Recently a primary school in Perth started a new yoga program, and it's proved to be very successful.


JONATHAN BEAL: North Perth Primary is a school like many others. But today, the Roman Empire and the inner workings of the hovercraft have been set aside in favour of something a little more spiritual.

MARC 'POTTS' POTTER: Imagine that you're lying out in the backyard.

MELODY: It really calms you down. If you've got a bit, like...you get angry really easily. It's probably the quietest class we have in the whole school day.

JONATHAN BEAL: The evidence suggests the ancient art of yoga is helping these youngsters to concentrate more in class, enhance their sporting prowess, and even help them sleep easier.

TRAVIS: It helped me settle down because normally when I got home from school I was quite cranky.

MARC 'POTTS' POTTER: You feel some leaves landing on top of your feet.

Children tap into the essence of yoga much more quickly than adults do.

JONATHAN BEAL: The idea of yoga was first proposed to the school P&C by one of the parents.

Selling yoga to the street-wise upper primary was not going to be easy. The task fell to seasoned yoga instructor, Marc Potter.

MARC 'POTTS' POTTER: And I'm like, kind of, their ultimate big kid in some ways as well 'cos like, "Oh, Potts, "can you put your leg behind the head?" and go, "Yeah, yeah, I do that". And if the kids see you as the ultimate big kid that can play any game and is maybe a little bit better at it than them then automatically you have their respect and they become easy to work with.

JONATHAN BEAL: Of course, it took a little while to bring the youngsters around.

Some of them were very sceptical about the idea of stretching exercises and meditation.

HENRY: Before I started I just had this mental picture in my head that it was going to be very boring.

MARC 'POTTS' POTTER: And now let's sit in lotus, full lotus. Bring your right leg in, left leg on top.

As the classes go on the tone of it really changes and the students become more serious, really, in what they're doing and their concentration gets much greater.

That smell alright?

PAOLA VALLESI: I think the greatest outcome has been the positive attitude and the great enthusiasm that children have when you mention yoga.

TRAVIS: It settles you down and it, the class became nice and peaceful, from noisy to peaceful and quiet.

ELOUISE: When you've been, like, running around for a long time you can calm down and it keeps me calm when I go home and for the whole night and I get a good night's sleep.

JONATHAN BEAL: North Perth Primary's example is already catching on, with other schools expressing an interest in taking their students down the same spiritual path.

MARC 'POTTS' POTTER: If the mind can focus long enough and concentrate then this mind can become steady and that will produce inner calm and peace and that's important for anyone. The earlier that that lesson is gained, the better.