so much for zen...

A few months ago they started offering yoga after school for an extremely reasonable fee. Every Wednesday a yoga instructor attempts to turn one of our "learning cottages" aka trailers into a relaxing, peaceful environment where we can spend an hour stretching out all the tension that's built up over the past week.

I'd never really done yoga before, but after enough well-meaning lectures from my aide about how I need to learn to meditate and stretch to get rid of my tension headaches (she's from China) I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea.

It's become a beautiful mid-week ritual where I leave the trailer feeling uplifted and relaxed, knowing I can handle the rest of the week. Of course, since this class started in the winter, and the playground beside the trailer has been covered in snow for most of that time, we've always had the last few moments of class to relax in peaceful silence.

Today, however, the playground was full of the children from after school care. Children who had not been outside on a playground in 3 months. Children who have been couped up inside taking test after test. Children who need to run, scream, and play.

Sadly screaming children on a playground do not aid any teacher's attempts at de-stressing, especially when the teachers are able to identify certain screams and know exactly who is most likely trying to walk up the slide, whose throwing mulch, and whose not using the swings appropriately.

We tried really hard to lay silently during our relaxation period, but based on the rustling sounds echoing around the trailer I wasn't the only teacher thinking about each individual child whose voice carried into our room.

Let's just hope that the children's need for play was more beneficial than the teachers' need for zen.