Yesterday for our girls dorm activity, we practiced yoga and relaxation with Sharon, the new Director of Admissions for Island School, who was down here for Parents Weekend.  All 27 of us had our towels lined up on the dining hall deck, ready to relax after a long, and sometimes stressful, weekend.  She first instructed us on how to breathe correctly, inhaling through the nose, and then exhaling for twice as long through the mouth. Then we started with some yoga poses, holding each one for a few minutes to so our bodies could calm down and get relaxed.  I am not usually the biggest fan of yoga because I have terrible balance and flexibility, but I really enjoyed this because it was about relaxing and not just about accomplishing certain poses.

After completing the yoga poses, we did a relaxation exercise, where we lied down flat on our backs with our palms facing up, and focused our energy on different parts of our body at a time.  Sharon told us that doing this exercise for an hour can give equivalent energy to four hours of sleep if done correctly.  As we were lying down on our backs, she would say certain things like focus on your right thumb, your pointer finger, your middle finger, your ring finger, your pinkie, your right palm, your right wrist, all the way on the right and left side.  At some point during this exercise, my mind fell blank, and then next thing that I remember, she was telling us that our practice was over.  When I opened my eyes, the sun was setting on the ocean, and I had much more energy before we started the practice, despite the fact that I had taken a nap before.  This exercise was a great way to end the day on Sunday, ready to dive into a new week.