I ask the group for some help with teaching four classes of mine when I am out of town. The classes are on Tuesday, July 28; Wednesday, July 29; Wednesday August 12 and Tuesday August 18.
I
teach them at the Baobab Cultural Center at 728 University Ave. The
Baobab celebrates people of the African diaspora, and its small square
footage is filled with art works, African artifacts, and the echoes of
numerous Afrikan history classes, cultural conversations, jazz sessions
…and more.
We have a small area where yoga is taught twice a week. I’m the only teacher. The Tuesday class usually has about 4 people; the Wednesday
class has 3, but classes are open. Over time, most of our practicers
have been African American. It is a comfortable place for us to
practice, as African Americans. But you don’t have to be African
American to teach the class, and I know that the RYSN group is looking
to end exclusion in all areas, so I felt you were good folks to ask.
The
teaching is semi-voluntary, as I am paid only half of the class fee,
which is amounts to $5 for each student. But it has been a labor of love
and joy for me. The group currently is all women. They are generally
middle aged and up. The classes are more or less Iyengar based, but
that’s not a deal-breaker. Most of the women have some arthritic
limitations, etc., that come with aging, but they have warm and powerful
spirits. The Tuesday class is a level 1-2, with the beginnings of inversions. The Wednesday
class is very gentle yoga, where we use a lot of props…Unfortunately,
one prop we don’t have is a wall, because of all the art work! We have
learned to improvise. The Wednesday women are larger bodied students. I will be happy to give details of how the classes go by phone or e-mail.
I apologize for the short notice. A couple other teachers whom I asked couldn’t do it.
If you think you may be able to help us with this, please call by this Friday (July 24) for the July dates. I’ll be away on a retreat from Saturday July 25 to Saturday August 1, and won’t have access to phone or e-mail.
For the August dates, I can be contacted from August 1 to 3.
My cell phone # is (585) 703-7739. My e-mail is jimthomp@rochester.rr.com
Thank you for considering this.
Peace,
Jim Thompson
