Please share your reflections of the Satya (Truth) discussion as well as comment on how you may offer the Dynamic Warm-up to the populations of people you currently serve or plan to serve.
Thank you!
Ah yes! Satya!
I have been a victim of narcissism and gaslighting all my life by my mother. While I love her still dearly, it has definitely shaped me into the caring person I am today. I strive to always live in the truth and give truth without harm. I was the person in school that would tell another classmate their breath was stinky without embarrassing them about it in front of anyone and helping them fix it. I know that might be a horrible example, but still simply put, I'm that person. If I can't help you with the truth I'm surely not trying to hurt you with it.
Looking at my dynamic warm up, I would say my sister, my bestie, and a few elders from my chair aerobics class are present. I have background in early childhood development and one of the things we did in the morning upon arrival wa.s get the children moving around to keep them from having bad separation anxiety. It really worked so I would incorporate some movements from that as well as from chair exercise classes. I didn't know how my journey had already prepared me for this part of training.
Examples:
shake your wiggles out 🤣 (don't judge my fun inner kid) working our way up from toes to head.
Be a tree, whatever tree you like. Maybe a palm tree, maybe a weeping willow, or a maple. Start to feel your roots, your branches, and feel the wind gently blow beginning to start you to sway.
Imagine where you are as that tree. Which will lead into a soft short meditation with attention to breathing and more gentle movements coming into our first postures.
Thank you for letting me share. ☺️🤗
I enjoyed this discussion on truth and found a lot of it to be applicable to my yoga sessions with the youth. In addition to yoga and mindfulness, I help to facilitate a programming at the juvenile hall focused on building healthy relationships. So much of relationship building is knowing yourself first. We are always stressing the importance of knowing your truth and knowing what being true to yourself looks like. Lots of the kids are there because of the circumstances and environments they were born into and we talk about how knowing your truth is the key to breaking through to your healing. One way I've broken this down for them is by focusing on physical sensations that they experience when put in certain situations. For example, when we feel angry or feel like we're under threat, we may experience tightness in the chest, maybe our breath gets short and we feel our body temperature rise. The physical sensations may be different for everyone, but what I emphasize for them is to just acknowledge the emotions. And by acknowledging whatever comes up, we can identify what truly feels "safe" or what feels truthful to us as an individual. This is especially helpful for adolescents navigating healthy relationships (family, friends, etc.). I believe we need this key aspect of identifying the messages our bodies are trying to tell us in order to begin to recognize our truth.
Please share your reflections of the Satya (Truth) discussion:
I was reflecting on this today and after watching the recording - I am unsure why the truth can sometimes be the hardest path, but ultimately it is the best path. I feel that when someone is truly honest with me, they are showing themselves to me - allowing me to see them in their vulnerability.
I also know that when I speak my truth / have a hard truthful conversation, I feel my most authentic self. That's I think why journalling is so valuable - I can write what I truly feel, without fear of judgement / punishment.
Dynamic Warm-up to the populations of people you currently serve or plan to serve:
I have really enjoyed the energetic release then easing into dynamic warm-up as it offers a very different 'yoga' experience.
When practicing along with you I feel so much more connected to my body and the moment - without anticipating what will be happening next.
I plan to serve those in prison / juvenile detention / addiction / mental health treatment centres as well as those re-integrating into society after being incarcerated.
My feeling is that reading the group in front of you will be key in how you shape a dynamic warm-up, I teach multi ability studio classes and always aim to make the sequence accessible - as discussed - not using language such as 'full expression' of the shape - not moving or staying in full range of motion when demonstrating, but rather giving options (if appropriate) but from my experience teaching so far - being very attentive and compassionate / respectful toward who is in front of you will dictate that part of the practice. Options / options / options!
@elevatingexpressionsllcgmail-com Hello Erin!
