Mira Nalbandian

Music to Quiet During the second half of their Movement 2 Music class Sept. 6, juniors Anushka Kanga, Shirin Saha and Ayah Maali practice savasana, a type of yoga position. In addition to learning, choreographing and performing several types of cultural dances, students were also introduced to yoga. “It just makes me get away from everything. If I have [a lot of] tests that day, I’m worrying [about the tests], I can just sit down for one block, chill and do my own thing,” Maali said.

Unrolling mats onto the floor of the weight room, 22 girls and two boys work to calm their minds and increase their physical well-being.

“What we are trying to do is focus on not just the physical aspect of P.E. but also the mental and emotional aspect too–flexibility, strength and mindfulness,” P.E. teacher Katelyn Arenos said.

Yoga is new to the curriculum offerings in 2019, and currently has an enrollment over the school capacity.

“We do a lot of different types of evaluations, [the students] will create their own yoga sequences and they have goal poses every month. We are working on a pre and post-goal pose,̈ Arenos said. “They can constantly see how they are doing and what they need to work on which I feel is very important.”

Hoping to increase his flexibility, senior Brayden Eddy is using yoga to prepare for football and wrestling.

“It’s been a really fun and relaxing,” Eddy said. “I have goal poses that are focused on flexibility, and my goal is to stretch all of my muscles really well to where I can feel it everywhere in my body.”

Arenos hopes yoga will have a long term effect on her students  and the way that they stay active.

“I hope [this class] affects them in a positive way. I hope that this is something that will keep my kids active for the rest of their lives, not just now. That’s a big goal of mine for them to continue to do it outside of this class,” Arenos said.

Sophomore Samantha Schultz sees great opportunities in this class to grow mentally. 

“I wanted to get in touch with myself. We do really complex poses and the teachers main point is to not judge yourself or others because people are at different spots. It’s all about growing in your ability,” Schultz said.

Arenos enjoys seeing development within the students’ communication skills.

“I see my kids smiling and interacting with other students that they normally wouldn’t interact with, and I’m seeing the progress that they’re making already with the flexibility and mindfulness practices,” Arenos said. “They just seem at peace with things.”