RORES NGO, Gownpalli Village, Srinivaspur Taluk, Kolar District, Karnataka, India. 2 hours west of Bangalore

The Set Up

It was an unassuming location. No mats, no GAIAM blocks, no branded yoga pants. Not even a wooden floor. It was the anti-”Yoga World” that is being marketed around the world now.

We came back to the roots of yoga. Yoga for peace.

We came to a place where laughter and smiling came from within, and looks were given low importance.

We sat under the large oak tree. I was on a stone bench, sturdy yet unstable; the ladies, ages 13+ (many do not have birth certificates), sat upon Mother Nature’s purest gift. The soil was periodically loosened with the advent of torrential rains that came that weekend, long awaited by the locals.

About 50 women were set up to join the yoga workshop that weekend; and while they may have received some funding to attend, it was merely compensation for the time they spent when they would have otherwise earned daily wages through alternative means of their regular jobs (such as groundnut milling, teaching, and shopkeeping). Many left their families– small children and husbands– each day, to learn about the various aspects of yoga.

Our Routine and Practice

In the 3 days, we spent about 15 hours in yoga practices: pranayama, dhyana, and asana including gentle flow, surya namaskar/ sun salutation, and head-to-toe pavanamuktasana based on Kriya cosmic exercises, Bihar School of Yoga, and Iyengar Yoga techniques.

During the first two days, with the assistance of a Telegu/ Kannada translator,  I led class in:

• Simple pranayama techniques such as deep breathing, Ujjayi pranayama, Bhastrika, and Nadi Sodhana; 
• Surya Namaskar: something that people had heard of before, so this was a requirement to learn and practice often;
• Simple stretches for joints and asana practices; 
• Partner poses encouraged cooperation among women, villages, and religions; and 
• Chakra meditations to feel one’s inner power being able to heal oneself and the world!

On the last day, we did group presentations to build self-confidence and encourage especially the younger girls who showed so much enthusiasm and joy at learning. I was blown away by the talent of the women who soaked up all the knowledge and then led the class with grace and humility.

Tejashwini, a 15- year old girl, leads pranayama

The Learning

As with any group, there were personalities playing: a few women were used to being in leadership positions, while others were taught not to talk. And of course, women are women: when together, they love to talk when given the chance.

This required me and my interpreter to proactively move the group around to ensure everyone had a chance at the front, so that I could give attention to everyone equally. Typically being soft and sweet, I slowly gained confidence to lasso the energies back to the lessons, and be stricter about the straight lines.

Chakra Meditation Practice

I required homework from the start. The younger women (under 25) came back enthusiastically, with examples of what they practiced at home.

This group, more than any other class I have taught, brought tears to my ears as I closed the program on Sunday evening, realizing just how much I had been impacted. Through the interactions, I learned (or maybe re-learned) that everyone needs to be guided in different ways. The women wanted to know the power of yoga to help them with their problems. And I needed to be firm and strong in my statements. For these ladies, it would not be useful if I told them “you have to decide for yourself what feels right for you”.

Instead, I learned to be emphatic and decisive in my statements, telling them “this will help with menstrual cycle”, “Surya Namaskar works on all the muscles so you have to practice every day to stretch and strengthen your body and immunity”, and “use deep breathing every day at the end of the day, especially if you have had people yell in anger or frustration”. 

While each person may not have received personal attention every moment, and they may not have perfected their poses, the route the international “Yoga World” has been taking.

My work with the women was only the tip of the iceberg: this is an untapped “market”, a huge world-wide population that is unexposed to yoga and its potentials. The young women stated that they would continue practicing and spreading the power of yoga (not power yoga) to others at their schools and universities. They were already planning to start yoga clubs!

Bringing yoga to the rural areas can empower locals to blossom. It can help keep good health and give some entertainment to areas where running water and electricity are rare. Unknowingly, it can also help people create peace, by giving self-confidence to help each other and work together. Yoga can build bridges and break divides. It can empower the people to understand who they are in the world and be more aware of their surroundings and what they can do to change their lives.

Working with special needs children, primarily on the Autism Spectrum, by guiding them to use yoga therapy for their needs, has been a blessing. The kids have fun and get to work on issues such as fine and gross motor skills, balance, mobility and flexibility, creativity, and speech and expression. Through the children, I have had the opportunity to learn about the healing power of yoga and to watch the children blossom through yoga therapy.

Every week for the past one year, I have been teaching yoga at Tamahar Trust, an early intervention school and center for special needs children. I’ve also been working one-on-one with a handful of Autistic children throughout Bangalore.

I have found that parents with special needs children are quite accommodating to their child’s needs. Despite, or perhaps because of, their children’s unique challenges, they spend the entire day with their children, allowing the children to discover their own potential through a variety of unconventional means. Some children also attend traditional schools; in addition, many parents introduce their child to music, dance, art, horse-back riding, swimming, speech, behavior, and other therapies in the hopes that they will be able to interact in the world we live in. Parents are eager to try anything that will help their child.

Read more: http://thealternative.in/inclusivity/autism-and-yoga/

I like the process that I’ve started. We’re working on “Cosmic Exercises”– 36 (or 38??) physical movements that stretch and loosen all the muscles and joints– to begin with. We do this in order to prepare the body for the rush of oxygen we intake when we move on to Breathing Exercises. It’s very nice to practice and learn on the 5th floor terrace of a building at 6:30 on Saturday mornings when the world of Frazer Town is calm and cool.

