A number of tough asanas were displayed at St Francis Xavier School on International Day of Yoga. Performing them were teachers and the most athletic students while others watched, took note and were, hopefully, inspired to join them next year.
The yoga demonstration was part of our special assembly, conducted in two sessions — one in the morning for classes III to V and XI-XII, and an afternoon one for classes VI to X. "Yoga has so many benefits. It helps maintain body balance, improves concentration and also helps control anger,” said our principal Anil Srivastava. He recited a prayer in Sanskrit too. Also in attendance were our administrator Ajay Chopra and headmistress Mom Chattopadhyay.
The morning session was conducted by one of our teachers — Rahul Mojumdar. Ayshee Bhattacharjee, a student of Class XI, delivered a speech on the importance of Yoga Day.
A chosen few students — Om Sagar, Ankan Sarkar, Abhirup Das, Samridhi Kumari Sahani, Ginia Tarafdar, Navya Saraf and Aayush Thapa — displayed the asanas while the rest watched. While our school does not teach yoga round the year, we are taught physical training (PT) and karate. Our PT teacher Debojyoti Chakraborty had chosen these students based on their fitness.
Abhirup, Ankan and Ayush said they play cricket and football round the year, so it was easy for them to perform the asanas. “I found ardhachakrasana (half-wheel pose) the toughest,” said Om, a student of Class XII.
The afternoon session was conducted by Archishman Ghosal of Class IX, who also explained the significance of yoga.
Students showed postures like surya namaskar, srishasana and purna chakrasana. Their benefits were explained too.
There was a demonstration by some teachers. Hindi teacher Preeti Singh, Bengali teacher Gargi Banerjee and librarian Rajib Dutta impressed with their postures while our PT teacher Debojyoti sir performed some of the toughest asanas in the book — sirsasana (head stand), adho mukha vriksasana (hand stand) and even mayurasana and picha mayurasana that had him balancing his body on his arms. It inspired us all.
Jagrit Pramanick, Class XI, St. Francis Xavier School