Over the last couple of years I have had the opportunity to interact with the High School Students either as a school mentor or volunteer or yoga teacher. What I have seen, heard and observed interacting with students, teachers, principals and community leaders have saddened me very deeply. There is such an alarming increase in the stress that our teenagers go through on a day-to-day basis.
Teen sufferings ...
Most of the teens experience heavy performance pressures, a sense of loneliness and alienation from the community, self-esteem issues, and a deep emptiness within! These prompt them towards life challenging and life changing choices of drugs, sex, violence, gangs, bullying and suicides. There is no energy, no enthusiasm, no joy in their existence - many of them equate themselves to being like zombies.
And surprisingly I found that for many schools only choice of direction is more strictness & policing, more security cameras, more metal detectors, color-coded dress codes, more cops in the schools! Even as far as a year back the thought to offer our young people a healthy-holistic alternative to depression, suicide, alcohol , drugs, unsafe sexual activity, violence was not an option for schools!
YES! - 'It' works.. ..
Through the medium of International association for Human Values(IAHV) and Art of Living, I have been engaging with local school districts for over 3 years to bring about a positive change through the YES! Program. Read more about: http://www.
I know the power of the program and how effective it is as I have seen the changes in my lives, talked to many parents and interacted with many teens that have gone through the program. Teens from varied background -f private schools, at-risk, disadvantaged families, etc.
What do teens need...
It is time we provided our young people with tools to handle their stress & negative emotions. Holistic Tools that utilize the inherent power of breath and bring the effectiveness of yoga & mindfulness into our classrooms.
What is happening...
In Jan 2009, things really turned around when with the support of my local Superintendent and Principals both the High Schools in my home city of Milpitas decided to bring the YES! program into their schools. One school has already completed the program for over 85 teens. The other school begin the program in fall for a complete semester (9 weeks). The results are beginning to show..
In the last few months I have seen an overwhelming increase in the number of schools coming on board for these programs. Close to over 13 high schools in the south bay are already scheduled to have YES!.
I myself, will be teaching in two high schools over the next 5 weeks and another couple of schools during the summer break.
How does it fit ...
The program is taught integrated into the school curriculum as a regular PE class or Opportunity class or Leadership class or after school class (or school's choice) for 5-days a week over 5-9 weeks. The course requires nearly 20-30 hours of time for completion followed by weekly/monthly follow ups.
The challenges...
This format requires committed individuals as all the classes are taught during the day.
Let us face it - Public Schools in California have no money!
We are providing these workshops free of charge to school and working to get funds through community & private donors, corporations, federal grants, etc.
This takes time!
Meanwhile our requests are pouring and we are going ahead with teaching, and doing research at the same time. Our challenges are money and more teachers!
Both go hand in hand - to get more teachers to be trained and take this up full time, we need to be able to pay regular salaries, and with that comes the need for more money. And not to mention the overhead of the program, administrative costs and research costs!
Your support...
We need support from the community to create awareness and to help raise money so that we can create more teachers, do extensive research around the program, teach in every public school in the US, and sustain this momentum in creating Stress-Free, Violence-Free Safe Schools!
My challenge is to complete 108 - Sun Salutations in 60 minute on 30th May and to raise $10K in pledges through friends and family ..
read more about yogathon: http://yogathon.iahv.org
To Support my pledge:
- Click on this link: http://yogathon.iahv.org/
member-pledge-page.aspx? memberId=813104z761sdw02991 - Make your donation (every drop makes the ocean, so give without hesitation whatever the amount maybe)
- Your donation is fully tax-deductible. You will receive an email receipt for your donation.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment