Yoga at JBFC

JBFC was lucky enough to have a real life yogi here on campus for the last few months. Elisa Masso has since left us for Thailand to receive her yoga certification, but not without leaving her mark here with us.












Over the school break, Elisa led yoga classes several days a week for the JBFC girls. I attended a few of these classes and it was great to watch the girls grow throughout the weeks.


Early in the sessions, the girls were often reluctant to attend and apprehensive about this whole yoga thing. Then came the giggles as they watched their sisters attempt down dog and grow
their trees.

In Tanzania, people like to get really close, nothing like the boundaries of personal space we keep up in the US. So getting them to spread out in the school dining hall could sometimes prove a challenge.

My first day, Nyalmalwa was close enough to whisper in my ear that I was doing cobra wrong. I had to take special care not to plow Dotto in the head as I moved into warrior.












By the end of Elisa's time with us the girls were counting down the minutes to their next yoga practice. Some even took their mattresses to the dining hall in lieu of yoga mats.

I've since seen some of the younger girls, Rachel and Salome, perform the series that they learned from Elisa in their dorm room.

This was a great program over the break to both keep them active and work on their emotional well-being. As for me, it got some muscles moving that I haven't used in awhile.

 

 

 

 

Blogger Melinda Wulf is JBFC's Administrative Director.