Yoga Programming Lives (and Breathes) in Norona Wellness Room

In a quiet classroom inside the Olander Center for Student Life at the A.E. Finley Activity Center, you’ll find floor-to-ceiling windows, a soft floor and soothing music playing. Students are standing, sitting and even lying on mats scattered around the room. Many have their eyes closed in the middle of the lesson — which is what their teacher wants them to do.

Of course, this isn’t your typical classroom: it’s the Norona Health and Wellness Room, designed specifically for yoga and mindfulness programming. Built during the 18-month renovation and construction project that created the Olander Center, the room is home to yoga classes for Middle School students, Upper School students, and faculty and staff — an important part of the school’s programming to help Ravens of all ages prioritize wellness amid their busy lives.

Upper School students prepare for yoga in the quiet, sun-drenched Norona Health and Wellness Room, a space designed specifically for yoga and mindfulness programming.

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“A safe, supportive space to engage in practice”

Student health and wellness is such an integral part of Ravenscroft’s commitment to students, employees and families that it was included in the 2022 strategic plan, Framing Our Future. As Associate Head of School for Student Affairs Kendra Varnell noted, the school has prioritized building a holistic wellness model that includes regular wellness practices for all members of the Ravenscroft community — whether that’s through mindfulness techniques practiced in advisory, access to peer support, or training for faculty and staff to help them better respond to students’ mental health needs.

“At the forefront of the strategic plan, and the next iteration of my work, is thinking about how to integrate well-being into all aspects of who we are as a school,” Varnell explained. “Yoga is one sliver of the larger arc of how we think about student well-being.”

The school’s commitment to holistic student wellness inspired Mike and Helen Norona to establish the Norona Health and Wellness Room and Patio. The Noronas — parents of Jordan ’17 and Dylan ’22 — first gave to the school as an expression of gratitude for the school nurses’ compassionate and thorough response when Dylan was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a fifth-grader. As the Olander Center started taking shape in 2020, during the early days of the COVID pandemic, their desire to support the well-being of Ravenscroft students grew.

Students, faculty and staff enjoy opportunities to nurture well-being (clockwise from top left): PreK and Kindergarten students learn a yoga pose from their Middle School buddies during a December 2023 visit; Middle Schoolers enjoy their Spring 2021 Community Day, an opportunity to get outside, relax and enjoy being together; Upper School students and math teacher Karen Carroll enjoy a visit from therapy dogs with Canines for Service in November 2023.

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“We planted the seed for the wellness room based on what we witnessed specifically during the pandemic,” Helen Norona said, noting that being able to continue her own exercise routine through virtual classes with a friend was immensely helpful for her. “Having someplace to go was really important, so the wellness room is very much part of that: just someplace to go to stretch, to meditate, do some simple exercises.”

In the nearly three years since the Olander Center’s opening, the Norona Health and Wellness Room has proven to be that and more, Amie McCall, who teaches the Middle School yoga elective, noted.

“The space is incredibly peaceful and provides a safe, supportive space for students to engage in their yoga practice,” she said.

Middle School students enjoy a preview of yoga programming in May 2022, a month after the Olander Center opened.

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“A good thing for kids with a lot going on in their lives”

The Middle School yoga curriculum includes a deep dive into flexibility, strength, mindfulness and balance through different poses, breathwork and journaling. The course, Yoga and Mindfulness, is offered each semester and is open to students in all three grades. In the second half of the semester, participants study kids’ yoga programming, such as the popular YouTube channel Cosmic Kids Yoga, and use what they see to develop their own lessons for students in the Lower School.

“I saw so much leadership from my students,” Director of Parent Engagement Sarah Baker, who helped develop the yoga electives and taught the Middle School class for two years, said. “The class was about learning, then experiencing, then sharing.”

“The Lower School presentation was my most favorite part of the class, especially the fact that my little brother and sister are in the Lower School,” Zuri Settles ’29 said. “Seeing the excitement on the Lower Schoolers’ faces when they get to buddy up with the older students is the cutest thing. Making fun connections and friendships with the younger students was pure joy.”

Madison Young ’29 practices Extended Child’s Pose, a restorative pose; Riley Sheehan ’29, Kaylee Hannah ’29 and Embry Zola ’29 move into Wide-Arm Cobra Pose, a gentle backbend that stretches the abdominals and opens the chest and shoulders.

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In the Upper School, the Yoga and Mindfulness course provides a reprieve from busy days and a new way for students to use their bodies. During the semester-long class, 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders move from learning and practicing basic yoga poses to more advanced poses and, eventually, designing their own sequence of movement. They also make room for mindfulness exercises, employing breathing methods, guided imagery and other meditative practices to gauge their sense of well-being, relax the body and mind, and reduce stress.

“It’s a good thing for kids with a lot going on in their lives. The ability to take time out to meditate has been very valuable for those students,” Ali Olney, who teaches the Upper School yoga class, said.

“I always feel much more awake after class, as well as more loose and mobile,” Payton Earwood ’25 said. “I especially love having yoga class in the morning, because I often feel much more ready for the day ahead. I also really love when we do mindfulness exercises, as it helps to relieve a lot of stress that sometimes weighs me down.”

“I learned a lot more about myself as a student-athlete in a non-competitive way,” Josh Ratliff-Weathersby ’25 added. “This really helped me grow more mentally and how I think as a person. It really helped me outside the class, as I used this in basketball.”

Josh Ratliff-Weathersby ’25, at center, and classmates practice Gate Pose, which stretches the side body, in Ali Olney’s Upper School yoga elective; Upper School students Rachel Mencer ’25, Mikey Leaf ’25 and Adelaide Tadder ’25 “thread the needle” in Child’s Pose.

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“A feeling of community”

As a dedicated space for this kind of programming, the Norona Wellness Room — which also boasts a patio overlooking Stefanou Field and the towering pines beyond — hosts yoga outside of the school day as well. Coaches in the Athletics Department have taken advantage of the expertise of the yoga teachers, working with them to hold workshops that help players stretch out a particular muscle group or engage in a cross-training activity. In addition, faculty and staff have the opportunity to take free after-school classes twice a week as part of the school’s focus on employee wellness.

For all of these Ravens, the addition of yoga to the slate of wellness programs has had numerous benefits that extend well beyond the mat.

“There’s something that feels more accessible about taking the risk and trying yoga,” Varnell said. “Through this class, you get a feeling of community.”

Middle School students and then-instructor Sarah Baker lead Lower Schoolers in a fun yoga lesson in this photo from 2023.

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“Some students stay in Savasana [the relaxation pose that ends each practice] for a long time after class is over,” Olney noted about her Upper School students. “They are not on their phones, not stressing about anything, they’re just in the moment.”

For the Noronas, contributing to Ravenscroft’s wellness offerings is an important and fulfilling way to help others, and they have been gratified by the responses of Ravens across the school community.

“I was tackled, in kindness, when I was visiting for a trustee meeting and saw three teachers who had just been in the yoga class and said how awesome it was. I can’t put into words how I felt,” Mike Norona, who is vice chair of the Ravenscroft Board of Trustees, said. “Our family is thrilled to play a small role, and we applaud the other families who have stepped out to help.

“We hope that continues and that more families become involved so Ravenscroft can continue to build out its wellness programs.”

Charlie Slater ’37 and other kindergarteners enjoy the quiet and stillness in the Norona Health and Wellness Room, where members of the Middle School yoga elective take them through a lesson they developed.

Above, as the sunlight streams through the windows of the Norona Health and Wellness Room, Middle School students practice Extended Mountain Pose with teacher Amie McCall.