HANOVER COUNTY, Va. -- Namaste. Welcome to yoga class at Henry Clay Elementary School in Hanover County, It's where some of the littlest kids are learning big things.
"This idea of understanding that we have a body and we have a brain," Sarah Horn, of Hanover Yoga and Wellness, said. “We can control that doing different things like breathing and moving in certain ways."
Hanover County Schools has partnered with Hanover Yoga and Wellness to provide classes twice a month with preschoolers through 2nd grade as a part of their social and emotional learning.
Horn is a Virginia Tech grad and mother of two who has been practicing yoga for 10 years and teaching for six.
"It just made sense," she said. "This is something that we do into adulthood for the rest of our lives; try to find that peace and that calm. So why not start early."
Sarah concentrates on techniques that promote calm and help manage stress and anxiety.
Some administrators were a little apprehensive of the classes at first.
"Can they handle it? Will it be a little too much for them? Assistant Principal Mary Townes recalled wondering. "But now from just what I've seen, it's a very good program for them. It really helps them with calming, breathing and getting ready for learning."
"They have the tools within them to turn negativity into something positive”, says Sarah. “And I think that's a very, that's something that you train to do with your mind."
Building Better Minds with Rob Cardwell airs every Wednesday at 6 and 6 p.m. on CBS 6 and is sponsored by Virginia Family Dentistry.