Exploring teachers' perceptions of implementation factors in a yoga intervention: a qualitative study.

The study of yoga offers much to the field of education. Yoga consists of postures, breathing activities and relaxation techniques geared toward promoting self-regulation. Several yoga interventions for preschoolers have demonstrated significant gains on self-regulation outcomes. Although these benefits are promising, there are limited qualitative studies investigating the perspectives of key stakeholders, such as teachers. Using a grounded theory research design, the author analyzed eight focus groups and six interviews with nine teachers who participated in an 8-week yoga intervention. This study investigated (1) the application of grounded theory as an exploratory research tool, which elucidated teachers' observations of key implementation factors for effectiveness, such as adaptations of the intervention, classroom spacing and components of yoga lessons, (2) teachers' observations of students' internalizations of the yoga skills and (3) teachers' reflections on how the yoga influenced their attitudes toward students. Guidelines to inform future research on classroom-based yoga programs are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]