Newsletter, Jul 22, 2003
| Our newsletters have been a tool for informing
supporters and volunteers about current and planned projects, and
give a good feel of the lessons we are learning as we teach yoga
to homeless and at risk youth. Please feel free to read our current newsletter (March, 2007),
or a past issue by clicking on one of the following links.
Thanks. Past Newsletters |
|||
| August 27,
2006 June 15, 2006 May 17, 2006 Feb 16, 2006 Dec 22, 2005 Oct 27, 2005 Sept 22, 2005 July 22, 2005 |
Apr 22, 2005
Feb 5, 2005 Oct 29, 2004 May 14, 2004 Mar 8, 2004 Feb 7, 2004 Jan 2, 2004 Sept 12, 2003 |
Aug 5, 2003
July 22, 2003 June 27, 2003 June 22, 2003 May 30, 2003 May 16, 2003 May 9, 2003 May 2, 2003 |
|
The first group of teachers has set their schedule for teaching out Outside In. We'll be teaching Thursdays and Sundays from 3-4pm. The Thursday class will begin this Thursday, July 24th. The Sunday class will start a week and a half later (due to scheduling issues), on August 3d.
Two teachers are scheduled to teach each class. An online copy of the teaching schedule will be made available (password protected) on this website shortly. Until then, email will have to suffice for the teachers.
We revised the curriculum at our latest meeting, simplified it and focused on presenting asanas and vinyasas that the youth can achieve with success. Click here to read over the revised curriculum.
I got a call from a reporter at the Oregonian who wanted to do a story on StreetYoga. I was enthused, but encouraged her to wait a few weeks or months, so there would be more to report. I was gratified for her positive notice of StreetYoga.
There are a few of new opportunities which present themselves to us at present. While we don't want to dilute our efforts or overextend ourselves, the interest that others are showing in the teaching of yoga in non-traditional settings is encouraging.
If anyone is interested in any of these, let me know.
White Shield is a transitional group home for teenaged girls from ages 11 to 17. They are inside the State's foster care system and are between placements or otherwise in transition. They stay at White Shield for up to 60 days (seldom longer) and the lady there said that yoga would be quite welcome. She said it would be required for all the girls, as that is how they have setup their programs. There would be between 4-8 students plus a staff person each class, and we have tentatively discussed offering a class on Monday or Tuesday afternoons from about 3-4pm.
Sarah has started teaching recovering addicts at the DePaul treatment center, and is interested in exploring that in greater depth with others.
Outside In is conducting activities in the outside Courtyard space at Outside In all summer. Larry and Karen have volunteered to put on one outdoor yoga “workshop” in August, and likely one in September. If interested, contact them or me.
At our last meeting with Andre in June, he left us with a few thoughts that bear remembering. The youth who choose to live on the streets, with all its terrors and traumas, do so largely because the street is a better place to live than wherever they lived before. Given the traumatic childhoods that most street youth have suffered, it is not a suprise that many of them have never learned how to take care of themselves in a healthy way. There was never anyone to teach them. And now, in their teens, they are required to struggle every day simply to survive.
We can't change anyone. But we can honor who they are, honor the intelligence it takes to survive on the streets, and offer them skills that let them help themselves. It all comes down to respect. As long as we never forget that, we will be good teachers.
Thanks for your support.
Namaste, mark
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