VOORHEESVILLE — Altamont resident Douglas Goodbee is leading Voorheesville Elementary School students in after-school yoga classes, where students learn stretches and breathing exercises to help them develop mindfulness.

The students gather in the gym and use school-provided mats; there are only 36 mats, and the mats are for the kids who come first with parent-signed permission slips, Goodbee told The Enterprise.

“We do some breathing exercises, some yoga poses. It’s fun, but it’s more about awareness, mindfulness,” he said. “We try to incorporate partner yoga poses. Thirty-five minutes goes by real quick.”

Goodbee was raised in the Capital Region, and three of his children are in, or have attended, Voorheesville schools. He recently earned E-RYT (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher) 500-hour certification, a credential granted by the Yoga Alliance, a not-for-profit association with over 60,000 Registered Teachers. He also completed the Kripalu Yoga Instructors in the High Schools certification, according to his biography at his website, rootsforlifeyoga.com. He is a past recipient of the Teaching for Diversity grant, which allowed him to teach yoga for the after-school summer program held at the Hamilton Hill Arts Cultural Center in Schenectady, and he also taught Yoga at the Park in Albany’s Washington Park, he told The Enterprise.

Goodbee’s daughter, Somae, is a third-grader at the elementary school, he said. Goodbee did a previous, similar eight-week program at Voorheesville for fourth- and fifth-grade students, but he opened the class to third-graders, as well, for this class.

“They were really rambunctious,” he said about the third graders after their English language arts state tests.

Goodbee invited the children to find their mats, which are placed in a circle so that all class members face each other, he said.

The kids told him that the tests were stressful, he said.

He said that he tries to teach the children to have “mindfulness,” which he described as “how we speak about ourselves, how we think about ourselves,” he said.

“Are we mindful of our breath, our thoughts, our actions?” he asked. “Mindfulness is like paying attention. What happens when you’re paying attention? Are you wiggly and squiggly? No. You become calm. When you’re paying attention, you can focus better.

“We’re so busy with our lives, sometimes we’re not present in the moment,” he continued. “Today’s not even finished, but you’re thinking of tomorrow.”

Goodbee said that the stretches he teaches the children are named simply “the tree pose” or “the rock pose.”

“We don’t use the Sanskrit name,” he said. “There’s no ‘ohm-ing.’ There’s nothing in it that will make it a religious-type of class.”

Parents tell him that they love his sessions, he said. Teachers in the Voorheesville district like them, too.

At a Health and Wellness Day held at the high school recently, Goodbee said, 27 teachers signed up for a meditation workshop held only for staff.

“I’m a self-contractor for my yoga,” Goodbee said. His wife, Najiyyah, helps him manage his bookings, he said.

Goodbee teaches classes at conferences, retreats, bridal parties, and summer camps, he said.

“I’ve been really blessed,” he said, “taking these opportunities with joy.”