Much support

This year RYYO received three significant grants to help fund our program. The first from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, and then two that came by surprise from The Ottawa Community Foundation and the Ottawa Kripalu Yoga Centre.

We were lucky to have three representatives from Kripalu at the event to present a cheque to RYYO and to share their own personal connections with Swami Radha and her teachings.

Our focus for the event was to recognize the growth and success in the RYYO program through the past 6 years, and to express much gratitude for all of our supporters through our Friends of RYYO fundraising campaign, Volunteers and Donors, who helped make this possible.

The Radha Centre came alive as people mingled, discussing their own connection with the program while watching a picture slideshow, enjoying tea & savories, live music (provided by Ray Smith), and participating in a word game intended to build connections and set the tone for the evening.

Our intention and hope was to convey the joy and inspiration that we feel through our teaching experiences with the youth and make it an uplifting event to share our stories with the community.

Anne Churchill a member of the Ottawa Radha Yoga Centre coordinating committee describes her experience of the event: “The enthusiasm of the RYYO team was truly uplifting. The interactive game was a wonderful way of bringing together people who didn’t know one another and the reading out loud of testimonials from the youth made their presence among us tangible. The evening was pronounced a success by all!”

Kathy Nathan, one of RYYO’s longest standing supporters, describes her experience in bearing witness to the growth of the program: “About 7 years ago, Janet Gaston [now Swami Samayananda] and I discussed the idea of young teachers from Yasodhara coming to teach in agencies serving youth, I don’t think either of us imagined the wide variety of settings benefitting from the generous offerings of young yoga teachers like you! Since I was on the board of the Youth Services Bureau at the time I knew very well the overwhelming need among teens and youth. I also knew how difficult this population is to engage in something that requires focus, discipline and commitment. As yoga practitioners and teachers YOU at Radha have successfully bridged the gap and brought diverse groups of young people clarity of vision and belief in their true potential!
Yoga expands our emotional horizons and stretches our concepts of ourselves – in addition to strengthening us and releasing tension from our bodies. But it will only do so with the guidance of skillful and compassionate teaching. So you, the RYYO teachers; are the bridge for countless young persons with so much potential but so few opportunities to unlock that potential.
May you continue to come to Ottawa, year after year, bringing your warmth and enthusiasm to ignite the Light in those young people who need it most.”

Those of us currently working with RYYO would like to take this opportunity to recognize all those who helped to bring this outreach initiative to life- Swami Samayananda and Sarada Eastham; those who have helped to maintain the program through the years; and all those who will be involved in some way in the future sustainability of the program.

The event was also the time for us to thank two key members of the RYYO team as they transition into their next steps.

Amanda Jahnke who has been teaching outreach classes since 2006 is moving to India this month. Jessica Earle-Meadows is stepping back from her full-time role with RYYO to do a Masters program in Montreal but continues to work with us in developing a long-term Sustainability plan for the program.

Jessica describes her feelings of the event: “It was a sacred opportunity to witness and ritualize the “passing of the torch” from one era of outreach programming to the next. As Amanda and I move on to the next phase of our lives, we’re both so grateful that Palma and Rachel have stepped in to serve and inspire, and that there is such incredible support from so many different sources in place for RYYO to continue offering its programming.”

Om Radha

With much gratitude!

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“I think yoga is helpful to us teens because when we get stressed out a lot we spaz out.  But since you taught me I found a way to relax my body when I’m angry or depressed.  I also tell my friends about ways to relax their body which they also like.  So yoga is helpful to us teens.” 13 yr. old male

