North Fayette Valley Language Arts Teacher Kelli Kovarik wanted to implement the relaxation of yoga into some of her classes. After receiving a grant to purchase yoga gear, Kovarik invited Andrea Scott from Yoga Genesis in Fayette to come in and teach a session to her Public Speaking students.
Using Yoga for Classroom Relaxation
By Megan Molseed
mmolseed@thefayettecountyunion.com
It was a few years ago when North Fayette Valley Language Arts teacher, Kelli Kovarik was at the annual Keystone Premier Education Conference (KPEC) that the idea of introducing yoga into her classroom first crossed her mind.
“It started with meeting Molly Schreiber,” she remembered.
“She runs the Challenge to Change program, and had everyone in the room relaxed and ready to go with yoga and meditation,” continued Kovarik. “There were hundreds of people at the session! I was shocked to see so many there for ‘just’ yoga.”
Challenge to Change was developed with the mission to teach lifelong wellness skills for the overall growth and support of the mind, body and spirit of all ages through the practices of fitness, yoga, mediation, and daily mindfulness.
Through the program, the founders believe that in giving children the gift of yoga, mindfulness and meditation enables them to have choices and resources to self-regulate through movement and breath work.
“This is so our smart minds are connected to our kind hearts and our calm bodies,” Schreiber has said of the program.
After her sessions with Schreiber at the KPEC conference, Kovarik started taking time out of her busy schedule as a high school teacher, a mother, and a wife to take a few breaths at our own local yoga studio, Yoga Genesis in Fayette with Andrea Scott.
