A few weeks ago, my principal hosted a party at his house as a "pump the teachers up for state testing" kinda thing. At one point in the party, a few other teachers and I were talking about our "dream careers." It's no secret that these days teaching is more demanding than ever before, especially with the new intensity that came with the adoption of Common Core and the looming threat of the challenging PARCC tests that may or may not be adopted next year...I love teaching and love my students, but I know I'm not alone in that on particularly stressful days I find myself sometimes thinking, "Maybe I could be a _____(fill in the blank with less stressful job)..."
Anyways, I decided my "pretend dream career" is a yoga instructor. Come on--they are so calm, they wear comfy clothes, and they get to do yoga all day long. Oh, and they also get to teach something without worrying about learning standards, testing, AYP, RTI, you name it. Of course, I doubt they get health benefits, but this is my fictitious dream world we're talking about here!
After sharing that, someone said that if I led a yoga class at my school, they would totally come. I decided this was the way to realize my yoga instructor dreams! I invited some other teachers and a few days later we unrolled mats, towels, etc. on my floor, dimmed the lights, and I led some coworkers in a half hour of vinyasa yoga. It was wonderful! The next week we did it again, and a few other teachers showed up too. Yesterday was our 4th "class," and I am LOVING IT. It is the perfect relaxation break during a busy week.
It's been a wonderful change of pace for me to create the playlist, plan out the class, and practice yoga with coworkers. More than ever, I am reminded the importance of having an outlet during the workweek that is unrelated to teaching. Sure I have my running and tri training, but I love that this is just a different change of pace. And it gets me doing yoga an extra day of week. Motivation FTW! I don't know why I didn't think of doing this sooner!
Do teachers at your school ever exercise together?
How fun and good for you, I think being a yoga teacher is one of my dream jobs lately too. The comfy clothes, the relaxing music, what can go wrong?
ReplyDeleteSounds like fun!! I used to do workout videos with co-workers at my the first building I worked with. It's fun to bond AND exercise. Several of my co-workers do the couch to 5k group I lead, so I guess I do kind of workout with some of them.
ReplyDeleteI do bootcamp on Thursdays with some teachers :) This week we are running a 5K in the neighborhood since it is supposed to be a nice day.
ReplyDeleteAbout 3-4 teachers at my school often go to the Y together and do classes there a couple of times a week. I don't go because I can't justify a $60/mo membership fee when I can go to my little gym a mile away for only $27 and I can get in 24/7.
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