Session Transcript: 6/26/2020 Closed Captioning/ Transcript - - PDF document

Session Transcript: 6/26/2020

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>> Good morning everyone! It's a beautiful day here in Rhode Island. I'm so excited, I have wonderful guest today. I wanted to do a reading this morning. It's called, spread kindness. The Dalai Lama says my religion is kindness. Once the spiritual leader of the Tibetans was asked, if someone were only to do once future practice which one should he choose, he answered, practice kindness. H month select a gift from your list and give it to someone new. God embraces us through the love and caring of friendships for divine love is behind ever human. When we get of kindness and love, we received that afflicted back to us. Kindness is so medicines. It shelters us from the harshness of daily reality. Let us take a breath and. Inhale into the nostrils. Let us begin the practice of the three part breath. Make sure you are seated with your back straight, your spine straight and began to breathe into that area below the navel, above the navel, and fill your chest. Exhale from the top down. Inhale below the navel. Above, into the chest, exhale from down. Let us, for just a moment… Noticing the rise and fall of the belly. Feeling and breathing. Exhale from the top down. Let us take in a breath and and with this one exhalation I'm pleased to welcome one of my students and a very dear friend, what I can tell you is that she's an amazing woman. She's an amazing daughter, mother, sister, and she will tell you a little bit more about herself. SPEAKER: I'm humbled to be here. I will go back now 23 years. 23 years ago my oldest son at the time lost his life to gun violence. I'm sure moms out there cannot imagine, those of us who have lost children, know the pain and the grief. It would allow me to express my grief in a healthy way. Although there were other classes around, because I didn't know enough of yoga, some of the other classes I've heard about… It didn't sound like it was a right one for me. Without even trying it, by the

• way. I could've at least tried to the class. Then I heard about this black woman on the east side of Providence that it a
• class. It sounded like something I wanted to try. Trying to deal with the grief. Trying to find that and finding out there

were connections I had. Other friends I had were attending classes. When I got there, I felt calm. And a piece. Starting to do the yoga postures, I felt like I fell right into it. It calmed my heart. It allowed me to stop taking the antidepressants I was on at the time to help me deal with the loss of my son. It felt like I just found a home. I would even stretch to say that yoga, in some ways probably saved my life. SPEAKER: I can still recall the day that you entered the class. Your sadness and grief were palpable to me. I could feel it. I remember wondering why you were there because I knew yoga helps everyone with healing and I just felt, she stepped into the right room and I'm glad that she's here. SPEAKER: I was so glad myself. It was the right room, and of the right space at the time. With the yoga, it has just helped my soul in so many ways. At that time when it happened to my son, I was angry with my son when he went out that night because he hadn't washed the floors like I asked him to. I held an anger for myself. For years. Through the practice of yoga and studying I just found that I had to forgive myself for being angry with him. Forgive myself for being angry when he went out the door. That led me to really doing some work around forgiveness. I always look for and meaning. Although it seems extreme, going through what I did I have been able to help some of the people that gone through something similar. For that, I'm grateful. To be able to assist someone else, it doesn't make it good. It at least gives me my breath. SPEAKER: You have been a teacher for quite a while. What are two things that you teach that you can say right away, you can see that it helps people cope and heal from disappointment or loss, neglect, our people who are your average woman, many women of color and a struggling. Many have lost children. Many have had to deal with socioeconomic distress. What are two things that you give to yourself -- your students that you can see lifts them up?

Session Transcript: 6/26/2020 SPEAKER: The first one is the breath. When I walked in there, I barely had a breath. His loss felt like it just yanked my breath right

• ut of my body. That's the first thing. The second thing, it's funny because we did not talk about the reading. That you are

doing this morning. Being kind to yourself. In terms of forgiveness, in terms of making that time to sit in stillness. Making time to sit and postures. Just to be able to take that breath and start moving in that manner. Turning inward and not letting the outside environment really affect you. Just taking that time. Because of the COVID-19 environment, we were kind of forced to take the time. It was kind of funny when everyone had to stay home because I remember sitting and chuckling to myself. Now everyone is forced to be still. And to think. And to reinvent themselves. And to deal with this

• emotionally. Of course now the COVID-19 has been going on for quite a while. I'm sure things are picking up for everyone.

Especially in zoom and meetings. Reinventing themselves. Learning new ways of teaching. SPEAKER:

• Absolutely. We read about the kindness, particularly -- women, we struggle and strive so hard to walk this line of
• perfection. We are tight roping our way through, but kindness to self is an amazing tool and I'm glad you mentioned that.

