Yoga Club invites members to holiday themed stretches and snacks

Junior Kavya Aswadhati turns off the lights in the dance studio and tiptoes around the students laying on yoga mats like a parent checking on sleeping children. The room isn’t full, or as crowded as it was during Yoga Club’s first meeting on Sept. 8, but a group of about fifteen regulars rest on the floor, quietly listening to Aswadhati’s vaguely electronic playlist. After a few minutes, Aswhadhati gently instructs the members to open their eyes, roll up their mats and head to the back of the studio to try out the homemade pumpkin bread the officer team prepared the day before.

This meeting, on Dec. 1, began like every other meeting — club members took off their shoes and filed into the dance studio in a steady stream during the first few minutes of the Monday lunch. They tossed their backpacks onto the carpet and pulled out purple yoga mats, setting them on the hardwood floor in groups of three or four. Aswadhati, the club president, sat in the center and directed the day’s flow, or set of poses.

Yoga club president junior Kavya Aswadhati demonstrates a pose on Dec. 1. While the club began two years ago, it did not have an active presence on campus until this year. Photo by Alina Abidi.

The other officer positions are filled by juniors Leta Dickinson, Tal Marom and Nina Rice. While they have titles — Publicity, Director of Health and Wellness and Secretary, respectively —, their specific duties are not defined. Rather, all of them pitch in to provide food and brainstorm ideas for the club.

“It’s yoga club,” Dickinson said. “There isn’t a lot of paperwork.”
Though the club began two years ago, Aswadhati explained that it was previously limited to one group of friends. This year the officer team works to expand the club, especially through its Facebook group, filled with energetic posts from Marom and teasers of what food to expect at next Monday’s meeting.

“[I appreciate] seeing on Facebook how much enthusiasm people have for our club and seeing how much support we receive,” Marom said. “For a small club, you normally wouldn’t see that.”

Yoga Club members eat a pre-Thanksgiving meal prepared by the officer team on Nov. 24. The table boasted a variety of post-flow options, including scones, cornbread, edamame and fruit kabobs. Photos by Alina Abidi.

Aswadhati’s list of flows, accompanied by patient instructions, follows a general pattern from meeting to meeting, but she encourages feedback and occasionally adds something new, like a Turkey pose the week before Thanksgiving.

Officers juniors Nina Rice and Tal Marom stretch out their legs on Dec. 1. The two followed president junior Kavya Aswadhati’s directions but added a few twists, like Marom’s leg positioning. Photo by Alina Abidi.

Despite additional flows and a variety of food, each yoga session ends the same way. After the members complete their more strenuous or challenging poses, Aswadhati asks them to relax, close their eyes and just rest.

“Think about nothing else,” she says, “but how you feel right now.”

Yoga Club meets on Mondays at lunch in the dance studio.