by Tracey Uber Cook – Yoga Tools For Schools Inc.

Since 2016, Yoga Tools for Schools has had the honour of participating in the Communities For Children (CfC) initiative, offering free wellbeing support to primary school educators, and families in the Townsville West district. This program, titled Yoga Tools For Learning and Life (YT4LL), operates within the Yoga Tools for Schools philosophy and framework through CfC’s facilitating partner The Smith Family.

Through this program, we share the self-awareness, self-care and self-management skills of our health and wellbeing program with educators and parents in the district, with free Wellbeing Workshops, Self-Care Yoga Sessions, Professional Development Training, and In School Support Sessions. In this way, parents and educators are inspired and empowered to manage their own wellbeing in today’s busy and often stressful world and also share the wellbeing techniques of Yoga Tools with the young people in their lives.

The feedback we have received from this program has been overwhelmingly positive, with many teachers reporting that their students often ask to use Yoga Tools when they are feeling anxious or unfocused, and some students reporting that they use Yoga Tools’ breathing and relaxation techniques to calm themselves at home and help them go to sleep. Educators also report that they feel more calm and relaxed after participating in our programs.

Educators within the program have the option to undertake a certification track to become a Program Leader, which allows them to support other staff and colleagues in sharing Yoga Tools in the classroom and workplace. Schools with a Program Leader can be listed as a Yoga Tools School and receive free ongoing support.

Visit our website, ytfs.com.au today to learn more.

“Yoga tools have been a lifesaver for my classroom! At the beginning of the year my students were really chatty and were not able to focus on tasks for a long time. I am now able to use a yoga tool to refresh and reset the children so I can finish the tasks. Yoga tools have also been working well after lunch breaks when the students are loud and hot from running around. I use a lot of breathing tools at this time. I also love that I can choose what tool to use at each moment whereas some of the pre-set apps have set tasks to do, that at the time, might not work best for the children. Thank you Yoga Tools for Schools for making my classroom more manageable.”
Paige Durum – Heatley State School