Hammock Room Helps Newark Teachers, Students Beat Stress

NEWARK, NJ — A Newark school is helping its teachers and students recharge with a stress-busting method once advocated by Homer Simpson: hammocks.

Recently, the Sussex Avenue School launched “The Hammock,” a special mindfulness space that includes inspirational reading material, meditation music, mandala coloring and yoga equipment.

Oh – and hammocks, of course.

Created in partnership with the Newark Yoga Movement, which has been holding yoga training at the school for years, the hammock room has been a big hit with teachers who need to escape from their frustrations, district administrators say.

According to Principal Darleen Gearhart, teaching is the most difficult job there is. It can drain even the most stalwart educator of their emotional, physical and spiritual health. And it’s in everyone’s best interest that they recharge every once in a while.

“We built this room for you,” she tells her staff. “The better you are, the better you are for students.”

As for the students, they’re also able to melt away stress in a hammock during designated school yoga days and “open time.” The space also lends itself well to the school’s social worker, art therapist and mindful percussion programs.

The new hammock room was a labor of love, organizers said. Teachers at the Newark Yoga Movement (NYM) volunteered to help put the room together, including painting the walls. Additional help came from Jersey Cares, students from both Rutgers University and Montclair State University, and a group of Sussex Avenue students.

A series of mandalas that festoon the room were all hand-painted by former NYM guide Ruth Meagher, who has taught yoga at Sussex Avenue school before. NYM collaborated with architect Irina Schneid, principal of Scharc Studio LLC and founder of Impact: Workshop, a design advocacy fellowship that empowers women to create social change through design.

When asked what kind of impact the new hammock room, yoga and “mindfulness space” have had at the school, Gearhart offered a simple reply.

“The difference is tremendous,” she said.

• See related article: 'Sensory Hallways' Thrilling Students In Caldwell-West Caldwell

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