Yoga Class Update

We just finished our 12th week (24 sessions) of teaching yoga to high school students in East Oakland. Our official average student attendance is 10.6, however, that number is bolstered by 3 really great weeks in September where we had 17-18 students each time and brought down by November where we hit our low of 4 students twice.

At first we were pretty strict about attendance. We told the students that they needed to attend 30 sessions by the end of the semester (Jan 25) to earn one semester of credit. (6o sessions for a whole year of credit). Now that our numbers have dropped slightly, we've extended the deadline to the end of the school year. So the students that could only come one day a week might still have a chance of getting 1 semester credit over the course of the whole year or our students who are athletes, could come during the off season even though the dates don't line up with the academic semester. Unfortunatley, this change in policy hasn't resulted in the surge of student attendance that we anticipated. We'll have to go back to other marketing tactics... signs on the walls, announcements over the PA's and encourage word of mouth by the students who attend regularly.

Just to be clear... there is no chance that the class will be canceled since we do have student who are depending on us for credit. It would just be nice if we could keep our numbers up and build the program up and keep it going into the next semester and school year.

A really great thing about the students who want to get credit for the course is that they are coming every time (we have 6 that will for sure get credit for the year if they keep up their attendance and another 5 that will definitely get semester credit) and on Thursday we did something special for the first 30 minutes of our yoga class.

You'll remember this post where I showed off my new collection. We decided that it was time to bring the collection to the students. We knew that if we showed them pictures of Iyengar (and his crazy poses like this) at the beginning of the course, the students would freak out in their usual teenager ways. They would make fun out of their nervousness and some lack of cultural acceptance and appreciation. But, after 23 sessions of exploring their own practice and learning several poses, they were incredible to watch as they thumbed through Iyengar's Light on Yoga and Light on Pranayama and all of my Yoga Journals, amongst the other books that we brought in. Their excitement was inspiring. There was so much of "look at this" "can we do that?" and "how does he do that?" All Tosca and I could say was... serious home practice, dedication and hard work. Like anything, if you really want it, sometimes it requires a lot of your time and attention! (something which is hard for our teenagers... in a world where TV changes camera angles every 5 seconds, it's hard to give your full focus to much- but that's another post).

Hmm, time and attention to a home practice. What a good idea.

BTW: Newest book on the coffee table is Richard Rosen's The Yoga of Breath: a step by step guide to Pranayama EXCELLENT! I'm about 50 pages into it and am looking forward to this new exploration in my practice!

Almost Famous

There was an article about my yoga class in the Oakland Tribune, our local newspaper. No, it's not as big as the NY Times or Washington Post, but it was still fun to see my picture in print! You can check out the article and some pictures here and video here.

My heart is a flutter.

Surprise!

When Tosca and I started talking in the spring about starting a yoga club, we both agreed that we would be happy if we had 5 students show up on a regular basis. Last Thursday when 8 students came, we were ecstatic. Today we had even more show up, 17 in all, most of who were in appropriate clothes. (no jeans, sweat pants or long shorts)

It's hard to take credit for this early achievement. Even though we want to think that the kids are really into the yoga, or they're in the class because we're teaching it, we have to remember that we did put a carrot out there for them. If a student has good attendance (attends 32 out of 36 classes) they can receive PE credit towards graduation. Unfortunately, several students have failed PE in the past and all of them want to take our yoga class to make up their credit. I'm cool with this. I'm glad for a captive audience to experiment with. This is an invaluable experience that will really help who I will become as a yoga teacher, if that is what I intend to do in the future.

The picture below was taken today in my classroom. The yoga club takes place in my classroom because I have 6th Period prep and students to help move the desks and sweep the floor. There are not many large spaces available that aren't already booked with sports teams. So hopefully, we can maintain 20 students in this space. On Tuesdays, my friend Tosca (a spanish teacher down the hall) leads the class. She is in the center top row in the picture. On Thursdays, I take the helm. Then we debrief for a few minutes after class. All in all it has been a fun time.

(PS sorry for all the butts in the picture-- these are kids and there are laws about taking pictures of kids, so until we get signed waivers from parents, there will be no faces!)

After School Activity #1: YOGA

2 high school teachers (1 math, 1 spanish)

8 teens (including 1 boy-- we're so proud)

24 brand new yoga mats.

Us, laying down in the middle of my classroom, all the desks moved off to the side.

We're stretching our hamstrings and I tell them to relax their groin muscles (because that's a place were I tense up). After I gave them this instruction, I thought out loud, "I hope you went to the bathroom before class."

Then the boy asks, "Why?"

The girls giggle at the boy.

I say, "I guess it must be a girl thing."

The girls giggle some more.

Teens are soooo much fun. Especially when they are a part of my new after school yoga club.

Yeah for Yoga!

I just finished day 3 of the new school year. Only 177 more to go!

No, I'm actually feeling pretty good about this year so far. I decided to go "part time" this year. I'm only teaching 4 classes instead of 5. I still have two preps, advanced algebra and CAHSEE prep*, so it feels like the same amount of prep work, but I have fewer students overall and my load will get lighter as the school year goes on.

(* CAHSEE stands for California High School Exit Exam, a big test that the students have to take in order to graduate from high school. They have 6 opportunities to take it, starting in the 10th grade. My class is full of seniors that are down to their last 3 tries. Once they pass, they'll probably drop my class, making my load easier as the year goes on!)

So I cut back on my teaching load but I'm still going to be plenty busy this year. Starting next Tuesday, I will be co-leading a yoga after school club for our students. Some students will be able to take it for PE credit, some will just drop in for fun when they can.

In preparation for this class, my co-leader and I have been studying BKS Iyengar's "Light on Yoga" this summer and practicing teaching each other poses. We're going to have sooooo much fun together, even if no students show up. We're hoping they'll come, especially since they can take the class for credit! (and some of them really want the credit for graduation) I'll be sure to update on how the club is progressing.

Also to make sure I was ready for this class, I took a quiz about my yoga snob style. It was written by another Bay Area Yogi who loves sharing yoga with her teens. Here are my results!

I'm a Balanced Yogi!

A Balanced Yogi You love your friends unconditionally and accept them for who they are no matter what their yoga style preference, religious beliefs, or spending habits. You focus on the good in people and would never try to change them. Almost everyone feels comfortable in your presence. You live your yoga. You are an inspiration to yoga students everywhere!

Take the Yoga Journal Yoga Snob Quiz!

Quite a nice message to hear before starting my teaching practice! Let's hope they're right.