Nikki is one of our newest teachers! Here’s what she has to say about our programs…


Q: What do you think about ULP’s effect? How do you see ULP benefiting the community? 

A: I have seen ULP transforming the lives of Reno’s youth, even if that’s only the short hour that we spend teaching. It is felt and noticed that each student who participates in class leaves feeling all of the juicy goodness that yoga provides. The vibe at the end of classes is usually more calm and relaxed, which again, can move mountains even if it’s only for those short 60 minutes. 


Q: What makes teaching yoga in this capacity interesting or fulfilling to you?

A: Teaching in this capacity completely fills my cup. It reinforces all that I believe about the practice of yoga, that coming onto your mat and breathing it out really can transform your mood and further transform the way you interact in the world. My favorite part of teaching is to hear all of the “one word” check ins at the end of class, which almost always display some sort of relief through the practice. 


Q: What is different about your ULP classes versus other yoga classes you teach?

A:  ULP classes can definitely be more difficult as you are managing kids who don’t always want to participate or who are sometimes not there voluntarily but because their facility requires it. There is a different energy exchange when kids are required to go to class, so the beginning of class can be a little difficult to center everyone and get them focused on the practice, whereas classes I teach in studios, the students show up with the sole intention of working on their yoga practice. Both have their benefits to me as a teacher. 


Q: Lastly, what have you learned through your experience thus far with ULP?
 
A: My eyes have been opened even more to all of the benefits that yoga can provide. When yoga is practiced through the eyes of the youth, everything is new, everything is different. I think that’s the part us yogis forget about, that even just showing up is part of the practice. My main take away from teaching with ULP is that acts of service in shaping and helping the youth can do much more than we are aware of. The more we give the more we are able to help even the youngest of kids see the empowering benefits of making it to your mat and breathing it out. 


Thank you for your service, Nikki!
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When Kimberly joined Urban Lotus Project, she took off flying! She teaches 5 classes a week! We recently asked her some questions about what it's like to serve with ULP.


Q: What do you think about ULP’s reach/effect ? How do you see ULP benefiting the community? 

A: I see Urban Lotus Project benefits the under-served and at-risk youth. Providing yoga, meditation, mindfulness and self-awareness.


Q: What makes teaching yoga in this capacity interesting or fulfilling to you?

A: What I find interesting is how each class brings a different vibe, depending on the students experience from their day.


Q: What is different about your ULP classes versus other yoga classes you teach?

A:  When I teach a yoga class for ULP, I am very aware to be slow, gentle, use inviting language, breathing techniques, and self-awareness and promote self-love.


Q: Do you have a fond memory you can share with us from one of your ULP classes?

A: My fondest memory was with one student.  After each class we share one word, for example happy, sad, excited etc. For the first 3 weeks this particular student would say “nervous” or “anxious” every time.  On the 4th week the student began using positive words, which made me so happy.  Her new words are “relaxed,” “calm,” and “centered.” ULP is amazing and has brought joy to this students’ life.


Q: What are your hopes for the future of ULP and other similar programs around the country? 

A: My Hope's for ULP is selfish. I want to continue to be a part of serving youth in the community.  It's an honor and a privilege to work for this nonprofit. 

Q: Lastly, what have you learned through your experience thus far with ULP?
 
A: I'm taught something new each class. The students I see every day have learned to trust and respect me. I trust, respect and show compassion to them, too.  I see the students’ growth with self-love.

Thank you for your service, Kimberly!

We sat down with our amazing teacher Tanner to learn more about him and his experience with ULP!

Q: What do you think about ULP’s reach/effect ? How do you see ULP benefiting the community?

A: I love The Urban Lotus Effect, it is a movement to make mindfulness, non-violence and respect an every day, every moment practice for teens in our community. ULP benefits the community by empowering the underprivileged youth in our community to feel comfortable, confident and strong in their bodies. I couldn't imagine a higher service. 


Q: What makes teaching yoga in this capacity interesting or fulfilling to you?

A: I am so stoked to teach yoga with teens. I relate! I'm 23, I still like to jump in the Truckee river, climb trees and rocks and ride my bike everywhere. These are the fruits of life for me now and when I was a kid. My teenage years tho, I didn't have positive role models. I got super lost looking for things outside of myself. It's fulfilling to witness a teens attitude transform after a yoga class.

Q: What is different about your ULP classes versus other yoga classes you teach?

A: The first thing that comes to mind is that I practice with the teens. Normally when I teach I will provide an examples and guidance if need be but don't practice with the class. ULP classes are different. We are in the same boat, there's no separation between student and teacher. We do every pose together, it's very open and communicative, much more than other yoga classes I teach.

Q: Do you have a fond memory you can share with us from one of your ULP classes?

A: My fondest memory was during the last Teen Yoga class I taught. It was our largest class yet, 7 teens. The class was filled with laughter and lots of chit chat. It really challenged me to keep them flowing through the different poses. The ending of class, savasana, or corpse pose, blew me away, they shifted gears from loud and rambunctious to peaceful, soft and serene. It's hard to put into words the way a shift like that feels. Some sort of healing happened. 

Q: What are your hopes for the future of ULP and other similar programs around the country? 

