yogaHOPE’s Teacher’s Blog

hellos & goodbyes

Today at Women’s Hope we had a full class along with two women sitting in silent observation/meditation. It’s amazing to watch the buzz outside the yoga room just minutes before class starts. There are usually calls up and down the stairwells saying “yoga is starting soon, are you doing yoga?, come on try yoga”. The class was a mix of regulars along with new women to yoga. We warm up the body with breathing, badda konasana with various arm openings to the sky, cat, cow along with variations to those that want to be challenged. Core work was definitely emphasized, and with the verbal sounds before and after the ab work it was both enjoyed and dreaded by most… Class continues with bridge with a block with arm variations. The women enjoyed shoulderstand and I  sensed a feeling of accomplishment from those attempting to raise their legs to the sky. The class is a welcoming environment. There are some that want gentle yoga and some that want a workout. I’ve observed that for some it is a big deal just to walk into the class let alone know what they want to do. It’s wonderful to see new faces and sad to see those leave. Again this week, one of the regulars said her goodbyes because she is going to another house. She is one of the ladies that practiced with us whether by moving gently, breathing or just sitting in meditation for the entire hour. Each week she did what she could do in class and was a strong presence for all of us. Thanks to Beth for her continued enthusiasm, adjustments and wonderful assists.

Namaste- Kat Larsen

Transformation at Women’s Hope

It is such a delight to teach at Women’s Hope. The house is usually full of twenty women, however it was quiet with just 14 in house. Thus, the class was small and intimate. Perfect class to honor any requests. The women asked for gentle yoga, shoulder openers and breathing. One of the women who has been taking class fairly regularly may be finishing her time and transitioning to another house. When I first met her she was shy, curious, fidgety and self critical of her postures. Now, she is open, confident in her stance and breathing with prana and resilience. I must admit I’ll miss her.  It gives me great joy to witness transformation and healing in others. It allows me too to continue to grow as a teacher and human being. What a blessing!

Namaste-Kat Larsen

My first experience at the Hello House

Saturday was my first experience assisting a yoga class with yogaHOPE.  Sue and I arrived early to greet a room full of girls watching tv.  The majority of which eagerly attended our yoga class.

 Being my first experience, I was surprised to see the enthusiasm expressed by all of the girls in the class.  Not only were they excited about the class, they were also thrilled to learn about the possibilty of attending a day at the spa or a weekend at a retreat.  Each expressed  genuine desire to attend these functions.  It was amazing to see how yoga and this organization was giving them something to look forward to and be excited about.

 I even had the opportunity to work with someone new to the house and completely new to yoga.  I loved that she was so accepting of the new practice and realized its potential benefits.

 Overall, my first trip to the Hello House was certainly inspiring and rewarding.  I look forward to working with these girls and yogaHope!

 With love,

Allicyn

1st Saturday at Meridien!

Today was the inaugural Saturday morning class at Meridien House. I was pleasantly shocked to walk in 20 minutes early and see all of the mats laid out and the room set up. The women were ready to go! There was definitely a buzz with the women and I could tell that they were really excited for practice. After a brief introduction, we started out by doing a couple ujayyi breathing exercises to integrate the women into practice. After they felt comfortable with this, we started doing some Sun A’s and B’s. The vibe in the room was that the women really wanted to challenge themselves, and they totally responded throughout the whole practice! I pushed them pretty hard because I knew from Amy that they had covered a lot of ground on Wednesday. I realized quickly how fast they learned and how intently they listened to my instructions. I was happy to hear them breathing throughout the practice and I was surprised at how “unchatty” they were! They remained focused and the only time the girls really spoke out was when they had a question about a pose. We did several balancing poses, which they found difficult, but I spoke to them about the fact that it is absolutely ok to fall out of the pose, but that the important thing was to pick yourself up and just come back into the pose without any judgment, which they all did. After several other sequences, we ended with a nice, long savasana and I read them a passage from Journey to the Heart titled “Restore your Natural Balance,” which they all said they related to. Even though this was only our first class together, I feel like we made a powerful connection and I am so inspired by the spirit shown by the women. After class, the women already asked me to do more poses to focus on certain body parts for next class, especially their “love-handles!” I’m so excited and honored to be able to spend my Saturday mornings with these women!

