For more than 10 years, Maggie Evans' practice of yoga has helped calm her mind, decrease her stress and boost her fitness.

Now Evans and Christine Kroeze, staff members with the Inver Grove Heights School District, hope it can do the same for sometimes restless and energetic elementary school students across the district.

Last spring, Evans, a licensed counselor in the school district, and Kroeze, a family service worker, received roughly $4,000 in total grant funding from Dakota County through the Minnesota Department of Health's Statewide Health Improvement Program to bring a activity called Yoga Calm to Inver Grove classrooms.

The program blends traditional yoga — which focuses on mindfulness, nervous system regulation and physical exertion — with mental exercises and social games, according to Kroeze, who discovered Yoga Calm at a conference several years ago.

Kroeze and Evans used their grant money to purchase Yoga Calm instructional materials for two schools in the district: Pine Bend Elementary and Hilltop Elementary. The money also funded two yoga training sessions for dozens of teachers and staff members at each school in November.

Kroeze, who has already led several yoga sessions in the schools, said the typical session lasts 25 minutes. During that time, Kroeze dims the classroom lights, puts on soothing music and then leads students through a series of evocatively-named yoga poses, including "Volcano Breath," "Woodchopper," "Mountain" and "Crescent Moon."

Students complete relaxation exercises and end the session with a series of creative mental exercises, Kroeze said.

Not only are students getting physical exercise through the sessions, Kroeze and Evans said, they are learning to become calmer and more focused. Teachers in the district can also use the program throughout the day to regulate students behavior. If a classroom gets too rowdy, Kroeze said, take a five-minute yoga break. Likewise if worn-out students need an energy boost, she added.

The benefits of the Yoga Calm program jive well with goals set by the state's SHIP program, according to Dakota County Public Health Supervisor Mary Montagne. Montagne, who works with the review board that oversees the approval of SHIP grants in Dakota County, said SHIP is focused, in part, on increasing physical activity and reducing childhood obesity and chronic disease rates.

"Yoga helps with stretching and it helps with balance,” Montagne said. “It will increase the number of minutes that students are allowed and able to be physically active in the school day."

“We have really big classrooms with lots of kids,” Evans said. "It makes teaching easier, it makes [students] ready learners and ready listeners.”

A LINK BETWEEN ACADEMICS AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY?

The benefits of physical activity like the kind Yoga Calm promotes may extend beyond the realm of personal fitness and health, according to a report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the July, 2010 report, eight of nine studies found positive links between classroom-based physical activity and cognitive skills, attitudes, academic behavior and academic achievement.