I was at my strength-training class this morning. It is taught by Yelena, an amazing woman-a serious fitness practitioner but humble as they get.
The women who attend this class are Wonderful Women.
You know the types, right? Encouraging, funny, self-deprecating, non-competitive. The women who make you feel that you’re on the same team. They make you feel like you belong.
I was an eccentric child and it wasn’t really until high school until I met other outliers who appreciated my quirkiness.
It wasn’t until high school. That adds up to a lot of formative years trying to figure out how to contort into a more conventional version of myself: prettier, less Jewish, more athletic, less awkward, more subdued, less intense.
When I do that math, it amounts to a lot of wasted human time and potential. How many other children feel the way that I felt? How many children ask themselves, day after day, Do I belong anywhere? Maybe you felt that way too, or maybe you still do. Maybe you know a child (or maybe you have a child!) who breaks out of every box into which our society tries to cram them. Maybe that feeling of outsider-ness is visceral for you too.
The Yoga Buggy, in part, stems from a desire to create inclusive spaces for all children. We celebrate when children have unconventional ideas; whimsical plans; when they don’t fit into a particular box. No matter what label is placed on them, we have fallen in love, over and over again, with our students’ beautiful hearts and special strengths.
Please support The Yoga Buggy in bringing more inclusive spaces to more children. Help us to help children understand that they are important, and cherished, just as they are; that they belong.
The Yoga Buggy relies on the generosity of our community to bring Yoga to more Kids. Please click here to join our by donation online classes. Hope to see you there!
