I have a dream ...
I dream of providing an introduction to yoga to all people. I dream of guiding others into this life-changing and self-transforming practice: all people, especially those who think they cannot 'do' yoga, or that their bodies are too old or painful or injured, those who think they cannot afford to begin a yoga practice, either for lack of money or for lack of time.
I dream of taking yoga to those who really need it; the dispossesed, the alienated, those living on the fringe. My dream includes not just myself (for 'I' am not in this dream); it includes a network of care-givers who will donate their time pro-bono (without charge): bodyworkers, yoga therapists and instructors, massage therapists, personal trainers, and all manner of other healers and helpers.
For one lesson life has taught clearly is that true honor is found in helping others, and that the ultimate end of self-improvement or self-transformation is to extend ourselves and offer service to others. To do this for purely altrusitic reasons is elevates us even further, for often those who need our services most can pay for them least. Yet I think I have a solution...
If we can develop a network of instructors willing to provide free classes once in a while, I can make a schedule of free yoga classes, adding instructors as they are available to fill slots. In this manner, we can perhaps provide one free yoga class every weekday, and similar services as well. The Carriage House Community Center for the Homeless in Boulder has a holistic medicine day once a week, offering free massage, acupuncture, holistic medicine, and yoga on Tuesdays. I used to volunteer classes for this and got a space reservation for both Tuesday and Wednesday. If enough instructors volunteer, we can provide free yoga classes every day, and not just to the homeless, but to all who need them. If enough other caregivers sign up to donate services, we can also offer the other services every day.
I'd like to implement this both in Boulder, and in Denver, at the Veterans' Administration hospital and outpatient therapy center. My basic models for this effort are the Carriage House plan, Musicians on Call (which offers free music therapy to people in the hospital), and Prison Dharma Network, which offers free Buddhist meditation and counseling services to prisoners nationwide.
This is perfect for new instructors and therapists wishing to gain experience working with homeless, veterans, PTSD, and recovering drug and alcohol addicts, as well as 'normal' everyday people of all types. It is also perfect for more experienced and well-known instructors, as part of a (tax-deductible) seva, or practice of service to others. In addition to simply providing regular services at scheduled times, I'd like to pair amenable clients with a mentor who will support them in their progress and practice, much as an Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor does, or as many mentors in business and government do, although in terms of personal development rather than economic or career success.
If the service-donators wish, we could pair them with apprentices or unpaid interns, clients who volunteer their own time in order to learn from those more experienced and to grow themselves through personal experience. This would allow their wisdom to spread, and provide the chance for former students to develop a service practice of their own, sharing what they have learned (through donated time) by donated time to the consortium of instructors, therapists, care-givers, and healers.
One need not even be a accomplished yogi/yogini or instructor, for we will have timeslots for simple companionship, a chance to listen to others, provide a sympathetic ear. Plenty of lessons can be learned simply by listening to the experiences, thoughts, dreams, hopes, and fears of others. This service is as valuable to the service provider as it is to those who receive the service. In this age of alienation that some live in, simply being able to connect to another human being is critical, essential, potentially life-saving. (This service already exists and has needs for volunteers, through the VA's program of volunteer visitors for inpatients both in medical and psych wards).
I'd be glad to donate the time required for logistics and coordination, and give a few classes of my own (until we can get better instructors, that is). I would dream that I could get the word out to enough instructors and caregivers to be able to do this, but I suppose I know few enough instructors to really be able to do it. That's okay though; dreams need not be immediately realizable to be valid. I am perfectly happy for now providing my simple class here and there. Perhaps it's my ego that wants to implement things on a wide scale, to effect great and far-reaching changes. Service to one person is enough, attention to one moment and one person and one relationship and one activity is enough. I'll just let enough be enough. That has been a recurring theme and a key lesson in my life thus far, so I will live it and manifest it.
For they are out there; the wounded and the sick. All the health care plans and HMOs in the world will not provide the care they need. All the pills and prescriptions and pharmacies in the world will not ease their pain ... and their numbers are growing. If we were smart (or thought that way) we would be cranking out care givers in response to this crisis just like they crank out Marines and soldiers in response to a military 'crisis.' Yet we know that these things cannot be rushed, and that they must occur naturally, without forcing. Care-givers must be called, not made. As the time is right, patients meet with and match up with their intended caregivers. We just aim to provide the framework where this can occur, ensure we miss no opportunities and provide the broadest range of opportunities to the broadest range of people possible.
Or so the dream goes. The reality is that right now I need to give care to myself.
AUM, Shanti, Shanti, Shantihiiii
"Give, therefore, of your abundance, and teach your brothers [and sisters] theirs. Do not share their illusion of scarcity, or you will perceive yourself as lacking."
