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be calmed down. For that reason I have thought of four procedures which can be used by all teachers without attracting the attention of those people who accuse yoga of being a cult, a religion.
The first thing that has to be emphasized in the classroom is to make the children aware of their body and aware of their breathing. This is the first step to self-knowledge. This brings a wonderful element into the classroom, which is silence. A great fact is lying there. Silence can be pedagogical. It has been proved that when the mind is silenced after a lot of information has been presented by the teacher, then some areas in the brain are working hard to fix the information. It is during the stop, during what has been termed the structuring pause, that knowledge is being imbibed. So this is the first procedure, to bring silence into the classroom through self awareness.
The second procedure which I would emphasize is the use of music. A great psychologist named Lozanov has definitely found that music with sixty beats per minute, that is calm music, baroque music, Indian classical music, for instance, can produce wonderful relaxation in the brain. He has evolved a process which cannot be explained in a few minutes because it is quite elaborate. Some of his research is very close to the discoveries of Patanjali.
A third point which I would also emphasize is the telling of myths and stories. One day I was making my students in English read a text on American civilization and a criticism of pollution. There were a lot of technicalities and, of course, the author was advising the generation to pay attention to the protection of Mother Earth. Suddenly I started telling them the beautiful story about Gaia (the earth) who has married Uranus (the sky) and how in Greek mythology it was said that they had many children like animals, plants and human beings. I noticed how the simple telling of that fable made their eyes shine brightly, and they immediately understood how they could be the defenders of Gaia and Uranus. I think also in etymology, the word mythos in Greek is close to echeniuthos (silence). Those two words open up a path for thought.
A fourth element, which I would also emphasize as a very powerful way to open the flow of creativity and spiritual life in the child, is the use of mandala. Mandalas are geometrical
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