HOLDING SPACE

Street Yoga is a non-profit organization that brings yoga to the “streets,” to those indivudals who might not otherwise have exposure to the practice.  I attended the Teacher Training program because I wanted to learn how to share yoga with adults and children living with adversity.

The Street Yoga based class I teach in Newark is a yoga program designed specifically for children who have been abused. Holding to the ideology that yoga is for everyone, I want to teach yoga safely and conscientiously to children who have suffered from abuse and trauma. Sensitivity, compassion and understanding are paramount in helping these children develop a yoga practice of their own. Yoga helps reconnect the mind & body (through breath and mindful movement) where abuse may have severed that connection. Often victims of abuse disconnect from their body as a coping mechanism, essentially, they stop “feeling.”

Kids’ yoga classes can differ greatly from adult classes and even more so with heightened sensitivity to past trauma. For example, the lights in the room always remain on. The children position their mats wherever they choose: facing the door, in front of the wall, in the middle of the room. Poses that may elicit feelings of vulnerability and insecurity are avoided. Part of the healing process is redefining boundaries, therefore physical assists in poses are not appropriate, only verbal cues. What is of most importance is that each child feels safe, secure and in control. 

I learn so much from these children:

They remind me to be 

happy, strong, hopeful & grateful.

They remind me to cherish 

safety, beauty, peace & blessings. 

They remind me to Hold Space 

In that space I pray, I cry, I mourn 

for them and others just like them 

so on the mat I can 

be and cherish

A Warrior

 NAMASTE