What is not peaceful– the statements of my teacher “you would have never used these muscles”; or the Guruji from Maharastra who spoke at his house last week saying “those poses and all are not yoga”. First, no one knows what muscles I have used. Second, unless we are self-realized, we don’t know what yoga is or isn’t. And anyway, isn’t Yogananda famous for saying “All life is yoga”? Plus, if yoga is about building awareness towards the real self, even building awareness on the bodily movements is useful. Besides, we are starting with cosmic physical exercises. BODY MOVEMENTS.

I like yoga for all that it offers to the entire universe and its population. Yoga wars though…. that’s not my cup of tea, when I’m trying to build peace.

My search for Kriya Yoga has finally ended…. Or maybe it’s just begun!

Join me for a contemplative curriculum in rural Rajasthan from September 2-11.

Yoga for Peace is a 10-day program where participants learn about yoga for peace.  Each class is centered around a theme of life (Compassion, Strength, Balance).

Morning classes will be held in the sand or near the lake in the village-side and include lecture and discussion on peace, conflict, and yoga, practicing different forms of yoga. The course will include asana, pranayama, dhyana/ dharana, mudra, yama, and niyama.  

This class is great for people studying or working in peacebuilding, international NGOs, military, and yoga.

For more information, visit the GoInspired website.

And yet, here I am, packing off to Kumbh Mela!

I was initially attracted to attend this festival– comparable to a Woodstock, in the Indian sense, and much, MUCH larger in participation. More than 100 million people are expected to attend the mela, or fair, this year during the 40-odd days, starting from Sankarathi.

I was also hoping to get some good physical exercise in! I thought that I’d be staying in Varanasi for a week, and biking in to Allahabad a few times. Boy, was I naive! It’s over 100 kilometers, and I have no bike! Besides, with millions of souls attending, there’s too much to do just in Kumbh Mela. I will be traveling with 2 other persons, Madeleine Sears and Nelson Moses. Maddie and I will perform our salute to the universe through sun and moon salutations, earth offerings, sky kisses; we will meet Swami BAP of the Hare Krishna Order, there to do eco activism!

Recently I came to know that this will be a deeply spiritual experience. Let’s see! I’m open to whatever comes my way, and have no expectations anymore. I hope to keep an equipoised (and ecopoised!) mind whatever I observe, within and without, remembering always that spirituality is personal, and needs only thy own self. The journey to samadhi is only stimulated by external experiences.

Read more about Kumbh Mela:

http://www.kumbhmela.co.in/MahaKumbhMela2013.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-20778818

The gathering of monks, both male and female, and participants (who came from a wide variety of religious, professional, and ethnic nationality backgrounds), sat down to ask questions and hear the wisdom of Guruji, and Guruji certainly enlightened us with his knowledge on Jainism, other religions, and life in general, giving us simple tips on how to incorporate the concepts of Jainism into daily life and work.

As a student of peace, this was great bridge between peace education, spirituality, and conflict transformation, a perfect way to use dialogue as an educatory tool for adults, and a great way for Guruji and the monks to see how useful this method of learning can be, as opposed to vyakhan, or discourse (lecture-style), where students are not asked to be engaged.

Some reflections on conflict transformation, dialogue, and peace education learned from this experience:

• Interreligious dialogue is important at any stage in peace. A lot of times, people think about dialogue after a violent outbreak. It’s hard to bring the parties together then. People are more concerned with revenge and retaliation than respect and recognition. Our program was an interreligious dialogue used as peace education for the public: not only did they learn about a different religion, they also had an opportunity to think about their own spirituality and inner peace.
• Remember that every nation, culture, and society has different systems. I could go in thinking that things have to be done in a certain way, at a certain time. That we should have organization to the T. The culture here is different, and systems of organization are different. I gave suggestions about photographers, tent makers, and decorators. In fact, though, Jain monks do not use any modern technology, including microphones/ speakers, and cameras. In respect, we tried to keep our technical needs to a minimum. I didn’t even bother thinking about the pre-dialogue meal, a breakfast. 

traditional Indian breakfast enjoyed by participants Emilie Rivera, Egle Loit, and Rakesh Ranjan

• Always know where your work starts and stop. As an event organizing- moderator, I realized that some of these are set-up in accordance with age-old traditions. You might be able to modernize the examples used within a dialogue; you should leave the good and harmless traditions alone. Colors, flowers, food, are easy to make based on the local cultures and availability…. And the rangoli? Beyond amazing, an impressionist-feeling portrait of nature!  Check it out.

A piece of art: flour rangoli creation

• Location, Location, Location. Normally, if you think about dialogues, you think about setting a nice, central location that gives no advantage to any party. We definitely had that, though the idea of sitting together and planning it out in advance wasn’t going to happen. Guruji directed some of the set up, although he hadn’t seen the space! This was due to religious reasons. 
• Seating. Setting up a roundtable with chairs all around would not have been appropriate for this group. In this situation, respect to Guruji was shown by sitting on the ground or at a distance in chairs, or e even standing. As the moderator, I found that sitting on the ground would lean me more towards being a follower of Guruji, and a chair might be disrespectful. I found a happy medium by discussing with a Jain community member: stand against a pillar, to expand the view of the audience, still be able to see Guruji without getting too close.
• Sometimes you let the conversation flow, and yet you still have to guide it. Sure, we wanted to have prepared questions from the participants in advance. Most participants who RSVP’d did not include questions. Out of my minimal knowledge of Jainism, and thinking about societal issues and needs, I penned several, asked friends who couldn’t make it for others. After we concluded the first question, the audience took over for a while, discussing moksha, or enlightenment; internal and external bondages; life after life; and other related topics. I let the conversation flow, reminding Guruji and our multi-translators to ensure that all the material was understood by the participants, allowing them to become enlightened on the topic!
• Train the assistants in advance, and give specific instructions. We had searched for translators, although Guruji speaks good English; and we also had a notetaker and timekeeper and recorder. In this case, though we had received word that recording would be permitted, at the last minute, the person in charge of recording was informed that it would not be allowed. Therefore, it was extremely important for us to have good notes. We’re still working on compiling them, getting the photos back! 
• Know what is required of you, what the purpose of the program is, and what the people want. After nearly 30 minutes, I had an opportunity to segway into other topics, ideas that the hosts wanted to bring out (the four A’s: Anekanth Vad, Ahimsa, Asteya, Aparigraha–just like yoga!). 

