My Hridaya or Heart Center

The day I found out I got the job as a full-time elementary school Yoga & Mindfulness Teacher I was over the moon. There we’re so many ideas swirling around my mind about what I wanted to bring into my classroom physically and energetically.

I knew that this was going to be nothing like teaching yoga to adults, and the way I had taught Specials classes in the past was going to have to adapt to this new schedule and constraints. The global pandemic was in full-swing after all.

There were some days I thought, “oh no, what am I getting myself into?” After all, every yoga instructor I knew looked at me wide eyed and open mouthed when they heard I was about to teach seven yoga classes a day, in a row, from kindergartners to middle schoolers.

As I scrolled Google, Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram I found almost nothing that mirrored the journey I was beginning. Sure, there were a few people teaching yoga to kids, but not on the scale I was about to and to the multitude of developmental levels, alone.

But I couldn’t shake what I had seen working in the Children’s Hospitals. The ER was crammed full with not just pandemic patients, but many mental health patients too. There were so many, we didn’t have room for them on the in-patient floors anymore.

I thought about the kids I saw there everyday so lonely, isolated and bored. They were so excited to see me and have some time to play together, do an art project, take a walk or just talk. Our time together never felt like enough, there were so many more kids to see.

This got me thinking that we must do better for our youth. We need to equip them more mindfully and preventatively for life, so they don’t end up in hospital gowns, lonely and isolated.

That understanding kept me moving forward and still does today. On my worst days and my best days, I remember those kids who are still waiting for their chance to move freely again.

And that is why I keep playing yoga everyday.