Partner Turtle
A K-5 Mindful Movement Partner Practice
Students begin this practice by sitting on the floor facing a partner. Bending their knees, they pull their heels toward them so they can press the bottoms of their feet together and then slowly lower their knees toward the floor to feel a gentle stretch in their hips and thighs. From this position they slide their hands between their legs and then underneath their calves to clasp hands with their partner and then gently fold forward, allowing their backs to curve. They pause there for several breaths. To exit the pose, they let go of their partners’ hands, slowly sit up, and return to a comfortable seated position with arms at their sides.
Students begin this practice by sitting on the floor facing a partner. Bending their knees, they pull their heels toward them so they can press the bottoms of their feet together and then slowly lower their knees toward the floor to feel a gentle stretch in their hips and thighs. From this position they slide their hands between their legs and then underneath their calves to clasp hands with their partner and then gently fold forward, allowing their backs to curve. They pause there for several breaths. To exit the pose, they let go of their partners’ hands, slowly sit up, and return to a comfortable seated position with arms at their sides.
When practiced regularly, this pose may help students gain flexibility in their knees, inner thighs, and backs and improve their collaboration skills.
Preliminary research into the impact of yoga training in schools suggests that yoga may be beneficial to child development. For example, early studies indicate that yoga training is associated with increases in students’ perceived self-concept (Scime & Cook-Cottone, 2008) as well as improvements to their emotional balance and well-being (Stück & Gloeckner, 2005). Students who participate in school-based yoga programs also experience fewer maladaptive responses to stress, including, for example, less rumination, fewer intrusive thoughts, and less emotional arousal (Mendelson et al., 2010).
Yoga programs are also associated with improved classroom readiness. Students who participate in yoga training experience enhanced concentration and greater abilities to function under pressure (Ehud, An, & Avshalom, 2010), and they tend to enact fewer disruptive behaviors in school (Berger, Silver, & Stein, 2009).
Yoga programs may also offer physical health benefits to students. A systematic review of the therapeutic benefits of yoga for children found that yoga enhances children’s motor performance and cardiorespiratory health, while it decreases children’s resting heart rate, cortisol levels, and symptoms related to childhood-asthma. The same review also found evidence of yoga’s positive impact on children’s musculoskeletal system, including by enhancing children’s flexibility and strength (Galantino, Galbavy, & Quinn, 2008).
Yoga training appears to be associated with relatively few risks. At least one adverse event has been observed in research on the impact of yoga on children, however. An individual was unaware of a preexisting condition that was exacerbated by an inverted yoga posture (de Barros, Bazzaz, Gheith, Siam, & Moster, 2008). Thus, educators should exercise caution when teaching more advanced poses to students in school settings.
Audience: K-5 students
Time: Any time of day
Duration: 5 minutes per session
Space: Classroom
Social context: Partner practice or group practice
Materials
- One yoga mat per pair of students.
- Enough floor space that students can spread out.
Setup
- Arrange the yoga mats, ensuring that students have enough space to move without bumping into one another.
- If you have enough space, consider arranging the yoga mats in a circle so that you can see each student from your own mat.
Visual Aids
- None
You do not need to read the included script verbatim. Adapt the language so that it is appropriate for your students in particular.
It is perfectly appropriate to simplify the breathing cues, particularly when you first introduce the pose to your students. You might invite students to simply count several breaths in the pose, or you might opt to omit explicit reference to breath altogether.
It is not important for students to get the pose exactly right. Instead, focus on helping them build mind-body awareness each time you practice.
Offer students positive reinforcements throughout each practice. Focus on qualities and behaviors they can control, like their focus, effort, or persistence. Be specific whenever possible. This will help your students develop a growth mindset.
Before introducing this posture, brainstorm as a class what it means to be a good partner during partner poses. Discuss how the students can help keep each other safe and consider creating a list of class agreements for partner poses that are easily visible throughout the practice. For example, students might agree that if one partner feels uncomfortable and says “stop,” the other partner will immediately pause and determine how to help.
Begin by sitting comfortably on the floor across from a partner.
Scoot in so that you are as close as possible to each other without touching.
Start by gently bending your knees and pulling your heels toward you so you can press the bottoms of your feet together.
Take a deep breath in, and as you breathe in, sit up tall. Do you feel taller when your back is straight?
As you breathe out, slowly relax your knees down toward the floor.
Wonderful.
Now gently slide your left arm between both legs and then under your left calf, resting your left hand on the floor.
Then gently slide your right arm between your legs and then under your right calf, resting your right hand on the floor. Now gently bend forward. This is turtle pose.
Now see if you can reach out and hold your partner’s hands from this position. Listen to your body, if it starts to feel uncomfortable, scoot in closer and try again.
Take a deep breath in.
As you breathe out, slowly lower your upper body toward the floor.
Gently fold over your legs.
Relax your head down and allow your back to curve.
Wonderful. Let’s hold this for two breaths.
As you breathe in, notice how your back moves as it fills with air.
As you breathe out, see if you can hear your breath. Listen closely!
As you breathe in, notice any discomfort you feel.
As you breathe out, imagine that discomfort melting away.
Great job. As you breathe in, slowly sit up straight.
Bring your arms out from underneath your legs
Return to a comfortable seated position.
Berger, D.L., Silver, E.J., & Stein, R.E. (2009). Effects of yoga on inner-city children’s well-being: A pilot study. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 15, 36–42.
de Barros, D.S., Bazzaz, S., Gheith, M.E., Siam, G.A., & Moster, M.R. (2008). Progressive optic neuropathy in congenital glaucoma associated with the Sirsasana yoga posture. Ophthalmic Surgery Lasers and Imaging Retina, 39, 339–340.
Ehud, M., An, B.D., & Avshalom, S. (2010). Here and now: Yoga in Israeli schools. International Journal of Yoga, 3, 42–47.
Galantino, M. L., Galbavy, R., & Quinn, L. (2008). Therapeutic effects of yoga for children: A systematic review of the literature. Pediatric Physical Therapy, 20(1), 66-80.
Mendelson, T., Greenberg, M.T., Dariotis, J.K., Gould, L.F., Rhoades, B.L., & Leaf, P.J. (2010). Feasibility and preliminary outcomes of a school-based mindfulness intervention for urban youth. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 38, 985–994.
Scime, M., & Cook-Cottone, C. (2008). Primary prevention of eating disorders: A constructivist integration of mind and body strategies. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 41(2), 134-142.
Serwacki, M., & Cook-Cottone, C. (2012). Yoga in the schools: A systematic review of the literature. International Journal of Yoga Therapy, 22, 101–110.
Stück, M., & Gloeckner, N. (2005). Yoga for children in the mirror of the science: Working spectrum and practice fields of the training of relaxation with elements of yoga for children. Early Childhood Development and Care, 175, 371–377.