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La Europa integrates a strong yoga piece into our programming. Jay and Pam Shepard introduced the idea of a fully integrated yoga program into LEA in November 2007. With the help of Jennifer Prugh, Angela Gavin and key La Europa staff they have built and are now supporting its integration into the school's curriculum over the next 12-24 months. Starting in December of 2007, we began doing workshops with the students that focus on the philosophies and postures of yoga. Since then, we have offered weekly yoga classes to the girls on campus and plan on offering yoga up to three times a week in the near future to our students. We are very excited about yoga becoming a central component of the healing process for our students. Undoubtedly, most of us have at least heard of the physical benefits from practicing yoga: increased flexibility, detoxification of the body, massaging the internal organs, etc. However, yoga has a profound emotional/psychological/spiritual impact as well. In just the short time that we've begun yoga practice at LEA, the students have talked about becoming more aware of their feelings and have used yoga as a way of looking at their body image issues, trauma, and anxiety. So often, our students use escaping (drug use, promiscuity, running away, etc.) as a way to cope with their serious issues. Yoga enables an outlet for coping in which the students are fully present and aware of what is going on around them. The mind-body-spirit connection encourages everyone to stay in tune to their lives in a meditative way. Yoga practice facilitates the therapeutic process in way that often feels more natural or safe to our students. Our hope is that the yoga culture permeates to the families at LEA. It would be wonderful for families to practice yoga together during home passes. Several of the families I work with have begun doing so and report that it is a great bonding experience, albeit it difficult (or sometimes humorous to see bodies mangled into different postures!) We're glad that we can provide a service to our students that doesn't just pertain to their time here—they can use this as a coping method for the rest of their lives. We appreciate all of their enthusiasm and support as we develop the yoga lifestyle here at La Europa. |
Contact us 801-268-9300 © 2007 La Europa Academy, a CERTS program
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