Jennie Pearl calls out instructions to her 17 high school yoga students, "... plank pose, inhale, cobra, exhale, down dog ..."

The students are going through the "sun salutation," a series of yoga poses. In their T-shirts, tights and sweats, students stretched out parallel to the ground, then looked up.

Pearl watches their movements as she calls out poses, occasionally asking them to reach further.

This was the beginning of one of two Flagstaff High School's yoga classes.

Pearl's FHS yoga classes were set to be cut from this school year's class schedule. When Sinagua was still a high school, all three high schools had yoga classes. Last year, Pearl had 120 students in her FHS classes, with a waiting list.

The cuts were for budgetary reasons, said FHS Principal Tony Cullen. In order to keep her classes going, Pearl, with help from the community, started fundraising.

They raised $6,000 -- enough to hold two classes.

"I don't know if this has been done before," Pearl said. "Hopefully, this inspires people: If it doesn't go your way, what can you do?"

GONG MEDITATIONS

Community members told Pearl they wished they had yoga in high school when they were growing up. That was part of the reason fundraising was successful.

The rest is here:
Yoga classes survive at Flagstaff High