NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The North Adams public school system is implementing yoga in the classroom.

Superintendent Barbara Malkas often spends part of her morning teaching her own teachers about the art of yoga.

She works with Breathe for Change, an organization helping teach educators yoga and strategies for social and emotional learning to bring into the classroom.

“So, this program starts with the educator starts with the person who will be the facilitator because it’s just like in medical practice, if we don’t heal ourselves how can we heal others," said Malkas.

Malkas says this was important to her because many students had trouble socially after the pandemic. 

“I think it’s important because we know that everything with the pandemic, the kids are really missing those social emotional learning skills, so I think that any way we can help build those skills and help them to self-regulate, I think that’s going to be really important for them throughout their entire lives,” said third-grade ELA and Social Studies teacher, Megan Gorton.

Gorton has seen the difference in her kids’ moods after their morning yoga routine.

“Even the kids will say like, they start out and some of them are like, 'I just really wasn’t feeling it today.' One of the kids told me he was feeling out of control, and by the end of our yoga he said he felt relaxed and calm, which is great that the kids are able to identify how the yoga is helping them as well," said Gorton.

It’s not just yoga but many let the kids pick mindful movement, like music teacher Staci Lazzari.

Lazzari starts her classes with a choice board to help the kids get regulated into her class. They have a choice of an activity and take two minutes to focus and get ready to learn.

“As we're doing this, you always have the option not to participate,” Lazzari told her students.

On the day we visited students chose tapping, where they tap all along their face helping them to reduce stress.

“When we are able to help our students by giving them resources and tools in their daily life, it helps them to focus it helps them to redirect to reengage in class,” said Lazzari.

And leaders say it's working. A survey done by the district last spring showed some teachers reported they had not had a significant discipline issue in their classroom for over a year. 

The North Adams district will soon have more than 40 educators trained as Breathe for Change facilitators implementing these strategies in the classroom.