with the host's daughter, and one of the translators, Abhishek Rathod

Abstract

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is experienced by people who have been witness to or participants in violence. Domestic abuse survivors are one group that is known to have high rates of PTSD. They often show signs of anxiety, depression, and stress that they are incapable of dealing with without proper care or treatment. Methods for combating PTSD amongst domestic violence survivors are limited, especially when lacking proper funding. This study looked at how yoga can be used to relieve the PTSD symptoms and provide emotional and mental upliftment, as well as character-building in San Jose, California. Qualitative methods such as focus groups, informal interviews, journals, and teacher- observations were used to understand how yoga affected individuals over a 16-week period. Overall, the findings were positive, and participants felt that yoga assisted them to reduce the feelings of anxiety, stress, and depression, and feel more love, forgiveness, and strength within.

Key Terms: Love, Forgiveness, Yoga, Domestic Violence, Nature

Literature Review

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Domestic Violence

One in three women will experience abuse in her lifetime.

In addition to physical issues, survivors suffer from emotional and psychological problems such as loss of self-esteem and confidence, anxiety, and PTSD. Anecdotal evidence provided by practitioners in the field shows survivors’ emotional capacity for compassion, forgiveness, and love for others and for themselves is often diminished or weakened (Bennett 2010; Mills 2009). The emotional abuse is known to have lingering after-effects: ‘women were also most likely to report that the emotional abuse was increasing over time and the negative effects stemmed from the emotional abuse alone, not from its connection to any threat of physical harm’ (Davies 1998: 28).

Survivors typically show PTSD symptoms, even if often undiagnosed due to lack of resources. Issues of anxiety, stress, depression, self-esteem, and anger are amongst the problems that people with PTSD experience. Unable to leave their homes for fear of personal security, they lack interactions with nature which typically provide respite for humans, especially urbanites. Urban environmental studies show that city residents typically lack interactions with nature as well, and the combination of being an urbanite and domestic violence survivor may increase the rate of nature-deficit disorder, and heighten PTSD. The needed connection to nature is both literal (people interacting with nature) and expressive (through nature-derived characteristics such as strength, compassion, forgiveness, love, and patience).

Ecopsychology and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder    

According to ecopsychologists, these are the same qualities that are often associated with nature. The emotional qualities that are lost through abuse can be enhanced through interactions with nature. Joan Minieri, an employee for an interfaith environmental organization in New York City says that the connection ‘with nature offers such an important touchstone… a place to learn about love and respect for all of life’ (Louv 2005: 289). Others in the field concur and add that humans can learn other characteristics as well through interaction with nature (Wilson 1984; Kellert and Wilson 1993; Louv 2005). Thus it is a logical extension to investigate the potential for connections with nature as a way of facilitating survivors’ healing processes.

Nature and Yoga

Using yoga as the instrument to facilitate the connection to nature is also a logical, for, as yoga teachers are apt to say, ‘yoga and nature go hand in hand’ (Burnette and Miriam 2008). Furthermore, meditation, a core limb of yoga, ‘restructures your brain and can train it to concentrate, feel greater compassion, cope with stress, and more’ (McGonigal 2010).

Literature reviews show that neither nature nor yoga has been researched to a great extent as healing modalities; the combination of the two into nature-based yoga is a unique offering and has not been tested at all.

Theoretical Framework

Social learning theory is Albert Bandura’s theory that humans learn through observation and interaction with other humans. Extrapolating from that, environmental learning theory is the belief that humans learn from observing and interacting with nature, because humans have an innate biophiliac tendencies, as Wilson argues in Biophilia (1984). This study explores yoga as an alternative to interactions with nature for a population without access, to understand whether it can provide a functional equivalent for character building and learning offered by the natural environment.

Research Question

In order to regain qualities of courage, strength, compassion, patience, love, and forgiveness, survivors should be able to choose from a variety of healing options to find something that fits their needs. Yoga is one method to connect survivors to nature’s healing qualities. Currently, yoga is not a common option amongst domestic violence organizations in the United States. Can yoga be used as a healing modality for PTSD? The hypothesis of this study was that domestic violence organizations would be enhanced by offering yoga to clients as another method of emotional relief and character strengthening.

Methodology

In teaching yoga to persons who had experienced domestic violence, it was important to strive to ensure that the organization’s[i] client-defined advocacy model was followed. This approach fits in particularly well in yoga as a support mechanism as one of the core focuses of yoga is to learn to be in the present, and focus on one’s individual needs.

Sampling Methods

Participants in the yoga support group were chosen using convenience sampling. The participants were restricted to clients of the Santa Clara County domestic violence consortium. Participants attended when willing and able, and provided feedback based on their willingness. This style of data collection was used in order to comply with the client-defined advocacy model of the organization and represent the drop-in nature of yoga classes.

