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Third graders practice yoga positions like the "Sun Salutation" class at P.S. 132 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Their teachers, Courtney McDowell, Jennifer Ford and Anne Desmond, have been teaching these students since Pre-K.

Nine years ago, McDowell, Ford, and Desmond started the organization Bent On Learning, and the trio now works with 20 yoga instructors to teach classes at 10 public schools.

"Yoga is just an awesome talent to have because I have seen so many yogis doing incredible things," says third-grade student Julien Tornelli.

"We feel it’s really important to get them moving," says Desmond. "You have to exercise and move around to have energy and shift your focus so you can be more present in the classroom."

Prospective yoga teachers and schools apply to be a part of the program.

"The organizing, the scheduling, finding the right people, going through the right training [and] the love of yoga is what these women are [about]," says Ginann Wood, one of Bent On Learning's yoga instructors. "And what they do is try to share that with as many people as possible."

The three women met though a mutual friend who suggested they band together to bring their passion for yoga to city kids.

The organization offers 70 classes a week for students between ages four and 18.

"I feel good because I can express myself in many ways," says third-grade student Heaven Andersen.

"We are looking to follow students as they progress in that way, so there can be and there will be very soon kids emerging from the public school system with 15 years of yoga under their belt," says McDowell.

Bent On Learning has three different pay models for the schools. Two schools pay the entire fee, two schools pay half of the fee and Bent On Learning matching the rest, and about six schools each year are funded entirely by the organization.

Each student gets a yoga mat and a chart of yoga poses for practice at home.

"When they go home and they do yoga at home, they love sharing it with their parents and siblings," says Desmond.

Ford says she has started working with special needs children and will start teaching at special education schools this fall.

"We really want to reach that population as well. We have seen what that has done for typically developing children and we know we can have the same effect with children with different types of needs," says Ford.

So, for bending over backwards to give students the space to express themselves, Courtney McDowell, Jennifer Ford and Anne Desmond are the latest New Yorkers of the Week.