If High Schoolers Can Do It So Can You

One of my biggest fears about teaching via the internet during this pandemic was “how will I connect with my students?” Human connection is one of the main things I love most about teaching and is one of the reasons I thrive as a teacher....

I was particularly worried about one group. Over the past semester, I’ve been teaching a Beginner Yoga class to a group of 24 high schoolers at Hostos Community College. This group did not choose to take Yoga, rather they were assigned this class and it didn’t seem like the majority had a prior interest in being there.

Throughout the final 7 weeks of the semester, our class went online, not without its challenges. There were technological issues, communication issues and just straight up confusion! Without getting them all face-to-face, I didn’t know how things would pan out. I honestly thought the semester was going to be a flop.

I knew I had to get creative. There had to be a way to get students information without meeting via a live Zoom session every single time. I also didn’t want the student to just read power points, I wanted them to DO something to learn – this was a physical education class after all.

After thinking for a bit, I saw an opportunity to record 7 meditation sessions on the 7 chakras. It was perfect. I had wanted to introduce the students to breathing and meditation practices and I wanted to teach them about the 7 chakras, but I hadn’t gotten around to it in the first half of the semester. The other great point was that by recording the sessions and having the students respond to a discussion board prompt, they could do this on their own time in lieu of doing a virtual live session on Thursdays. Easier for me to not have to host a live session, easier for them to not have to attend a live session. 

So, I delivered 7 different guided meditation sessions. Each week was on a different chakra from the 1st to the 7th. At the beginning, I didn’t really know how the students would grasp the information. After all, we had never actually meditated together in person. So, I gave directions on how to sit, how to relax the body and how to breathe. Each mediation gave an introduction to the chakra of the week followed by a short thought exercise that was meant to foster connection and relatability with the student’s actual life. Would it work? Honestly, I didn’t know but I thought it was worth a shot.

Over the 7 weeks, I was able to read about each student’s experience. And what do ya know? After the first few weeks I realized it was kind of working…

As a whole, they went from feeling awkward and unsure to feeling stable and comfortable while doing the meditations. The questions I prompted them to answer got more and more introspective from the 1st Chakra (all about safety and stability) to the 7th and final Chakra (which is all about connection to the Divine). You can call it the Divine, God, the Universe, or whatever higher power resonates with you. 

I started reading the responses for the 7th Chakra the other day and it was freaking magical. As I was reading through the responses, I realized I was really similar to some of these students! I asked them what their perceived barriers were and a few of them eluded to not being straightforward all of the time, being lazy, procrastinating with tasks they did not care about…(why yes, these are a few things I am guilty of)…

Aside from just feeling like I was the one that was being understood, the big thing I noticed was that they were indeed making connections ON THEIR OWN. They were able to make connections from the chakras to their personal lives. They were able to identify their own boundaries, limitations, and anything that was currently holding them back from reaching their goals. They were able to acknowledge that they are not their negative thoughts. They were GETTING IT. They were seeing the BIGGER PICTURE, and they did it all on their own.

As a teacher, my goal is to allow students to make connections for the self to the Self. Yes, I or any teacher, can and should facilitate that journey. But ultimately the lessons that result from Yoga (with a capital Y) go far beyond the physical body and the external world. Yoga is ultimately about self-realization and connecting to something greater. This connection can only be created and sustained by the practitioner and is not dependent on external circumstances (I.e. being in a class) nor is it dependent on the presence of any other person (I.e teacher or guide).

This class coming to an end was honestly bittersweet. Yes, the semester is over but I will most likely never see these students again! It would be nice to continue to work with them and to guide them in more Yoga classes. But, I have played my part. Having the opportunity to hopefully kick-start a lifelong journey of self-exploration for these students is in fact good enough for me. At the end of it all, I am fulfilled in at least having the hope that they’ll walk away having learned a little bit more about themselves, understanding the bigger picture, and making their own connections to the true light within.