Mrs. Coomber's Kinderland

I begin my kindergarten class each day with a selection of hand mudras, or yoga for the fingers. mudras are hand gestures used in meditation and yoga practices. In our classroom, we hold a hand gesture while taking deep breaths and listening to a short affirmation. As soon as we begin our mudras, I feel the morning energy in the room begin to calm; I feel myself begin to calm. These morning mudras help my students focus and ready themselves for a day of learning.

A few years ago, I enrolled in a 95-hour Kids Yoga Teacher Training through Challenge to Change. After several difficult years of teaching (through the pandemic and aftermath), this training not only rejuvenated me personally but also brought new life and depth to my teaching practice. I use many aspects of this yoga training in my classroom, and morning mudras have become a consistent daily practice that sets the tone of learning for the day.

I tell them that we are going to plug our fingers into the earth today. We then take those two fingers and push them into the floor or the chair. I guide students to take a big breath in and out. As they breathe, I tell them that we use this mudra to help ourselves stay grounded. It helps us to connect our smart minds to our kind hearts and calm our bodies. I guide them in another deep breath in and out and tell them that this mudra helps us to focus and ready ourselves for learning. We often do this mudra on Mondays. Monday is definitely a day to Plug Into the Earth!

One day, after I had introduced this mudra, one of my kindergarten students was showing signs of overstimulation as the students packed up to go home. He was having a hard time controlling his body movements, and I was concerned he would knock over another child. I went up to him and suggested he take a deep breath. He immediately replied that he needed to “plug in” and went to sit on his carpet spot with his “peace fingers” pushing into the floor. He then took some deep breaths. I can’t tell you how excited I was to see a student use a self-regulation strategy on his own.

I loved his idea so much that I made an announcement to the class that when they finished packing up, they should sit on their carpet spot and “plug in.”