Morning Yoga Program for Physical Plant Staff Possibly Eliminated After Years of Programming

The morning yoga program, which has been offered almost daily to Physical Plant staff members before their morning shifts, is in talks to be eliminated after years of programming, and staff members who participated in the program are mourning its possible loss. 

Physical Plant staff members, which include custodians, grounds crew, and maintenance workers, have some of the most physically taxing jobs on campus. Their job descriptions include daily tasks of physical labor—lifting up to 50 pounds, sweeping floors, shoveling leaves, etc. for hours on end—which leads to them being the most at-risk employees for injuries. Many of these staff members experience sore joints and backs, as well as muscle aches, and some must rely on pain medication for such problems.

While it is unclear when the program was first put into place officially, as it has evolved over the years into a more established program, Custodian and Union Shop Steward Ray Krebs reported that when he first arrived at Reed in 2009, the yoga program was already ongoing. He  explained the program’s positive impact, saying, “[It was] one of the perks that really stood out to me as something that made Reed such a special place to work. We got paid to do 30 minutes of stretching and strengthening exercises on the clock at the beginning of our shift. That showed me how much they truly cared about our health and wellbeing, and it saved the college money on workman’s comp claims too.” He then went on to emphasize how proud he was to be a part of the Reed community at that time, saying, “I bragged about this place nonstop back then, the sense of pride I felt in being part of a community that was based on the Honor Principle, the idea that every action needed to take into account how it affected the people who were downstream.”

The program originally ran every weekday, five days a week for 45 minutes per session, but more recently, it was cut down to three days a week for 30 minutes. This short time before employees’ shifts allowed them to get their bodies warmed up before going about their job duties. The time spent in the yoga class was added to their paid work time, so it was a win-win for many employees: they could physically feel better while also getting paid to do so.

The program was shut down when COVID-19 hit in 2020 and was not revived until 2022, when it was switched over to being hosted by Yoga to You PDX, a locally-owned, female-run mobile yoga studio in Portland. Yoga to You focuses on the therapeutic and preventative approach to yoga and customizes sequences for workplaces by identifying repetitive movements that lead to chronic pain. As a result of this mission, yoga teachers would focus on places on the body where employees located their chronic pain, attempting to target pain head-on during the sessions. An anonymous Yoga to You affiliate emphasized the importance of yoga for injury prevention and reported that Reed used the program because it allegedly lowered pain in those experiencing existing health issues by up to 40% and restored natural energy. “The program allows people who wouldn’t normally go into yoga classes to participate in yoga,” the affiliate stated. They further asserted that the importance of the classes lay in participants gaining lifelong skills to learn how to manage their own pain without relying on the medical system, saying, “We go into it with the mindset of, we believe your pain is real, let's try to figure out how to make this better.” 

Art Blauberg, a custodian in his fifth year at Reed, describes his experience with the morning yoga classes as “life-changing.” “Compared to what I had before, I am pain-free…I have lost weight on it too,” Blauberg said. After being a daily participant in classes for three months, he even stopped taking almost all of his pain medicine. One of his yoga teachers asserted that now, after three years of attending regularly, Blauberg can move his body much more freely, and even his demeanor has changed; he has become more self-confident and is even thinking about teaching yoga himself. This is not the only testimony of staff members' chronic pain being managed after partaking in these yoga classes. Multiple other staff members have reported similar experiences, all thanks to this short 30 minutes at the start of their shifts.

Blauberg and his peers’ experiences make sense when looking at the data. According to a recently published survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 30% of those who practice yoga use it specifically to manage pain, and studies have shown that those who use it for chronic pain management have experienced significant reductions in pain intensity as well as improved functional ability, especially for symptoms such as neck and lower back pain. Further, the CDC asserts that meta-analyses indicate that yoga can have a medium to large effect on pain reduction, particularly when compared to more standard forms of care.

Unfortunately, the instability of the morning yoga program’s future became clear on November 15, 2024, after staff members were alerted by lower management that the program was being eliminated at the end of December. Following the notification, the ending date was delayed until the end of February 2025 while Facilities management and administration considered an option for replacement of the program. As of the time of publication of this article, staff members involved in the program are still negotiating with higher management to find a solution.

In an email to the Quest, Director of Facilities Operations Steve Yeadon wrote, “As this is a Facilities program that is currently under consideration, I feel it would be premature to make any statements at this time. Just to remain respectful of all the folks who are currently working on this.” Human Resources Director Heather Quinn-Barron further emphasized this statement, saying, “In addition to Steve Yeadon's comment, which I support, I want to highlight the following: The college strictly adheres to the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) established between the union and college representatives. Management has and will continue to complied [sic] with the requirements as outlined in the memo of understanding for this program.”

On the possible ending of the program, Krebs closed his statement by saying, “I have to say that the cessation of this program feels like a real disappointment,” and explained that this issue has come up at the same time that custodians’ medical coverage has changed to include higher co-pays, prescription medicine costs, and deductibles that were never required before.

While the future of the morning yoga program seems to be unclear, its importance for all who participated is apparent and the need for it to continue can be seen in the plethora of positive feedback given by participants. “It has become like a family,” the Yoga to You affiliate remarked about the morning yoga program. “We all believe in the power of movement… movement has made a huge difference in pain management for the team.”

Participants of the morning yoga program from a class

Photo courtesy of yogatoyoupdx.com