-Amanda

I had my first class today teaching at a family shelter – for women and children fleeing abuse.  My first impression was that it was kind of like a youth hostel; with dimly lit staircases, small rooms with bunk beds, shared kitchens and communal bathrooms.  However, one small difference:  I was bombarded with children that seemed to be totally out of control, laughing and screaming and running and literally climbing up the walls. . . it was loud and chaotic! And then the program coordinator told me that these were Michael’s yoga kids! Oh my gosh – I had no idea what Michael had meant when he said that they were a challenging group. I felt a renewed respect for Michael and a wave of relief, grateful that I wasn’t teaching these little monkeys today! Michael has been offering a class to the children here for several weeks, and I was here today to begin a yoga class with the teenagers. Standing up taller and deciding that I was going to have to ‘lay down
the law’ first and foremost with this group in an environment like this, I invoked an aura of light and compassion around me and waited for the teens.  Eight teenagers with one toddler in tow arrived with a mixture of curiosity, stand-offishness, shyness and nervous aggressive behaviour.  I was feeling really confident, present and grounded.  I felt like an experienced teacher. (wow – I guess I am!)  

After introductions I told them that I was only there for an hour, and in order for this to work every week I needed something from them. I spoke with passion.  I said, “We need RESPECT in three areas:  RESPECT for yourselves and your bodies.  RESPECT for each other – verbally and physically  - including zero physical contact with each other – no pushing, ho hitting, not even hugging in the yoga space. And RESPECT for the space – including silence when I ask for it.” I had their full attention.  We had a fantastic class. Space for games and laughter as well as focused concentration, breathing and ten whole minutes of silence at the end. Only once did I have to say, “that language is not acceptable here”.  How did I become such a discipline buff?! Bringing ‘discipline’ into yoga classes was one of my biggest challenges entering this line of work four years ago, and I’ve tried alot of approaches.  I am realizing how important clear boundaries and expectations are – particularly for this group of teens who’s parent(s) have been assumably inconsistent and abusive.  Having clear rules and structure in this time of ‘transition’ as they wait for safe permanent housing is likely a relief. I like balancing this structure with an open forum and open communication, but ground rules are ground rules. They are vital for creating a safe space, a mutual agreement and an equal opportunity for everyone to have their own special experience in a shared space. I’m confident that the example shown and the  tools learned in yoga are influencing their days as they all live together under one roof, forming an extended family of sorts – struggling to be included and to be themselves in these informative adolescent years.

Om Namaste
Amanda

I was deeply inspired to become an outreach teacher for, what was then, Yoga for Youth At-Risk, in the Fall of 2007. I made a decision to allow my heart to lead my life, and found myself in Ottawa after a year and a half living at Yasodhara Ashram, where I was trained in Radha Yoga.

Several weeks into my outreach work I was already coming up against personality aspects that seemed to follow me from the Ashram I had just left. Was I offering enough classes? How many kids could I get to come to a homeless shelter yoga class, and, when they didn’t come, what did that say about me? Looking to exceed limitation, I constantly set the bar higher than I could reach it, and sometimes lost myself in my self-expectant mission to “change the world.” This after a year and a half at an ashram! A kinder way of describing this would be to say that I am sensitive to others’ needs, and I am challenged by saying no to them. What a perfect job to explore the balance between self-care and service to others – learning about the balance between inner and outer compassion so that I can offer the teachings of yoga from a place of knowing.
Janet Gaston, then director of the Ottawa Radha Yoga Centre, returned to Yasodhara Ashram in December of 2007. Offering an outreach program through an often empty Centre that winter, I felt overwhelmed by a sense of isolation. It seemed sad for the outreach program to end, when so many hands had offered selflessly over the last years to build the program into what it is today.
In the spring of 2008, I proposed a change in role for myself to Program Coordinator while we expanded the program and hired on another Outreach Coordinator. Not only did these plans go through, the outreach program has evolved incredibly this program year. Beginning in the Fall of 2008, 6 part-time outreach teachers materialized, up from two (Amanda Jahnke and myself) just last year.
We are now a team of 7 part-time Radha outreach teachers, offering three unique services through 25 youth agency partners in the Ottawa area. Many hands make Light work. Our vision – and dedication – to bring the teachings and benefits of yoga to youth facing challenges is inspirational, brave, heart-warming, and fierce (try living in Ottawa during a two month bus strike over the winter and you’ll get my meaning).
We are ending our outreach program this year on a high note. A group of incredible friends, the Radha Yoga Youth Outreach (RYYO) team is hosting our first ever Yoga-thon in Ottawa June 6th-7th. Serving as both a fundraiser and a means of bringing the Ottawa Yoga community together, 8 yoga studios and centres in Ottawa have said yes to participating in this event. Raising much needed funds, our first ever Yoga-thon came about in part from the news that, due to current economic climate, RYYO would not be receiving a crucial grant for the 09/10 program year. In the true spirit of yoga, we’re inspiring the Ottawa community to come together and serve a greater cause one class at a time – just like our outreach teaching with RYYO.

