Breathe Through The Pain

Last week I found myself continuously singing, "This Little Light of Mine." (If you are unfamiliar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Little_Light_of_Mine). This was my way of breathing through the unmeasurable emotional pain that I was feeling. Coincidentally on Friday I was in a yoga class and the teacher told us that the first mantra many of us learned was "This Little Light of Mine," then as we closed class instead of doing the usual Om chant we sang "This Little Light of Mine."

At some point during one of my many yoga classes this summer we were lying in frog pose, which if you don't know yoga it is a pose that really stretches your hips in a way that is sometimes painful. The teacher told us to breathe through the pain. This is a common thought in yoga, as you are taught to keep a steady breath throughout your practice, no matter the strain or pain that you feel.

I have been working with this philosophy all year, and its made me a different teacher. When things bother me in my classroom I breathe in and out, silently chanting "let " as I breathe in "go" as I breathe out. Its given me a whole new presence among my students and opened me up for a lot more room to care about the things that really matter.

One of the reasons I sang "This Little Light of Mine" this week was because I wanted to really ignite my inner light. As a Quaker I believe that there is that of God in everyone, so this belief is embodied in my inner light. I think that the yogi breath can contribute to ignite this light as well, which is why it works to breathe through the pain. If you are not spiritual, or do not believe in this inner light, you ultimately believe that every person possesses some kind of inner strength so I would suggest breathe through the pain to find that strength.

I must ignite all of these in this time of great tragedy. I am going to be taking very deep breaths, singing to myself, and focus in on my inner light in order to find strength.

Namaste

Today in yoga the teacher said that Namaste means "the light in me to the light in you." This may not be the exact meaning but the idea is that you are bowing to the people around you and their inner light, or souls. A few days ago, my friend Hannah reminded me of a pre meal grace that I made up in elementary school, "There is a light in you, there is a light in me, there is a light in everybody." Hannah is using this quote to drive her personal essays to law school, to say the least I am flattered, but Hannah and I both know that this grace is about more than the words themselves. Just as in yoga, when we say "namaste" at the end of class we know that it is more then just celebrating our souls together. In both of these sayings, the essential element is that there is a community of people who celebrate each other, these sayings are just a way to remind us to say it verbally.

As a teacher, I think about community a lot. I remember back to my experience at institute, where my friend Lexy and I created the "Master Learners Kitchen" in order to create a community of learners for our students in the Mississippi Delta. I now work daily to build a sense of community for my students. I went to observe in my old 6th grade classrooms last week, and thought about the community there, the constant celebration of students as individuals. In college I had multiple communities that helped me develop as an individual, and I have a community of friends who do the same for me today.

I studied the sociology of education in school, and thought a lot about the communities that are developed in public schools. In every paper I wrote, or research project that I did my thesis always seemed to come back to the importance of a school's culture in transforming a school. I work in a school that is in the process of transformation. We focus heavily on assessment, management, professional development, etc., but we rarely talk about community. We rarely stop and metaphorically say "namaste" to each other. Teachers, children, administrators, counselors, secretaries, etc. are rarely celebrated for the light inside of each of them. When I began Teach For America I was set on making a difference and I think through yoga and my Quaker values I've found the way that I personally can transform my school. I am going to say "namaste" to my children hourly, to other teachers daily, and to my administrators at least once a week. I hope through modeling this behavior I can influence others to do the same.

So I will start with all of you, my friends, family, and coworkers who read my blog, "Namaste!"