Striking a pose

Downward dog, om and namaste are not words you will hear in yoga classes at Kohala Elementary School (KES). Instead, students recognize terms such as time-in, dolphin breath, imaginary garden and relaxation pose.

“It’s not a religious class, but Keiki Yoga Kohala (KYK) adds a focus on overall health and wellness, specifically targeting physical fitness and social-emotional awareness,” Principal Danny Garcia said.

KES is the only public school in North Hawaii that includes weekly yoga classes in their curriculum, reaching more than 300 K-5th grade students throughout the school year. The 12-week course is alternated between the grades each semester.

This month marks the program’s 10-year anniversary since first introduced at Kohala Elementary.

“The children’s behaviors have progressively improved over the years,” Garcia said. “The Yoga Ed curriculum, coupled with our PONO program, has taught our keiki empathy, compassion, self-regulation and aloha. Although we do experience the occasional poor choice, the rates of physical incidents and bullying/harassment has significantly decreased.”

Program coordinators and instructors Jamie Eversweet Belmarez and Maya Parish are taking the class to the next level this year.

“Our curriculum is aligned with and meets the national standards for physical education,” Belmarez said. “For the 2016-17 school year, we are very excited to be expanding it to specifically target all five core benchmarks of Social Emotional Learning (SEL): self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making.”

Parish added, “Our lesson plans are designed to engage our students by activating their whole selves.”

The benchmarks will each be covered in two-week modules, with an introductory module and a conclusion module totaling 12 weeks. Comprehension will be measured of all five benchmarks with pre- and post- module surveys. Longer format surveys measuring SEL competencies and perception of social, emotional, mental, and physical wellness will be conducted at the beginning and end of each semester to measure program effectiveness.

The instructors use their own yoga concepts and themes in the children’s classes.

“We lead activities based on yogic concepts such as ‘Time-In’ at the beginning of the class to sit silently and center ourselves as we become aware of our breathing, our sensations and our thoughts,” Belmarez and Parish said. “We always end with ‘Relaxation Pose’ to wind-down, relax and re-charge for the rest of the day ahead. This may include guided imagery where the children visit their imaginary garden, for example.”

They also make students more aware during the yoga classes by asking them questions such as, “How can I shift myself from feeling unfocused to focused?” and “How do different movements make me feel?”

Teachers and administrators are also involved in the program.

“We conducted an initial meeting with Kohala Elementary classroom teachers and Principal Garcia on Aug. 17 to introduce the expansion of our program, share our approach to classroom management and to invite the teachers to participate and actively support the yoga education in their classrooms,” Parish said. “This year we are also offering a new yoga class for all teachers and admin staff here for 26 weeks to introduce the SEL benchmarks we are teaching the students. This will give them an opportunity to explore the benefits of yoga for themselves and unwind, relax and receive physical exercise free of charge.”

Teachers have seen a difference in their students’ behavior since the program began.

“Yoga in the school may have once been perceived as novel or even a bit ‘weird’ but now that we are going into our 10th year I can say that most, if not all, teachers at KES who have experienced yoga in their classrooms over the years see the benefit and are big supporters,” Belmarez said. “I routinely get positive feedback especially from kindergarten teachers Ms. Larson and Ms. Lyons. I know that a teacher is a supporter especially when I see them participating with their students. This happens a lot in Ms. Jones’ and Ms. Gusman’s third-grade classes and Ms. Bautista’s fifth-grade class.”

She has also observed positive changes since she began teaching the program at KES four years ago.

“I have seen huge transformations in students, especially boys, where they first may have been very easily distracted or distressed. At the end of the semester they are much more capable of self-management,” Belmarez said. “Nervous tics become released during deep breathing. Aggression turns into focus. It’s pretty amazing what can happen in just a few moments of awareness.”

The KYK program is made possible by grants, fundraising events and private donations from community members and local businesses including Under The Bodhi Tree, Kohala Coffee Mill, Elements, Paradise Postal, Kohala Pacific Realty, Sushi Rock, Sweet Potato Kitchen and Hawaii Island Retreat.

Belmarez and Parish want to expand the program even further next year.

“If we receive the Hawaii Community Foundation’s Pillars of Peace grant, which we recently submitted, we will expand the program to serve all 335 K-5 KES students for a full school year of programming so they can receive continuous Keiki Yoga Kohala programming throughout the year,” Parish said. “If we receive that grant, we will expand the program in 2018-2019 to serve all of the Kohala Middle School students as well.”

To celebrate the program’s 10th anniversary, a mini yoga retreat fundraiser will be held on Sept. 25 at Hawaii Island Retreat in Kapaau. Open to adults and children 16 years and older, several concurrent yoga classes will be taught for all levels by Belmarez, Parish, Chelsea Morriss, Pascale Michel, Carla Orellana and Dr. Hana Roberts. Advance tickets are $45, $55 at the door or $20 for a drop-in class fee. One hundred percent of all proceeds will go to KES’s yoga program.

General donations can also be made through the KYK website at www.keikiyogakohala.com/giving.html.

Info: Jamie Eversweet Belmarez at 756-3919 or jeversweet@gmail.com