Jessica Earle-Meadows

“A hard-working eye doctor”,  “a model”, “an actor”.  Hmm. . . . not the answers we were looking for! “OK. . . . what kind of person do you need to BE to be an actor?”  A moment of silence, then a question: “confident?”  Yes! That’s where we want to go with this – bringing the focus to the inner qualities of character building.  Being flexible, appropriating our language and meeting these girls where they’re at is integral to our work here.  This discussion on “What kind of person do you want to be?” is informing the Yoga Play we’re going to do next week, where the girls create and perform a short skit with a positive message.

-Amanda Jahnke-

I was caught off guard when 12 students showed up, four of them boys! I was so happy to see these high school students interested in yoga and willing to sign up for a 5 week session.

When it came time to teach my first class today, I found myself getting nervous again. That old voice was popping up, this time with a different message. “What if they don’t like your class? What have you got to show them that’s so special?” Thankfully, my training at the ashram (and my good friends) have prepared me for moments like these. Instead of cowering in fear, I do a practice to lighten me and then I start writing down all of the small victories that I have achieved.
Being able to sit still for 10 mins in the morning.
Remembering to call my parents.
Sharing the benefits of yoga.

In very little time, these small victories began to build and build. Soon enough I was feeling confident to teach from what I know. I don’t have to pretend to be anyone else. “Michael, simply teach from your own experience. Here, your little victories are a great example.” Ahhh….this voice was different. This was a voice of my inner friend.

In today’s class we did the mountain. Looking around the class I saw some boys who were involved in hockey and thai kick boxing, and girls who dressed for high school with the same care attention one would see at a dance club. However, I looked a little deeper. They all human, complex just like me in my strength and insecurities, my victories and frailties.

As we set out on this yoga journey together I asked the students to notice where they are, how they stand, and to see where they would like to go. More importantly, we all stood tall, breathed deeply, and took a minute to recognize one small victory for ourselves.

The students sat down, picked up their pens, and wrote about this victory. We didn’t share them this week….these gems were just for them.

- Michael McCarthy -

“I don’t know that I will be able to write what I feel and experience during the sessions I have participated in. The most challenging part is embodying the qualities that Jessica and Amanda bring to teaching the classes. It is so scary being a kid, but they both give so much support to those children to Be who they really are.

I was invited to join the class as one of the bigger children. I witnessed first-hand RYYO teachers going above and beyond what is required, to what is creatively possible. What impressed me most was to see the positive results that occur when several passionate and concerned young people get together (as with RYYO) to work with grassroots community agencies to achieve the common goal of improving the quality of life for everyone in their community.

Volunteering to drive the youth teachers to their classes opened doors to a new world of change for me. I saw what I’ve always wanted to see in action: people sharing a passion for making a difference, not for their own benefit, but simply being open to giving what is needed. Special-needs children and their teachers brought yoga to life by bringing forth qualities–peace, happiness, fun, courage, grace, and confidence to look into the face of fear and apathy and do something about it.

An impromptu yoga skit in the last class brought out the potential and light in these girls. That dumpy basement room was lit up with Academy Award lights; I could even see the red carpet they walked on. What a difference it makes when you take a situation from tragedy to hope and discovery, instead of what I constantly see at the movies. Sometimes it takes a Headstand to be a winner in this world of form.

