Yoga Without Borders Creates a Better World, One Girl at a Time

By Addie Gaines - A Yoga Without Borders Pioneer

Imagine…

You are a young girl from the slums of Firozabad, India. You live in a three-room home with a concrete floor and minimal furniture. As is common in your culture, the family shares one large, hard bed in the main room of the home. The other rooms are a small kitchen and a small washroom. As fall drifts into winter, the nighttime lows fall below 50F/10C. Without heat, this is quite chilly. However, as the sun rises, the daytime highs are around 80F/27C, which is a reprieve from the sweltering heat of the summer, where temperatures can reach 109F/43C or higher or the monsoon season with its heavy rains and high humidity.

As an Indian girl, there are expectations for helping with household tasks, such as cleaning, cooking and looking after younger siblings. You complete the tasks that are required of you, take a bath with a bucket and cup, and dress yourself for school. You are quite tired this morning, because you were up late last night decorating glass bangles using a stylus to place tiny gold sparkles in a pattern on the adhesive covered jewelry. In this way, you are contributing to the family income.

You are one of the fortunate girls in your area, because you get to go to school. Not only that, your school expenses, such as uniforms and books, are covered by a nonprofit organization, Edu-GIRLS. Because you go to an Edu-GIRLS supported school, you are in an English medium school. Learning English is the key that unlocks a better future for you. It opens the door to better vocational opportunities and eventually higher education.  Your teachers, provided through Edu-GIRLS, receive ongoing instructional training. You have access to technology, such as digital boards and tablets, as well. Your school is supported by another non-profit organization, Feeding India, which provides food for two meals and a snack at school.

You begin the walk through the maze of alleyways that lead to the main road in Firozabad holding the hand of your little sister as you navigate through the busy, honking traffic: motorcycles, cars, trucks, rickshaws, moving in all directions. You arrive at the City School, where the kindergarten and first grade classes are held, walking past the monkeys that play in the parking lot and seeing that your sister is safely inside. Then you climb on the bus and ride two km outside of town to your building, Dau Dayal Girls School.

Although the Dau Dayal Girls School, has only been an English medium school with operational funding through Edu-GIRLS for four years, the school itself is rich in history, having been founded by Shri Dau Dayal Ji, who set up industries in the field of glass and oil when none existed and used his profits philanthropically to support the cause of education. Today, over 5,000 women are studying in the institutions he founded, and more than 600 more women are studying vocational education at a school in Agra, founded in his memory.

The bus arrives at the school and girls disembark, entering the building with joy, laughter and a chorus of “Good morning, Ma’am!” as they greet their teachers in the hallways. After the girls put their things in their classrooms, they usually join together in a large garden and start the day with an assembly.

But today is different. The girls in Grade 7A, place their things in their classroom and arrive in the smaller garden on the opposite side of the school for their first yoga class, taught by Addie Ma’am from the United States and Deb Ma’am from Australia with the program Yoga Without Borders. Yoga Without Borders is a pilot project bringing the many gifts of yoga to these impoverished girls in Firozabad. It is a collaboration between Edu-GIRLS, Yoga Gives Back, and Rainbow Kids Yoga. This beautiful partnership allows each organization to reach out and fulfill its mission.

·       Edu-GIRLS is an NGO with the mission of enabling girls living in extreme poverty to achieve financial independence through customized quality education, vocational training and college scholarships.

·       Yoga Gives Back is a global non-profit organization spanning over 30 countries that unites thousands of practitioners, spiritual leaders, donors and corporate partners, transforming collective gratitude to support vital programs for women and children in India.

·       Rainbow Kids Yoga is a yoga teacher training program that over the past 30 years has certified over 35,000 teachers throughout the world, empowering them to make a real difference, one child, one school, one family, and one community at a time. This children’s yoga program brings joy, relevance, and engagement through yoga for young hearts and minds.

As the students entered the garden for their first yoga session, they were handed a “rose” created by tying a scented scarf to look like a rose. The girls each introduced themselves as they were presented with their “scarf rose.” After introductions, everyone was seated on the new rainbow-colored mats forming a circle around a centerpiece of rose blooms floating in water.

I (Addie Ma’am) opened the class with a simple question, “What do you know about yoga?” With the aid of a skilled interpreter, Himani, we began the discussion of what yoga meant to us. Not surprisingly, although India is the motherland of yoga, the girls had very little understanding of what it was. Their life experience did not include exposure to yoga. In an exaggerated, storytelling style, I shared my understanding of yoga, which included its origins in the mountains, forests, and caves of India and through observing and imitating nature, the yogis found connection with all things and within themselves. As we began our first breathing practice together, the girls were encouraged to inhale the scent of their rose to enhance their practice. Several minutes later, we came out of our breathing practice and discussed how we felt in our minds and bodies. Girls gave answers such as good, relaxed, excellent, and fantastic. However, my favorite answer was, “I have a fresh mind.”

