My experience with Living Yoga by Stephanie Dowell, Yoga Instructor

 

Many of you may remember the Yogathon that Believe participated in this summer to raise funds for Living Yoga.  Living Yoga is a non-profit outreach program teaching yoga as a tool for personal change in prisons, drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, domestic violence shelters, transitional facilities, and to populations who would otherwise not have access to it. I had the distinct privilege of attending the volunteer teacher training in July and participating in the annual Gala Fundraiser as well.  Having now volunteered for several different facilities through Living Yoga, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on my experience thus far and share with my Believe family. 

My first class was to assist at De Paul.  Even though I am already a yoga teacher, I was nervous!  Most of the students were young women and instantly my heart just went out to them.  My motherly instincts kicked in and I found myself wanting to support them emotionally as they moved through class.  Then I realized that I was only here to teach them yoga.  My role was not mother, therapist, or physician.  The students need to do the work and if they are accepting, they can open their hearts and let the yoga do its work as well. 

My second class was at a medium security men’s prison.  Again, I felt the nerves getting the better of me.  I think I may have watched too many Hollywood movies as I pictured a group of angry, volatile men ready to pounce on the yoga teachers with their homemade shanks!  In actuality what I met up with was a group of very serious yoga practitioners.  These men had learned yoga during their incarceration and looked forward to this one hour every week.  We actually taught on Labor Day and they just thanked us profusely for taking time that we could be spending with our families to come and teach.  They were so respectful and even tried to find a less “stinky” mat for me when I asked them if they had any cleaner for the mats. 

Now I am regularly assigned to one of the newest class additions on the weekly schedule.  I now teach women incarcerated in a minimum security jail with a drug and alcohol rehab program located in Washington County.  I even had the joy of teaching the very first class!!  I remembered my experience at De Paul and came in with a very different mindset this time.  Again my job is to teach yoga and encourage the women to be present with themselves as they practice.  I am no Patanjali, Indra Devi or Iyengar, I am Stephanie, humble yogi.  It is the yoga that transforms lives, not the teacher.  Instead I tried to find ways for the women to trust me and feel comfortable with me.  Many of these women have had tough upbringings which led them down the road of drugs, crime, and violence.  Although I have never been incarcerated or been through detox, I tried to find ways to relate to the students.  I have shared a few details with them about how drugs, alcohol, abuse and domestic violence has touched my life.  Yoga and martial arts, along with therapy and sheer determination to make a change, allowed me to break the cycle.  Yoga is key in my continued effort at maintaining a healthy and positive lifestyle. 

So I will continue to teach these women and even if only for the duration that they are incarcerated they practice yoga, I pray that they too see the power of yoga. 

Namaste

 

 

 

 

 

 

Insight by Johanna Rayman, Feldenkrais Instructor

When I'm not teaching Feldenkrais classes, I work as a psychotherapist. I have been amazed at how starting a movement practice has helped many of my clients to learn to speak their mind, to treat themselves more gently, and to generally improve their mental health status.  It's as if feeling stronger and more physically supported in their bodies translates directly into feeling emotionally supported and strong ... and based on my personal experience, I believe this is exactly what is happening!  Different movement practices have different approaches to movement, but the ones that help with feeling emotionally supported will all have some things in common:  the teacher is encouraging and friendly; the class is paced in a way that you are able to have a sense of achievement or success; and you leave the class feeling calm or invigorated, and good about yourself.  Of course I think Feldenkrais classes are great for creating a sense of support.  The gentle, unfamiliar movement sequences calm your nervous system, help your movement become more agile and responsive, and bring your skeleton into a more balanced alignment ... giving you a structural base of internal, physical support.