Sacred Space

The girls class was excited about two things today--the newsletter and the tradition we have started of sun salutation birthdays :) Next Tuesday--we will be celebrating two birthdays--which add up to 29 Sun Salutations--the kids are so excited about this that I didn't have the heart to tell them that 29 Sun Sals may just in fact put me into cardiac arrest--but we will do the Sun Sals because I'm excited that they are excited and I'm thrilled at how much they want to honor each other.

Many new faces today--I can't help but feel excitement for teaching them and sadness that they are in jail. It's easy to forget sometimes that these beautiful girls aren't coming to Yoga because they have a choice--they are coming for their 1 hour of exercise that they are allotted. The beautiful thing is that I'm seeing that the girls are liking Yoga--that they are open and ready to receive teachings when they do come and that they are doing Yoga in their cells when we don't have class. They are practicing--they are finding their center---and that is beautiful.

Our theme was on strength--we spoke about how Yoga practice is like an obstacle course; many obstructions are purposely put on the way for us to pass through. They are there to make us understand and express our own capacities. We all have that strength, but we don’t seem to know it. We seem to need to be challenged and tested in order to understand our own capacities. In fact, that is the natural law. If a river just flows easily, the water in the river does not express its power. But once you put an obstacle to the flow by constructing a dam, then you can see its strength in the form of tremendous energetic power. Use the obstacles to show your inner strength and grace--- use the obstacles that come up in your life as a way to improve your search for the inner Truth.

We broke out the eye pillows today, and the girls loved them---eye pillows are a big deal because they are truly eyes closed in Savasana--many of the girls didn't keep their eyes closed because they did not feel safe. In the "Yoga Room" there has become an unwritten safety net--an unwritten "its ok here." It's pretty amazing to witness--I feel it too, I feel safe in our sacred space.

We talked in teacher training recently about sacred space, and I listened and learned from my teacher about creation of sacred space---and it's funny that today I finally felt what a sacred space the "Yoga Room" has become and how it remains full of energy even after the Yoga class has left--it's much cleaner than when we first started, it is the best smelling room in the jail :), and it does not feel confining---Yoga is amazing and the energy that is given is definatly being received.