Librarian Rachael Hodges hosts yoga session for students during all three lunches
September 24, 2018
With teenage stress levels being at an all-time high (According to the American Psychological Association), students are feeling the pressure of school. To help combat the stress they may be feeling, librarian Rachael Hodges will be teaching yoga classes for students, free of charge.
“I started practicing yoga and mindfulness about five years ago,” Hodges said. “It’s been really great for me. I started to become aware of students and adults that struggle with stress or focus or anxiety, and I wanted to help.”
Hodges became a certified adolescent yoga instructor over the summer, and hopes to use her newfound experience to help attendees. Classes will be roughly 20 minutes on Mondays and Wednesdays during all three lunches, starting in October.
“I have no idea what kind of turnout there will be,” Hodges said. “I’ve been really pleasantly surprised at the amount of positive feedback I’m getting. I’m seeing a lot of students leave high school with a ton of academic knowledge, but almost no knowledge about dealing with stress in the real world. My goal as an educator is to teach them both.”
Student interested are encouraged to attend a pre-meeting on Sep. 26 during all three lunches. This meeting will address proper attire, behavior and informational forms.
“I’m just playing around with it right now,” Hodges said. “I’m going to start small and see what happens; what students want or need from it.”
Any questions or concerns should be discussed with Hodges in the Media Center or by email [email protected].
Mitzi Swanick • Oct 2, 2018 at 4:01 PM
Great news! I love the librarian’s perspective that, as an educator, there is an opportunity to teach more than just the academic things at school. I’m happy to read that Rachael is offering to share her knowledge about working through stress, as it can be a valuable tool life-long. It will be interesting to see where the program goes down the road. Hopefully it will be helpful for those students who are willing to take advantage of her generous offer!
mike warda • Sep 28, 2018 at 9:58 AM
Stress is very real however I do not agree its at an all time high. Stress in young people have always been around. Just add todays stress of school competition, bullying, grades, and home pressures to the military draft, war, and PTSD. I think now we more recognize stress, have the resources to deal with it, and beat it. Nice article. Keep the subject out front.