Music erupts from small speakers all around the school, signaling the end of Thursday’s classes and the daily noisy movement of students packing up their supplies and chatting as they make their way to their lockers. While some students head home to crack open their science books, or to a locker room for a sports practice, around 10 to 12 teachers around the school are taking deep breaths before changing into yoga clothes and heading down to Lower School drama teacher Christine Beh’s room for their fourteen-year old weekly teachers-only yoga class.

Parker faculty members have been rolling out their mats for this class since retired Junior Kindergarten teacher Carol Aymar invited a friend and yoga teacher, Rachel Fiske, to lead the teachers once a week.

A 25-year yoga teacher and creator of MoonBeams–a monthly circle in which girls can unplug, hear their own ‘Inner Voice,’ and express their thoughts– Fiske’ said Parker is the only teachers-only group she leads. “The difference with teachers is that it’s a homogenous group, so they all kind of do the same thing, same interest and schedule,” Fiske said. “I kind of have an idea of what they need instead of if it’s just a public class. A class of random mixed people is harder to teach because I know what the teachers have been doing all day, and I know what they’ll need at the end of the day.”

All employees–teachers, assistant teachers, staff, and administrators– are invited to the weekly class from 3:45-4:45, though Nurse Anne Nelson and Athletics Department Assistant Ellen Sandquist are regulars each week. According to Nelson, teachers receive updates from Sandquist, who supplies the yoga mats, and the only requirement is comfortable clothes.

Nelson’s positive experience with the class is largely due to Fiske’s method of teaching. “She is without a doubt the best yoga teacher I have ever had,” Nelson said. “She’s great– very intuitive, very calm. She talks you through the exercises, you don’t have to memorize anything. She doesn’t use the names of the poses, which would usually confuse me.”

Sandquist took over managing the class when Aymar retired in 2015. Similar to Nelson, she enjoys the peacefulness and relaxation the yoga class provides.

“What we do at Parker is kind of described as workplace yoga,” Sandquist said. “It’s for stress reduction. It’s not too intense like some yoga classes can be.”

A highlight of both Sandquist and Nelson’s week, the yoga class holds a special place for Fiske as well. “I totally love it, and I think the teachers just love that there’s a dark room where they can go relax,” Fiske said. “I don’t know that it’s so much about the yoga or about men but some of it is just being able to transition from taking care of all the kids to replenishing themselves before they go home and do the rest of their evening.”

Both Sandquist and Nelson look forward to a class full of downward dogs and meditation to help them get them through to Friday. “I love yoga, it’s one of my favorite things during the school week,” Sandquist said. “It helps you keep going. It’s the perfect complement for the end of the week.”

For Nelson, the yoga provides a time of relaxation. “At the end of the hour you are so relaxed that you could probably fall asleep,” Nelson said. “I would recommend it for everyone. It’s such a good, really wonderful experience.”

For Fiske, the important part of yoga is the difference between her students at the beginning and at the end of class. “The difference between how people look when they walk in and how people look when they walk out– their faces look completely relaxed,” Fiske said. “People are really intense when they walk in and relaxed and happy when they finish.”

Nelson does a little yoga outside of Parker, but wishes she could do more. “I should do it every day because it really makes me feel good,” Nelson said. “If we did what makes us feel good…I would be in much better shape if I did yoga every day.”

Fiske encourages students to take up yoga and wishes that students could reap similar benefits as the teachers. “I don’t think kids ever have been taught how to cope with stress,” Fiske said. “If they’re waiting to hear from colleges or on an exam, just to stop for three minutes and stretch and take a couple breaths, yoga gives them something they can do for themselves and send them back into their world feeling like they could cope with whatever came their way.”