One of the joys of this work that i didn't foresee was how fun it is. On Friday i was teaching at the Community Transitional School. We did crow pose, half hand stand and the other usual poses, and then everyone lay down for Savasana. We were in a cafeteria, since they were removing insulation from the gym where we usually have class. Ten seconds after our group of 10-14 year olds let go into the relaxation, a troop of 5, 6, and 7 year old came barreling down the stairs for snack. They stopped abruptly, surprised to see the big kids lying on their backs where the snack tables should be. I told the big kids to lay back down and appreciate their breath and i walked over to the group of youngsters and told them we were doing yoga. Then i asked them to raise their arms as high overhead as they could. They all did.

For the next few minutes, i talked the big kids through an appreciation of the hard work they had done that day, a mindfulness of their breath and uniqueness, all the while miming to the little kids to rise up on their toes, to quietly sweep their arms out to the sides, to be still but strong. They got it, and didn't make a sound.

We ended soon thereafter, and while the big kids moved on to kickball, the younger ones helped me fold neglected mats, move the tables back, push chairs into place. They were way into it!

I left that day feeling so touched to have connected with so many young people, and so grateful to have been able to share this practice of yoga with two dozen of tomorrow's adults.

Another day i was blessed to watch 9 youth at Outside In do sun salutations in unison. It was a spiritual choreography. Another class a young woman at the White Shield Center told me she couldn't do shoulder stretches because she had an injury, only to have her tell me ten minutes later that she had been lying and she could do it. She trusted me and herself enough to tell the truth. It was beautiful.

We have begun setting up a new class to be held at New Avenues for Youth (NAFY) in downtown Portland. We are working out the schedule for a once weekly, Tuesday afternoon class. A good number of the youth who attend our Sunday classes at Outside In are in programs at NAFY during the week, so this will give them a chance to deepen their practice with a second weekly class.

I had the very good fortune last month to meet and listen to Noah Levine, author of Dharma Punx. He spoke at Reed College here in Portland, and discussed his book and his philosophies on meditation. A couple of thoughts remain with me, a few of which i have shared with the youth in class since then.

There was a lot more and this paraphrasing does not do justice to the clarity of Noah's thoughts. You can treat yourself to his book Dharma Punx and perhaps even visit him in person (see his website for details).

Some of the youth from NAFY were reading his book and got to meet Noah. We would like to be able to send a few of them to Breitenbush in July for a retreat, The Path of the Spiritual Revolutionary and if any of you want to go, great, and if any of you want to donate some money to send some youth to this retreat, drop me an email and we'll see about making it happen.

When we met with the people at New Avenues (NAFY), one of the ideas that came up is that we in Street Yoga can create Lesson Plans for the youth to use as they pursue their GED (high school diploma equivalence).

What i want all of you reading this to do is to think of a Lesson Plan you could write for the youth, and write it for the youth. Some of the plans we would ‘teach’ before yoga class as a sort of Dharma Talk. Others would be self study. One of the teachers at NAFY explained to me about the educational services they offer: ‘some of the groups we offer are reader's workshop, writer's workshop, and independent study. the format is discussion based and revolves around our student's creativity, group projects connected to life skills, community work and the path of GED, college, housing, work...’

The lesson plans can be on anything from the History of India to Different Types of Yoga to the Geography of India, to Yoga and Knitting, to How to Meditate, to Basic Foot Care, to Anatomy for Yoga Students to whatever you can think of.

We eventually would like to compile the Lesson Plans into the Street Yoga Handbook, which will be made available to groups across the country.

We're still working on putting together some ourselves, but to get some ideas, check out this sample and and this one and then sharpen your pencils and write away!

Two teachers began a weekly class in Seattle at the 45th St. Clinic last month. The staff is really behind the effort and there were already students showing up to practice yoga.

If any of you live in Seattle, or know folks who do, feel free to send them this newsletter or have them contact us by email and we'll see about bringing them on board to teach.

Over time, we have found that the staff at our sites are key to the success of yoga there. In an effort to connect the staff better to yoga and to give them the direct benefits of focus, flexibility and relaxation, a group of Street Yoga teachers have been teaching classes specifically for staff, twice monthly at Outside In and weekly at the Community Transitional School. As the Cottage staff at the White Shield Center join us for classes, we have a good number of "grown-ups" joining in our yoga practice.

Namaste and thanks to all the teachers and all these newest yoga students.

We're working on putting together a plan to directly help the youth with critical issues, issues that go beyond the yoga mat. Details are still sketchy, but a peek at Home Boy Industries will give you a heads up to some of our ideas.

In closing, thanks for your sustaining interest in Street Yoga. All the emails and phone calls, with ideas and support are wonderful. Blessings to you all!

Namaste, mark