Namaste,

Brian

lockdown

I was all ready for there to be only a couple of girls in the house today (saturday is like that usually) and I walked in to a full TV room! When I asked why everyone was at the house they informed me that the house was “locked down”. When I asked when that happened they said last Tuesday right after yoga! It had to do with the one girl leaving on Tuesday (one of my favorite students unfortunately)!

On the upside, when I walked in I saw a familiar face but she wasn’t a client, she was a COUNCELOR! It was a woman who was in treatment last winter and I went to her graduation and now she’s working at Hello House and doing great! It was so good to see her and see how wonderful she was doing!! We are taking up to 15 girls on a weekend retreat in November and they are all really excited about that! We are also going to take them to a FANTASTIC spa in downtown Boston for a yoga class (volunteers and students) at the spa and then they’ll all get spa treatments! They are all so excited for this!!

peace to all,
sue

It’s in the air

Before I write, I want to make sure that no one misses Amanda’s post below. Please read it, it’s beautiful! Reading her post reminds me of all the different experience I have at Hello House, good and challenging. Summer is a difficult time for these women. Many of them leave and chose to live on the streets now that the weather is warm, and many of them are depressed because they are living in such isolation during a beautiful time of year (at least at Hello House) When I showed up to teach my class on Tuesday evening I knew something was wrong because there were only 5 girls and Tuesday is a mandatory class..oh no. Already one of my students had left and the numbers in the house are dwindling (and not for good reasons). One of my most dedicated students was then discharged right in the middle of class!! I have gone through this before and it is not easy, the women are understandibly distracted and there are police officers and the program director walking back and forth. Not to mention that this sweet girl, who started learning how to meditate when she was in prison and loved doing yoga, kept catching my eye and she obviously had been crying. I don’t know the details of what happened and I was not able, nor was it my place to say goodbye and that is difficult. I spoke to the women about their greatest challenge is to find a place of grounding and calm during a storm. When chaos is happening all around, we CAN find a place of stillness and calm and that is one of the greatest gifts we have to offer..to our selves and to the world around us. They did remarkably well under the circumstances and because the energy was so low when I arrived we had a nice relaxing practice, lots of breath, neck stretching and easy sequencing. They all said it felt really good, sweetly apologized for being distracted and they are looking forward to the next class. In among all the challenge I learn so much about love and life. I couldn’t ask for a more blessed opportunity.

much love,
sue

The breath keeps us focused

Tonight at Shepard House was stressful and chaotic and constant coming back to the breath was needed to maintain focus.  The night began with one woman from the group informing me she won’t be there tonight because her boyfriend passed away - he OD actually.  She told me this was particular hard for her because it brought up memories of her finance OD right in front of her and her child.  She told me she would love to do yoga (she finds solace in it) but said she thought she needed an AA meeting.  I told her to do what she had to do and to remember these were the times when she needed to pull from her inner strength - listen to her heart and not her head.  We hugged and knowing that I was going on vacation for 2 weeks was very hard - I know this is a time when she could relapse.  So many other students arrived late and we began at 6:15. I was told later by one of the staff that I had to be more strict about not letting them take class if they arrive late, but I have to admit that’s not my policy when it comes to yoga. Anyway, we focused a lot on the breath because the women were very distracted, possibly from knowing what this one woman is going through, but also because they were informed they had bed bugs and had to get all their stuff ready for laundry immediately.  I think they found solace the more they came back to the breath, one woman even remarked when I said to move your breath to your wrist during a wrist stretch that she could actually feel that.  Cindy was there assisting me and did a wonderful job relating to the women one on one.  She even got one girl who never participates to do some prone postures at the end.  It was an intense evening and I left there thinking about the one woman who is going through so much, and knowing they all are.  I then thought of the minor problems I think about during my day (such as how to raise money for YogaHope and attend a fabulous trip in Italy) and how insignificant they are.  I also thought how this woman I spoke with did not shed a single tear when speaking of her boyfriend who passed.  She’s probably so used to having to be strong.  I did cry a little on my way home thinking about her.  I got home and wished I had somebody to hug.  Instead I made some pasta (comfort food!) and signed up to raise money for YogaHope and head to Italy.  There’s no doubt in my mind how much these women benefit from the work we do.  Much love to you all tonight!

