Top Tips For Teaching Yoga In Schools - Tip #24: Build Trust By Setting Boundaries

Hi there, and welcome back!

Boundaries. Phew. They’re SO important, and yet, if you’re anything like me, you probably find that they’re harder to set and maintain than you’d like, whether in your personal or professional life.

I know that they’re challenging for me to set professionally, but as a teacher, I find it much easier to set them. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s because I can visibly see them at work right away?

Whatever your relationship is with boundaries, today I want to offer you a tip on the importance of setting boundaries in the classroom, when you’re teaching yoga and mindfulness to kids.

I hope you find this tip helpful in your future work in classrooms and schools!

Tip #24: Build Trust By Setting Boundaries

This week’s tip is inspired by a conversation I had a few years ago with a friend and fellow kids yoga teacher. She had recently started teaching a class after school at a local elementary school, and was sharing her frustrations and struggles with managing behavior. She felt a need to do something, but didn’t quite know what to do.

This is a common thread, one I hear often from yoga teachers. And when I probed deeper, and asked questions, I realized that part of the reason she was seeing so many behaviors manifest in her class was because she hadn’t yet built trust with her students. 

As adults, we often walk into a space with kids and automatically think they’ll trust and respect us because we are older, “wiser”, and there to teach them something. But trust is not something that is freely given--it’s earned. We don’t reach an age where we are exempt from earning trust...we always have to earn and build trust with others, regardless of age or circumstance. 

In the classroom, one of the easiest and most effective ways of building trust with your students is by setting clear boundaries and expectations for everyone. Students need to know what is expected of them, and what the consequence is if they don’t meet those expectations. They need to know that if someone else is disrupting the brave space you’ve created, that you’ll be there to remove that disruption and ensure that space stays a brave space. 

I cringe every time I hear kids yoga teachers talk about how they don’t believe in setting boundaries and expectations because it’s yoga class, and they want kids to feel safe and free and have it be less rigid and structured than school. 

That’s great, but the reality is, that boundaries and expectations are what our students need in order to feel supported. They need to see you follow-through with consequences week after week in order to trust you. They need to know that no matter what, they can trust you to keep the space welcoming for them. 

Tip Takeaway: Build trust with your students by setting and maintaining boundaries and expectations. Think about what your expectations are going to be for your students, and what the consequences will be if those expectations and values aren’t upheld by the group. Write them down. Share them with your students. Ask your students for their input, too. What do they value? What type of classroom community do they want to be a part of? Once you have your list, post them in your classroom somewhere, follow through, consistently, and take note of the shifts that happen.