A new way of learning. A new way of teaching. A new way of being. And along these new ways of doing things comes new levels of stress and anxiety. When teachers and students were released for Spring Break on March 13, they weren’t expecting to stay at home until May 4. But techniques such as yoga and meditation are being used to help deal with the struggles of self-isolation and remote learning. 

“When all this craziness with COVID started happening,” Delaney Gunnell (10) said, “I was grateful more than ever that I had already incorporated meditation practices into my life. Being able to retreat from everything that’s happened has helped me be able to remain calm and clear-headed throughout it.” 

Reports of the coronavirus originated in China late last year, but its repercussions on school life were unpredictable. 

“I was lucky, in the sense that a lot of my activities are already online, so I didn’t have to reinvent the wheel,” career research teacher Heather Da Silva said. “Rather, I had to balance how to present my material effectively, while keeping in mind that online school is a juggling act. Yoga meditation helps provide balance for me.”

Students of all ages across the county have to learn how to continue their school year in a brand new way, using platforms such as Google Classroom. 

“Yoga is typically what I do to take a break from online school,” sophomore Anastacia Devlin (10) said. “I follow videos on YouTube that kind of guide you through it, and I like to do it by myself. It’s just easier for me to focus on my breathing and attitude.” 

While school closures will be temporary,  Gunnell said she plans to continue her stress-relieving practices even after things return to normal.

“I’m hoping that I’ll hold onto the habit of meditating so frequently that I’ve made over this break when we get back to school,” she said. “I think it’ll be important to remember the time when the world was still once it gets going again.”

By Riley Harper