Yoga and mindfulness practitioner Radha Babicci has had great success with children and parents alike since introducing her techniques to Emmerick Street Community Preshool, Sydney about a year ago, Bedrock Journalist Sue Osborne writes.
Radha has been an early childhood teacher for about nine years and Director at Emmerick Street for more than four years. She has been practicing yoga all her life and more recently mindfulness.
She is leaving Emmerick Street to set up her own consultancy, hoping to help both children and teachers in early childhood settings practice yoga and mindfulness.
“I’m passionate about teacher stress and I think mindfulness is a key to helping teachers cope with the stresses of working in education. I’d love to bring programs into centres for staff,” Radha said.
“I started doing mindfulness myself to cope with the stress of being a teaching director and being pulled in so many different directions. I needed to feel more centred.”
At Emmerick Street she practices with the children twice a day. In the morning all the rooms come together and do belly breathing, or ‘bubble breathing’.
“They put their hands on their tummies and breathe in through their nose and own into their bellies and out through their mouths,” she said.
“Sometimes we make it like a game and they have to blow a feather or bubbles across the room.
“They do that really slowly three or four times and it really calms them down.
“I do a meditation after that when they have to focus on one thing or a sound. They might clap and focus on the sensation on their hands of that clap.
‘It helps them practice how to focus the mind. Sometimes I tell a story and they imagine being in that story.”
Radha also plays a game with Tibetan singing bowls – the children have to put their hand up when the noise stops.
“At first this was quite hard for some because you have to wait for the sound to stop. They’re used to putting their hand up when a sound starts. It’s a way of getting their bodies ready to be mindful.”
On Wednesdays Radha does a yoga session with the children, but it’s not yoga as adults understand it, quiet and serious.
“It’s fun and loud. We have music and dancing – it’s not too controlled. It’s a creative, energetic process.
“I might say ‘we’re going on a journey to the jungle’ and get them involved in how we get there.
“I play happy and sad music and get them to move their bodies to express the emotion. It’s about making a connection with their bodies.
“At the end there’s relaxation and we all lie down and I always tell a story. Often I use props.
“For instance, I might say we climbed a tree and put a frangipani flower on their foreheads. They can smell it and take it home.”
Radha said parents have been supportive of the program and the children had shown a great capacity to self calm since starting it.
Children have been going home and sharing techniques with their families. Writing about it in the newsletter has been an important part of the program, and Radha said families want the practice to continue at the preschool after she leaves.
“It’s made parents realise social and emotional learning is important. There are less questions like ‘will my child be able to read before school’ and more like ‘will she be able to cope emotionally’ with school.
Radha can be contacted at radha@radhababicci.com. Her Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/Super-Kids-Yoga-566895120155634/