Session Transcript: 6/26/2020 Closed Captioning/ Transcript Disclaimer Closed captioning and/or transcription is being provided solely for the convenience of our viewers. Yoga Alliance does not review for accuracy any information that appears in a closed caption or transcript. Yoga Alliance makes no representations or warranties, and expressly disclaims any responsibility or liability with respect to, any errors or omissions in, or the accuracy, reliability, timeliness or completeness of, any information that appears in a closed caption or transcript. >> 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?
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