The department decided to use the funds to begin yoga classes for its members and asked Deputy Chief Michael Baker who proposed the yoga classes to be responsible for the program. Deputy Chief Baker worked with Club Fit to find an instructor, purchased yoga mats and scheduled the classes. Yoga at the Archville Firehouse is now underway and the program is being enthusiastically received by the members.
The class instructor Kathryn Ward guides the class as a whole and gives individual instruction that has brought about comments like “I now better understand the simple complexity of my body and I leave the class with the goal of more total fitness”.
It is the hope of the Archville Fire Department, led by Chief Peter West, that their innovative commitment to firefighter fitness can be an idea other department will consider in striving for first responder total fitness.