An activity that offers physical relief, encourages bodily strength and cultivates discipline may call to mind sports like soccer, basketball or even dance—but another underrated option is yoga.
Yoga classes, led by P.E. teacher Margie Gutierrez, are located in the wrestling room. Despite being stereotypically known as “just stretching,” yoga offers a range of calisthenics on the mat and free-weight strength training.
“Yoga’s a good buffer zone before my actual academic classes,” junior Omar Latifzada Jr. said. “It helps me plan my day as I’m doing the flow and when we turn off the lights and play smooth meditation music, it really helps me to calm down before something like a test or wakes me up.”
Worth five credits per semester, the class serves as a substitute for traditional P.E. and sports. Unlike traditional P.E., which follows a curriculum of rotating sports, yoga classes focus on building a strong foundation for fitness through isolating muscles and utilizing core strength with less emphasis on cardiovascular activities. According to Latifzada, yoga classes are more suited to his personal fitness goals.
“I take yoga because I want something that is not as intense as other P.E. classes.” Latifzada said. “It helps because I’m not someone that goes to the gym at all.”
Yoga also focuses on the mental aspect, which Gutierrez said makes it a form of exercise for everyone, regardless of their gender identity age or fitness level. Yoga further emphasizes building good habits and attitudes.
“You’re on your own to figure out the positions in class so you learn to hold yourself accountable since nobody’s going to stop you if you don’t want to do it,” junior Zach Paulsen said. “When you’re in a group, though, you can help each other out and really communicate on how to do the yoga pose and stretch properly.”
Stressing those foundational qualities, Gutierrez encourages students to take this class to help develop strength and flexibility. “In yoga, all of the little things we do end up into huge things,” she said. “So if you can apply your perseverance and that growth mindset that’s huge in yoga to anywhere else in life, it’s going to help you go super far.”
Students and parents interested in yoga can contact Gutierrez at [email protected] for more information.