In gratitude and gladness

Evelyn Hadican

Evelyn had the opportunity to witness some RYYO Body-Talks’ classes, a self-esteem initiative for girls and young women inspired by Swami Radha’s kundalini teachings, with Christie Lake Kids – a program for children living below the poverty line.

Due to the unfortunate nature of Ottawa’s public transportation strike, some classes have been cancelled. Some of the Life-Skills programs at the alternative high schools have no participants because of travel difficulties. I personally am indebted to the ORYC volunteers who have offered rides and gotten me and many others around the city to teach classes.

This winter session, I have been adding a few more classes to my list. I am continuing to teach at Forward Avenue Shelter (for immigrant families waiting for socially assisted housing) and at a Young Men’s Shelter. In the past two weeks, I have added classes at a community centre for low-income families, which is through RYYO’s longest standing agency partner, Christie Lake Kids. This particular class is for boys ages 6-10 and they are responding well to the yoga so far. I am also going to be teaching to a Stop-Smoking advocacy group at a local high-school. The class will be for teens who are looking for positive ways of coping with stress. Additionally, I may also be teaching a class through the Ottawa Hospital to a group who have recently had their first experience of psychosis. This group is largely made up of young men, and they are dealing with such side-affects as apathy, social isolation, and lack of self-esteem.

Needless to say, my teaching plate is quite full at the moment but I am always trying to make new contacts, trying to stay one-step ahead and secure classes for the Spring Term. It feels like the word is getting out slowly about RYYO and the benefits of yoga. Because RYYO teachers are relatively close in age to teenagers, it gives us a great advantage. 

Personally, one of my hardest classes to teach has been at the Young Men’s Shelter. This group in particular is generally quite tough and aggressive, most likely as a response to internal realities that are too vulnerable to share in their peer group. Some nights no boys show up to yoga. Since I am there for them, I have decided to spend time with them either playing ping-pong, talking and listening to music, or simply watching t.v. I want these boys to know that I care about them.

Just last week, a young native boy shared with me a rap song he wrote that I happened to find seriously violent and disturbing. Not that he proclaimed to hurt himself or another, but the language and the delivery was very aggressive. However, I kept the divine light mantra going on inside and I saw that this boy needed some encouragement more than anything. Sharing personal expression can be vulnerable for me too, so I commended him on his bravery and told him I was impressed by his lyrical delivery and ability to remember a complex rhyme.

Listening to gangsta-raps was not what I expected when I took this job, but really, I get a chance to practice yoga in moments like these too. Holding a space for light within me allowed me not to shut down to this boy or judge him. I found a place that was deeply sympathetic to the pain he was he was feeling and I figured that instead of trying to force him to rap about something ‘positive’ I could actually try to bring some positivity into his life.

I keep developing a relationship with Divine Mother through all of this and a deep appreciation for what my experience at the ashram introduced me to inside of myself. My experience with the boy reminded me that it is the space I hold for myself and others that brings me closer to OM.

Over nine weeks ago I started working part time with Radha Yoga Youth Outreach (RYYO) as an Outreach Coordinator: I am one member of a growing team reaching out to Ottawa’s youth-at-risk.  I came to Ottawa to stay connected with Swami Radha’s teachings through a centre that has spread Radha Yoga for the last 25 years in Ontario.  After three years of living at Yasodhara Ashram, learning about myself and living my ideals, I was inspired and excited to have the opportunity to teach Radha Yoga to youth in a new city with dear friends I made while at the Ashram.

I have the good fortune to work along side part time Outreach Coordinator Michael McCarthy, a good friend and co-teacher, as we both transition from our long term stays at the Ashram (initially the position was full time for one person but it was split to accommodate both Michael and I coming to Ottawa),  as well as to work with Program Coordinator Jessica Earle-Meadows, a friend I did the Yoga Development Course (YDC) with and spent over a year and half along side at the Ashram.  It is a blessing to be working with friends and fellow Radha inspired people, like Amanda (Program Advisor) and Joan (Centre Liaison) and all the members of the RYYO team.  It’s amazing to feel the support of all the people connected with the Ottawa Radha Yoga Centre and all that they do for the Youth Outreach Program.

