About us
Seedling Yoga is a not- for -profit organisation that is committed to cultivating more connected classrooms and communities through the science of Yoga.
Seedling Yoga began in 2017 through a partnership between Seedling Yoga creator Sara Warnock and the Hutt City Council.
Since the first Pilot in Term 3 of 2017 the Seedling Yoga for Schools Curriculum has planted ideas of self-awareness, choice, kindness and curiosity in classrooms across the Hutt Valley and Wellington.
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What is Yoga?
Yoga is an ancient Indian science of self-connection that has been taught and shared, teacher to student, for thousands of years.
When Yoga is mentioned, it often conjures images of legging-clad people on mats performing stretches.
Prominent Yoga scholar, Sri Swami Satchidananda describes the real practice of Yoga as "the complete understanding and mastery over the mind."
He states that the real meaning of Yoga can therefore be considered "the science of the mind."
Indeed, the word Yoga can be used to describe an ocean of philosophies and practices that differ across regions and teachers. At seedling Yoga, we teach a framework of Yoga systematised by the Indian scholar, Patanjali.
Patanjali threaded together many of the ancient practices that Indian sages used to study and control their minds and consciousness creating what is now understood as the eight limbs of Raja Yoga.
The 8 Limbs
For Example,
The Yamas and the Niyamas were originally created thousands of years ago in a very different culture and time to now. Their beauty is the way they act as suggestions or ‘archetypes’ rather than prescribed do’s and don’ts.
They suggest ideas for you to reflect on.
What do I understand that word to mean?
How do I currently express it in my life?
How could I bring more of it into my daily routine?
In the table below, the original Sanskrit name for each ‘value’ and its direct translation as found in Yoga literature can be found. To the right are how Seedling has considered and reinterpreted them in a local context.
As children and their teachers move through the physical postures (Asana) and sit in meditation (Dhyana) they notice their breath and can practice controlling it (Pranayama).
As they go further into this they might notice their thoughts in a stretch or shape they find difficult might be something like this:
"I am so stupid, why can't I do this? There must be something wrong with me!"
As they become aware of these thoughts through their seed planters' gentle suggestions, they are practising svadyaya (self-study).
Once aware, they are able to make a choice to speak more compassionately to themselves:
"I can do this, it's ok to find things difficult, I am learning."
By speaking kindly to themselves they are then practising Ahimsa (non-violence) .
From the moment we enter the classroom to the moment we leave we are practicing Yoga, modelling it in our own words and actions.
We invite students to consider if the person they are sitting next to is someone who will help them focus on themselves, encouraging self-responsibility.
We offer choice in movements, encouraging them to listen to their own bodies about what it needs in each session.
We encourage curiosity, asking questions and inviting new ideas to be shared and discussed rather than answers to be solved.
Yoga and The New Zealand Curriculum
Yoga embodies The New Zealand Curriculum’s vision for our young people by exposing them to activities that encourage and facilitate thinking about themselves, their emotions, feelings, and physical and mental needs and exposing them to practical solutions to support and manage these needs and experiences.
The New Zealand Curriculum segments learning into eight key learning areas, Literacy, Numeracy, Science, Technology, The Arts, Social Science, Learning Languages and Health and Physical Education.
The Health and Physical Education Learning area and its subsequent Achievement Objectives have been conceived with the underlying values of Hauora, Attitudes and Values, Social Ecological perspective and Health Promotion.
Yoga & Te Whare Tapa Wha
Hauora, is a Māori Philosophy of well-being, and is articulated in the New Zealand Curriculum through Dr Mason Duries model ' Te Whare tapa Wha' which envisions an individual as a house (whare) with four (wha) walls or sides (tapa).
These walls or dimensions, Taha Wairua (Spiritual/Emotional Health), Taha hinengaro (Mental Health) Taha tinana (Physical Health) and taha whānau (Family/Social Health) are all integral to the holistic health of an individual. If one were to 'fall' the whole house can 'fall.'
