10 Tips to Integrate Science during Yoga in the Classroom
Friends Eating Oyster Pose is the first yoga pose in the book Breathe and Stretch on the Beach.
Do you need an academic reason to teach yoga in the classroom? Use your time wisely by integrating science during friends eating oyster pose from the book Breathe and Stretch on the Beach. Here are 10 simple lessons.
Anatomy
SPINE (back bone) - As students sit cross-legged and back to back, remind them to lengthen their spine by pressing their sit bones into the ground and lifting their skull to the ceiling. Feel your skull and recognize that the brain is protected under your skull (allow students to feel skull and spine with fingers). Your spine helps you to stand tall and strong.
Lungs & Rib Cage - Draw your shoulders away from your ears to open your chest. Your lungs are protected by your rib cage, which is made of 24 ribs (feel your ribs).
Oxygen & Carbon Dioxide - You breathe in oxygen through your nose. Your nose hair filters the air, while your nostrils warm it. The oxygen goes down your esophagus and into your lungs. Your two lungs expand with oxygen as you inhale, and you exhale carbon dioxide. The rich oxygen is then taken to all your cells and blood.
Nervous System - Your nervous system is made up of your brain, spinal cord, and nerves. When you breathe deeply a message is sent to your brain to relax. The brain then sends the message through your spinal cord to your nerves to relax.
Marine Science
Oysters are mollusks. They have a soft body with a hard shell. All mollusks live in water.
Oyster beds are filters. They help clean the water and are great for the environment.
Mound Key is an island in Southwest Florida where the Colusa Indians lived off oysters and fish. The shells of these delicious oysters created a huge mountain that is near 30 feet high.
Pearls from oysters are usually found in deep water.
The calcium from the oyster shells is great for helping your garden grow.
Oysters taste best in the winter when the water is cold.