More reflections on service

Sunday I attended the final day of an adult education class at my church. I had intended to go to this class for the past several weeks - and just did not make it. What an error. The class was originally called "The black Christ" later edited to "Black Theology and Black power: Looking for god from the bottom." It was led by a very talented and feeling man - Everett Mitchell. I have always admired him. He has been involved with our church for several years and his style and his service are extra great.

He blew me away on Sunday. He spoke about a question "Are there more black men in prison or in college?"
He showed a video that asked and answered the question and showed black child after black youth after another and another saying decidely - without hesitation - "Prison." Then they showed the answer and the math. The answer? College.

He talked about the myth that has been perpetuated and built in to our society about this issue and about how we needed to play a role in changing it. he is a man of action and his theology is from the "bottom up" as opposed to "top down." He asked - "How does a church respond? How do you respond? And he added - I am not talking about going to run for the school board people, What are you going to do from the bottom up?"

Oh man - what a challenge to a room full of upper middle class white doctors and lawyers and marketing types. We are so Top down!

He is a member of an organization in Madison called Madison Urban Ministry. I immediately thought "Maybe I should teach yoga for those people." That is so bottom up and so idealistic and that is where I am right now.

On Moday I checked there website: What do you know. They run a program called healthy Neighborhoods! The description reads:
"The Allied, Belmar, Dunn's Marsh Wellness Center has a mission of promoting holistic health and wellness for the neighborhood. It is staffed by a community parish nurse who provides individual contact as well as group programs."

Oh my. That will require some soul searching. Can I tackle that? Can I teach yoga anywhere?
I mean these are rough neighborhoods.

So what is the deal with this draw anyway? I guess I keep saying to myself, " It's the people who don't have Yoga yet that really need it."

So now my thoughts are on Everett and his fantastic motivating talk! Why not try to do that? Well - it would be hard as hell for one thing.

It is interesting to me that on Sunday the 6th an African American man motivated me to focus myself on service to others and I accept what he taught me fully. And then 1 week later on Sunday the 13th another African American man further motivated me to focus and service and gave me some options.

Ok god. I guess I need to listen. What is next?

Rounding out the first 5 days - The Kit

We had a snow day on Wednesday the 9th. I stayed home with the kids. It was really nice to watch snow shut down the hearty midwesterners. I heard a guy say that the snow was needed to keep the midwesterners in check. It is mother natures way of keeping life at the right pace for Wisconsin.

Last week I ordered a kit, and now it arrived. A few extra mats, blocks and straps to have in my arsenal. Why? Well for the class at work I thought some people might not have mats and want to "try before they buy." Why is that my problem? It's not of course. But something made me want a kit. When my wife Steffani was doing movies in LA - she had a "kit." Everyone in LA in the movie biz had a kit. Your kit was your personal tools of the trade that helped you do movies effectively. My friend John is a painter. His kit has expanded to a trailer! It is very common to get a kit rental fee on a movie. That is - extra weekly fee for use of your tools. (I am not planning on getting that in yoga!)

But I wanted a kit. I actually want to grow the kit. Why? Well - I have an image of captuing people in the hallway at work and saying "come to my Yoga class at noon" and them saying "don't have a mat" and me saying "don't worry I have your covered." Gotcha!

I also think I am drawn to teach yoga to people without mats. Now listen - this is a key facet of my journey that is emerging. I am drawn to teach yoga to people who don't have mats. More on this later.
By Thursday I sent an email to my friend who owns a studio and told her I was read to do a class for her. I told her about my class at work and finishing training and so on. More to report on this soon.

PS - I finally got back on the mat on Wednesday evening for a hot flow class. It felt good.

Coming in to week 2

On Saturday I got a reply to my email inquiry about an audition class at my friends studio. She was interested - but wanted to wait until January. She also noted that she had no positions and had 3 people who wanted to teach.
This is a really popular studio with a big community of active students and teachers. I have always had mixed feelings about teaching here. It is the "best" studio in Madison. But for some reason I had concerns about my fit there.
1. I was concerned about not being good enough for the community 2. I did not want my auditioning and wanting to teach there to affect my relationship with the owner who I love and respect. It concerned me that she might have to tell me I was not ready. I am totally ok with being not ready - but I hated to put a friend through that process
I also felt like I want to take it slowly with the home studio. Like I really needed to cut my teeth outside of my home environment. I also had the sense that i wanted to learn a little more about the yoga community around Madison. I had been very singularly focused on this one studio.

One other thing I have been drawn to do is to plan a "Yoga for 12 Step Recovery" class to offer at the local 12 step clubhouse. I have been thinking about this often and have even started a plan. I feel drawn to help recovering people "get back in to their bodies" as Shams stated it. Shams had shared his experience doing some of this service work. I know it might not have the same appeal of a regular studio - but I cannot help but feel I want to take yoga to the streets.

