Showing posts with label Omega Institute. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Omega Institute. Show all posts

Monday, July 29, 2013

Integrating Science, Service, Spirituality, and Healing: The Second Annual Yoga Service Council Conference

Omega cabins (photo via SJ Times)
Leaving the leafy green grounds of the Omega Institute to catch the train to New York after Yoga Service Council conference, I couldn’t help thinking that I’d just participated in the most promising new wave of yoga in our time. 

Of course, I know that’s grandiose: The yoga world is hugely diverse, and there’s undoubtedly lots of other important work happening. Nonetheless, for someone with my particular combination of interests – integrating yoga with cutting-edge scientific research, sharing it with underserved communities, and adapting the practice to work in public institutions including prisons, hospitals, and schools – the Yoga Service Council (YSC) conference is as good as it gets.

Having attended the inaugural YSC conference last year, it was exciting to see its growing capacity and momentum. Both the 2012 and 2013 conferences featured impressive keynote speakers, a variety of excellent workshops, and evening “meet and greet” sessions. This year’s gathering additionally included 30 YSC scholars who had been awarded scholarships to attend the conference, a mostly youthful group whose inclusion benefitted the entire event by increasing its demographic and cultural diversity. 

American yoga service organizations work with an estimated 150,000-200,000 people annually, including abused women, prisoners, at-risk children and teens, veterans, cancer patients, and the homeless. The Yoga Service Council serves as the organizational hub for this growing movement, with the annual conference sharing the work of some of the most visionary leaders in the field. With conference goers split more or less evenly between full-time yoga teachers and a variety of professionals including nurses, social and mental health workers, teachers, and researchers, it’s an exceptionally interesting and well-informed group. They’re also fun to hang out with, as the shared commitment to yoga service creates an easy sense of camaraderie and community.

YSC conference, June 2013 (photo courtesy of Omega Institute, eOmega.org)

“From Inspired to Effective”

Yoga service work is inspiring, and attracts energetic, passionate people. As a new field that's generally underfunded, however, workers run the risk of burnout. As the conference program brochure explained:
We’ve seen it many times before: a yoga teacher, after a year of volunteer service, finds she and her boyfriend are $1,800 behind in mortgage payments and she needs to give up the all-important Seva opportunity. Or, personally and professionally, the effort of an Executive Director to manage a nonprofit outreach organization brings about compassionate burnout. To be effective, engagement and service must happen in a way that is sustainable.
Sustainability requires both supporting individual practitioners and building solid organizations. This means that yoga service providers should take time for self-care, a need that’s often neglected among people who feel driven to help others. It also requires organizational capacity building, most notably raising revenue to support teachers and staff members, access appropriate training, and secure needed equipment.

This year’s YSC conference was designed to support individuals and organizations by providing a experience of community that was both nurturing and educational. The schedule unfolded at a nice pace, opening with a relaxed evening address by Beryl Bender Birch on “Awakening to Spiritual Revolution: The Convergence of Practice and of Activism.” The following morning kicked off with an excellent asana practice led by "Yoga for 12-Step Recovery" founder Nikki Myers. After this, there was ample time to enjoy a healthy, sustaining breakfast in Omega’s beautiful dining hall before reconvening for the Saturday morning keynote.

Asana at YSC conference (photo courtesy of Omega Institute, eOmega.org)

“Strengthening Compassion”

If you think that listening to a lecture on a sunny Saturday morning sounds unappealing, please reconsider. Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., delivered a 90-minute talk on “Strengthening Compassion” that was not only fascinating, but also genuinely enlightening. Based on an 8-week training program developed at Stanford University where she serves as a lecturer, Kelly gave us a powerful briefing on the nature of compassion based on Buddhist meditation practices and spiritual philosophies, as well as neuroscience, social psychology, and evolutionary biology.

