Street Yoga Newsletter, August 27, 2006

Just a quick one. Today Himat told me of his class Sunday at Outside In. He arrived downstairs to find all 11 students sitting in quiet meditation, awaiting the start of yoga practice. He was so impressed by the maturity and solidness of the students, all of them young homeless men and women, who obviously, are really starting to deepen into yoga.

We'll be having a training in British Columbia in October. You can read more about it by clicking here and we'll be sure to have more details in the next newsletter.

Friday August 4th was a special day. Started with a Snatam Kaur and Krishan Prakash Singh Khalsa taking time to head up to White Shield to share with the girls there a bit of their music, and their love. Later that day, at Morrison Edgefield, we had a guest teacher, a 13 year old boy who many years ago spent way too many painful days and nights locked away there in strong rooms where he and his demons held court. Today, he's a splendid young man, accomplished yogi, and gentle soul. That evening i was invited to Snatam's concert, her Portland stop on the Celebrate Peace Tour, to be presented on behalf of Peace Cereal a $2000 grant for Street Yoga. After 2 hours of singing and chanting together, i was asked to speak, and i told the following story:

"This morning on the radio i heard Johnny Cash singing a Trent Reznor song, Hurt , which starts: 'i hurt myself today to see if i still feel....' This got me thinking about a girl who had been at White Shield a week or two ago. She was stealing the other girls' razors and cutting herself bad, so bad that after a week of chaos, anger and fear for everyone there, she was taken to a psychiatric unit somewhere.

"I thought of her and thought of violence we inflict upon ourselves, and violence we inflict upon each other. I thought of war, and i thought that those who would act out in violence are those who do not feel love, who cannot feel love. All they can feel is the pain.

"Imagine if you couldn't feel Love!! Life really wouldn't be worth living very much, and maiming yourself or killing someone or starting a war would all seem 'normal'!

"This morning at White Shield," i continued, "Snatam and Krishan sang and shared with the girls, and during our tuning in, i watched as one girl let down her guard, let fall all her emotional armor, her self-protective guises, her facades and defenses, and watched how she let in the music. I beheld a look of such contentment on her face that i can only call it bliss. It was sheer joy just to behold!

"And i realized once again that our task in this life is to create Love with every breath that remains to us, commit ourselves to smiling at strangers, offering kindness to our neighbors, giving it all away to people on the streets, neighbors, children, old people, lovers, to those who confuse or anger us. Give love from now on until forever, and make it so strong, that anyone can feel it!"

Go ahead and pray for peace, please. And when that task is subsiding, fill your energies with creating the greatest love that you can, and giving it away. Keep at it and slowly, person by person, the Love will find chinks in the armor and find its mark in the soul, and transformation will happen. There's no other way to stop the madness.

One thing i'm not yet up to speed on is posting an events calendar. So, in hindsight, here's a retrospective of the last week or two (more or less), and the coming ones.

Tina and Katie offered restorative yoga at Letty Owings for young mothers in shelter. We are building out this program and if you are interested in volunteering to help teach yoga to young women trying to overcome homelessness, poverty and other challenges, please let us know.

The Living Foods program continues. Sunday afternoons this summer, we're teaching mindful eating and cooking with the girls at White Shield. With food gleaned for free from the farmer's markets, Ariel, Margot, Tina, Jane, Lauren, Deah, Anne and others have been chatting up good food, nutrition, and local organic agriculture while cutting green peppers, garlic and other fresh veggies. Ariel will have a more in depth report next month.

Had a nice gathering of volunteers last month. It was nice to see you all!

We started a new class, at the Morrison Family Sexual Abuse Treatment program. The girls, ages 10-16, are learning to overcome the ravages of abuse, and we are working to not only teach yoga, but weave yoga and mindfulness in with ongoing treatment plans and other therapies.

We offered a yoga and spa day for the Road Warriors at Outside In. These young people are the most street-involved group we teach, accessing services rarely and having deep traumas they are struggling to overcome. We watched Koyanasquatsi, soaked feet, drank juice and hung out together.

Friday the 11th, we offered our Spa Day Celebration at the Hamilton Family Center in San Francisco.

Upcoming: Street Yoga teacher training in Vancouver, BC; Spa Day at P:EAR; fundraiser at the Yoga Shala; Street Yoga video coming out soon; website update (with much more useful info).... There's more, but that's all i can remember at the moment.

To all the SY volunteers reading this, or to anyone who feels inspired to write, please answer this: Why Do You Do Yoga?? Please send me your thoughts and i'll compile them for sharing on the web. I think it's key that we know the answer to this question in our hearts, so that we can share it w/ the youth we serve.

I've been thinking a lot about motivation, about what gets one up in the morning to face the difficulties. I think joy and sorrow intertwine to create energy, and properly harnessed, this can be powerful. Rather than blab on this tonight, i wanted to share this following poem that touches these twin pillars.

Street Yoga is very proud to announce that Ritu Riyat will be serving as the first Street Yoga Research Director. Ritu is a public health professional with a dedication to yoga and helping underserved populations. If you have any specific questions for her, or are interested in research collaborations, please feel free to email her anytime.

I asked Ritu to introduce herself to you, and she wrote: "I have been practicing yoga since 1999 and have since developed a sincere appreciation for the foundation of yoga. After experiencing the benefits of yoga on my own youth mind I felt the need to share this secret with everyone. I have served as a representative for various youth advocacy groups and completed a degree in Public Health in order to conduct research studies on various health education methods. After visiting and working in the slums of Mumbai, India I came to the States back with a desire to combine the things I was most passionate about: yoga, youth, and a world of service. Although my path has had its obstacles it has led me to this place of peace -- the present."

We are very excited about this, and have already been working on creating effective evaluation tools, as well as setting out a more formal research methodology, based deeply on the principal of Svadhyaya. We'll keep you posted.

Shout out to Gaiam for donating a bunch of mats our way (thanks Desiree!). Shout out to Peace Cereal for donating $2000 to Street Yoga. Shout out to Kathleen for working so hard to make the SY move super tight! Shout out to all the SY volunteers for your continued dedication, commitment and hard work on behalf of so many youth we teach!!

And, a huge shout-out to Mara and Will for getting married!!! You guys rock!!

I have the immense privilege this week of being in British Columbia, to be a small dot amongst the deep forests and endless lakes. May we remember to listen to our cells which never forget this amazing planet we call home.

Blessings to you all.

Namaste, m