The Meadowbrook Alternative Program found a special group of therapeutic partners with wagging tails and tiny paws for an experimental, one-time relaxation event.
Eight adoptable puppies helped high school students decompress after a tough semester as a part of Roslyn Salt Cave and Yoga’s guided yoga session, who partnered with the program to find new ways to improve students’ school experience.
The Dec. 9 yoga session guided students through mindfulness and relaxation exercises while exploring their social and emotional worlds, supported by the infectious positivity of playful puppies.
MAP held the event at the Brookside School in North Merrick. MAP is a specialized program in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District designed to help students who struggle in a conventional educational environment.
Ironically, the puppies learned as much as the students. While the four-legged visitors helped students be at ease, the exposure to new people and places helped the dogs get comfortable in the human world and prepare for adoption. The canines came from Yoga Puppies, an agency partnering with Roslyn Salt Cave.
Carol Cupo is a school counselor for the district’s MAP, Prep Academy and CHOICE programs said puppy yoga offers a range of benefits for high school students, especially those in alternative settings.
“It combines the stress-relieving effects of yoga with the emotional support of interacting with puppies, helping students manage anxiety, improve focus, and boost mood,” Cupo said in a news release.
The supplementary experience is meant to build community and support essential interpersonal skills, according to Cupo.
“The practice promotes mindfulness, physical well-being, and social interaction in a relaxed, inclusive environment, which can enhance students’ self-esteem and create a sense of community,” she added. “Additionally, it encourages empathy, responsibility, and creative expression, fostering positive connections among students while supporting mental and emotional health.”
The event was a hit among the students, and Cupo expressed interest in planning future events.
Yoga instructor Wendy Shulman led the two physical education classes through a warm-up, breathwork and basic yoga poses. Shulman is the owner of Roslyn Salt Cave, a holistic wellness center in Roslyn. She takes clients through a wide variety of wellness practices, often combatting allergies, asthma, psoriasis, inflammation, and anxiety. Shulman’s salt cave was founded eight years ago after a lifelong journey exploring the wide world of wellness culture.
“One of the things we do is puppy yoga,” she said. “We do puppy yoga for lots of reasons — we work with accredited breeders, it’s very good. Who can be unhappy when they’re playing with puppies?
“We’ve been doing it out of the salt cave, and then we had schools calling us,” she continued. “It was such an amazing experience to go to that school, specifically to the MAP program… The kids were so grounded and happy, and even the faculty came and took part in the puppy yoga experience!”
The event was made possible with financial support from the North Merrick Community Parent Center, a nonprofit focused on enhancing health and safety educational programs in the area. Director Wendy Tepfer saw puppy yoga as a spectacular opportunity.
“We thought that this was a really important thing to bring to the students, because we’re working with alternative ed students,” she said. “It was a non-judgmental, uplifting environment which was created by the puppies, which helps to reduce stress and anxiety, which are common challenges for all teenagers who are struggling to balance stressful, academic, social and personal pressures.
“It ended up being a very, very beneficial day for everybody who was involved,” she concluded.
To learn more about Roslyn Salt Cave, visit RoslynSaltCave.com.
