Katy Vernet gathered the group of 10 students at Claude Chester Elementary School into a circle in the center of the room and asked them why they decided to come to yoga club the morning of May 8.

One student said it would be good if he had a little relaxation before starting the day. One said she feels tired after dance practice on Mondays. Another said she hadn’t been in a school club before.

Vernet, a second-grade teacher, walked to the CD player and put on “Dance for the Sun,” a tune with helpful lyrics on completing a Sun Salutation: “Stretch up high, bend down low, feet jump back, belly on the ground, look at the stars, now downward dog and breathe.”

Vernet and Bethany Kohary, art teacher at Claude Chester, started a before-school yoga club this school year. They’re in the third seven-week session, in which some Groton students are yoga club returnees and some are new.

Student Sam Alvaran said coming to yoga club makes him “more calm and more creative, kind of. Like, I don’t get mad as easily on Tuesdays.”

Fifth-grader Michael Russo said when he first came to yoga club, he was confused and a little nervous, but now he likes doing it. Pakhi Agrawal likes that she’s gotten to know some new people through the club.

Vernet said the formation of the yoga club originated with a push from Principal Jamie Giordano for teachers to do community-building activities with kids in other classes. The club serves as community-building not only for students but also for teachers, considering Vernet and Kohary don’t otherwise work together very much.

They originally planned to also continue with the sewing club Kohary offered in the past, but the kids loved yoga so much they stuck with it.

“I really think that the reason I wanted to start yoga with kids is because they’re so busy and plugged in that they need some time to be quiet and settle,” Vernet said. She feels it is helpful for kids who continuously come to “be able to tap into what it feels like when you’re relaxed.”

Vernet has been practicing yoga for 20 years, and she went through a 10-hour training for teaching yoga to children. Kohary started doing yoga with her daughter when she was in elementary school.

Many aspects of yoga don’t need to be modified from adult instruction to child instruction. The pose names adults recognize are easy for kids to understand – like tree, mountain, ragdoll, airplane and warrior.

When students get into warrior pose, Vernet instructs them to say “I am strong” or “I am brave.” She once asked them to say what they’re a warrior for and got responses like animals, the environment and cooking.

After a series of poses, she has students lie on their backs and listen to a recording that has them clench up different parts of their body and then relax.

The session ends with “Well Wishes,” in which Vernet asks the kids to think of someone you see but whose name you don’t know, someone you love, and yourself. For each person, they wish, “May they be happy, may they be healthy, may they be peaceful and at ease.”

e.moser@theday.com