Teaching Yoga
In 2007 I was finding the benefits of yoga to be very valuable to me. I felt like I need to teach and give it way in 2008. Intel was celebrating it’s 40 anniversary and our CEO had challenged us to contribute 1 million hours of volunteering. Intel as a company achieved this goal on Dec 4 2008.
I took a certification with Street Yoga to teach Yoga to at-risk youth. I also took a certification to teach Yoga in Prisons with Living Yoga. Both of these are local Portland non-profits that I decided to dedicate my second half of the year for volunteering too. In addition I also taught 15 kids at my daughter’s school Catlin Gabel as part of the after-school care. I also taught as a substitute teacher at Intel.
Intel Involved Matching Grant Program
In 2008, Intel expanded the volunteer matching grant program which was primarily for educational institutions to include qualified non-profit organization. The rules were simple:
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A minimum of 20 hrs had to be accrued by Intel employee·
The employee cannot receive any monetary benefits in exchange for volunteer services.More details are at www.intel.com/community/iimgp.htm
Teaching Yoga at Work
My first brush with teaching was at work. My yoga teacher at work Alison was sick and she called on me to lead the class. I fretted over whether I could do this. I spent time putting together a program. I couldn’t get the audio working. Everyone liked it. Since then I have subbed for Alison several more times. One class I remember was on 9/11 where we extended silence to almost 10 mins.
Teaching Yoga to Homeless Teens
The Street Yoga training was attended by 21 people. streetyoga.org/portland-summer08-training. It was a pretty intense course. I teamed up with Justine to mock teach. One thing that I remember vividly is Cat acted out as a teenager who refused to do anything. It was very challenging to say the least.
Soon after the training, I started to volunteer at Outside In www.outsidein.org/aboutus.htm. This is a social service agency dedicated to serving low-income adults and homeless youth
I have been teaching Yoga at Outside In for the last 4 months and it has been an incredibly humbling experience.
Every class is different and I learned the following from teaching to this population:
It’s about the Kids. I try to ask each of them what they want to work on and try to incorporate it into the routine. In one class In one class I had a group of students many of whom I had taught before. I got them to each lead a full sun salutation. They each had their own unique styles and I learned a lot that day.
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It’s about the Yoga. . There was one class where a student had gotten out of prison and he had learned yoga in prison and wanted to continue his study and came to the class. I realized that this gives them a shared experience with the larger community. Another challenge I sometimes have is the kids try to bring up other things. I try to get the focus back to the Yoga. Cell phones have been a challenge lately. In one class I had half a dozen calls come through. I try to make it a point to remind kids to turn it off.·
It is about Breathing. I teach different techniques. One time one of the kids asked me why breathing is important. I remind them about how it helps balance the parasympathetic system.·
It is about regularity. I have tried to go as regularly as I can and I see the same kids and am able to know their names. There are some regulars but the class mix changes often.·
It is about incentives. I try to bring fruits every time. I usually take fruits every class. It was incredibly humbling to see kids wanting more of it since they don’t get it often. After I heard that I make it a point to take some everytime. For the holidays I brought box of chocolates. The kids also get incentives from Outside In.·
It is about service without expectations. I try to not expect anything back but some times something that someone remarks sticks with me and motivates me. One kid recently remarked to me that I had very interesting techniques and was flattered when he said that this was the best yoga class he ever had. I have had occasions where I recognize them but they don’t recognize me outside.·
It is about the clothes. I started to become aware that while I was in my yoga clothes, the kids were often in jeans, and some still had their shoes. I started to wear jeans to my classes. I can tell when the kids have difficulty with some of my stretches that way.·
It is about the individual experience. I emphasize the non competitive aspect. There are some kids who are extremely flexible and want to try the crow or a full split. I try to give different options for them (tree at ankle, the calf or a full tree etc).Teaching Yoga to Lower School Studentsa
I made a proposal to the Lower School Principal my daughter’s school Catlin Gabel about teaching a Yoga Program. This moved a lot quicker than I thought. I drafted the idea on Aug 21 and the school in the after-school program under Ginny Malm sent out the information to parents on Aug 27. It was a 7 class introduction program and the idea was to introduce the children to the different aspects of Yoga. I called it Yoga Fusion.
