Street Yoga Programs
Street Yoga holds classes at 8 partner sites in the greater
Seattle area, over 20 sites in Portland, and several sites in New York and San Diego. Seattle Branch classes take place at Carson Home, Casa de los Amigos, Oasis, Ryther, Spruce Street SCRC, Teen Feed, Tyee Educational Complex, and YouthCare. Street Yoga classes help clients heal their bodies and minds in the wake of trauma, providing tools for self-care, self-soothing, self-awareness, focus, and goal setting. Street Yoga inspires assertiveness, resilience and connection to community.
Street Yoga's Mindful Caregiver Program builds on our existing mindfulness and wellness programs to bring the core skills we teach youth to parents, caregivers and social workers grappling with cycles of abuse, extreme poverty, homelessness and/or involvement with foster care. We educate caregivers in mindfulness, Non-violent Communication and on healthy lifestyle choices to increase the chances that youth will have models of healthy behavior. This program has served over 90 caregivers.
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
We opened the Seattle Branch in early 2010 and by September had 8 classes at 5 social service sites.
The feedback from participants and staff at the social service sites has been extremely positive. For example, a counselor at one site noted that a participant stopped self-harming behavior after beginning the weekly Street Yoga class and was more engaged in her therapy sessions. In our surveys of Seattle participants, 80% reported feeling happier, more focused, and less anxious and stressed.
We are looking to expand our programming to meet the Seattle community's demand, as we have received requests for programming from many sites. To expand, we need to further develop our teacher base and to diversify and increase our funding to sustain the Seattle office. We are developing our teacher base by holding additional teacher trainings. To further develop our funding, we are looking at both new sources of funding and new technological means for accepting donations.