-A Course in Miracles
"Physician, heal thyself"
-Yeshua the Nazarene
I dream of providing an introduction to yoga to all people. I dream of guiding others into this life-changing and self-transforming practice: all people, especially those who think they cannot 'do' yoga, or that their bodies are too old or painful or injured, those who think they cannot afford to begin a yoga practice, either for lack of money or for lack of time.
I dream of taking yoga to those who really need it; the dispossesed, the alienated, those living on the fringe. My dream includes not just myself (for 'I' am not in this dream); it includes a network of care-givers who will donate their time pro-bono (without charge): bodyworkers, yoga therapists and instructors, massage therapists, personal trainers, and all manner of other healers and helpers.
For one lesson life has taught clearly is that true honor is found in helping others, and that the ultimate end of self-improvement or self-transformation is to extend ourselves and offer service to others. To do this for purely altrusitic reasons is elevates us even further, for often those who need our services most can pay for them least. Yet I think I have a solution...
If we can develop a network of instructors willing to provide free classes once in a while, I can make a schedule of free yoga classes, adding instructors as they are available to fill slots. In this manner, we can perhaps provide one free yoga class every weekday, and similar services as well. The Carriage House Community Center for the Homeless in Boulder has a holistic medicine day once a week, offering free massage, acupuncture, holistic medicine, and yoga on Tuesdays. I used to volunteer classes for this and got a space reservation for both Tuesday and Wednesday. If enough instructors volunteer, we can provide free yoga classes every day, and not just to the homeless, but to all who need them. If enough other caregivers sign up to donate services, we can also offer the other services every day.
I'd like to implement this both in Boulder, and in Denver, at the Veterans' Administration hospital and outpatient therapy center. My basic models for this effort are the Carriage House plan, Musicians on Call (which offers free music therapy to people in the hospital), and Prison Dharma Network, which offers free Buddhist meditation and counseling services to prisoners nationwide.
This is perfect for new instructors and therapists wishing to gain experience working with homeless, veterans, PTSD, and recovering drug and alcohol addicts, as well as 'normal' everyday people of all types. It is also perfect for more experienced and well-known instructors, as part of a (tax-deductible) seva, or practice of service to others. In addition to simply providing regular services at scheduled times, I'd like to pair amenable clients with a mentor who will support them in their progress and practice, much as an Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor does, or as many mentors in business and government do, although in terms of personal development rather than economic or career success.
If the service-donators wish, we could pair them with apprentices or unpaid interns, clients who volunteer their own time in order to learn from those more experienced and to grow themselves through personal experience. This would allow their wisdom to spread, and provide the chance for former students to develop a service practice of their own, sharing what they have learned (through donated time) by donated time to the consortium of instructors, therapists, care-givers, and healers.
One need not even be a accomplished yogi/yogini or instructor, for we will have timeslots for simple companionship, a chance to listen to others, provide a sympathetic ear. Plenty of lessons can be learned simply by listening to the experiences, thoughts, dreams, hopes, and fears of others. This service is as valuable to the service provider as it is to those who receive the service. In this age of alienation that some live in, simply being able to connect to another human being is critical, essential, potentially life-saving. (This service already exists and has needs for volunteers, through the VA's program of volunteer visitors for inpatients both in medical and psych wards).
I'd be glad to donate the time required for logistics and coordination, and give a few classes of my own (until we can get better instructors, that is). I would dream that I could get the word out to enough instructors and caregivers to be able to do this, but I suppose I know few enough instructors to really be able to do it. That's okay though; dreams need not be immediately realizable to be valid. I am perfectly happy for now providing my simple class here and there. Perhaps it's my ego that wants to implement things on a wide scale, to effect great and far-reaching changes. Service to one person is enough, attention to one moment and one person and one relationship and one activity is enough. I'll just let enough be enough. That has been a recurring theme and a key lesson in my life thus far, so I will live it and manifest it.
For they are out there; the wounded and the sick. All the health care plans and HMOs in the world will not provide the care they need. All the pills and prescriptions and pharmacies in the world will not ease their pain ... and their numbers are growing. If we were smart (or thought that way) we would be cranking out care givers in response to this crisis just like they crank out Marines and soldiers in response to a military 'crisis.' Yet we know that these things cannot be rushed, and that they must occur naturally, without forcing. Care-givers must be called, not made. As the time is right, patients meet with and match up with their intended caregivers. We just aim to provide the framework where this can occur, ensure we miss no opportunities and provide the broadest range of opportunities to the broadest range of people possible.
Or so the dream goes. The reality is that right now I need to give care to myself.
AUM, Shanti, Shanti, Shantihiiii
"Give, therefore, of your abundance, and teach your brothers [and sisters] theirs. Do not share their illusion of scarcity, or you will perceive yourself as lacking."
-A Course in Miracles
"Physician, heal thyself"
-Yeshua the Nazarene
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