Over the course of sixteen weeks, forty-two people were served in the yoga support group. Several of these were repeat participants; twenty-three were unique. One person attended seven times; this was the most anyone attended. Two people, a mother and daughter, attended five times; the others attended only one or two times.

All participants were observed and informally interviewed by the researcher, who also served as the instructor. Four people provided written responses in journals and/ or questionnaires. Six people attended the focus group during session number 17. All had attended at least two previous sessions.

Participant Demographics

The two youngest participants were age four. There were five unique students age 8-17. The oldest person marked the age 50-69 category. The remaining fifteen marked 18-29, 30-39, or 40-49. All but two of the unique participants were of Hispanic background. Of these two, one was Filipino, and the other was non-Hispanic white. Several were Spanish first language speakers; and a few were Spanish-only speakers.

Class Development

The nature of yoga teaching gives some power and control to the instructor to lead the participants towards a particular goal. Part of this goal is directly related to moral character building through the use of yamas and niyamas[ii]; another is the visual imagery, which, in this instance, was the incorporation of nature in classes. Through these methods, the class had the potential to use yoga to impact individuals, bringing them closer to peace, reducing stress, relieving anxiety, and building character through strength, compassion, forgiveness, patience, and love.

As yamas and niyamas are considered the most crucial limbs of yoga for human development, it was important to incorporate these into the classes. However, the researcher quickly determined that ensuing discussions on yamas and niyamas could have been out of place in this atmosphere, especially considering the language barriers. Therefore, it was important to construct each session around a character, tying in the human development aspect of yamas and niyamas in a more familiar way, something that would be easier to grasp by participants who did not speak enough English.

While the instructor taught the poses and the breathing techniques, students were allowed to guide the class according to their needs. Students were consulted informally at the beginning of each class, as well as during the session. Although lessons were planned in advance, students were encouraged to discuss their emotional and physical needs at that particular time. Many times, this meant altering the theme or the activities of the class.

Measurement Tools

Several tools were used to measure the effects of yoga on domestic violence survivors’ mental health concerns and character building, and how these were linked to nature. Feedback from the instructor was collected through observations. Data from participants was collected through informal interviews, journals and questionnaires, and a focus group. Data was also collected from an online interview with the organization’s Support Services Coordinator, Ms Aparna Dhoraje.

Observations

The researcher observed participants in class for a total of twenty-five hours. Observations were based on the researcher’s participation in the group as an instructor. During this time, the researcher used note-taking and blog posts to keep track of the observations. The researcher noted how participants responded to different poses, breathing techniques, and meditations. Notes were based on reactions—laughter, crying, sighs, movement during relaxation poses, and desire to continue. Notes were also based on the physical changes in participants’ body language—shoulder posture, facial muscles tension, fist grip, and so forth.

Informal Interviews

Informal interviews were done before, during, and after class sessions. The researcher looked for cues from the participants about what their needs were in order to structure the class, consistently asking for feedback during the class about whether it was too physical or too relaxed. The researcher took notes about key terms that the participants used and thoughts and feelings expressed when speaking about their experience with yoga during each class session. The researcher used a journal to keep track of these.

Written Responses

Written responses through journals and questionnaires were used to provide verbatim data. Journals were used to elicit confidential, unstructured feedback. Questionnaires were used to understand specific effects of yoga on relationships to self, others, and nature. Both journals and questionnaires were handed out to eighteen unique participants as ‘homework’ during sessions twelve through sixteen. Two journals and four questionnaires were filled out and returned.

Focus Group

The focus group was conducted during the seventeenth session. The two-hour time frame was used as a structured time to obtain in-depth discussion on the specific effects of yoga on relationships to self, others, and nature. The researcher prepared open-ended questions and posed them to the students while practicing yoga.

Interview with Support Services Coordinator

In addition to receiving feedback from the participants, the researcher elicited valuable information from the agency’s support services coordinator, who served as the liaison for the instructor to hold the yoga support group. The coordinator was questioned about her observations of participants’ emotional and mental health status after each class session.

Data Analysis

Both written and verbal data were analyzed in processes appropriate to understand the effects of yoga on mental health concerns and character building. Written data (including notes, journals, questionnaires, and email interviews) and verbal data collected during the focus group were analyzed based on key terms regarding mental and emotional health. These included terms such as ‘stress’, ‘relaxation’, ‘anxiety’, ‘hope’, ‘feel good’, ‘feel better’, ‘compassion’, ‘forgiveness’, ‘patience’, ‘love’, ‘strength’, ‘free’, and other related terms.

Observations were analyzed based on the researcher’s views on how yoga affected the participants’ stress and anxiety levels. This was determined based on physical cues in the participants’ face (smiles, frowns, confusion), posture (straight or hunched), and body language (relaxed or not).

Informal interviews before, during, and after class sessions served to tell the researcher which poses and types of poses worked best, what poses participants enjoyed and wanted to do, and how they felt after a particular pose, series of poses, breathing, and relaxation. Informal interviews also told the instructor in a general sense whether students were interested in continuing the class, attending more sessions, if a particular technique worked, and if students were practicing at home.

Results

‘The best part of hosting the yoga group is knowing that we are able to provide an avenue to the women where they can focus on themselves and hopefully be able to reduce the stress that is part of their everyday lives.’ –Aparna Dhoraje, Support Services Coordinator, Next Door: Solutions to Domestic Violence

The purpose of the study was to understand if yoga could be used as an effective treatment for PTSD amongst domestic violence survivors, when nature interactions are limited or unavailable due to costs and stresses. The project implemented was specifically used yoga to connect to nature, to attempt to prove the environmental learning theory: that humans build positive characteristics from observations and interactions with nature.