Is this a standard feeling on becoming a teacher? I want to help save the world with yoga? Are others feeling this?

On December 6th I wrote that my intention going forth from here was "To help others seek spirit through body and breath." Perhaps I am just sinking my teeth in to that intention. Perhaps I am just being eager and Idealistic.

Whatever will come of this will certainly reveal itself to me. I think I am just going to go with it for a while. I have moved from thinking to feeling (even though there is a lot of thinking going on) - It is the feeling kind of thinking. I think (see what I mean!) that will allow myself to be idealistic instead of second guessing my way in to defeating my idealism because of my Thinking problem. Yes I said Thinking Problem. It is a lot like my drinking problem, only worse.

Rolf said over and over that when he came from a place of service that everyone think worked out. I seem to be feeling that and I want to hang on.

The next couple of days

As I told many of you - my first teaching job was secured. I have volunteered to lead a class at work during January and February. On return from the weekend I checked in with the person helping me coordinate the class and learned that I had 37 people enrolled! Wow! Is that cool!?

Only problem is that the room we are using has room for 25 using "corporate spacing." If it were an actual studio I could fit about 40! But I feel people need their space. I want them to feel "refreshed and centered" when they leave. Having the butt of a coworker too close might not make that objective work out. But I also hate to turn anyone away. Solution! I added a second class! We are now scheduled for a Monday and Friday lunch class during January. We will see how the group sizes are for Feb.

Next item - I asked for help. I emailed Wes and asked him to come to class the first few days and help me out! He answered "Yes." That is so cool. He can do demos and help people and we will do a great job together. he does not know it yet - but I also feel I need a backup teacher for the class and he is nominated. He will learn the sequence and the people and atmosphere and I can ask him to sub for me!

One more item. I planned to do an online survey of the students who have registered for class to find out about their backgrounds and goals for coming to class. I will design and email using an online survey tool and get the data I need!

What I did on day 1

On Sunday December 6th I completed an incredible phase of the journey toward teaching yoga. Along with 21 others I was given the title of Vinyasa Yoga Teacher by my teacher Rolf Gates.

It was the end of a year of study and the beginning of the next phase. Rolf said "Go and teach. That is your next phase." The year was marked by a series of ups and downs. Lots of reading studying and sharing. I got more from the other members of the class than I ever expected to. They are my brothers and sisters, and I write this blog for them.

So, what did I do on December 7?
Number 1
I registered with the Yoga alliance. I mean - I think I did. They have never formally acknowledged my application. They have not charged my credit card. Today I called to ask if they got my application and they had the funniest on-hold recording ever. A very monotone and professional voice said. "Your call is important to us. Our customer care specialist are busy helping other Yogi's. Please hold on for the next representative." I laughed so hard I cried.
I still don't know if they got my application - but I left a message.
Number 2
I bought the yoga teachers insurance from Yoga Journal. That involved paying $125 for a policy and joining the yoga journal benefits plus for $55. I am not positive I need this, but better safe than sorry. I was steered here by a few people and protecting myself is probably a good idea. And as a benefit I bought my new Yoga Journal calendar at a discount!

Number 3 - I sat down and sequenced a 1 hour Vinyasa class (or rather - my idea of a 1 hour class) using parts of the Rolf class we learned. I had done this before and it was longer than 1 hour - so I took my next best shot at it.

Was that enough for today? I think so. I still felt a strong wave of energy about my mission - to teach.

Most importantly I enjoyed the wave of photos of our last weekend that hit the web on that day. I waited and watched for Facebook posts and enjoyed showing others the pictures of that last triumphant weekend. I corresponded with my fellow teachers through the day and on in to the next. The memories of the training process and the emotions of the 2009 yoga journey were very much on my sleeve.

They still are.

The Journey to teach yoga

In the final 20 minutes before leaving teacher training I spoke to Kim B. She said "Will you document your teaching journey on a blog or something? I'd like to keep up with how it is going."

I said "Yes, I will."

So here it is. A blog about the journey toward teaching yoga. What to teach, who to teach, how and where to teach. I suppose you can subscribe to my blog via email or RSS if you're fancy. (Kim B probably will!) Or maybe you can read it on your iphone. I hope you will read it. (You too Shams. I know that facebook is too much - but try my blog!)

Mostly I hope you will comment - adding your own experience strength and hope to the journey. I am starting this a little late (1 week) so I will be reviewing the last week over the next few days. Bear with me and I will catch up to real time. Check back daily!

The journey is the destination. SO it begins.