Yoga is a relaxing option for recess at our school
Kidsday reporters, from left, Kayla Portigiano, Mia Carvajal, Hannah Higgins and Madison Polito practice yoga poses at North Country Road Middle School in Miller Place. Credit: Gianna Donofrio
Earlier this school year, a yoga room opened up in our school for the students to use as one of their options for a recess activity. We really like this room, and so we decided that we were going to test it out and see if it was good or not. We signed up in the cafeteria so we could go.
When it was time to go, we got out of our seats and lined up. We all walked to Room 4. We walked in, and we were shocked to see how many yoga mats there were! We all took off our shoes and picked yoga mats that were next to each other. Next the yoga teacher put on relaxing music, and then we started.
First, we sat in either half lotus, full lotus or Indian style. Half lotus is one leg over the other, full lotus is both legs over each other (overlapping), and Indian style is crisscrossed legs.
Second, if we felt excited, we put our hands facing down on our pose, and if we felt tired we put our hands facing up on our pose. Third, we did sun salutations. One example of sun salutations is when you put your hands together and welcome each other into yoga. Then we did a couple of yoga poses together. One example was the downward dog pose. We all enjoyed it, and we have been going back to this fun recess activity ever since.
We all rate it 5 smiles out of 5, and think this is a calming and relaxing break to take in the middle of our hectic school days.
Jennifer Spaccaforno’s sixth-grade English class, North Country Road Middle School, Miller Place
