they can actually get things out of it, so gather some help. [ Slide start: ] repeat previous slide. And with young kids, just like with anything, keep it light‑hearted. Keep it fun. You can make up your own silly songs if you want to. [ Slide end: ] Just have a lot of fun. And you have to be energetic and have a lot of fun, have a lot of... excitement in your voice, or else-- I mean, they might want to do it, but they will totally attach to you being excited about it. So we can show the clip of... Carolina and her student doing fly like a butterfly. Notice everybody in the row. They're all doing different kinds of levels of assistance. [ Video start: ] [ Music ] >> Fly like a butterfly, fly like a butterfly-- Kassy: Cool. So in the front, they are doing hand-under-hand, and all the way in the back you can see they're actually in chairs. [ Music ] >> Fly like a butterfly in the sky. Sleep like a butterfly, sleep like a butterfly, sleep like a butterfly through the night. Kassy: She brings her hands up. >> Stretch like a butterfly, stretch like a butterfly, stretch like a butterfly, up so high >> Stretch like a butterfly, stretch like a butterfly, stretch like a butterfly, up so high. [ Music ] [ Video end: ] Kassy: I love that. You can see how much help they needed for that class. And that's a group, a full class, four kids. And they had four adults working one-on-one with the students. For students who are... higher level, maybe they're middle schoolers, or maybe they're high schoolers, you don't necessarily have to have that much help. As long as they-- if they have multiple impairments and they're still really into songs and still go with songs and you're gonna need more help, but if they're older than you might not need as much help. You can do longer sequences with them, and you can put more emphasis on moving-- them moving their bodies correctly and the correct yoga poses. Where with younger kids you just don't-- that's not the point. You don't need to focus on them doing it correctly. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Yoga for Middle/High School Students Content: left-side photo: Figure 11 Student in a seated twist position on a yoga mat. right-side text: • Sequence can be longer. • Can put more emphasis on moving the body correctly. • Less help may be needed. • More of a calming or workout focus, less of a silly/fun time. Description End: For students who are older, you can also have a more traditional looking class, where you have a teacher and then you also have the students that are separated. [ Slide end: ] So we're gonna show you some clips from a group of students here on our campus that were doing chair yoga. They did this with a teacher who came in from... Austin. She doesn't teach children with visual impairments. She's just a yoga teacher. They were doing this, and I think it worked, but it wasn't the best for the students, so they've since moved away from this. But chair yoga is also an option. I'll let you go ahead and watch this clip. [ Video start: ] Arms out to the sides and all the way back down alongside your body. Again, inhale. Just reaching all the way up. Great job, Max. Lift up tall. Exhale slowly, kind of coordinating your movement with your breath. And one more time. This time we're gonna inhale, lift, reach all the way up. Everybody keep reaching their arms up towards the ceiling. Valentine, great job. Then interlace your fingers, if you can, and then you're gonna turn the palms to face up. So you're stretching through the wrist. You're pressing the palms up towards the ceiling so you feel your spine lengthen upwards. You bring some space into the spine. And if you can, just lift gently away from the chairs. And some of us might come around and help, on occasion. Keep reaching up, pressing up. Yeah. And then exhale, gently release the arms to the side. [ Video end: ] Kassy: So, in that clip you saw that... our student--- she's actually in a wheelchair and she doesn't have that much dexterity in her hands. And so her physical therapist came and physically helped her. They have the relationship that they can do that. And then other teachers came around and helped other students. Chapter 3. Your Yoga Sequence [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Your Yoga Sequence Description End: We're gonna keep going just to your yoga sequence. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Energizing Yoga Sequence Content: Breathing: Tune In Movement Sequence: 1. Rock and Rolls Pose 2. Seated Twist Pose 3. Mountain Pose 4. Moon Pose 5. Waterfall Pose 6. Warrior 1 Pose 7. Downward Facing Dog Pose 8. Cat-CowPose 9. Child’s Pose Relaxation Valediction Description End: In the book, this is the energizing yoga sequence. In the book there's also a game that comes with it, and I think there's a couple more poses. But this one is really good for you to use, if you don't really have very many experience with it. You will definitely be able to see some positive results from using this yoga sequence with your students; like, tomorrow, today if you're really a go‑getter. So for your yoga class, what it's gonna look like in action. