JONESBORO, Ark. - As kindergartners begin to learn how to read, they benefit from also learning about body and space relationships.
Jonesboro Kindergarten Center Principal Becky Shannon said research shows students need activities like standing on one foot not only for balance and coordination but also to help them with reading.
"When students do activities like crossing their arms and legs, they are utilizing both sides of the brain, which helps students learn how to read," Shannon told The Jonesboro Sun. "Students have a center line and until they learn to cross that center line, they can't read from left to right."
Shannon said yoga poses help with that process, so this year students are doing yoga in the school's cafeteria.
"We started yoga last year," she said. "I purchased a few mats, and tried it out."
Shannon said it went well, so she purchased 120 mats with a $25,000 school improvement grant.
"I purchased basketballs, tricycles, hula hoops and had four squares painted on the playground," she said.
Kindergarten teacher Christa Chastain said yoga is an activity that gets students out of the classroom.
"It gets them off the carpet, out of seats and gets their brains ready to go back to the classroom," she said. "It is a way for them to move their bodies, learn breathing techniques and focus."
There has been some controversy in other parts of the country where parents have objected to the use of yoga in classrooms, mainly because of the religious connotations associated with the practice.
Jonesboro Kindergarten Center teachers use a video in YouTube called "Cosmic Kids." In the opening of one of the videos the yoga instructor teaches students to use the word "namaste" as an introductory part of the yoga lesson.
An article in The Atlantic titled "Why schools are banning yoga" cites a case that occurred in 2016 involving an elementary school in Cobb County, Georgia. The article states parents objected to yoga classes being taught in the school because they claimed yoga promotes non-Christian belief systems.
The school was forced to re-examine the yoga program and ended up modifying it, which included removing the namaste greeting at the beginning of yoga class.
Namaste is a greeting that includes a gesture, called anjali mudra or pranamasana, which has roots that stem from Hinduism. The word itself in Hindi means "I bow to the divine in you."
Shannon said she has not given that aspect of yoga any thought. "It is just another form of exercise," she said.
So far, there has been no reaction from parents about the school practicing yoga, although programs have had to be modified in the past because of parental disapproval.
"We had to change our Christmas program because we had parents complaining that singing songs like "O Holy Night" was promoting religion. Now we do our programs and play around Santa," she said. "Now people are saying they miss the traditional program."
The kids seem to love learning about the yoga, Shannon said, noting that by January they have most of the poses down. Some of their favorite poses include the house pose and the mouse pose.
Ultimately the goal of Jonesboro Kindergarten Center educators and administrators is to impart the love of learning to their students.
"We are trying to help the kids learn, to be safe and to love learning," Shannon said.