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Amrita 6: Asana through the ages - Magazine - Page 75


Resisting Integration
is to allow few emotions, and to control them carefully.
Power is implicated in this ability to ‘split head from heart’
and ruling- class schools are crucially about learning how to
do so effectively (ibid.). Think about the common phrase ‘stiff
upper lip’, the meaning here is clear – the restraint of the
bodily expression of an emotion, perfectly illustrating the
point that to allow freedom of the body to express, is to be
connected to your emotions.
The current proportion of government officials from a
private school background today is still disproportionate to
the percentage in the whole population – a 2017 study
shows that despite this being at an all-time low, 29% of MPs
had a private education in contrast to 7% of the population
as a whole. By contrast in Scotland, only 7% of MPs attended
private school compared to just 4% of the general population. Looking at these figures it is easy to see how entrenched a detachment from the body and emotions is for
policy makers; and how this may influence a suspicion of
using connected mind-body approaches in mental health in
policy, despite the mounting evidence of their efficacy in
helping people process trauma and be present in their body
with their emotions. This argument can be taken further still,
as it cannot be laid only at the feet of those privately educated or in parliament. There is something from the colonising
experience that subtly pervades our whole society, and despite the colonies being liberated decades ago, we have not
yet fully gained our freedom from this pervasive thorn of
colonial influence. But resistance to a paradigm shift is not
an immovable obstacle; there is growth, and time to grow.
Positive signs include the Ofsted Healthy Minds Report,
which observed that schools which embodied a value system that embraced all children identified fewer children with
mental health problems. These schools promoted many and
varied opportunities for pupils to share their thoughts and
feelings (Ofsted, 2005 p.5).
Mind-body approaches have great potential to help create this kind of environment in school through tools like
yoga that put us in touch with our feelings, enabling the creation of stronger, more authentic and inclusive schools and
communities. The challenge is in influencing a cultural
change-in-attitude of policy makers, to enable this to happen on a widescale and improve mental health outcomes
for all children; in the long term creating a more open culture, from these children who will shape the future. A
EMILY HASLAM - JONES is a registered Experienced Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance Professionals. Emily has a passionate focus for teaching
parents and children, teens, special needs, embodied trauma processing and those who simply seek to overcome whatever challenges life has
thrown them. Emily is also involved in published research and trains schools and parents to become ACEs and Trauma Informed using breath
and movement practices.
www.yogaallianceprofessionals.org
AMRITA Issue 6 / Spring 2021 73