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Your Yoga Class, in Action Content: Prior to class starting, the students enter, store their belongings, unroll their mats, take off their shoes, and sit facing the “front” of the room. You, the teacher, have already cleared any obstacles. You have set up the room by placing the yoga mats near the door. Soft music is playing. Description End: Prior to the class start, you're going to earn the space, whatever space it is, and I'm gonna say students, even though you might only have one-- and that's totally cool. You're going to go in and you're going to make sure that the space is set up like the environments we talked about earlier. You're going to make sure that there's no clutter. You're going to make sure that... everything is safe for them. If they're doing it in the class, of course, you're not going to move the desks around. That's okay. But just make sure that if the students are entering the space, that they can be safe and that they can be as independent as possible. I also like to have just soft music playing, and you can go to Bensound.com. I'm sorry this is not anywhere in the notes but I hope you write it down, Bensound.com and you can download free music that doesn't have any lyrics or anything. And then, before your class actually starts, the students will come in. You'll help them or ask them to... store their belongings, gather their things, gather their mat, unroll their mat, and then sit down and be ready for class. And you can ask them to sit facing the front of the room. To be honest, I usually have to go to the front of the room and be a sound queue, but you can have them face the short side of their mat as opposed to the long sides of their mat. That might help. It might end up facing backwards but you can help them. Okay. So we're gonna go through your yoga sequence, and I'm gonna show you... a picture of the pose, and I'll talk about it a little bit. And then we're gonna cut to a clip, and you'll be able to see it in action. So for breathe, this is gonna begin your routine, remember. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Breathing Content: right-side photo: Figure 12 Student seated with her legs crossed on a mat. Her palms are together at her chest. left-side text: • Begins the routine. • Hands at heart center, “Namaste pose” • Allows students to bring their mind to focus on what they are doing. • Modification: Sit on a cushion if knees or hips are uncomfortable. Description End: This is Millie and she serendipitously wore this awesome shirt that day, which is so awesome, and she has her hands in what we call Namaste pose, it just allows the kids to feel their breathing, because they can feel their sternum moving. Again, you don't have to do the hand movement; you can have them put their hands on their knees, or... somewhere else. That's fine. But breathing allows the students to bring their mind to focus on what they're actually doing, right now. [ Slide end: ] Because, remember, we talked about yoga is uniting your mind and your body through your breath. If they are uncomfortable or if their knees hurt or if, you know, they can-- you can tell that they're slouching, rounding in their lower back, have them sit up on something, I like a cushion, or sometimes I'll bring a thick towel from home and that seems to work well. [ Video start: ] Kassy: The first thing that you'll start with in your yoga class is breathing. Breathing allows your students to fully bring their minds to what they're actually doing. You're going to come into a seated position, we like to call it "crisscross apple sauce," and if their hips hurt or knees coming really far up you can put something underneath their hips like a blanket, maybe a pillow. I also like to use a towel. And then they can bring their hands to their heart center or just in front of them. Sometimes we also like to call it the sternum. And inhale and exhale. [ Video end: ] Kassy: From breathe, after you breathe a little bit... then you're going to go into your poses. And like I said you're going to warm up your spine. One of the ways we really like to do this, I got this one from our great OT/PT group is rock and rolls. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Rock and Rolls Pose Content: right-side photo: Figure 13 Student laying on her back, hugging her knees into her chest. She is lifting her head up towards her knees. right-side photo: Figure 14 Student is sitting with her knees up towards her chest, She is hugging her knees. left-side text: • Provides gentle warm up of the spine. • Engages the abdomen. • Modification: Assist student by helping them sit up from the back, not the front. • Concept Development: up/down, in/out Description End: This pose... helps engage their abdomen, and sometimes students can't do this. That's pretty normal. You want to help them from behind them instead of from in front of them. And I also added a little bit of the concept development. [ Slide end: ] I didn't do that for all of the poses, but you can see the pose in action now. [ Video start: ] For rock and rolls, the students are going to begin by laying down. And then bring their knees into their chess, and they can squeeze their knees, and then they will rock forward, like so. For the students who have a hard time rocking forward, you want to come around from their back, and possibly physically assist them, gently, up, instead of coming from the front. [ Video end: ] Kassy: So, again, we're still warming up the spine. We've warmed up this way. We're gonna twist in a seated twist pose. We'll gently warm up their spine. