Over the last decade, a growing number of public schoolteachers have experienced burnout, 他们中的许多人已经离开了这个领域. 莱斯利·海伦，一位拥有20多个孩子的教育家 years of experience as a K-12 teacher and administrator, is concerned about veteran 教师的幸福. Her research focuses on using yoga to promote wellness in educators.

"There was a time when you could go back to your old elementary school and that teacher was still there from 20 years ago; you could go and hug them. 这是不会发生的 了. There is a lot of turnover, a lot of movement and teaching is no longer a 终身职业，”海伦说.

As a student in the 北科罗拉多大学's 教育领导.D. 程序, her dissertation delves into compassion fatigue or secondary traumatic stress. 虽然 they may not experience trauma directly, after hearing about their students' firsthand trauma, many teachers can develop symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder, including flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety.

“作为一名护理人员，你最终会承担起责任. 所以我很重视老师的重要性 taking care of themselves and feeling like the care is vital versus something they 应该自己做，”她说.

In 2018, Hillen became a certified yoga instructor, largely to bring yoga into schools 并帮助教师从自我照顾中受益. 她教的是一种创伤性的串联体式 of yoga that incorporates smooth transitions between postures or asanas and pairs 呼吸运动. This safe, gentle approach aims to build confidence and 减少创伤反应症状.

Hillen's research is unique in that it's a mixed-methods study with a pre-post design incorporating qualitative and quantitative data. 21名研究参与者 K-12学校的教师. 她调查了参与者的 compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress and burnout. 然后，她带领他们 through weekly yoga classes, available in person, live on Zoom or via recordings. After six weeks, she gave the teachers a post-assessment survey and interviewed them 再一次。.

她的研究顾问是 Amie Cieminski他是北京大学的副教授 College of 教育 and Behavioral Sciences' 领导, Policy, and Development: 教育al 领导 and Policy Studies 程序.

"She was really open minded to me working on this topic. 她对教育很了解， so she could talk about whether the writing would make sense to teachers and where I might define things a little bit better," Hillen said.

Cieminski said while Hillen is very knowledgeable about her topic, her compassion for teachers experiencing stress has driven her to this research area and helped her 朝向完成的进展.

"Leslie was an English teacher and has strong writing skills. 她不需要 much feedback in that area, but I work with her on her research design. 在前进的道路上, she'll work on the data analysis, and I'll provide guidance and feedback," she said.

She said there is little research on proactive intervention strategies for alleviating teachers' stress, so Hillen's contribution to the field fills a much-needed gap.

"It may have broader implications across other fields in terms of quality of life 当涉及到工作. 这不是要证明瑜伽有效. 什么是最重要的 is listening to the voices of study participants about their perceptions and experiences with stress and burnout as well as yoga," Cieminski said.

Hillen plans to communicate her results in educational journals, hoping it will serve as a wake-up call for school administrators to recognize teachers' need for support. After graduating with her fourth degree from UNC in December 2024, Hillen anticipates continuing to work with teachers to help them develop wellness practices. 她还 wants to conduct more research to benefit today's teachers and those who will come 进入未来的职业.