Time to retreat! Yoga a fit for more summer camps

Courtesy Usdan

School’s almost out – what’s your summer plan?

Wish you could dive deeper in to yoga over the seasonal break? Well, you probably can. Yoga is stretching beyond the studio limits as an option at more summer camps.

“Whether you’re a teen or younger, mindfulness is the name of the game. More kids are following...
what their parents are doing, as far as taking care of themselves and yoga is very popular right now,” says Andrew Copper, associate director of Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, in Wheatley Heights, New York. The renowned arts camp will offer yoga for the first time this Summer, 2015.

For forty-eight years, “We’ve centered our summers around different recreation, sports and non-competitive games. After talking with parents and through our surveys, we've found that yoga fits in to the program,” says Copper.

Offered as a daily, one-hour class minor for all age groups, campers will experience a combination of styles, as well as meditation. Most Usdan camp classes are set outdoors, and yoga sessions will take place on the beautiful forest grounds here, Copper says.

The ancient practice lends itself well to many of the camp’s performing arts disciplines, says the director.

“Classically trained musicians and actors on stage most definitely have a connection to the physicality and breathing elements of yoga. It ties in to the serene, mindful approach we take with our curriculum," he says.