As an indigenous framework in it its own right, Yoga provides a powerful context to practice and embody each wall of the whare described by Dr Duries model.
Taha Tinana
Asana (Physical postures) and Pranayama (Breath-control) connect students to their bodies through meaningful movement and conscious breathing.
Young people learn how their bodies work anatomically increasing their understanding and appreciation for how incredible the human body is and how special and unique they are.
Taha Hinengaro
Through Pratyahara (awareness of our senses), Dharana (Concentration) and Dhyana (Meditation) we understand how our bodies, minds and emotions are all connected.
Students are invited to share how their bodies respond to thoughts and emotion. As they grow their connection to their physical bodies their capacity to reflect on an manage thoughts and feelings grows.
Taha Whānau
Through connection and understanding cultivated by consistent practice students abilty to understand themselves and their unique needs increases.
This self-connection naturally ripples outward as increased self-compassion enables them to be more present to those around them.
Taha Wairua
"Any practice we engage in on a regular basis that reminds us of our unbreakable connection to other people can be a spiritual practice" - Dr Brene Brown
Sitting together in circle, sharing thoughts and feelings and practising listening to themselves and to others enhances students' spiritual practices, whatever they might be.
Yoga and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
We believe that Social and Emotional (SEL) skills are the soil from which all other learning springs.
We draw upon the research and evidence-based practices of the Chicago-based Collaborative of Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) who provide one of the most prominent frameworks for framing and understanding SEL.
The CASEL five serve as umbrella definitions, sheltering beneath them explicit descriptions of skills that emphasise valuable human capabilities such as the ability to manage emotions, collaborate with others, and awareness of social and historical contexts when making decisions.
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Self Awareness
The abilities to understand one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behaviour across contexts.
This includes capacities to recognize one’s strengths and limitations with a well-grounded sense of confidence and purpose.
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Self-Management
The ability to manage one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviours effectively in different situations and to achieve goals and aspirations.
This includes the capacities to delay gratification, manage stress, and feel motivation & agency to accomplish personal/collective goals.
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Social Awareness
The ability to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, & contexts.
This includes the capacity to feel compassion for others, understand broader historical and social norms for behaviour in different settings, and recognize family, school, and community resources and supports.
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Relationship skills
The abilities to establish and maintain healthy and supportive relationships and to effectively navigate settings with diverse individuals and groups.
This includes the capacities to communicate clearly, listen actively, cooperate, work collaboratively to problem solve and negotiate conflict constructively, navigate settings with differing social and cultural demands and opportunities, provide leadership, and seek or offer help when needed.
Responsible Decision Making
The ability to make caring and constructive choices about personal behaviour and social interactions across diverse situations.
This includes the capacity to consider ethical standards and safety concerns and to evaluate the benefits and consequences of various actions for personal, social, and collective well-being.
You can read more about CASEL and their research on the website.
In a meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions and their impact on enhancing student social and emotional learning, researchers concluded that the most successful and effective SEL programs follow four practices that enhance and support their impact:
A sequenced step-by-step training approach.
Our curriculum is an intentionally scaffolded learning journey that builds upon itself.
Structured whilst also being sufficiently flexible to meet the needs of each unique classroom in the program, the sequences logically lead into one another building student confidence and capacity for self- connection.
Uses active forms of learning.
Asana, the physical postures of Yoga provide a meaningful context in which to teach more subtle concepts like leadership, body language and breath awareness. Through their bodies students meet themselves and begin to understand how to tend to their mental and emotional well-being.
Focuses sufficient time on skill development.
The Seedling Yoga curriculum is currently one of the only SEL programs to be delivered in the classroom twice a week.
These two 45-minute sessions every week are crucial for covering content, supporting skill acquisition and building habits.
Have explicit learning goals.
The Seedling Yoga curriculum goes beyond the key competencies to link to explicit achievement objectives within the Health and Physical Education Curriculum.