New Newsletter, June 2006

I have the great privilege to be affiliated with a group of yoga teachers that call themselves Street Yoga, and this relationship has afforded me the opportunity to teach and share yoga with homeless youth…youth living on the streets. I have been teaching with Street Yoga for about 2 years now and have had some incredible experiences. Last weekend was definitely unique. As I prepared for this class, I was just thinking through a few things I would talk about…I like to ask the kids questions to keep them engaged and to hear them express themselves…it is amazing to hear them share in an environment where they feel safe. So I figured I would ask them about life…you know like why they think we are here and that sort of thing. I had this whole thing prepared, how I was going to mention that “if” is the middle word in “life” and that we all have choice and this happens “if” we chose this, and that happens “if” we choose that. Anyway I show up to Outside In, to the room where we teach and all of the youth are sitting there on their mats in easy pose with legs crossed in a meditative posture ready to “tune in” and start class! Now let me tell you that in my experience teaching yoga, even adults, this has never happened…there are always questions and outbursts…people taking forever to get settled, but there they were! I would like to think that Street Yoga teaching there for years is really having a positive effect on the energy there, but that’s neither here nor there. So we start the class. I lead a few warm ups to get everybody loosened up and a few different breath exercises to get the mind open and aware and then I ask the question, I say something like, “So today I thought we would get into a topic that is real and relevant to all of us…what the hell are we doing here? What about this thing called life?” I was blown away with their answers! So deep, so profound…yet very simple, and clear. One boy said, “I think we are here to learn a lesson…we have been sent here to this life time to learn something.” And I asked, “What about to teach.” And he said, “Oh yes, yes that too. Once we learn what we are to learn, then we teach others so that they can learn what we learned.” The collective consciousness continues to grow and evolve…everywhere people are becoming more aware of why we are here…it is very inspiring. I know I learned a lot that day. Himat Singh