The introduction of yoga and meditation classes in schools is an example of alternative ways that schools can help students to focus and reduce anxiety by learning how to relax.
The Canberra Times' report on Blue Gum School's use of yoga and meditation to help their students is a timely example of the sorts of proactive steps schools can take to improve the level of pastoral care they are providing to students.
Blue Gum is an independent school located in Canberra and it has been teaching yoga to students since 2013 as a way of helping them to improve their concentration and anxiety levels.
The introduction of yoga and meditation is timely because of the increasing rates of mental health issues among students.
We recently wrote about the rising levels of fear and anxiety amongst children due to various causes, including the rise of social media and the increased global connectivity of children as a result of their increased access to technology.
Now research has been done on how schools can play an important role in helping students to seek help for mental health issues by developing ways to improve social relations at school.
Blue Gum's initiative is an example of alternative forms of physical exercise to engage students, which, like other forms of exercise, will also help them to engage with each other.
The Canberra Times quotes Ruth Pickard, student welfare officer and yoga teacher at Blue Gum, as saying that yoga 'was one of the most constructive things to teach children for their mental health and well-being' and that it 'particularly helped students manage anxiety – a condition even some of the younger children are being medicated for'.
'Sometimes with younger children, to slow them down and to get them to listen and to be present can help them to gain more control and therefore a sense of comfort with the group and themselves.'
Blue Gum's attempts to reduce stress and anxiety amongst its students is particulalry important in light of BeyondBlue's recent relaunch of its anxiety campaign.
According to BeyondBlue's press release 'too many people still don’t know that anxiety conditions are genuine mental health issues and do not realise how common they are, despite more than a quarter of Australians experiencing an anxiety condition during their lives'.
BeyondBlue's campaign aims to educate people to understand that anxiety is not 'just stress or a character trait' but a mental health condition which requires treatment.
BeyondBlue's data shows that 'only half the population knows anxiety is not part of someone’s personality. Similarly, only six in 10 people understand that anxiety is not just stress. An anxiety condition is different from stress, which everyone experiences occasionally.'
What this information means for schools is that although a diagnosed case of anxiety in a student will require medication, they can also play an important role in helping students who suffer from the condition to learn how to relax and have fun engaging with other students through non-competitive exercise - like yoga.
Schools also have an important role in educating staff and students about mental health conditions, including helping them to understand how to identify when a student may be demonstrating symptoms. In addition to having a duty of care to educate students, schools also have a duty of care to ensure the welfare of their students and this duty extends to pastoral care.
It also means that BlueGum's approach to teaching students the benefits of yoga and helping them to learn how to relax should be seen as a practical and fun way for schools to take steps to improve the mental health of their students.