Within the first few minutes of the first yoga class, the girls had already learned a valuable lesson. Within them, using the breath which is always available, they had access to a fresh mind and relaxed body. Anytime. Anywhere. The class continued with a mindful listening activity, the introduction of Sun Salutations, yoga poses, the use of real roses as a sensory tool, and the playful use of the scarves during free dancing and laughter yoga. Inspired by the Rainbow Kids Yoga curriculum and philosophy, yoga for the girls was colorful, fun and playful. Since these girls were among the older students we were teaching, I was surprised at their enjoyment of some of the “sillier” aspects of the practice, such as hissing like a snake during cobra pose, or barking when we reached downward dog. But, peppering the practice with such things helped the girls memorize and understand the sequence, in addition to adding laughter and joy.

As the class approached the end, we found seats on our mats once again and went into a mindful activity with a single rose petal. We had a discussion of the figurative meaning of “stopping to smell the roses.” One of the girls in this first class grasped the idea and we took it to imagine we were having a special time with our family that we always wanted to remember, so it was important to stop and focus on how we were feeling. The final activity of the class was a time of rest. The girls reclined on their mats and allowed their eyes to drift closed, as soft instrumental music played. I read the following visualization line by line to allow time to form mental images, with Himani’s assistance:

“Imagine a beautiful rose growing on a vine.

Keep watching as more and more roses grow.

Feel yourself floating in the air.

See roses growing from Firozabad and covering all of India.

Float farther away until you can see the earth from space.

Watch the roses continue to grow until they cover the earth in peace and love.”

The girls were gently awakened from their rest, and we ended class with arms sweeping overhead to inhale and exhaling with palms together lowering to their hearts. I thanked the girls for listening, for being willing to try everything, and being so beautiful and smart.

And, so it began…

The first students left the garden and went about their day, and the second group of 7^th grade students arrived. Following this class, the mats were moved and arranged in a circle in an upstairs hall, where Deb Ma’am donned her striped top hat and waved her wand, creating yoga magic for Grade 3B, as the students were introduced to the idea that we can do anything we set our minds to, participated in both mindful and active practices and learned a variety of animal themed poses. Class ended with a rest time, as each girl reclined with a “magic heart stone” resting on her forehead.

After the first three classes, Deb Ma’am and I were tired, but it was a good kind of tired. We collected our resources and walked back to the beautiful guesthouse, our home at the school, for a delicious lunch prepared with love by Abhilasha.

As I reflected on this first day of teaching, it was hard to find the words to describe exactly how this experience felt, but it was amazing, joyful, and emotional. Although I am a seasoned elementary educator, it has been several years since I have taught children, as I am retired and I currently teach yoga to adults. Everything I loved about working with children came flooding back. It felt so natural and so alive. I was so grateful to be in this place with this opportunity. Communication, given the language barrier, felt a little difficult, but connection was happening even in the first moments of teaching yoga. As I taught, I simplified the language as much as possible without watering down the concepts, used gestures and demonstrations, and relied on the support of Himani and the classroom teachers, who had stayed for the class.

Deb Ma’am and I fell into a routine of our own morning yoga practice on the roof of the guesthouse, preparing breakfast, gathering our teaching materials and walking to the garden to start classes. Our “free time” during the days was filled with eating delicious Indian food, planning lessons, reflecting upon our teaching experience and how to make it better, organizing materials, and other “teacher stuff.” Just like me, Deb Ma’am also had a strong background in early childhood education. Her current role in Australia is providing services to students with diverse needs. We agreed that our extensive background in education and working in schools was invaluable in navigating this experience as the “pioneers of the project.” Within the guesthouse and amidst work of teaching, a friendship blossomed between two like-minded souls that had never met in person prior to this time in India.

Mondays were different, as the kindergarten and first grade students were bused to us from the city school for their yoga classes in the afternoon. Saturdays were also different, starting with two classes in the garden, then moving to a whole school assembly in the side yard of the guesthouse and then back to the garden for the weekly class for teachers. Sundays were our “days off,” but they were mostly filled with the opportunity for trips to explore the area including the most epic field trip of all time to the Taj Mahal.

In 17 years as an elementary principal, I only missed one school field trip with “my kids.” Field trips were my favorite. So, when I learned that our visit to the Taj Mahal was going to be a field trip with the 7^th grade girls, school bus and everything, I was beyond excited. Almost even more excited than I was about my fancy red and gold dress I had purchased for the event. (Almost.)

