I’m a pretty enthusiastic yoga practitioner, and one thing that I love about the practice is its accessibility– yoga has so many entry points, and has always appeared to me to be a meaningful, challenging practice for people at all levels of experience, flexibility, and strength. The philosophy behind yoga highlights self-acceptance and is undergirded by a deep spiritual belief that we are all exactly as we should be– something that UDL aligns with quite nicely!
However, until recently, I had never really thought about the ways that yoga might not actually be accessible to all. Obviously, it’s a physically demanding activity, and instructions in yoga classes are usually delivered verbally. There are lots of people who can’t access traditional yoga classes.
Some yogis are starting to build solutions, and break down the barriers that prevent people from accessing the benefits and challenges of yoga. One example is DeafYoga, a really great organization that trains yoga teachers to use sign language, lights, a fan, and touch to help guide students through the postures. Another approach is adaptive yoga, in which physical therapists modify stretches and postures from yoga to meet the needs of people who are in wheelchairs or who face other physical barriers to traditional yoga. While neither of these examples meets all of the UDL guidelines, I think they’re really wonderful ways to rethink yoga and make it truly accessible to all learners.
On a related note, organizations like Yoga for the Special Child (not crazy about that name, but…) are using yoga to help students with a wide range of special needs, from autism to Down syndrome to hyperactivity. Their work seems really interesting, and I definitely think that yoga is worth exploring as a means of supporting the physical, emotional, and intellectual development of all learners.
