The Daily Devotion: Caring for Yourself to Care for Others

Nancy Sheridan Perry's "Play at your Edge" class tonight was an absolutely empowering cap to an engaging day. Something she mentioned blended the parallel themes of my day together perfectly. Immediately following our first round of what I like to refer to as "playtime", Nancy energetically quipped, "'Watch Asana' is NOT a pose. You can access child's pose. You can access down dog. Your neighbor's mat is NOT accessible. That's their body, their life."

Today marked my return to the middle school where I teach six back-to-back (action packed) periods of yoga for fifth-, sixth-, seventh-, and eight-graders. The theme and objective today's lessons centered on "caring for yourself to care for others."

I decided that an engaging and empowering way to emphasize the concept at hand would be to share Cristina's video compilation documenting her service through the Africa Yoga Project in Kenya. The students experienced a wild combination of awe, confusion, concern and compassion for the images presented in the video.

As a way to step back from the weighty topic of global learning and service, I integrated a tool that would allow students to support their neighbor on the mat beside them. In short, a small-scale service learning. Specifically, I presented a fun partner challenge that involved holding "Sphinx Plank" for 1 minute. I also demonstrated tools that the second partner could use to verbally coach and support their partner through the challenge.

Through my experience working with youth in a variety of different educational settings, I've observed that they are greatly concerned with looking good - or, sadly, making others feel or look bad in order to boost their perceived popularity, esteem, or simply as a protective measure of the youthful ego.

This scenario is quite typical with many students at middle and high school levels - primarily because our children have been led to believe a litany of fallacies about themselves and about others. The end result of such beliefs is that our children end up lacking purpose, passion, and a strong sense of self-worth - each of which can permeate adulthood if they're not confronted and overcome.

I believe there's a strong connection between what I observed my students doing today and Nancy's words. In terms of our Sphinx challenge, the students stepped off of their mats for a single purpose - that is, to support, encourage and coach a friend or partner. And, as soon as Nancy spoke the aforementioned words of - as she dubs it - "drive by wisdom", something clicked for me.

Instead of practicing "watch asana" in my daily life, I'm committed to stepping off of my own mat with the sole intention of supporting and encouraging others. This day's experience has also taught me to be ready to support my neighbor at any moment; yet, to also respect his or her space of personal growth and experience.

I'm SO very grateful for the students I have the opportunity to collaborate with, and for having an inspiring and supportive teacher and friend like Nancy.

Namaste.