Categorization

The results fall into several categories, specifically trying to answer the research questions using the data from the various sources.

First, it discusses whether participants felt closer to nature. Overwhelmingly, participants expressed in written and verbal format that the yoga support group did give this impression.

Second, the results explain whether the data proved that yoga could be used to relieve mental health concerns amongst domestic violence survivors. Again, participants expressed their relief from stress and anxiety, although they did not discuss depression or PTSD.

A final area that was researched was how yoga affected emotional health through character building. Respondents affirmed that yoga could assist in this process, especially concerning strength, freedom, balance, and forgiveness. Results were inconclusive regarding compassion, love, and patience.

Affinity with Nature

Affinity with nature was recorded through two means: one, written material in questionnaires and journals; and two, vocalization expressions of feelings during the focus group. Participants voiced a strong growth in their affinity with nature after the intervention took place. One written questionnaire respondent wrote that ‘I pay more attention to the trees and outdoors now.’ She wrote that she related this to the yoga poses from class, stating that ‘in yoga we do these pose, I feel it is so smooth and good,’ indicating her growing proclivity towards nature because of yoga.

Another woman wrote that she now likes to go to the park to watch the deer and other animals and trees, something that she had not done after entering into an abusive relationship. Several others made similar comments, agreeing with the statement (during the focus group) of Magda[iii]: ‘During yoga class, when you are guiding, then it[iv] comes.’

Marta, another young woman, explained that prior to yoga, she never really bothered thinking about nature. The class allowed her to see the relationship between yoga and nature: ‘I never think that yoga is connected with nature until I come to the class.’ The yoga support group increased her awareness on the gifts of the world when interacting with nature, using time in nature as a resource for peace and restitution. Yet another participant, Sonya, explained that she now puts ‘more attention in the trees, and the animals and everything.’ This allows her to become more aware of her own connection to nature and how her movements can become one with nature. She states that ‘sometimes, when I see deer in the park, I try to walk slower towards them and go closer.’ The awareness of how a deer moves, she said, came from the yoga class and the poses on the deer, where it was slow, graceful, and meaningful.

In general, the women and girls who attended the yoga support group were coached into thoughts about nature and the connection of yoga to nature by the instructor, who used verbiage about the same throughout the sessions. Thus, inevitably, there was probably a greater awareness about nature, as the data also indicated.

Mental Health Relief

Participants in the yoga support group expressed very high levels of mental health relief. This study specifically hoped to measure PTSD relief, as the previous literature had begun to accumulate on this topic. The study showed that participants were not aware of the concept of PTSD and whether they experienced or not. However, conversation with employees of Next Door concluded that although not clinically diagnosed by doctors, staff acknowledged that many of survivors who accessed the support services there did, indeed, show symptoms of PTSD. This is not surprising since the literature on domestic violence shows that most survivors do experience such issues. The overall findings of this study suggest that the yoga support group aided participants in mental health issues. Ms Dhoraje had opportunities to interact with participants when she was available before and after many class sessions, and found them expressing ‘how relaxing it felt’ (Dhoraje 2011).

Participants also voiced their thoughts on this by responding to questions such as ‘How has yoga affected your levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and fatigue’, ‘How has yoga affected your relationship with yourself?’, and ‘What are the biggest advantages/ disadvantages you have experienced in your yoga practice?’

One respondent stated that she felt calmer; another explained that the yoga poses helped her be less stressed. During the focus group, Magda told the researcher how relaxed she felt during and after class, and all the others nodded their heads and murmured their agreement. Lena, a slightly older woman, stated how it helped her to be more accepting of herself, less impatient, and less angry. ‘It makes me feel good about myself’, she said, and ‘I was always mad with myself.’

The instructor also noticed a stark difference in students before and after each session. After one particular class, a young female student stated that she felt so ‘free’, and had never before felt that way. Furthermore, most days, a noticeable difference in the demeanor of students was visible. Often, women came in with shoulders hunched over, faces some-what stricken, and laughing without depth. After the session, both the instructor and the Support Services Coordinator observed the participants’ faces were radiating and shoulders were released down (a sign of relaxation); moreover, these women were smiling softly and sweetly (a sign of happiness). All these signs were clear markings that the yoga practice was reducing the physical and mental tension in the students.

EmotionalCharacterBuilding

The study also showed that the intervention was useful in helping to build character. The intervention helped survivors to work on several characteristics, and connected those characteristics to nature. Since each class was devoted to one or more character trait, participants could grasp the meanings behind discussions on characters. Respondents especially wrote and spoke about patience, love, forgiveness, and strength being enhanced. They did not explicitly mention compassion, balance, hope, or peace, although peace and compassion were highlighted during the yoga support group.

The use of verbal reminders on themes and intentions as part of the developed course boosted character building. Several students mentioned such, agreeing with the statement of one respondent: ‘during yoga class, when you (referring to the instructor) are guiding, then it comes’, referring to the peace and tranquility she felt after each session she attended.

Another woman stated that one particular pose, Anjali Mudra, which was not nature-based, helped her ‘connect my body to my heart.’

The most poignant statement about the yoga support group was simply written: ‘It gives me more sensibility’, taken to mean that mental processing was steadier and positive emotions and thoughts were growing due to yoga.

