UM-Missoula-based Campus Corps members Laura Stanley and Rebecca Moss attended the Street Yoga Teacher Training in Seattle, in November 2009. The training provided skills to teach yoga to homeless youth and other young people suffering from trauma. The members learned how to address the needs of target populations, includeing sleep deprivation, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, and sore backs. Other issues targeted included depression, anxiety, eating disorders, addiction, dissociation, chronic stress, and poor emotional self-regulation.
According to Adrienne Boxer, Street Yoga program director, the benefits for youth who practice yoga encompass improved focus, concentration, stamina, emotional self-regulation, and flexibility, as well as increased muscle tone, lower stress, and an enhanced ability to work in groups. Street Yoga's Training Manual includes many disturbing facts about homeless youth, such as the fact that prior to leaving home 43% report being beaten by a caretaker, 85% have substance abuse disorders, and 44% report that one or both of their parents have at some point received treatment for alcohol, drug, or psychological problems. But the manual also emphasizes the resiliency of young people- “With support and encouragement, they can succeed. They can thrive. They can be happy and whole.”
Street Yoga, a Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit, helps troubled youth feel safe and at home in their own bodies. Street Yoga teaches is compact, portable and accessible to anyone. Boxer pointed out that Street Yoga “strives to integrate yoga practices within the context of concurrent therapies the students might be receiving. For example, when working with girls recovering from sexual abuse, we reinforce the therapeutic sessions by amplifying areas of focus such as Safe Boundaries, Self-Care, Emotional Regulation, or whatever else the girls are working through with the therapists.”
Rebecca has already been able to put her Street Yoga training to use by teaching yoga for her Campus Corps service with the Flagship Program in Missoula. Laura plans to use what she has learned in her Campus Corps service with the Girls Using Their Strengths! (or GUTS!) program, a YWCA leadership and empowerment program for girls.
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