That peaceful, easy feeling

If you practice yoga you know that peaceful, easy feeling. It's the one that you get at the end of your yoga class. Ahhhhhhh..... At the end of my yoga classes lately I've been asking my students to take a moment to feel what it's like to be in a whole room full of people who are all experiencing that feeling.

So much of our interaction with other people involves sharing a state of agitation. We get together with friends and acquaintences and get caught up in our stories of the latest disasters in our lives. We get sucked in to the media frenzy over the latest big news story. Even the email that gets forwarded has a tendency to focus on creating states of fear: spiders lurking under toilets, etc.

One of my teachers call this kind of sharing "Trauma Bonding." We bond with others when we share the same internal state. When we are feeling agitated, this is a sign that our fight/flight/freeze response is triggered. When this happens there's an urgency and intensity to telling the story and the body is actually, to a greater or lesser extent, reliving a past upsetting event. Others can get caught up in this intensity and feel compelled to tell their stories, reliving their own events. Together we spin out into greater amounts of agitation, which over time begins to cause all kinds of unpleasant symptoms. It's not the state in which we're meant to live our lives.

Practicing yoga produces just the opposite internal state: a state of calm, contentment, relaxation, and well-being. When we practice in a group we can start to feel what it's like to bond with others in a more healthy way. We can "catch" this feeling from those around us just like we can "catch" agitation. Practicing in a group helps reinforce our feeling of well-being. What would our communities be like if everyone had this experience?

Since we started offering Donation Yoga, over 150 new students have had their first taste of yoga with us at Show Me Yoga Center. We invite you to join us! Pick your class and catch that peaceful, easy feeling for yourself!

Powerful karma yoga

We were thrilled and honored to receive our first donation in support of our Yoga for Teens project. And it came from St. Louis! Along with his generous donation Pete wrote, "What powerful karma yoga! You go yogi, go!" He thanked Megan for the work she has been doing, recognizing the great impact that yoga can have on teens' lives.

Show Me Yoga Center instructor Megan Sappington has been volunteering every Friday at the Simonsen 9th Grade Center. There, during their regular Physical Education classes, she inspires and uplifts these teens with the magic of yoga. This year somewhere around 600 of our stressed out, over-stimulated, insecure, and wonderful teenagers will experience the increased self-acceptance, greater calm, and sense of well-being that yoga can bring.

And these kids need this! According to the Surgeon General between 10 and 15% of adolescents have symptoms of depression and 13% have some kind of anxiety disorder. Some studies show that full-fledged depression is more prevalent in adolescents than in adults. Clearly, these kids have lots of stress and challenges in their lives.

All of us at Show Me Yoga Center would like to honor "Miss Megan" for her dedication and commitment to working with teens. "You go, yogi, go!"

If you would like to join Peter in making a donation to support the Yoga for Teens project you can reach us at Show Me Yoga Center, 101A W. High St, Jefferson City, MO, 65101 or by calling us at (573) 636-5656. Donations can be taken over the phone with MasterCard or Visa. You may also donate online using the link below.

India comes to Show Me Yoga Center!

The food was spicy, the company good, and the night beautiful.

Last Friday night around 25 members of the Show Me Yoga Center community enjoyed an evening together experiencing some of the best that India has to offer (besides yoga, of course!) Teachers, students, and their friends and family meet for Indian food at the yoga center and then crossed the street for the Soorya concert on the Capitol lawn. The food was from the Taj Mahal restaurant in Columbia (highly recommended!) and the concert was sponsored by the Missouri River Regional Library, part of their great Cultural Concert series, all presented against the beautiful backdrop of the State Capitol building.

Here's a few photos (courtesy of James Harcourt).

Yoga teens at Simonsen

Here's some shots of the awesome teen yogis at the Simonsen 9th Grade Center last spring. Our hats off to SMYC instructor Megan Sappington, who has already donated countless hours to introducing teens to the magic of yoga! Megan started the 9th graders yoga project last spring and has expanded it to include more classes this fall. She's teaching every Friday during the students' regular PE class time. And next semester she'll be teaching the older high school students as well! We appreciate the great cooperation we're getting from the Jefferson City public schools.

For more about the challenging and rewarding experience of teaching yoga to teens, read Megan's "Yoga is Stoopid" post below. If you would like to make a donation to help support this huge and wonderful project give us a call at (573) 636-5656 or email us at info@showmeyoga.com