Grace & Grit

Blessings Essential Energies Community,

What a joy it is to share with you my passion for teaching Breast Cancer awareness. For those of you who do not know me I have been at EE for many moons. My guess is about fifteen years. I primarily teach yoga; yoga in all modalities, including children, seniors, prenatal, and personal classes. I am registered with the Yoga Alliance as an E-RYT 200 and RCYT. Currently, here at EE, I teach a Friday morning class at 11am “Adaptable Movement”. This class is for all levels, both standing and chair use. Although my primary focus is yoga, I hold several certifications in many different disciplines: WaterArt Aqua, NETA (National Exercise Training Association), Silver Sneakers (Senior Training), and Y12SR (Yoga and the 12 Steps of Recovery). 

However, out of all the schooling and training I have taken over the years, The Healthy Breast Yoga Teacher Training (March 2012) is by far one of the most important contributions I can offer my students. This certification expresses for me both professional passion and personal pride. I was encouraged and inspired by Kendra Holliday. She not only encouraged me to take it, but inspired me to complete it. For those of you who did not know Kendra, she was the owner of EE. Kendra has since crossed over to the next realm but I will tell you her method of facing Breast Cancer was one of a kind! She faced it in my opinion with true "Grace and Grit".

Kendra will always hold space with me when teaching this curriculum.

Now that you know how I derived the name of my program “Grace and Grit” let me share with you what it offers.  What comes to mind Is Community, Wisdom, and Resilience- 

Community:  Nothing heals like being in the presence of like-minded people. There is strength gained, tears shed, and bonds created when we are with those who have gone through or who are going through the same experience. No one can understand our walk like those who are on the same path! 

Wisdom: The workshop offers education such as the different types and causes of breast cancer, the risk factors, the different methods of prevention, lymph cleansing, lifestyle changes, diet, nutritional therapies, stress reduction and trauma. It also suggests approaches to combining both conventional and holistic health regimes. 

However, note the keyword wisdom! The program offers wisdom; ancient yoga wisdom.  By bringing to the plate the power of asana (physical movement), pranayama (breathing practices), mudras (hand gestures), and mantras (mind tools) we move beyond education to a world of wisdom. This wisdom taps into the psycho-spiritual well-being, it taps into the witness, the soul! Hence, wisdom not only includes knowledge, but experience, understanding, common sense, and insight  

Resilience: This word has been tossed around in many contexts lately. Well, what does it mean? According to Webster "resilience" is "the ability to become strong, healthy, or successful again after something bad happens." I must confess teaching resilience is no easy task. I can only give you guidance. I can share with you, it’s, like other aspects of Yoga, “a practice” by guided meditation and visualizations. The program goal is to plant a seed of resilience in your thoughts so you might learn to control the “Monkey Mind”, the bombarding of negative thoughts. This wisdom offers tools to help include resilience with our words and actions (karma). The law of Karma says that for every action there is a reaction. Resilience seems to attract more resilience.  

“Karma” is another reason for my passion for this seminar. By teaching the skills in “Grace and Grit” I also gain community, wisdom, and resilience!
Hope to see you in my next session.

Blessings,
Rhonda Carrier Rhonda’s Every Bodies Yoga