5 Simple & Relaxing Classroom Yoga Exercises for School Kids
In a classroom, kids' energy can often take over in unexpected ways. Sometimes, their creativity and spontaneity bring joyful moments and connection, but at other times, things can become a bit chaotic and difficult to manage.
For teachers, it’s important to find simple, effective methods to help maintain focus and calm, without taking too much time away from the lesson plan. That’s where incorporating classroom yoga exercises can be incredibly helpful.
These exercises don’t have to involve a full yoga session—just a quick 2-3 minute practice can make a significant difference. By allowing students a short moment to breathe, stretch, and ground themselves, you can help them reset and refocus, creating a more balanced and peaceful learning environment. These mini-breaks are easy to fit into the school day and won’t take away from valuable teaching time.
Read this article until the end and you’ll discover 5 easy and fun classroom yoga exercises that you can easily introduce to bring calm and concentration to your students, while still having plenty of time to cover the rest of the lesson.
Introducing Yoga and Mindfulness in The Classroom?
If you’re part of the Yogi Beans community of yogis, teachers, and parents, you’ve likely already read our article, “How Does Yoga Affect School Children?” In that piece, we emphasized that yoga and mindfulness go beyond simply helping kids relax—they have a deep impact on emotional well-being and body awareness, ultimately empowering children to navigate both school and life with greater confidence and emotional intelligence.
While introducing full yoga sessions in schools can be a gradual process (click on the link for more info), you don’t need to commit to a lengthy routine to bring a sense of mindfulness into your classroom. A simple 3-5 minute breathing exercise is often enough to create a calming and joyful atmosphere, helping students reset and refocus.
If you’re looking to go beyond a quick practice and dive deeper into the benefits of kids' yoga and mindfulness, we invite you to explore our various training options. Whether you prefer joining one of our live online programs or learning at your own pace with our video-on-demand course, you'll find everything you need to integrate yoga and mindfulness into your classroom effectively.
5 Yoga Exercises for The Classroom
Here are five easy yoga exercises that can help bring calm, focus, and balance to your classroom without requiring much space or time:
1 - Breathing Anchor
The Breathing Anchor exercise is a simple yet effective way for children to connect with their breath and enhance their mindfulness. This practice encourages awareness of different areas of the body, helping students find calm and focus in the moment.
Instructions:
Have children sit comfortably with their hands resting on their bellies.
Instruct them to take three deep breaths, focusing on expanding their bellies as they inhale and deflating as they exhale.
Next, slide hands up to the sides of the ribs. Encourage children to send their breath into their ribs, allowing them to expand like an accordion with each inhale.
Finally, place hands on the chest and invite them to send their breath into their heart.
At the end of the exercise, ask children where they felt their breath the most. Remind them that there are no right or wrong answers—each experience is unique!
2 - Lion’s Breath (Simhasana)
This fun and energizing breathing exercise helps release tension and can bring laughter and joy to the classroom. It also encourages deep breathing and mindfulness.
Instructions:
Come onto your knees, sitting up tall with a straight spine and puffing out your chest like the "King of the Jungle."
Pretend to scratch your lion "paws" to get into character.
Take a deep breath in, filling your lungs with air.
When exhaling, let out a big "roar" while sticking your tongue out as far as possible. You can also try a quieter lion roar or a purr, as if the lion is stealthily hunting in the jungle.
Explain that this breathing exercise helps release frustrations and can be useful when feeling angry, upset or frustrated.
3 - Tree Pose (Vrksasana)
Tree Pose is a great way for students to ground themselves and reset their focus. To enhance this experience, encourage creativity by allowing kids to choose the type of tree they want to embody that day. For example, they can raise their arms high like a tall pine if they’re happy, bring hands together like a calming cactus for peace, or lower their arms if they’re feeling sad or angry. This imaginative approach fosters emotional awareness and playful exploration of their feelings in a safe space.
Instructions:
Start in mountain pose (tadasana), press feet firmly into the ground, close your eyes and take 3-5 deep breaths, feeling your connection to the ground.
Gently shift your weight onto your left or right foot and find a point in front of you to focus on, which will help with balance.
Lift your right or left foot and slowly position your ams.
Avoid pressing your foot into your knee during Tree Pose; instead, place it above or below.
Ask students how it felt to balance on one leg and what strategies they used to stay steady.
4 - Centering in Pairs
This calming partner activity encourages children to become more aware of their breath while also fostering a sense of connection with a classmate. Through synchronized breathing, children not only enhance their focus and relaxation but also build trust and mindfulness in their interactions. It's a simple yet powerful way to promote calm and connection in a shared space.
Instructions:
Find a partner and sit back-to-back on the floor with legs crossed.
Start mirroring your partner's breath, inhaling and exhaling together.
Start ask them to alternate their breathing, where one child inhales while the other exhales.
Encourage the children to reflect by asking, "How did it feel to focus on your own breath? And how did it feel when you shifted your attention to your partner’s breath?"
5 - The “Loving Kindness” Meditation
Have you ever heard of the enchanting “Loving Kindness” meditation? At Yogi Beans, we cherish this practice so much that we’ve dedicated an entire article to exploring its benefits and techniques.
Rooted in traditional Buddhist teachings, this meditation invites participants to cultivate love and compassion, both for themselves and for others. It's a beautiful way to foster positive emotions and deepen connections, making it a beloved part of our curriculum.
Self-Love: Ask children to send love to themselves by silently repeating the mantra, “May I be happy. May I be healthy.”
Sending Love: Have them picture someone they love and send that person love with the mantra, “May you be happy. May you be healthy.”
Community Connection: Encourage children to visualize someone they see often but don’t know well (like a bus driver or crossing guard) and send that person loving thoughts.
Transforming Annoyance: Guide them to think of someone who annoys them, perhaps a bully or a sibling. Ask them to recall a fun moment shared with that person and send loving thoughts their way.
Global Love: Finally, invite children to extend their loving thoughts to the entire city, state, country, world, and universe.
These simple exercises can seamlessly integrate into your classroom routine, helping students achieve balance both at school and in their lives. By incorporating these mindful practices, you create an environment that supports emotional well-being and enhances focus, allowing children to navigate their day with greater ease and confidence.
Yogi Beans Programs for Schools and Teachers
If you enjoyed reading this article, we have more for you! Yogi Beans is proud to be an approved vendor for the New York City Department of Education and a registered service provider with the Nassau BOCES Artists in Schools Program.
We take great pride in providing our programs to over 60 private and public schools throughout New York City, Long Island, Westchester, and New Jersey. Our reach doesn’t stop there; we also cater to a variety of learning environments, including homeschool settings, preschools, nurseries, special needs schools, youth organizations and summer camps.
Whether you’re a school administrator or a teacher looking to introduce more mindfulness into your classroom, we offer a diverse range of programs tailored to meet your needs. Our pillars hold the formula for a healthy, happy, and thriving child!
We invite you to explore our “Education” page to discover the various offerings we have available and how we can support your community in fostering mindfulness and connection.
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