Do you remember your first Sirsasana? I don’t, but I’ll never forget the first headstand for one of my students last month. “I did it!” she crooned ecstatically, “That was my goal and I did it!” Rising from her counter, Child’s pose, she was still thrilled and glowing.

You won’t typically find headstand in many Anahata Grace classes; if we do any inversion, it would be the safest and most accessible, Viparitakarani (“Legs Up the Wall”). At first, in my class, there wasn’t even a wall, since we were practicing in the middle of a living room. The small group of teenage moms would gather at the house where some of them were living, and while child care went on below, we would push away the furniture and roll out the yoga mats. Occasionally, Savasana (“Corpse Pose”) would end, not with the gentle awakening of fingers and toes, but the gleeful squeals of the children racing up the stairs to jump on their moms.

Now, the class has been going on for over a year. The Sirsasana Diva is our longest and most faithful student, as women come in and out, deliver babies, find jobs & stable living arrangements, move to distant counties. There’s always at least one new student each class. The community center was rented out for yoga nights, so now we practice in a beautiful wooden space that looks like a chapel. Against this wall, Laura first practiced tripod headstand, gingerly raising one knee to one elbow at a time. Even this first accomplishment, upside down, prompted such joy that she got a fellow student to capture it on the camera phone. Soon, she was straightening a leg, then both legs.

Not only have the students developed and our routine matured, but I have learned how to be a little better teacher each time myself. I started volunteering at Anahata Grace as an assistant, while taking a teacher training program in yoga therapy. Caitlin began letting me teach half the class, then the full class, and always providing me feedback and guidance afterward. I am learning how to better instruction to a group of women who are often awkward, tight, lethargic, giggling, shy, and sometimes practice in textured tights and a skirt.

Sometimes, I still feel a little awkward with the new students. But by the end of class, emerging from savasana, yoga has transformed the space, calmed us and deepened our connection. One young woman recently mentioned how relaxed she felt after a class where Dahlia, who is trained in Thai Yoga Massage, assisted. “I’ve never slept so well,” she said. “My shoulders were so much better!” I hope that the yoga class gives these busy young moms a little time to themselves in their busy day and more connection to their own bodies. What they give me is so much more: the joy of sharing a practice that has changed my life and made me a happier, more resilient person.

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