The day was full of fun, laughter, music, dancing, and a picnic lunch on the bus. As we approached the Taj Mahal, the view was majestic. Pristine white marble tiles formed this symmetrical wonder of the world that was completed in 1653. We were even privileged to place our hands on the cool marble on the outside and view the inside of the structure. As incredible as the venue was, the best part of the day was sharing the experience with girls and faculty members from the school.

As the month of November progressed, heartwarming experiences and stories added up. Although I can’t share them all, I will share a couple of my favorites. During the second week of classes, I was approached by some of the Grade 9 girls in the hall. They asked if I wanted to learn Hindi. “Sure,” I replied. One of the girls looked me in the eye and asked, “What do you know about Hindi?” Internally, I found humor and joy in the fact that they chose to begin their Hindi lessons, as I had begun their yoga lessons. So, I answered, “Namaste.”  Then I added, “Dhanyavaad.” So, basically, I knew “Hello.” and “Thank-you.”

“Is that all?” one of the girls asked. I responded that yes, that was everything I knew.

So, the girls taught me, “Tum kaisi ho?” which means, “How are you?” They had me practice saying it several times and then said that the next time they saw me I needed to remember it.

The next day, the girls found me and “demanded” that I recall my Hindi lesson. Girls from the yoga class I was teaching were listening and watching too. I swallowed and asked for a moment to think. After the moment, the words, “Tum kaisi ho?” emerged from my mouth. At least that was what I meant to say, but the girls, accepted it even though I am sure it was with incorrect pronunciation.  Eventually, they taught me, “Main achhi hoon.”   and told me that when they said, “Tum kaisi ho?” to me, that was my response to indicate that I was good. So, this interaction continued throughout my time at the school.

I share this story because Yoga Without Borders, was more than yoga. It was a cultural exchange. As an English medium school, the opportunity to practice English in another context was invaluable.  It was the opportunity for the girls, faculty, and staff at school to meet people from a foreign country and learn more about that country. It was also an opportunity for us, as visiting teachers, to be immersed in a beautiful culture, experience the hospitality of “Atithi Devo Bhava,” or “guests are god,” and learn about our differences, but more importantly our similarities. We shared laughter, love, cooperation, and sometimes problem-solving (although, there were no problems, only solutions.)

I have one more story that I will share here. One day after I had finished teaching, one of the girls approached Deb Ma’am and said, “I am not fine.” Deb Ma’am asked her what she meant and she said she was not fine because now she had to go do her lessons and she just wanted to do yoga. Deb Ma’am encouraged her to complete her lessons and use the yoga she was learning to help her when it was hard. The same girl approached me later in the day with the same problem. I told her that since she loved yoga so much, maybe she could become a yoga teacher someday, but first, her lessons. This young lady, with a beautiful smile and her hair in two ponytails came up to both of us several more times during our stay for hugs and encouragement. We reminded her of her yoga tools and the importance of her lessons. With my last hug for her, I told her that when she didn’t feel like doing her lessons, to remember my face, and then “do your lessons.” She laughed.

The final lesson with the older girls ended with the same visualization as the first lesson. They rested with magic heart stones on their foreheads (which everyone kept as a gift) as I reread this pausing between each line to allow the minds to form an image:

“Imagine a beautiful rose growing on a vine.

Keep watching as more and more roses grow.

Feel yourself floating in the air.

See roses growing from Firozabad and covering all of India.

Float farther away until you can see the earth from space.

Watch the roses continue to grow until they cover the earth in peace and love.”

 

Once we awakened, I told the girls I had one final difficult question for them…

WHO are the roses of Firozabad?

I allowed the question to simmer in silence. In some classes, girls understood the figurative meaning of this question. A hand would rise slowly. I would call on the girl. Quietly, she would point to herself and say, “Me.”

“Yes! Yes!” I would exclaim, followed by the question, “Who else is a rose?” Until every girl in the class realized it was her and that she had the power to reach out into the world with peace and love.

In other classes, we started with various ideas but worked our way to the conclusion that each one of them was a rose.

Yoga Without Borders is more than yoga, more than cultural exchange, more than an enriching learning experience; it is the start of a movement that will make a difference in the lives of these girls and in turn allow them to make a difference in the lives of others. I feel honored to have been a part of planting this seed and look forward to watching it grow. I am forever connected to the girls, the faculty, and the staff of Dau Dayal Girls School in Firozabad through our hearts (and Instagram.)

Yoga Without Borders – Volunteer in India

Together, we’re creating lasting impact for girls from underprivileged backgrounds, supporting their emotional wellbeing, confidence, and connection through yoga. And we’re inviting you to be part of it.