This study shows that yoga can indeed induce some character building, even if individuals cannot recognize the growth or label the characters individually. The data shows that explicit mention and repetition of characteristics during class can aid in the character development.

Other Notes

While the above were the main topics that respondents spoke about, there were other thoughts that also came out in written and verbal formats. Other responses showed that students were happy, more excited, and generally more positive. For example, one respondent wrote that she was always excited to talk about yoga with others. She did not understand why, but this was a marked difference in her relationship with others since leaving her ex-spouse, who had been abusive. She explained that now she had something fun to talk about in her circle of friends. During the focus group Joceyln told me ‘it’s so good, teacher, I feel so happy. I want to come even when I’m tired. I tell them (friends) to come also, because it is very nice.’

Paula was a teenager who attended a few classes with her mother, Julia, and younger sisters. Paula and Julia were amongst the only individuals who divulged details about their story of abuse. Paula was somewhat shy during the first session, and began to blossom over the following weeks. She began to openly voice her opinion about different poses. Paula would laugh with her mom over Julia’s inability to go deep into some standing poses, joking that she needed to stay active. Julia found it wonderful that her daughter was acting more friendly towards her, explaining that there was resentment about the family situation. Furthermore, Paula wanted to find out how to become a yoga teacher herself, thinking that it would help her in the future not only economically, but also socially. She felt it would help keep her away from bad relationships.

Conclusion

Overall, this study showed that individuals gained inner peace through character development, which gave relief from PTSD. While it may not have shown yoga as a conduit into nature’s healing capacities, several individuals felt a greater connection to nature, accomplishing the goal of many ecopyschology field workers. In addition to this, the yoga support group also provided a safe forum for individuals to open their hearts, and families to bond in a unique manner. Even though this was not the goal of the research, it was definitely a desirable outcome, one of Next Door’s visions, as Ms Dhoraje stated in her online interview (Dhoraje 2011): ‘We thought that this group could be another medium by which the clients and their children could do a stress relieving activity and bond as well.’

Systematic academic and scientific research on yoga as a healing modality is inadequate, and therefore there is little funding for organizations that provide support services to domestic violence survivors who experience PTSD. The literature and anecdotal evidence show that yoga has been useful in relieving stress and anxiety as symptoms of PTSD. None of these studies use yoga as a connection to nature through nature-based poses or seek to provide alternatives for mental health relief through character building by connecting to those characteristics in nature. The purpose of this study was to fill this gap, and to help Next Door in their goal to increase the variety of support services offered at their client-defined advocacy agency. Ms Dhoraje concluded that this had, indeed, been accomplished, and in fact wanted to sustain the program beyond the study period, stating ‘we are really excited about this collaboration and hope to continue with it’ (Dhoraje 2011).

The findings of this study concur with other research on the same topic of yoga as a healing modality. There was general consensus amongst respondents that yoga had definitely helped them. Yoga most probably worked in similar ways amongst everyone present. What this way is may not be clear from the findings of this study.

It was clear that yoga positively ‘affected’ a few of the ‘regular’ students. Two of these students purchased their own yoga mats; one purchased a mat bag as well. Furthermore, several students stated that they practiced at home, and some even tried involving other family members. Several women asked for help finding ways to practice yoga at home, including a written version of poses, and DVDs or Television series on the same.

Recommendations

There is much debate about the future of yoga therapy, with several recent yoga conferences focusing on this issue. Practitioners are still confused about what exactly yoga therapy is. Leading experts are unsure of how to further develop the field. One thing they know is that they want to grow and develop the field further, and work with mainstream medicine. Larry Payne, current president of International Association of Yoga Therapist (IAYT), dreams of seeing the ‘continuing evolution and broadening of our profession, where licensed professionals in a broad array of practice areas see the benefit of teaming up with yoga therapists to enhance the treatment of their patients’ (Payne 2010: 9).

Elissa Cobb, a member of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, cautions IAYT from creating standards too narrow, thereby becoming an exclusionary field (Cobb 2010). Dr. Timothy McCall also warns against science stealing the joy and compassion from yoga (Deife 2009).

Based on this study, especially with regards to the diversity of underserved domestic violence survivor population, and with respect to the literature and expertise of previous work, standardization may compromise the very nature of yoga and yoga therapy. Too much education and standardization may stymie the creativity of teachers. It may also reduce the ability to use compassionate listening skills if teachers are required to use certain models or styles or tools. This would control individualization in a negative manner, thus greatly decreasing the impact of the individual’s therapy, which is the very essence of the field.

Rather, it may be useful for yoga therapists to create structure in their individual research methods and class implementation. Overall, more research needs to be conducted, in the field of yoga therapy on domestic violence survivors; nature-based yoga therapy also needs to be developed further. Research should be longitudinal, with a large data-base to work with. Some of this concurs with the recommendations of Wilson, Marchesiello, and Khalsa (2008: 70), who felt that ‘future studies would benefit from a prospective study in which more thorough information on demographics, previous experience with mind-body practices, and class attendance could be taken. In addition, using standardized outcome measures might better reveal the benefits of yoga practice.’

This research study combines fields that are new and growing, and often hard to define concretely: yoga, yoga therapy, nature-based yoga; ecopsychology and nature-deficit disorder; and client-defined advocacy and domestic violence. This study has attempted to bridge some of the gaps in these areas. It has also tried to open eyes to new forms of yoga therapy and using it to work with domestic violence clients, to help them bloom and find inner peace through connecting to nature’s innate qualities such as forgiveness, strength, and compassion.

