About RYE

RYE – Research on Yoga in Education RYE UK was set up officially on 26thJuly 2005. RYE means ‘Research on Yoga in Education’ and was founded by Micheline Flak an English teacher, in Paris in 1978. She also taught yoga and discovered a way of combining her two passions to form RYE – yoga in the classroom. RYE uses simple yoga techniques – postures, breathing, relaxation and concentration techniques in small amounts throughout a lesson to improve learning.

RYE embraces all styles of yoga but does use many of the Satyananda yoga techniques, as this is Micheline Flak’s yogic training. Practices like, for example, Pawanmuktsana Part 1 (simple movements of the joints), Tadasana (palm tree pose), Bhramari (humming bee breath), Trakaka (concentrated gazing) and Yoga Nidra (deep relaxation) are all adapted for all ages for the classroom – ie. so they can be done from desks. Techniques can be linked to any curriculum area to enhance learning (see ‘Yoga Education for Children’ by Swami Satyananda Saraswati in our Recommended Books section for more details).

RYE is an international organisation (EURYE) with branches in France, Italy, Belgium, Uruguay, Israel and Greece to name but a few. RYE UK has just completed teaching RYE techniques Level 1 at the International RYE seminar in Evian which was very successful. We had 21 students in our English group from the UK, France, Portugal and Greece.

Eight of those students in our group at the International seminar were from the UK and were attending the seminar as part of their two year RYE training course which was completed this year. This was the first time Micheline Flak had come to the UK to conduct the RYE training in English. The first year consisted of four weekends on RYE techniques and the second year again was four weekends, mainly focussing on relaxation techniques for the classroom. Students also kept a diary of how they used these techniques in the classroom and attended a weekly yoga class. The students were a mix of both school teachers and yoga teachers. So RYE UK now has a firm foundation to build upon.

As an ex-stressed out primary teacher and now yoga (and kids yoga) teacher I understand how desperate teachers are for help. RYE encourages teachers themselves to practice yoga for their own health and also so they experience the techniques for themselves, enabling them to teach them more effectively. Children are not just brains to be fed with information – they are human and need all aspects of their being to be nourished, especially the social and emotional, in order to become balanced individuals who can make a positive contribution to society. RYE UK’s next aim is to produce training materials – a training manual and DVD to use in conjunction with RYE training in schools. There are a couple of booklets available through our website, see our books section for further details.

RYE UK would like to thank Aishwarya for setting up our fantastic new website! (www.aishwaryauk.org)

If you are interested in the activities of RYE UK in the future please contact either:
- Lynn Parrott – info@ryeuk.org Tel: 020 8693 4603
- Kerry Gallagher – kerrygallagher@care2.com Tel: 020 8670 7295

Lynn and Kerry (Secondary Art teacher and yoga teacher) are two of RYE UK’s Directors. Many thanks also to our other Director - Jayne Neville. RYE UK are based in London and can be found regularly at the Satyananda Yoga Centre, London.

Lynn Parrott, Director, RYE UK