By Nikki Dowling
The Riverdale Press
High school history teacher, Harvard graduate and active volunteer Dominique Padurano knows a thing or two about stress. That would explain why she practices breathing exercises with students during class, teaches yoga after school and plans to volunteer her services on weekends.
The 39-year-old has taught at Horace Mann’s upper division for four years and has lived locally for just as long. She said she noticed the school’s rigorous academic requirements wore students thin. So she began practicing yoga breathing and stretching exercises at the beginning of class to enliven or calm students, depending on what they needed.
“In the beginning they’ll think I’m crazy, I’m sure ... but I think that they realize the benefits,” Ms. Padurano said, adding that she gives students stretching ideas to reduce back pain and sleeplessness.
Current and former students said the short practice period makes a big difference.
“I’ve never done yoga or really breathing before. It relaxes you,” 11th grader Spencer Reiss, who is currently taking Ms. Padurano’s class, said. He added that his Spanish teacher recently imitated the routine.
Senior Tucker Caploe said Ms. Padurano “made sure we were de-stressed and ready to work.”
Last year, Ms. Padurano revived the after-school yoga program to help with further stress-busting. Once every week in the school’s Black Box Theater, she teaches a small group of students how to bend, breath and pose until they fall into relaxation.
“Horace Mann is a pretty intense place and I think that teachers and students can use the tools that yoga can give us for dealing with stress,” Ms. Padurano said, adding that she offered a course for faculty and staff last year and is receiving requests to continue it.
Wearing black leggings, silver jewelry and a black tank top, Ms. Padurano performed some poses during an interview last month. Diving gracefully into an effortless plank, the 13-year yoga veteran didn’t look like she needed any more instruction. Yet, she said she was currently getting her teaching certification from Yoga Haven in Tuckahoe, N.Y.
Ms. Padurano is also finishing up a four-week course with the Good Dog Foundation, a nonprofit that trains dogs and their owners to work in animal-assisted therapy and was started for families and victims following the Sept. 11 attack.
Ms. Padurano and her white German Shepard, Blanca, will be a “Good Dog Team” that goes into nursing homes, hospitals or other institution to provide company and companionship to those who want it.
“Given that Riverdale’s got a lot of nursing homes I might wind up in a senior citizen center,” she said
Ms. Padurano taught at Rutgers University, University of Texas at El Paso and at public schools in Long Island. She has a Ph.D from Rutgers in U.S. history, a master’s in education from Dowling College and a bachelor’s in art history from Harvard.
“To teach at a school like Horace Mann is a dream because the students are smart and engaged,” she said. “At Horace Mann if you’re a teacher you can really be a teacher.”
And a yoga instructor.
