Grasshopper Warrior
I’m fully immersed in school. The frenetic energy of greeting friends, meeting teachers and the new instruction of grouping outside, first, and then staggering the entry of classes, is new to some and a ‘new familiar’ to those students returning to school. I’m managing thoughts inside of thoughts, trying not to forget details of routine beginnings and details of new beginnings; I feel like I’m a character in the Inception movie.
My husband finds me napping before dinner each night. I’M NOT A NAPPER! (I like to think of myself as an endlessly energized, on-and-available, ready for anything kinda gal. But perhaps napping should not be thought of as a fault or deficit, but rather as a Wellness technique; my body simply telling my mind, “It’s okay to rest”)
There is a separation between my home and my community. In my home I recharge, reboot, plug in, reload, and now apparently nap; but in my community, I’m a teacher. As a Physical Education/Yoga teacher, I teach over 125 students each day and as a Reading Specialist I am responsible for guiding others very specifically through a chasm of reading protocols that, for my students, conjures up all the emotions associated with knowing that they read differently than their peers.
I teach a yoga class following lunch. Twenty-seven fully masked 11-year olds enter a gentle moving music filled room; their frenetic energy slowly dissipating as they learn the routine of retrieving their assigned freshly cleaned mats and place them on the floor in the room. They lay down without instruction and soon listen more and talk less. This is a room of diversity; my special needs students are nestled in among the others fully included, welcomed and now, too, resting. We ground together before we begin the lesson.
Each day brings a new lesson. “Mindful Monday” (Mindfullness class), “Torture Tuesday” (Power class), “Wacky Wednesday” (Inversions), “Thoughtful Partner Thursday” (Partner class), “Fun Friday” (Student led classes). This class is an exceptional bunch. They consist of 25% of last year’s 5th grade PE class which was taught on Zoom for the first 7 months of school; I did not meet them in-person until March 1st, 2021. I KNEW them but not… They knew my dogs, my foster kittens, the colors of my living room, they knew I had a piano in my house. I knew which student recently purchased a new pair of toe shoes, who liked to have their younger siblings join our PE classes, who had trampolines in their backyards, who struggled with internet connection and who hated Zoom but loved our “Connection Games” prior to lessons.
During those 7 months, my home and my community merged.
But now we lie on our yoga mats, listen to music and without instruction calm our inner and outer voices and ground together.
Wellness is a moving state of BEING. One that we all experience for moments at a time, or sometimes we experience it in a semi-permanent state. I feel like my own Wellness is permeable, allowing some elements to penetrate while keeping other forms of energy at bay. I like to think of myself as a cross between a female Ted Lasso and a taller, less old Yoda.
I enjoy the exchanges of energy. In a recent yoga class, during “Fun Friday”, two of my students were leading the class through a routine. They asked for a specific music artist to play through my bluetooth speaker. “Sure,” I said. During savasana, over two-dozen 11-year olds sang to Olivia Rodrigo “hope ur ok”. It wasn’t a ‘Classic’ yoga class, by any means; but it was classy! For the 3 min 29 sec that these budding ‘tweens sang, the class became ONE. Student led, we found a common ground to BE. Budding Beings finding Wellness THEIR way. In High School I played a Grasshopper in a children’s play during my senior year, I am now a Warrior Yoga Teacher in a classroom of students-teachers-students seeking and teaching Wellness together.
Amy
