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The Falk School recognizes that wellness and mindfulness are directly related to students’ physical well-being, growth, development, and readiness to learn.
Engaging in meaningful physical activity and making time for quiet and relaxation are among the school’s wishes for its children.
At Falk, wellness includes nurturing the body and the mind, fostering relationships and building self-awareness, and creating opportunities for growth in all domains of the human experience. Mindfulness focuses on understanding both the self and the world around us through quiet and compassion.
Though we believe that both wellness and mindfulness are most effectively cultivated through an immersive experience, in which students, faculty, and parents participate in many domains throughout their day, below you will find some programs that are expressly focused on fostering both of these qualities in the Falk community.
At Falk, students at all levels engage with yoga, which offers a unique combination of physical activity and the opportunity to notice and reflect on one’s emotions. Falk’s approach, known as “Thinking-Feeling-Doing Yoga,” is a spiraling, progressive curriculum that shifts to meet the changing emotional and developmental needs of students.
At the Primary level, students engage in “Doing Yoga.” They build relationships and explore the yoga room space, beginning to experience yoga in the form of play and stories. Yoga storytelling, including “stuffie shows” featuring stuffed animals playing different characters, helps children to explore and understand right from wrong, aiding children as they develop social skills and a moral compass. Dancing and other forms of creative expression give students the opportunity to create stories around their own emotional experiences. And yoga basics such as breathing techniques and simple poses are introduced.
As students at the Intermediate level grow stronger, instruction shifts to “Feeling Yoga,” with an emphasis on strength and balancing poses like crow pose. Students also expand their language for the feelings they are experiencing, exploring what emotions feel like in their bodies and the idea that these emotions are not the same for everyone. Yoga pose challenges and sun salutations are among the ways students explore the connection between emotions and the body. Instruction also emphasizes restorative poses and relaxation for this age group, which needs more sleep as their brains and bodies continue to develop.
And as students reach Middle School, their yoga practice deepens, focusing on “Thinking Yoga.” At this level, students are familiar with yoga poses and with a variety of breathing and calming techniques. They are better able to understand the unique needs of their bodies, emotions, and thoughts, and how they might meet those needs through their yoga practice, which is becoming increasingly individualized. Class time is used to explore social and emotional topics and skills that range from confidence and feeling overwhelmed to the differences between moods and emotions.