Bent on Yoga

Spent 2 classes with the kids of PS 132 and Sherry today. And Ms Finkelstein and the 3 ladies of the second class..
First I will say, that small children are very full of germs and they share them freely. I could easily make my decision about what age group I will concentrate on by the fact that I don't want be sick. Sherry says that EmergenC is a very integral part of staving off the germys.
Also according to Sherry, these are 2 difficult classes. Both were lower level/special need, and in the first class, the teacher is mildly abusive. Or we could say 'old school'. She rules by oppression and is not sensitive to the children. She made comment when a student introduced himself to me with his full name and I did back the same, "Ah! Lori Levin[sic]! A nice Jewish girl full of tattoos". I didn't feel offended, but it did make me aware that I might could play the jewish card to make Mrs Finkelstein more amenable to yoga class.

From this class, I first met student Alex, who was in trouble before we even walked in. She had opted him out, but I opted him straight back in (sorry). He balanced just fine after telling me he could not balance.
Daniel, who also got opted out by Finkelstein before we started, quietly cried and kept his head covered in embarrassment the entire time at his desk, but didn't seem especially upset when I checked in on him. Mrs Finkelstein intermittently berated him throughout the class. Towards the end, she opted one more boy out for a minor infraction. There were plenty of kids that were truly interested in the class, and also many adept students. Concentration levels were low(ish) but the class was overcrowded. The 2nd class was even more overcrowded. All mats touched.
Sherry is an amazing teacher and I've got a new found appreciation for her. Her weakness so far seems to me that she cannot clone herself so that she can give better attention to the crowded classes. Her best defense would be to get the class teachers to take off their shoes and actually assist her. It would be advantageous for the teachers too. So far, all 4 seemed sedentary.
In the second class, I noted student Anna, who was really in to meditating, and could easily sit still in Pretzel (love it), with Mudra attached for an extended time..chaos abound.
From watching the 10th graders with Sylvia at ICE, and now seeing the youngsters, I notice how quickly humans lose flexibility, and am interested to see at what age the deterioration starts. Maybe those are my kids..
Lastly, that clap clap clap thing really works to get the kids back to center. Worked on me too.
:) OM
Lori
PS- one of the tattooed gym teachers(?) told me that i was the kind of girl he wanted to marry. I guess he thought I could supply him with free tattoos

Abdi says..

http://www.youtube.com/abdiassadi