Yoga for Teachers is a teacher-exclusive yoga club within the Rockwood School District. It began when Terry Harris, Rockwood’s Director of Student Services, asked a group of yogis to provide classes to all teachers within the district.

The club held its first official meeting on Jan. 3, 2018. After Principal Karen Calcaterra’s recommendation for additional classes and the help of guidance counselor Stephanie Mullins and Tracy Gladden, a language arts teacher at Lafayette, who is also a yoga instructor, started to offer classes with a later start time for all staff in March.

There are no skills requirements for the participants of the club. Gladden expressed that the club was designed so that even the beginners can enjoy and partake in the classes easily. For those who are more advanced, she offers different options.

Gladden said, “[You need to bring to the club] a positive attitude and a mat if you have one, but I have extras if not.”

During the club, Gladden leads with the procedures from the beginning to the end. She directs with the movements and talks through the process for the relaxation of the mind. Then, her students follow her afterward.

Even if the body is not adjusted to the flexibility that yoga requires, Gladden is careful to prompt her students. She prioritizes safety over the quick acquisition of skills.

A member of the club, Class of 2020 Principal Kirti Mehrotra said, “The nice thing about yoga is that even if the teacher is doing whatever they are doing, if your body does not allow you to push yourself that much, the teacher keeps telling you that ‘Do only what you can do and what your body can allow you to do, so that you will not injure [yourself].'”

Throughout her participation in the yoga club, Mehrotra noticed a lot of health benefits from yoga.

“I think it is making me more disciplined about health. My body is a lot more flexible,” Mehrotra said. “I used to have a difficult time sitting down on the floor cross-legged. Now, I can sit for twenty or thirty minutes. Really, it has improved my flexibility and range of functions.”

Yoga is well-known for its positive effects on the mind as well as the body. Yoga impacted positively on Mehrotra, causing her to be able to cope with the stress of her job more effectively.

Mehrotra said, “Part of the yoga is also learning to meditate and to focus on breathing. When you breathe in and you breathe out, you are trying to calm your mind down. It really helps you calm down and not stress about all five hundred things that are going on our head. For you guys, all the kids, it’s so hard because you have other academic, club, and home stuff. All these things are going on, [but] it really helps [you] to calm down.”