I started right away. Second day on the job I was teaching Hidden Language Hatha Yoga through Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Ottawa at a local community centre near the Radha Centre.  The class was for Big Sisters and their Little Sisters.   I very much enjoyed offering the class and the dynamic of teaching teens and women in there mid-40’s.  There was something really wonderful about having two generations in a class together reflecting and sharing their experiences.  The Big Sisters encouraged their Little Sisters to share by example, as they shared their insights for the Little Sisters to hear.  With this class I felt supported in the process of bringing forward the style of Hidden Language Hatha Yoga and myself, in remembering that by sharing my experiences, my challenges and my victories, it sets an example for others to do the same.

In the school environment of the Youville Centre (a school for teenage girls who are parenting and pregnant), where the class is part of a Healthy Living Program, the bell rings and I have 11 teenage mothers with their yoga mats, pens and notebooks ready for yoga… though not always willing to share or having much to say when asked “what are my strengths?”   The class has been a challenge for me to feel confident in what I am offering.  So what I have been learning through this class is how to recognize when my confidence is low and why, then how to take positive steps to improve my frame of mind and remember that what when I teach its an offering.  That I may not know if what I’m offering is being received well but my intention is to make a connection by being present and share my experience of yoga.  Knowing that yoga has helped so much in my life and that it could help them as well.

For Christie Lake Kids, a program available for youth living below the poverty line, RYYO offers a weekly yoga class as part of their other programming.  I started co-teaching this class in September and while the girls were great and the yoga class a great benefit to the programming already running I ended up stepping away from the class and another RYYO teacher, Amanda Jahnke, stepping in.  Personally there was a lot happening for me at that time and so it was a real blessing to have a team to talk about it to get clear if I

could continue with the class or if someone else wanted to step in.  It’s amazing to have that kind of support as a teacher and co-worker.  And inspiring to affirm that the ultimate focus of RYYO are the youth so Amanda stepping in was because she could give more to the girls then I could at that time.   Being that it was one of my first teaching experiences with RYYO it helped me immensely to get clear and straight about my ideas, my ideals, my intention, how I offer service, what I can offer, how I take care of myself, how I communicate, and how I trust in knowing what is the right course of action.

As well as offering monthly workshops for various agencies, another of the newest class that I’m teaching regularly is with Interval House of Ottawa at a transitional shelter for mothers and their children who have experienced abuse.  I lead two short consecutive classes for the children in the house, in the living room.  The first half hour for young, young ones (under 7 years of age) and the next 45 minutes with the childrenbetween 7-11.  I get to be playful with the class and with myself.  It is such a privilege to be with the children.  I feel engaged and inspired. The language is kept simple, creativity abounds and this positive experience encourages me to know that yoga is in daily living.  Yoga happens all the time!

During one of the weekly reflection classes we have at the Radha Centre I enthusiastically related how well a class I had just  taught had gone, and I was asked what I meant by “it went well.”  I responded that there was a reciprocal exchange of energy. I felt that I met the youth were they were at and they were engaged with me likewise.  We were both ENGAGED & INSPIRED in a learning process of awareness.

So I’ve found challenges and I’ve found victories (just as I expected I would in this new step of my life).  Still learning about my mind and how I have concepts of what my life should look like, what the classes should look like and remembering that most times my concepts don’t serve me and that it’s better when I let things be open.  Making myself available by remembering I am supported, by my yoga practices and by the RYYO team.  That it’s important to be patient with myself and make space for self care, to think and reflect in depth and feel inspired by the simple things.  And I feel gratitude for the privilege of being able to reach out to youth that may otherwise not have the opportunity to experience yoga.

Thank you to everyone who supports Radha Yoga Youth Outreach.

Namaste

Palma Borzellino