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Seated Twist Pose Content: right-side photo: Figure 15 Student seated with her legs crossed in front of her. She is twisting face her right side. One hand is on the mat behind her and one hand is on her knee. left-side text: • Gently warms up the spine. • Crosses midline. • Concept Development: front/back, left/right, up/down • Modification: Sit on a cushion if knees or hips are uncomfortable. Description End: It also helps them cross midline, which increases the neural activity in their brains, which is also really awesome. Again, any time you're in crisscross apple sauce or crisscross yoga sauce, or however you want to say it, easy pose, have them sit on a cushion or something higher if their hips or their knees hurt. [ Slide end: ] We'll show you how you can talk your students into this one. [ Video start: ] For seated twist, you're going to stay in your easy pose and then have the students lift their left arm up, bring it down behind them, and then their right arm can come up and come on to their left knee. And then all they have to do is twist over to the left. Come back to center. And then we'll repeat that on the opposite side. [ Video end: ] Kassy: As you noticed, I mirrored... you guys, or my students, but you don't have to do that. Your kids will catch on. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Mountain Pose Content: right-side photo: Figure 16 Student standing on a yoga mat with his hands by his sides. left-side text: • Begins the standing portion of the sequence. • Allows student to re-center their attention on the breath. Description End: Mountain pose, I really like adding this pose in there even though sometimes it might feel like a filler, but after doing so much movement and you're really getting into things, it really helps to recenter our students and it gives-- it gives students a... little bit of space, a little bit breathing room to get up into the pose if it takes them a while, especially if you have a group. [ Video start: ] Mountain pose starts our standing sequence, and this pose is in this sequence, specifically just to allow your students to stand up, feel their feet firmly planted on the ground, and then they can bring their shoulders on to their backs and allow their senses to really just feel how they feel standing up. [ Video end: ] Kassy: Now we're getting into the real, like-- little bit more advanced yoga poses. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Moon Pose Content: right-side photo: Figure 17 Student standing on a yoga mat. His hands are clasped above his body and he is leaning to his right. right-side photo: Figure 18 Student standing on a yoga mat. His hands are clasped above his body and he is leaning to the left. left-side text: • Energizing pose. • Strengthens the breathing muscles, posture, and the arms. • Concept Development: up/down, left/right Description End: This one is moon pose. It's energizing and helps strengthen your intercostal muscles, your breathing muscles, your posture, your arms, and you're also working on different concepts like up, down, left-to-right. [ Video start: ] The next pose is moon pose. From standing, you're just gonna have your students lift their arms up above their heads. Then their hands can collapse together, or glue together, and then they lean over to the left, come back to center, and then lean over to the right. And then come back to center. [ Video end: ] Kassy: And, again, it doesn't necessarily matter how far they reach their arms up. If they can reach their arms up all the way, that's great. Encourage that. If they have a situation like they have CP, then... just encouraging them to do as much as they can is wonderful. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Waterfall Pose Content: right-side photo: Figure 19 Student standing on a yoga mat. His hands are lifted above his body. right-side photo: Figure 20 Student leaning forward with his hands down towards the ground. left-side text: • Energizing pose. • Allows for greater flexibility in spine. • Concept Development: up/down • Precaution: Have student slowly come to standing if they have low blood sugar, high blood pressure, or get dizzy. Description End: Waterfall pose is so fun, but if you have a student who has low blood sugar, or high blood pressure, or if they get dizzy, then you're definitely gonna want to follow some precautions. But it's really great for up and down, and it is so energizing, and it's just a really great way to add some flexibility into their spine. [ Video start: ] For waterfall, the student will lift her arms up, and then bend forward, and reach her arms down towards the ground. And then they will come back up and go back down. If your student has any problems with blood pressure or gets dizzy, have them go slow, or just lift their arms and bring them back down. [ Video end: ] [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Warrior 1 Pose Content: right-side photo: Figure 21 Student standing on a mat. He has one foot forward and his arms are raised. left-side text: • Grounding pose. • Builds confidence because it is a “Power Pose.” • Strengthens the arms, legs • Increases proprioception through the feet. • Precaution: Do not allow the front knee to come in front of the ankle. Description End: And then warrior pose. This pose can be really difficult for students. I highly suggest having them step forward instead of stepping back when they go into it, but it's-- it's very grounding, because they can feeling their feet on the earth, and it strengthens their lower body, but it also lifts them up, and helps them feel more energized. [ Slide end: ] I don't know if you guys are familiar with Ann Cutty's research, she did a Ted Talk about this, but warrior pose is