Kelly described compassion as having four key elements:
  1. recognition of suffering,
  2. feelings of concern and connection,
  3. a desire to relieve suffering, and
  4. the willingness and ability to respond. 
If we’re in situations in which we feel unsafe or under-resourced, she explained, we’re unlikely to experience compassion. While we may feel disturbed at seeing another’s suffering, our reaction will likely be to go into “fight or flight” mode, rather than compassionate connection. Understandably, we want to protect ourselves from the possible “contagion” of another’s distress by avoiding, escaping, shutting down, or dismissing their feelings. This, Kelly observed, is a “natural, but unskillful” response.

Kelly presented specific techniques we can use to strengthen our ability to be in the presence of suffering without falling into reactive feelings of threat and overwhelm. “Compassion,” she emphasized, “is a set of skills that can be trained.” We should not expect compassion to be an unlimited resource that we can continually draw out of ourselves without taking time to replenish it. Continuing the conference’s theme of connecting self-care to caring for others, she urged yoga service providers not to romanticize compassion, but rather understand the concrete practices that help it grow, as well as the everyday scenarios that restrict it.  

Dr. Kelly McGonigal (photo courtesy of Omega Institute, eOmega.org)

An Abundance of Offerings

After the Saturday morning keynote, conference participants were offered a choice of five workshops  including yoga and recovery from addiction, working with high-risk youth, building a wellness toolkit, asana sequencing, and conducting research. I attended Nikki Myer’s presentation on addiction recovery, which was excellent.

After the workshops, it was time for lunch. Meals at Omega are really nice, featuring an old-fashioned buffet and communal tables both inside the spacious dining hall, outside on the porch, and down the hill on the grass. The YSC conference also set up tables where people could discuss topics including diversity, nonprofit development, and international service work. After lunch, Sharon Salzberg, a renowned Buddhist meditation teachers, led a practice dedicated to deepening our capacities for concentration, connection, fearlessness, and genuine happiness. 

Afternoon workshops included “Yoga for Cancer Survivors,” “Mindfulness-Based Elder Care,” “Sustainable Yoga Service,” “Individual Practices to Support Yoga Service,” and “Yoga-Based Mindfulness Programs for Women Trauma Survivors.” Saturday evening featured the “poster session,” which provided a much-appreciated opportunity to learn about the yoga service organizations represented at the conference, and make connections with interesting, passionate, and friendly practitioners from all over the country.

The next morning, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., a leading expert on trauma, presented a fascinating lecture on “Yoga, Neurobiology, and Trauma," which  expertly synthesized information from  yoga, history, neuroscience, and psychology. Following his presentation, the conference segued into a panel discussion on “Diversity and Cultural Awareness” in the yoga service movement. While an important addition to the program, the one hour provided wasn't enough to adequately address the complex issues this topic inevitably invokes. Hopefully, more time will be allotted to continue this discussion next year.

Dr. Bessel van der Kolk (photo courtesy of Omega Institute, eOmega.org)

 Non-Dualism for Our Times

In one action-packed, yet restful and energizing weekend, I experienced the integration of self-care and organization building, neuroscience research and meditation practice, the Yoga Sutras and addiction recovery, and asana practice and social outreach – to name just a few examples. Such creative couplings, I believe, represent invaluable new ways of realizing traditional yogic practices of non-dualism in the real-world context of life today.

Whether you’re involved with yoga service or not, I’d encourage anyone interested in deepening their practice to consider attending next year’s conference. After all, there's ultimately no division between serving our selves and serving others. Yoga service simply means becoming more deliberate about the natural process of progressively realizing our interconnectedness through mindful practice.

In sum, the Yoga Service Council conference is generating an exceptionally promising new wave of yoga in the West. I hope that more and more practitioners will be inspired to join the movement, and help build its momentum. If you're looking for an opportunity to make your practice more informed, intelligent, socially relevant, and personally meaningful, consider joining like-minded friends out at Omega next year.

Omega lakeshore sculpture  (photo credit: Ken Wieland)

Friday, May 25, 2012

Reflections on "Yoga Service"

Tree of Life Tribal by Odari on Deviant Art

Right now I'm thinking a lot about "yoga service." I just came back from the Yoga Service Council Conference on Monday, and want to find ways to share some of the excitement and energy I felt there with others through writing about it. Because I truly believe that this event represented one very important step in moving American yoga in the direction that I'd like to see it go: that is, away from being a simply a self-improvement practice for individuals, and toward being a substantial healing force for our entire society.