Amanda

Finding common ground

I taught my second class at Shepard House tonight with Brian assisting (thanks again Brian!) and I felt better leaving this one than after the first one.  I think at the first class I really had no idea how receptive the women would be to yoga, let alone me.  This class gave me more reassurance that they were open to yoga and to me as well.  We began finding our breath in childs pose, then moved into some talkative sun salutations which the women found challenging.  They enjoyed the deep stretch in their back downward dog brought.  A girl who last week was completely distracted was very  much into her breath this week.  We then came down to the mat for some prone postures and backbending.  A young girl kept commenting on her weight and how she used to be a size 6 and now she’s a 14, and she can’t do many of the poses because of her weight.  I then shared my own experience about being almost 30 lbs heavier than I am now, and this girl said, “yeah, but you could do yoga” and I said no, yoga wasn’t in my life then.  I shared briefly that I was in a really bad spot and I couldn’t find a way out, except to go deeper within the pain.  I then explained that it simply was not acceptable in my life anymore, and that’s when I found yoga.  The women and I seemed to relate at that point, which felt great.  We then came down to supta badha konasana which many of the women liked - one woman in particular had her eyes closed and could have stayed there awhile.  Savasana was a bit noisy as people started filtering into the surrounding hallway, but I’d say the women were still able to relax and were thankful for the time we shared.  One woman in particular seemed to have a major shift from the beginning of class to the end.  I look forward to next week!  Oh - the woman loved Brian’s assists as always.  Thanks Brian and good luck at Meridian House!

 Amanda

Prop happy at Women’s Hope

Today at Women’s Hope we we’re so grateful to use the donated props including blocks and straps. Thanks Kat for gathering the props! The class focused on opening the shoulders, heart and getting rid of all the negative. The straps helped the ladies move gently. During the heart opening I heard many sighs, exhalations, and moaning sounds. A few of the women tugged and pulled on the strap. I mentioned that we can move using the acronym “Easy does it” and open the body with patience. Since, we we’re getting rid of alot of toxins with twisting we all chose a positive affirmation word to practice by. We continued from the floor to standing with downward dog, mountain pose, sun salutations, chair pose, side angle pose with hands clasped, triangle, tree, eagle, supine twist and savasana. The class had such an uplifting feel. One of the regular women shared her positive word she practiced by which was love. The other words by the other women we’re peace, strength and patience. WH also has a writing assignment class held the same time as yoga. The women are given the option to take either one. It is interesting to observe which class the women choose. Things change daily there, those that take yoga class one week will opt for the assignment class instead. Interesting though the women usually return to yoga whether it be a week or two later. Our presence is definitely felt at WH. Whether it be in yoga class, writing assignment class, or talking about yoga on the stairwell. Thanks to Beth for her continued assisting, energy, and spirit.

Namaste- Kat Larsen

Shepard House

Hello Everyone:

I assisted the class at Shepard House last night with Amanda teaching. Since I have joined yogaHOPE, I have always had a nervous/uneasy feeling as I am (I think) the only male involved so far. I had hesitations about how I would be received by these women and what they would think of me. These women are going through so much and I didn’t know how a male presence may affect that. Well last night erased any and all nervous feelings I may have! I realize how important it is for us to just be there for these women supporting them, and it makes no difference if it’s a male or female. The important thing is that we are there and the women so far have absolutely understood this. The women last night at the Shepard House were so open and receptive to Amanda and I. They totally responded to Amanda’s light and playful class and said that they couldn’t wait until next week! I had an unbelievable time assisting them and I think they really appreciated it. The women kept me giggling and smiling throughout the class with their lighthearted jokes. One women said to another, “Uh-no, he’s my man!” and one women even asked if I was married! I was cracking up, but it definately made me feel appreciated and welcome. I’m really looking forward to assisting them again next week! Thanks again to Amanda for teaching such a beautiful class.

Namaste,

Brian