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Look out for forthcoming book and CD.
Body Awareness's latest venture has been involvement in a SHIP (Southwark Health Inequalities Project) project under the Neighbourhood Renewal Scheme in Southwark.
The emphasis was on the use and impact of relaxation techniques in school. This involved the delivery of a relaxation based project to Key Stage One & Two children for 11 weeks as well as some very basic training for classroom teachers to help them continue the techniques on a daily basis in our absence.
The programme was assessed by external evaluators who were looking to see whether yoga and relaxation can contribute to changes in co-ordination, focus and concentration.
Two schools were involved in the project one with special educational needs involving seven young people with varying levels of ability. The final report is available, and it is showing that in most areas the levels of achievement increased from week 1 to week 10 during the yoga sessions.
The benefits of training the teachers have been greater where teachers participating had already been practicing yoga. Although all teachers involved have been enthusiastic two training days were not generally enough to give them the confidence to deliver basic techniques. The aim is to equip teachers to introduce 10 minutes of yoga daily to help children with stressful life situations and to help keep teachers' own stress levels under control.
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