Relax, Release, and Let Go: English Department Meets The Art of Yoga
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The English department may have a form of recreation that could help ease the stress of starting a new school year. They have been rolling out their mats and cranking up the relaxing, meditative tunes every week for an hour after school to relieve the stress of everyday workloads through the healing practice of yoga.
Since the spring of 2008, the teachers have been led by Caroline Wintersun, a trained Kripalu yoga instructor, to show the faculty how to let go of the problems that strain their minds each day. A more moderate and gentle type of yoga, Kripalu helps start physical healing, psychological growth, and some say, spiritual awakening.
“It’s a wonderful destresser. It’s very quiet, beautiful, calming, and a good way of treating the whole body and mind,” English teacher and China Exchange coordinator Ms. Lynda Sorensen said, “It’s a good way to cope with a long, stressful day.”
“This program is really all about allowing my students to step back into the spectator world and see their lives from a different perspective,” Ms. Wintersun said.
It is meant to make the yoga students release the stress and let go of worrying about personal possessions and problems. The only item needed to participate is a towel or mat to carry out the exercises. The class starts out with calming breathing exercises then moves into some dynamic stretching, and finishes with some of yoga’s more recognized poses such as downward-facing dog, tree, and sun salutation poses.
Wintersun says that the body’s prana or life-force exists in all life and the relaxing breathing exercises increases the body’s intake of prana, calming the nervous system by focusing on letting go. “Each pose is a map to discover one’s physical and mental well being,” Ms. Wintersun said, “the ultimate goal, I think, is to achieve self-acceptance in all levels.”
The group practices in B-214 for an hour and 15 minutes from 2:30pm to 3:45pm on Tuesday afternoons. This program is only available for DHS faculty, spanning in class size from 25 to five teachers per session. Larger sessions are held in an American Studies room.
According to Ms. Sorensen, many of the poses affect the body’s inner organs. Although removing the stress from one person may not seem like much, she believes these good feelings will be passed on throughout the day, among colleagues and hopefully to students as well. “These moves go beyond helping just you; they affect others and permeate throughout the community.”
“It’s just so nice at the end of the day to lie down on the ground and stretch for a while,” fellow English teacher Mrs. Ann Armiger said.
When asked about where these practices may spread to in the future, Ms Sorensen enthusiastically expressed interest in having a student yoga program, perhaps as an elective, and possibly as part of the athletics department. “There’s not enough done for students to stay peaceful and calm; they’re as stressed out as we are if not more,” Ms. Sorensen said.