I pored over 100’s of great children’s books and came up with a curriculum that incorporated poems, stories, and a different theme each week. I even had OM work for the kids. The class started on Oct 2 (Gandhi’s birthday and also the UN International Peace Day).
When class started I had 15 kids enrolled. There was a very good mix and every grade from first to the fifth was represented. Lisa the Catlin Gabel librarian was helping me with the class. Lisa teaches them Yoga during their morning recess every week. She is also great at helping me get the kids going in the right direction.
Class #1. This class was an introduction to what Yoga was. When I asked the children what yoga was, I got all kinds of great answers. I taught them some of the basics and introduced them to half and full sun salutation. I also taught them about the Yoga value of "Truth" using Gandhi’s childhood story. When I asked the class who Gandhi was, a first grader responded saying he is the man who used words to fight! He was already describing non-violence.
Class #2: This class was about Breath and Mimicry. The students learned to breathe through the yoga postures and then imitated animals, and objects. One of the imitations I had them do was the Golden Gate Bridge (inspired from Babar’s Yoga for Elephants). The poem this time was from the book "Twist" about "Breath"
Class #3
This class was about saluting nature. We re-emphasized the sun salutations. Then I taught them the half moon salutation. I and my daughter had made up a new nature salutation called "Rain Salutation" to salute the main stay of our portland weather.
Class #4
This class was all about movement and flow. We had a guest lecture introduce Tai-Chi and the movement flow in Tai Chi. This was my Intel Colleague Jian Hui Li who was visiting from China. I started the class off with a poem
I wind through the broad golden valleys
joined by streams
joined by creeks
I grow ever wider, broader, and deeper
I am the RIVER
I then introduced them to flowing through cat/cow’s. Flowing with threading the needle, flowing with sun salutations, flowing with moving bridge. The kids were flowing effortlessly. It was great to watch.
Class #5
This class was all about alignment and incorporating it into flows. I taugh them to watch sholder alignment in cat/cows and downward dog. They practiced Triangle Pose and learning about trying to stay within two glass walls. We then incorporated many of these alignment postures into a half and full moon salutation. I also introduced the concept of Yoga Mudra and taught them the different mudras – Anjali, Jnana, Vishnu
Class #6
I was out of the country for this one. I had assigned OM work for the kids. They spent the time with Lisa. I had assigned different OM works for the different grades. They took the time to brainstorm as well as work on their OM works.
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Grades 1 1. Read a Children Yoga book 2. Draw your favorite posture 3. Bring it to class (with your name on it) |
Grades 3 1. Research one Yoga Posture of your liking (like Tree, Dog etc). 2. Draw the posture and on the side write down how to practice the posture correctly 3. Bring it to class |
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Grades 2 1. Research a Sitting down Posture (Hero, Happy etc) Draw the Posture & Bring it to Class |
Grade 4 1. Research one Yoga Posture Sequence (like Cat/Cow or Sun Salute) 2. Draw the Sequence and on the side write down how to practice it correctly. Include breathing in your description 3. Bring it to class |
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Grade 5 1. Research different styles of Yoga (Hatha, Ashtanga) and Salutations (SunA, SunB, Moon) in them. 2. Create your own nature Salutation 3. Draw the Sequence, and Describe how to do it. Describe the inhale and Exhales. Bring it to class 4. [Optional] Create or Find a poem to go with your nature salutation | |
Class #7
This was a fun class. This was community style class. I first got the kids to stretch and the first through third graders formed a circle and practice sun salutation with Lisa. The fourth and fifth graders joined with me and we did the full moon salute. There were fewer kids in the class due to sickness or due to conflict with Nutcracker suite.
Each of the kids went up and led the class in their favorite posture. For the first graders it was triangle and tree. They had made some really cool drawings as well.
The highlight was the fifth graders. They created a new Salutation. They called it the "Pond Salutation". It starts with a Tree, goes down to Frog, then moves to Fish, next to Swan, coming back out to Frog, and goes back to Tree on the other side.
I was simply blown away by the creativity of the kids.
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