The Embodied Classroom: Exploring the Effects of Yoga on Teachers' Well-being and Pedagogy
type: CreativeWork
description: This dissertation explores the effects of yoga on teachers’ well-being and pedagogy, guided by the central research question: What are the effects of yoga on a teacher’s well-being and pedagogy? In response to widespread discourses of teacher burnout, this research foregrounds inner awareness as both process and outcome, examining how yoga, understood as a holistic and embodied practice, can support teachers in living, teaching, and relating with greater presence. Framed through the koshas- five layers of being encompassing the physical, energetic, mental-emotional, intuitive, and spiritual, this study draws on phenomenological interviews, kosha-guided journaling, and body mapping with four international school educators. Data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis, embodied inquiry, and thematic coding. Findings reveal that awareness served as a mediating force across all dimensions of well-being, fostering interoceptive sensitivity, emotional regulation, and the ability to reframe stressors. These shifts deepened self-efficacy, boundaries, and compassionate classroom engagement. Breath awareness and intuition anchored pedagogical presence, while self-compassion supported relational teaching rooted in empathy and care. This study reimagines well-being as a dynamic, embodied process intimately tied to the inner lives of teachers. By making visible the often-invisible dimensions of teachers’ emotional, spiritual, and somatic realities, it calls for teacher education that centers care, presence, and the fullness of human experience.
abstract: This dissertation explores the effects of yoga on teachers’ well-being and pedagogy, guided by the central research question: What are the effects of yoga on a teacher’s well-being and pedagogy? In response to widespread discourses of teacher burnout, this research foregrounds inner awareness as both process and outcome, examining how yoga, understood as a holistic and embodied practice, can support teachers in living, teaching, and relating with greater presence. Framed through the koshas- five layers of being encompassing the physical, energetic, mental-emotional, intuitive, and spiritual, this study draws on phenomenological interviews, kosha-guided journaling, and body mapping with four international school educators. Data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis, embodied inquiry, and thematic coding. Findings reveal that awareness served as a mediating force across all dimensions of well-being, fostering interoceptive sensitivity, emotional regulation, and the ability to reframe stressors. These shifts deepened self-efficacy, boundaries, and compassionate classroom engagement. Breath awareness and intuition anchored pedagogical presence, while self-compassion supported relational teaching rooted in empathy and care. This study reimagines well-being as a dynamic, embodied process intimately tied to the inner lives of teachers. By making visible the often-invisible dimensions of teachers’ emotional, spiritual, and somatic realities, it calls for teacher education that centers care, presence, and the fullness of human experience.
author: Alderfer, Daya
keywords: embodied pedagogy, koshas, phenomenology, teacher education, teacher well-being, yoga
license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
date published: 2025-10
date modified: 2026-07-27T21:27:58Z
provider: University of Toronto
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Toronto

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/1807/149953