References

Bennett, P (2010). “History of Domestic Violence”. Presented at the Santa Clara County 40-hour Mandated Advocacy Training, Next Door: Solutions to Domestic Violence, Fall 2010.

Burnette, C and Miriam, R (2008). Lectures during Yoga Teacher Training, Southwest Institute for Healing Arts, Tempe, AZ, 2008-2009.

Cobb, E (2010). “Issues in Yoga Therapy: A Perspective on the Creation of Educational Standards for Yoga Therapy Practitioners”, International Journal of Yoga Therapy, 20: 31-33.

Davies, JM, Lyon, E, and Monti-Catania, D (1998). Safety Planning with Battered Women: Complex Lives/ Difficult Choices. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Deife, J (2009). “Yoga Schools Share Views”, Yoga Therapy Today, June, based on the Third Annual IAYT Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research (SYTAR).

Dhoraje, A (2011). Online and in-person informal interviews with Sowmya Ayyar. September 2010-February 2011.

Kellert, S and Wilson, EO (1993). The Biophilia Hypothesis. Island Press: Washington, DC.

Louv, R (2005). Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder. Algonquin: Chapel Hill, NC.

McConigal, K (2010). Your Brain on Meditation, Yoga Journal, June: 69.

Mills, L (2009). Violent Partners: A Breakthrough Plan for Ending the Cycle of Abuse. Basic Books: New York, NY.

Payne, L (2010). “The Yoga Tradition: A Dream Realized”, International Journal of Yoga Therapy, 20: 9-10.

Wilson, EO (1984). Biophilia. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA.

Wilson, A, Marchesiello, K, and Khalsa, SBS (2008). “Perceived Benefits of Kripalu Yoga Classes in Diverse and Underserved Populations”, International Journal of Yoga Therapy, 18: 65-71.

Sankaranthi is a harvest festival of South India, primarily Tamil Nadu, where it is called Pongal, after the rice-lentil dish made for the occasion. Sankaranthi signifies the sun rising, bringing precious gifts of earth into the house; in addition to the bounty of the harvest, we also receive love, peace, and happiness from our close association with nature.

This festival of peace was celebrated by practicing 108 Surya Namaskar, or Sun Salutations, by people from around the world: the US, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, and around India.

We later enjoyed the traditional pongal breakfast of venpongal, sakkarai pongal, (baked) vadas, coconut chutney, and then some non-traditional items of herbal water, fruit salad, and Kerala bananas.

Here are a few pictures from our gathering! Photos courtesy Ethan, age 10.

Read my other writings Sun Salutations:

http://www.sowmyaayyar.com/all-the-way-to-108/

http://www.sowmyaayyar.com/travel-yoga/

International Conference on Yoga, Ayurveda, and Spirituality

Bangalore, India

I had a great opportunity to speak about Yoga for Peace to a gathering of about 1500 during a conference on the same topic. I was amidst some highly reknowned personalities, including the Sringeri Sankaracharya; a Balinese Gandhian; and eminent professionals in the various fields.

I am pretty sure I was by far the youngest, the only female speaker, and apart from the MC, only 1 of 3 females on the stage at all (one was a keynote speaker, and one was a host for the ayurveda session). I was also the only one without titles– Drs. and PhDs, Yogis  and Swamis abounded the stage all day. It was a truly humbling and inspiring experience, to be able to sit on the stage with such great names and to have to hold my own!

You can see the parade of gurus entering the hall, followed by my paper, and then me, giving my talk, below. You can also view a short news clip video on the event (with me standing on stage, exercising!)

Seemingly, the most interesting point I made was that every living being needs a yoga teacher from conception. This thought was highlighted in the Times of India, in an article titled “Yoga to Rein In Hyperactive Kids”, a topic which was a major part of my speech.

Below is my speech, which is also available as a video here.

Yoga for Peace ICYAS 2013 Speech

Please join me for 3 rounds of the eternal sound, Om.

People from all over the world come to India. They come here to learn yoga, take ayurveda treatments, and to find their spirituality.

India is considered the birthplace of these three great systems of life.

So people flock here in search of peace through Yoga, Ayurveda, and Spirituality.

And yet, Atha Yoga Anushasanam—Here, now, is the teaching of yoga. Yoga Sutra 1.1.

If we consider Patanjali’s yoga sutras, or at least what has been ascribed to them, then this statement is the first: That each moment is yoga, the process of building the positive characteristics and attaining Samadhi, or moksha, or nirvana, or enlightenment. No matter where we are, or what we are doing, we are teaching and learning yoga, and building peace through that, as long as we do so with the right intention.

Thus, people do not actually need to come to India for learning yoga, for getting ayurvedic treatments, or to find their personal spirituality. People do not need to come to India to experience peace. Yoga is not only about sitting on a cushion in meditation or contorting your body. Yoga is not just reading the Bhagavad Gita or attending daily morning class.

Yoga: to yoke, to unite. Yoga is everywhere, in every moment of every place of every existence. As yoga teachers, it is our dharma, our duty, our responsibility, to take yoga around the world, to the people at the grassroots level, making it accessible to all, showing how their own lives can be affected by yoga, uniting people to their own self and universe around them for their peace, uniting the world in peace.

How do we do this? I have had the great honor to teach yoga around the world primarily to underserved populations, and people who work with them in the peace and conflict fields.

In the past, yoga was associated with certain classes and types of peoples. Under the guidance of great stalwarts such as Swami Vivekananda, Paramahansa Yogananda, and BKS Iyengar, yoga is now proliferating throughout the world, especially in the west. Yet, often times in the west, we see yoga purely in its physical aspects of asana, combined with a little pranayama, again solely for the physical benefits. Even here in India, yoga is advertised to cure various ailments, and I personally see and hear people discussing yoga for the housewives or older men.

In the Yoga Sutras, the original orated yoga texts, asanas are only given a cursory mention. The Bhagavad Gita, a great treatise on yoga, also hardly mentions the Hatha Yoga system, the yoga that we all hear about in the media today.

I am not reducing the value of the asana practices: certainly, they are necessary to keep the body healthy! In addition, it is the asana practices that teach us to be more aware of our actions, and the effects of our actions, first on ourselves, then on the world around us. Through the yoga of building awareness, we can essentially resolve all conflicts and create peace, because when we start to think of how something makes us feel, we start to think how it makes others feel. In that sense, we can actually resolve global issues through teaching yoga to the associated parties, asking them to reflect on the effects within and consider how it might affect others.

Of course, this may not happen overnight. Just as with any other therapy, yoga and yoga therapy take time, repetitious practice, and slowly, results are seen, whether it is with individuals who are trying to quit smoking or diplomats discussing border issues.

Yoga is an internal system as much as it is or more than the external and physical, and on that note, each individual must find their own path of yoga, the path that leads them to their peace. Peace Studies now recognizes that individuals have a right to define peace for themselves, which they do according to their own situation. That means as yoga teachers and therapists, we must understand each individual for him or herself, and determine what the student’s needs for peace are. We must analyze each individual in relation to their history and current situation, and the community and society around them. We must bring yoga to the 21^st century, to 7.5 billion people around the world, by adapting yoga to meet the multitude of needs out there.

My own work spans across the globe, helping people build peace for themselves through yoga.

In the US, I had the opportunity to work with domestic violence survivors, primarily women from Latin American backgrounds. My purpose was to help the women rebuild their positive characteristics of love, forgiveness, confidence, patience, by teaching Nature-Based Yoga. Here, I used the environmental concepts within yoga asanas to work on the women’s nature deficit disorder and PTSD from lack of interaction with nature due to their abusive relationships. We practiced poses that were associated with nature—animals, plants, sky, and so forth.

The results showed that a yoga practices were able to rebuild affinity with nature and through that, find an inner calm and compassion, and reduce their issues of fear and anxiety.

Here in India, I am working with children who have special needs—ranging from those who doesn’t talk or walk, children with neck stability issues, autistic children, CP, and Down’s Syndrome. We use mantras and mudras, and of course asana practices, to help with fear and anxiety, calming and relaxation for hyperactivity, concentration, speech, verbalization, and expression, balance, fine and gross motor skills, and creativity. Here, we teach a very different yoga class—one where we learn how to close our mouths to breath for a few minutes every day, and squeeze a ball to develop fine motor skills and muscles in hands. We chant “OM” and “Sohum” for a few minutes, and use eye pillows to assist in savasana. Some children are fearful of lying down, or closing eyes, so we respect their needs, and find other ways for them to relax, in order to continue growing yoga for peace purposes. We use Super Brain Yoga too. We recognize that every living being has different needs, different definitions of peace, and different ways of getting there. Many children love the music bowl, a Tibetan singing bowl. So we listen to a music bowl and concentrate on the Buddha statue inside the bowl to increase attention span and focus. Though these are not strict yoga practices as “taught” or “written”, we adapt yoga to meet the needs of these children.

In less than 2 months, several parents have seen small and joyous results: children’s posture and balance is better, response time is faster, and many are calmer. Some children can now verbalize, and their first word was Om or Sohum!

Later this year, I hope to head to Jos, Nigeria, an area known for its religious conflict especially between Christians and Muslims. I plan to teach Yoga for Peace at a school for youth ages 3-19, teaching them peace at an age before they learn violence. I will get to know their culture and systems better, and tweak yoga in a way that will be easier to understand for their culture. Maybe we will use chakra meditation to develop the notion that we are all one. Instead of discussing yamas and niyamas, Gita and Sutras, perhaps I will help them explore their own society’s divisions and the potential for growth through cooperation among religions, by using partner/ group yoga practices and truth-seeking, and concepts of forgiveness, appreciation, and respect.

There are so many people who can benefit from the knowledge of yoga in the here and the now. Now is the time to dispel the notions that yoga is for particular sectors of society or parts of the world. No matter where we are, who we are working with, we can always find a way to use yoga to bring peace to the situation.

A few weeks ago, I was asked to write a chapter in a book called “I love Mondays”. The book is about alternative careers that students in India can opt for. One question posed was “how many yoga teachers are needed in India and the world?”

My answer was simple: Each living being, from the time of conception, needs a yoga teacher. If each teacher can handle 100 persons at a time, then, with 7.5 billion people on the planet, we could use 75 million yoga teachers!

Paramahansa Yogananda stated that “All life is yoga”, and in that, as yoga teachers/ instructors and therapists, we must delve beyond our own practices to find, here, now, in every moment of the universe’s entirety, the opportunity to teach and touch lives around the world through yoga.

Let us take a moment to sit in silence in a contemplative meditation, eyes closed or gently gazing on the ground, on how each of us can become ambassadors for yoga around the world. What are your strengths, and what do you need assistance with? What resources do you have around you that can support you in your work to take yoga with you wherever you go? How can you use the fluidity and flexibility of yoga to help create positive lifestyles for people you interact with in order to raise their own awareness about their spirituality to build peace within and in the world?

I bow to the light within you, that which is also within me. Namaste.