actually a power pose, and if you stand in it for two minutes, which we're not expecting a student to do, but... psychologically it will give them more-- it will increase their testosterone, lower cortisol, which is a sign of leaders and leadership. So you're working on leadership skills. I'll leave it at that. But go ahead and watch the video so that way you can see how to really help your students. [ Video start: ] Your next pose is warrior one. For our students I have found that it's a lot easier to have them standing in kind of the middle of the mat, and then step forward with one foot and lift their arms up. It doesn't have to be a perfect warrior arm just as long as they get the feeling of it. Then they'll step their foot back and do the same on the other side. [ Video end: ] Kassy: So after they do warrior one, then we're starting to come down. And as you can see, I do this pretty slowly. I don't just have them go from, like, this big expansive pose to laying down. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Downward Facing Dog Pose Content: right-side photo: Figure 22 Student on yoga mat in Downward Facing Dog Pose left-side text: • Increases proprioception through the hands and feet. • Facilitates weight bearing on hands. • Can be very difficult for our students. Start them off in All Fours first. Description End: You have to bring them back down just like you brought them up. So we're going into downward facing dog pose. I love this picture because it shows that pose do's not have to be perfect on the outside. This girl is getting so much out of this and it is wonderful for her. Down dog facilitates weight bearing on hands, which our kids really need, and increases proprioception, but it can be difficult, and in the video I'll explain how you can help your students with this. [ Video start: ] For downward facing dog you always want to have your student start in all fours. And if this is hard or uncomfortable have them just stay here. If they're ready to move on, they can flip their tows under and begin to lift their hips up. It might just look like this for the first few times, and then eventually they can begin to lift their hips up and backwards into downward facing dog. Again, because their head is below their heart any time your student has allergies, or low blood pressure, or just gets dizzy, in general, you'll want to avoid this pose and just stay on all fours. [ Video end: ] So we're gonna move on. So from all fours into down dog. Then the next pose is cat‑cow and this is both energizing and calming. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Cat-Cow Pose Content: right-side photo: Figure 23 Student on all fours on yoga mat right-side photo: Figure 24 Student on all fours on a yoga mat. His back is arched upwards and his chin is tucked. left-side text: • Gently energizing AND calming pose. • Increases proprioception through hands, knees, and feet. • Stretches the spine. • Facilitates weight bearing on hands. • Concept Development: up/down Description End: As you can see the first picture there's a back bend, and then the second picture there's a forward bend in there. And so it's pretty balancing. But it is very gentle on the spine. [ Slide end: ] And it also increases their proprioception, and... it helps facilitate weight bearing on our hands, and more concept development with up and down. You know I love sneaking in all those pieces of concept development. [ Video start: ] For cat‑cow have your students come into all fours with their hands underneath their shoulders and their knees underneath their hips. Inhale, and they can bring their belly down, look up with their children. Exhale, round in, and bring their chin in towards their chest. Continue doing this motion as they inhale and exhale. For students who have problems with their wrists, they can come on to their fists; and I like to keep the thumb out, instead of tucking the thumb under. [ Video end: ] Kassy: Now you'll notice my feet in that one. You can keep your feet flat or you can put the tops of the toes, or bottom of the toes on the ground. Doesn't really matter. Just a personal preference. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Child’s Pose Content: right-side photo: Figure 25 Student in Child’s Pose on a yoga mat left-side text: • Very calming pose. • Stretches the hips and low back. • Increases proprioception through the hands, head, and feet. • Perfect pose to help transition before Relaxation. Description End: Then I like to sometimes come into child's pose. And we're doing this simply because they were already there, basically. All they have to do is widen their knees, bring their tows together and sit back on their heels, but it just gives them a really good, very calming, very grounding pose, and it really helps with their proprioceptive awareness because there's so much information from the ground. [ Video start: ] For child's pose your students are going to come into all fours and bring their knees out wide. Their toes are going to come together and their hips will sit back on their heels. If this feels comfortable they can then move their head down to the ground and begin to relax. Child's pose is very calming. It will really work to start to bring them back down from all the exercise that they've been doing in their yoga class, and get them ready for Shavasana. [ Video end: ] Kassy: And Shavasana means resting pose, relaxation. Shavasana is a Sanskrit word, but in the book we don't use that, we just use resting pose. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Relaxation Content: center photo: Figure 26 Student laying on his back on a yoga mat. left-side text: • The HARDEST pose of all. • Allows students to rest and finish the class. • Have students stay in Relaxation for at least 5-10 minutes. • Play soft melodic music. Turn off the lights. • *Eye pillows, blankets, lavender lotion. Description End: So, relaxation is the hardest pose of all. If you look up certain yoga texts, it rates all the poses and levels of hardness, difficultness, and this one gets the highest rating, because it's so hard. The whole reason that we've been moving is so that way we can sit or lay down to finally calm our minds. Keep this... time in your yoga class sacred. [ Slide end: ] You want to make sure that your kids have enough time to actually relax. So if you only give them two or three minutes they're just going to sitting there, knowing and just waiting; that they don't have to do it because they don't want to because it's hard. You can also play really soft music. I would turn off the lights. Even if your students don't have light perception, I find that it calms them down more. Maybe because it calms me down. I don't know. But, turn off the lights. Have a soft music without any words. Allow them to actually relax. You want them to stay on their backs if at all possible. And stay here for about at least 5‑10 minutes. Some teachers also really like to use eye pillows or lotion or lavender lotion or weighted blankets. Sometimes we'll put a pillow behind the students' necks. And that's all fine and dandy. It really helps with the experience. Just make sure that there aren't any allergies, make sure that your student doesn't have any allergies or aversions, and make sure nobody else in the room does either. Because there's really nothing worse than trying to relax, and you smell this smell, or like you hear this thing, and you just can't-- so here's a video. [ Video start: ] For relaxation, or Shavasana, this is when your students are going to lay down on their backs and begin to relax. Make sure that this pose has at least 5‑10 minutes for their bodies to actually relax. You can play some very soft music. Sometimes students like to have a weighted blanket or maybe an eye pillow. Some students also like to have a lotion or lavender lotion. Just make sure that there are no allergies in the room with any of the students, and make sure you also turn off the lights and allow them to relax. [ Video end: ] And then the last thing that you'll do is you'll say goodbye. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Valediction Content: right-side photo: Figure 27 Student seated with her legs crossed on a mat. Her palms are together at her chest. left-side text: • Sets the end of the yoga routine. • Say “Namaste”, which means “I honor you”, or “The light in me honors the light in you”. Can say other words, gestures, etc.. Description End: Have the students just acknowledge that we had a great class. You can use the word Namaste, you don't have to use the word Namaste. Sometimes in the kundalini practice, or in radiant child yoga, they do a song, whatever works for you, sometimes they do silly noises, silly sounds. [ Video start: ] To end your yoga class, you'll again come into your easy pose, crisscross applesauce, bring your hands to your heart center, and we often say the word "Namaste" at the end. And that simply means that I honor you and I'm very thankful that you came to yoga class. [ Video end: ] And with anything, there are definitely extra considerations that you need to make. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Extra Considerations Description End: If this is a new concept for your administration, or for the parents, [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Other Things to Think About Content: • Support from administration • Support from paraprofessionals • Extra time to gather materials, declutter room, etc.. • Student ratios • Organization of room/ Layout of mats Description End: then you have to sell it to them because it really is important and it really does make a difference in these students' lives. For all the reasons that we talked about, but also for life reasons and helping them have something that can really help calm them, and use to self‑regulate their behavior. [ Slide end: ] So you definitely want to get them support from the people around you, and make sure that you schedule in some margin time before-- you have your time during, and then a little bit of time before and after so that way you can gather materials, de‑clutter the room and then make sure that you put the room back... how you found it, and have your student ratios and all of that stuff lined up. Chapter 5. Questions & Answers [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Parts 2 & 3 What to Expect Content: • Part 2: How to teach yoga to children with visual and multiple impairments • Part 3: How to incorporate yoga into the academic learning of children with visual impairments Description End: In the next... webinars, we will be splitting the two different types of students. I'm only splitting them into two. The first one is going to be for students with visual and multiple impairments. These are gonna be your students who are learning... curriculums that are more tied to their daily living skills. They're more motivated by songs, and they really like being silly, things like that. Maybe they have a harder time moving. That's gonna be that group. And then the next one is going to be all about academic students. Because it's a whole other ball of wax. Whole other situation. [ Slide end: ] And we're gonna talk about how you can incorporate yoga into the academic learning of our students who have to take the... state tests, and who have to pass all those things, and so they don't really have time for any extra things. So, how can you get that in for them. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Q&A Discussion Content: right-side photo: Figure 28 Student seated with her legs crossed and her hands at her heart. left-side text: • Leave your question in the comments so we can help you. • How can you bring yoga to your students? • What are some obstacles you might face? Let’s problem solve together. Description End: And then I now would love to have a Q&A discussion if you had any questions. But, also, if you have any answers for anybody who happens to type in a question, please feel free to write in your question and write in-- if you have the answer, if you have the same thing happen, go ahead and write it in there. So if you're having things come up for you right now, where you're like, yeah that would be great, but... Or, oh, yeah my decides would really like that, but... Or if there's a part of this where you can't really see how or why... you can make this work for you, let us know. [ Slide end: ] Lisa asked-- she typically sees students at home and she works for a private agency. Yes, definitely one-on-one instruction. But you know what the parents would love? The parents would love for you to show them how to do this. So if you can get them involved, that would be really wonderful, because who doesn't love more time with their babies. Oh, yeah, totally. Include them. Mm‑hmm. You can help facilitate their relationship, as well. One way that really works for roll releasing in this manner, is doing a yoga story or doing-- or, like, you write it out. And if you're in the home-- are you working with insurance concerns about not being a yoga instructor yourself? Well, that part I'm not 100% sure, but you're not doing anything-- like this is not gonna hurt anybody, what we've done. And so you can take the book and-- or you can take what I've given you, and you can take it to her. Nancy asked, has anybody tried to get the PE teacher on board and do this in the class with peers. Yes, we definitely have, and we found that that works really well. When you can include it in their day-to-day activities, sometimes what we end up doing with that is if the PE teacher already has a set thing that they like to do, then you can ask for maybe ten minutes at the very end, for this year, and then next year catch them towards, like, in April, contact them, and then see if you can add in more time. That seems to work really well. Krista works at the School for the Blind in South Carolina, so she might have this good answer, would fall under the O&M practices for insurance purposes of body awareness. That's probably true. Lisa, you might also want to look at your specific insurance policy and find out, exactly. Because you're not-- none of this stuff is going to hinder or injure anybody. I don't separate them by gender. There's one thing I do for males that I'll explain in a second. And do provide instruction by age groups? Yeah, I do. Because, for the same reasons that, like... a 2‑year‑old cannot be in a yoga class with an 8‑year‑old. They just- they like different things. My younger kids have much shorter attention span. You have to be quick. You have to change it up. You have to be... really fun, really energetic. But by the time they're 16 if you walk in like this, they're not gonna care. You have to be on their level. Older kids will have a longer class. Younger kids will have... a shorter class. Oh, boys. Boys in Shavasana need to be on their backs. We have found a lot of... inappropriate behavior when boys are on... their stomachs. But I don't separate them. How do you get middle school students to experience the benefit of yoga when they think that they're-- okay, yes, middle school students are super difficult. So, you have to make it super fly and cool. And... I wouldn't include songs. I would just include-- I would include a lot of warrior poses, like a lot of strength. And... you might just want to skip the songs. And you could include more, like, competition in a way, like, okay, we're gonna hold this for three breaths or, like, five breaths. Can you do it? That's what I would try with them. Whatever motivates them, middle schoolers, have them do-- go that way. Tori asks if you're just starting in this routine would you recommend starting with only seated kneeling poses closer to the ground or sitting/standing combos. You know, for this one, if you're just starting the routine, it depends on the age level of the students, Tori, but this... entire sequence, you can show and explain and then, do, like, the first half and then take out the-- let's see. So get up to mountain pose, and then-- do the ones that are easier first. And maybe skip down dog, maybe skip warrior. Maybe for cat‑cow you just come into all fours instead of cat‑cow. It just depends on how much time you have, and the level of your students. But if you really are struggling with that and you really need some more help, you can email me and we can help figure that out. Thank you guys so much for joining us. Namaste. [Silence] Fade up from black. Animation: Text for TSBVI transform into braille cells for TSBVI. Fade to black.