The other thing, if you asked me that question I would say the breath and kindness. The breath is so important because we live in a culture where we do not breathe. If we are, just because our body is doing it. There's no practice of conscious breathing and when you are doing the conscious breath, you are making that connection to the divine. You are focused on breathing in and breathing out. I'm connected to myself. If you're connected to yourself you are connected to the divine. I think that's what I witnessed through the early years although I knew right away you would become a teacher. >> I think I looked at you and said you were going to be a teacher in the third class. I think when you combine that, the breath and kindest, you have something to work with to help you through any feelings that are bringing you to a place where you do not want to be. When we added posture, and when we bring that end, how does that impact to the people you are teaching? First, give us a little description of, who is in your class? What's the composition? >> There are a couple of classes I teach because I work full-time for a school system and technology. Yoga is actually my mental release. My saving grace after dealing with that all day long. I have two classes I teach. One class is a group of ladies… I think you have to be 50 and older in this community. Remember when I had finally called you and said, I'm ready to do the 500? The 300 hour? After we had lunch that day, as I was driving back to work I said, wow I'm really going to need to jump into the teaching again. I think I had stopped teaching classes for about a year. And I'm really going to need to find a class. I thought about different places and I wasn't sure if I wanted to revisit that location. But I'm going to sit down and give it thought and put the intention out there. Oh my God. By the end of the following week, my husband receives a text from his friends wife saying, help, it's personal. He messed up the text and forgot… I think he erased it or

• something. I thought they would to get back to him but the next text he got was, forward this to Cleo. I called of the

person and she's like, I live up here in this community. We just finished building our clubhouse and I'm the activities director and I know that you teach yoga and we have some people interested in yoga. Literally I was like… Wow, that came around so quickly. So quickly. I've been teaching there for four years now. Now we have just gone on to virtual classes. The other class I teach is more of a community-oriented class. I started teaching at my nieces… Who is a massage therapist at her little studio. It's very small and intimate. We can fit 10 people in there, tops. I've been teaching there for the past two and half years I believe. There are people who come but they are all ages. Someone who might be in their 60s or early 70s, we have students who are in their 30s. I've had students in their 20s. Some folks, the only way they can, as if they bring their child. They are so wonderful! It's just so precious to see them moving and sitting in meditation and moving through the postures. Now we have little yogis coming up now. Some of my class members are teachers. Others are first responders. It's quite a mix of people. >> Ladies, we have a question from Sasha. She's asked, what advice would you both give to the black yoga teachers that are now in the place of practice and protest? Is there room for that in our classes? >> When you allow yourself to be fully yourself, that's a protest bearing when you say I'm going to live fully and embrace life, you can go anyway. You can have lunch and teacher yoga class and be in protest by being fully you. In terms of being an active protester, you can also be an activist who's not marching on the lines. I feel I'm too old to get out here in the

• street. Lord knows I'm an activist and I'm trying to encourage people to claim their blackness and own their blackness. For

teachers, we have to keep on teaching because the revolution is about having all people, particularly people of color and black people know that yoga is for them and that's what we need to help us gain better health and to be strong while we fight this battle for equality. Hallelujah. >> One of my classes is predominantly white and one is predominantly people of color. I know how to put things up there subtly, I don't put it up in their faces. Let's give gratitude to the universe for allowing us to be safe in our spaces. For so many others cannot move. And let's be grateful for the breath because without the breath we cannot breathe. >> We cannot live either. >> I think that's actually how I live. Without the breath, there is no life. I'm kind of subtle about things like that or I will start the class with, it's been quite a week of emotions. Stress, anger, and sadness. We have to practice to bring a sense

Session Transcript: 6/26/2020

• f peace back into our lives and to take this moment to find out peace and breathe through the world. You sit there and

they go up, OK, people want to talk. You can say, I can stay on. What's going on? The conversation start. For a lot of folks that might be their only safe space to bring it up in. And I'm fine with that. Maybe three yoga postures before the next class every day. Just pick two and just start. >> We have to wrap up. This particular time, we have about three minutes left. What is the one thing that you feel it imperative that you share and when people need to stop and seek healing. >> It has to be about the breath. It affects the central nervous system and calms us. Even if you are standing in a line, and you are feeling agitated or aggravated, just breathe. No one knows you are doing yoga. Just stands there and do this three-part breath. Just inhale, exhale, and then I really encourage everyone to be kind. There are people that will not be

• kind. That's on them though. I think kindness is contagious. Even more so than COVID-19. It is contagious. Kindness

spreads when someone is kind to you. It could just be a smile. Now they can't really see the smell because we are all masked up. Annoyed, good morning, -- a nod or good morning. A little kindness will go a long way. What you put out into the universe it comes back to you. You put kindness out there and get kindness back in multiples. >> My sister, absolutely wonderful. I want to thank you. It's likely came full circle back to the breath and kindness. >> It's so funny because you and I… When we talk it's like… Yes! I was just thinking about that. >> It's been a pleasure and as we bid I do to our audience, we wish you all the most precious and beautiful day. Inhale. Peace, peace, peace.