Thank you so much for this share! I also just saw your email about the energy release/dynamic warm-up responses. The items you listed above may technically fall more in line with the energy release as you thought, but also know that these are wonderful offerings! These two sections really overlap. One thing to keep in mind in the energetic release is more a focus on movements and breath that support participants to let go of access energies and emotions so they can begin to focus on the day's practice. The dynamic warm up is an opportunity to begin concentrating on how the body feels on a given day but exploring range of motion of the joints and muscles as well as the spine.
Thank you so much Jen. After watching the sequence on this past week's recording for week 6, I see the difference. I am sure I'm going to write down my session lay out to start off.
As always I appreciate the opportunity to be open and not judged for learning out loud. 😁☺️❤️
Please share your reflections of the Satya (Truth) discussion:
After watching the recording and thinking about the Satya discussion, I have always struggled with the truth. Not of myself but of others. I feel as if people are only telling half the truth when it comes to being vulnerable. I currently work in a field where everything is so pretty on the outside but not on the inside. Working as a team has been a challenge because people are not truthful on where they are at emotionally and mentally. My work does not always offer a safe space to be truthful either. It is a constant work in progress but when I walk into the prison's I feel I am being met with truth. The incarcerated men have nothing to lose, so why not be truthful. It is my one place of business that I actually feel supported in Satya.
Dynamic Warm-up to the populations of people you currently serve or plan to serve:
Working with the incarcerated I would base my dynamic warm-up by assessing the room, and seeing who has come to class for the day. Based on the men who we serve now, it usually is a class range of all ages, which allows for an interesting and exciting warm-up. I would first start with rest pose. Laying on the ground with you knee's bent. For those that would not be able to get on the floor, I would offer them to sit in the chair with their eyes closed. I would then ask to take a moment to breathe in and relax the body. From there I would ask for a hip stretch sequence, and offer a side twist to the men in the chair. I would then offer a bridge pose, bringing the hips up and allowing the energy to flow through the pelvis. For the chair sequence I would ask them to sit straight up with their arms in the air and put their chest out. I would then ask if they were okay and comfortable in those positions and allow the individuals to come down from bridge pose if they felt any discomfort. I believe that working within the prisons, it allows for each class to bring something new.
AHHHH....Truth. Yes, it is Hard. It is hard to tell the truth, to live the truth and most importantly for me it has been to find my Truth. What I have learned over the years is that my Truth is not static. It definitely changes over time and as my life changes. I found myself fighting to hold on to beliefs and Generational Truths for so long that I became more and more uncomfortable with me. I recognized that what I thought was a Truth had actual become an identity that I was using to fit in to a mold I had built for myself. I loved that you used the concept of my body's truth on the mat today can be the same as my personal truths in my life every day. In order for me to have a truth I have to be honest with myself, not be an idea of what I think "myself" is supposed to be.
As far as Dynamic Movement goes.....I am amazed that it took me this long to relate to the concept of Energy Release and dymnamic movement prior to centering...DUH!!!
Several things are going on with me all at the same time: I am in this prison yoga project training, I started therapy last week, I am sitting to meditate regularly again, and I have taken up a breath work practice again after many years. It is all good for me and helping me to build up all kinds of goodness inside myself. This training has really opened up the Yamas for me in an inviting manner. This class was an effort for me to grow stronger inside myself. I feel like it is working. I’ve long known I needed to make an appt with a therapist but I never did. I knew I should return to sitting but I did rarely. Now I sit every morning. I then do a 5 min energy release- a 5 min dynamic warm up and then 10 minutes of asanas. This is great for me and is really helping me to put together a program for others. This class is really helping me orient towards making very useful connections with others, the guys I work with.
The dynamic warmup. Moving from the energy release to the dynamic warm up is what I am working on. The transition. I’m really focusing on moving opposite sides of the body at the same time during this section of the class. I’m having a lot of fun with it. I’m really trying to just move to the point of sweat just beginning to trickle down my spine. I’m enjoying it.
jeremiah