As Traci Childress, Yoga Program Coordinator at the Omega Institute (which has been instrumental in supporting the Yoga Service Council and hosted the conference) noted, however, "it's not easy to sell service." Glitzy yoga is enticing, with lush spa-like studios, beautiful clothing, attractive students, glamorous teachers, and promises of health, happiness, and fulfillment.

Service yoga . . . not so much. The settings may be gritty (jails, shelters) or institutional (schools, hospitals). Having too many fashion accessories feels out of place. It's not a "beautiful people" scene - at least to the everyday eye.

What struck me at the Yoga Service Council Conference, however, was that there is a quality of energy generated by people who are passionate about sharing yoga with communities that normally wouldn't be able to access it - kids in low-income schools, youth in juvenile detention, women in shelters, men in jail, etc. - that's exceptionally inspiring and infectious. I can't help but feel that if there were a way to convey that feeling effectively, many more people would be interested in getting involved.

Now, I don't want to come off as a reverse snob who's saying that spa-style yoga is no good. On the contrary, I appreciate the experience of having a beautiful setting to practice in, and feel that it's important to devote resources to create such aesthetic oases. It's valuable to have such places to go for retreat and rejuvenation, definitely.


But I also believe that for those of us fortunate enough to be able to access yoga in such comforting settings, there's a charge that comes from bringing some of that ease into settings in which it is normally in woefully short supply -  and that this is energizing and rejuvenating in its own way.

What I experienced at the Yoga Service Council Conference reinforced this feeling for me. There was a level of passion, purpose, and, yes, love there that felt like a natural by-product of the yoga service experience.

This morning, I did my own little bit of "yoga service," teaching yoga to women in Chicago's Cook County Jail with Yoga for Recovery. Since then, I've been reflecting on precisely why I find this to be such a positive experience. In truth, I find it strangely hard to identify.

Writing about "the joys of service" feels like a hollow Hallmark Card cliche. Really, I don't even like the word "service" much in this context. It carries connotations for me that feel hierarchical, distancing, wrong.

I think perhaps there is something about creating a positive energetic connection that crosses so many socially entrenched boundaries that's really powerful. For me, it's like that magical zing I often feel running through the participants in a really good studio class gets amped up to a new level. I don't want to say that it's better, because when yoga is good, it's good. At that point, there's no better or worse - but there are meaningful differences.

Cook County Jail

One difference that's really important for me personally is that it makes me feel less afraid of what I don't know and more confident of my ability to generate positive connections in unfamiliar and even discomforting environments. This, in turn, reinforces my faith in yoga as something that really works.

And there's always a certain mystery to that. After class today, one of the young women seemed really moved by joy and just spontaneously came up and gave me a hug. That's never happened before . . . and why it felt like such a meaningful gift, I honestly can't say. But I know that I'm feeling a whole lot better now than I was before I taught that class.

When I and another teacher were walking out of the prison gates, a young male guard suited up in tough-looking police gear smiled at us and said, "How was the yoga class, ladies?"

"Great!" Of course, we smiled back.

"I should try yoga sometime . . . I'd like to do that," he replied.

"You should! We should offer a class for you guys too . . . "

The female guard next to him looked at us and more shyly joined in. "Yeah, I'd like to try it too."

Nothing like that had ever happened before, either. Maybe it was the nice spring weather . . . maybe word that yoga can be accessible and good - and not weird or flaky or only for rich women - is getting around. I don't know. But in that moment, I felt proud to have done my own little part to bring yoga into an environment where the centeredness, regeneration, and love it can bring really are needed in a big, big way.


At the Yoga Service Council Conference, I got to learn from some of the most dedicated and knowledgeable teachers in the country about how to to make this sort of yoga outreach work. And to be part of a group of practitioners that love doing it and were on fire to grow the movement. It was wonderful to be there.

I want the conference to be at least twice as big next year. Interested? If so, you can join the Yoga Service Council here. Hope to see you at the conference next year . . . mark your calendar for June 7-9, 2013!

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