Stressing yoga’s importance

Over the past year, students at Davis Elementary School have found a novel way of escaping the pressures of study: playing possum.

Every four weeks on the Costa Mesa school’s playground, students have gathered on Wednesday afternoons for Stacy Ahlgren-Wise’s yoga class, laying out towels on the grass. During the half-hour session, Ahlgren-Wise leads the children through a series of ancient postures, including the salutations of the sun and moon, the mountain stance and the tree pose.

The most popular among students, though, is the one that requires the least effort ? the corpse pose. To perform it, students do nothing but lie flat on their backs, turn their palms upward toward the sky, and breathe in and out slowly through the nose.

“I like it because you just lay down and you’re relaxed,” said sixth-grader Stephanie Perrusquia, 12, who was among the dozen students who signed up for yoga this spring.

Ahlgren-Wise, an instructional aide at Davis, has taught yoga there for four years. She learned the ancient Hindu art herself through meditation practice, and turned it into one of the many after-school classes that Davis holds on Wednesday.

Midway through every week, the school leads rotating classes in cooking, woodwork, computers and other topics. All the teachers in the programs are parents or community volunteers. This year, Davis implemented a number of new classes, including a knitting program taught by Newport-Mesa Unified School District board member Martha Fluor.

The yoga class, which held its last meeting this month, provides a respite for students after a long day of classwork and recess.

“I thought it would be great for the children to do something a little alternative,” Ahlgren-Wise said. “It’s a little different than physical education.”

At the start of each class, Ahlgren-Wise and the students open with the salutation of the sun, an exercise that consists of leaning straight back with the index fingers pointing toward the sky. Next is the salutation of the moon, a similar pose in which participants bend slowly to each side.

Some of the positions require a little more dexterity, such as the tree pose, in which students balance on their left feet, then bring their right feet against their thighs while pressing their palms flat together.

Even though some of the exercises take practice, students said the class has helped them become more agile and balanced ? mentally as well as physically. Fifth-grader Chris Naccache said practicing yoga helps him on the soccer field.

“When you’re less stressed, you can go faster,” Chris, 11, said. “I feel like I have less to think about, so my mind is focused on soccer.”(LA)Leticia Valderrama, 10, stretches with her classmates during an after-school yoga class at Davis Elementary School on Wednesday. dpt.13-classrooom-2-kt-CPhotoInfo441RTE0Q20060613j0rie4ncPHOTOS BY KENT TREPTOW / DAILY PILOT(LA)From left, Sasheena Kensak-Haines, 12, Cassy Baker, 10, and Mykal Roybal, 12, participate in an after-school yoga class at Davis Elementary School on Wednesday.dpt.13-classrooom-1-kt-CPhotoInfo441RTE0O20060613j0ridrncPHOTOS BY KENT TREPTOW / DAILY PILOT(LA)From left, Sasheena Kensak-Haines, 12, Cassy Baker, 10, and Mykal Roybal, 12, participate in an after-school yoga class at Davis Elementary School on Wednesday.