A:  I hope that the Urban Lotus Project's offering is available to every teen, throughout Nevada, the United States and the entire world. I pray that this next generation of teens are peaceful warriors who have all the tools the fight the battle within and build traditions of real peace,  compassion, and selfless service.

Q: Lastly, what have you learned through your experience thus far with ULP?

A: It's all about showing up! 

Urban Lotus Project is excited to announce a new addition to our blog, the Featured Teacher. Each month we will interview one of our yoga instructors. These are the individuals that are out in the community providing trauma-informed classes in juvenile detention, treatment hospitals, schools and halfway homes. 
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A note from Founder & Director, Hannah B: 
I am thrilled to share our first Featured Teacher blog and highlight the incredible work Amy has done for Urban Lotus Project! Amy was ULP's first teacher besides myself. Her role in helping structure our yoga programs has been essential in our growth and development. Although Amy has since moved from Reno, her legacy still lives on in ULP culture. The questions and answers below were from a conversation we had upon her leaving he organization. Thanks, Amy! 
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Q: When we first started collaborating and you began teaching for ULP, what did you expect moving forward with this tiny nonprofit start up?

A: I knew that there was a need and a want in Reno. When we had our first meeting you were already leading a handful of classes each week and there were more people knocking on your door. With that in mind I knew that ULP would expand to fill that need.

Q: What do you think about ULP’s reach/effect now?

A: I think one of the most powerful things that ULP has done, and is still doing, is calling upon the yoga community of Reno to get involved and give back. Watching this community come together and show up in a tangible way for youth that would otherwise be forgotten is super powerful. And I think what makes ULP effective is the well organized support that founder, Hannah Bias, orchestrates to make sure teachers have all the tools they need to be compassionate, informed, trauma-sensitive instructors. 

Q: What makes teaching yoga in this capacity interesting or fulfilling to you?

A: Teaching yoga in this setting is fulfilling because I genuinely believe our youth deserve high quality opportunities for thoughtful self-development. I think that trauma-sensitive yoga creates a space for youth to build self-awareness, practice emotional regulation, as well as build strength and flexibility in the mind and body. There are many paths to self-acceptance and personal growth; yoga has had a tremendous effect on my well-being and sharing this practice with young people feels like the right thing to do with that awareness. 

Q: What is different about your ULP classes versus other yoga classes you teach?

A: In a studio, the students wait for you to teach. In a ULP class, the teacher waits for the students to teach.

Q: Do you have a fond memory you can share with us from one of your ULP classes?

A: I have dozens of fond memories. The last few weeks at Willow Springs were hard on myself and on the students. There were a few students that had been coming consistently for a couple months and had taken on a more serious interest in the practice of yoga. I had made them workbooks with copied pages from different yogic texts with some philosophy, some breathing techniques, and a handful of basic routines drawn out so they could practice between our sessions. On my last day one of the students had made me a card that said, “Thank you, Amy.” The letters of the words were made from people doing yoga! The student had used the copies I made as a template to spell out the text. My heart swells thinking about it. 

Q: What are your hopes for the future of ULP and other similar programs around the country? 

A: My hope is more and more people engage in mindfulness practices! Now that I am in grad school I’d love to see more research on these types of programs so that they can become increasingly effective for clients. 

Q: Lastly, as you move on to your next chapter, what words of advice do you have for other ULP teachers?
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A: Patience. Presence. Know that you are their student, not the other way around. And do your research! Stay up to date on best-practices! Challenge yourself to continuously adjust your classes given new information. Be willing to be uncomfortable. Make time for self-care so you can show up without distraction for your students. Be genuinely you.

​By ULP Blogger, Holley Garrick

October is National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month.And as the month comes to an end, I wanted to reflect. 

Did you know bullying kills 13 million children a year?

If you read that statement and don’t feel like bullying prevention has anything to do with you, please reconsider self reflecting. 

This article is not about giving you ways to “fix” this problem. The children who get bullied and are bullies are not a problem we need to “fix.” These children are not broken. These children are misunderstood and lost and hurt. These children are reaching out and want to be heard. As a human it is our moral duty to help those in need. 

So the best suggestion I may have for you will not involve me filling this article full of statistics and I won’t inform you of all the warning signs to be aware of and I won’t present all the ways bullying shows up in this world. I won’t be dwelling on these subjects because I think everyone is well aware of what bullying is and what it looks like, but I don’t think many can remove themselves and see fault in their own actions and words and begin to change that. You must BE the change you wish to see in the world. Not study the change, not criticize the change. Not blame or resist or hate the change. 

I invite you to ask yourself if you’re compassionate and empathic and if you truly lead by example. At ULP, we make sure to practice compassion and empathy; it is the cornerstone of our trauma informed yoga program. 

We all posses compassion and empathy, I just believe we are selective. If we don’t understand a persons story we judge. If we don’t particular prefer a person, we may not support or stand up for them in a time of need. And I’m here to let you know, that is the problem and that is what we need to “fix.”

Since the beginning of time, bullying has been a deep rooted issue in our world. Everyone at some point has been a bully or been bullied. I believe this survival of the fittest attitude was taught to us at a very young age. Whether we bully because it’s our defense mechanism or we can’t handle being bullied because of the lack of support, both are a characteristic we can choose to change within ourselves daily and implement to our younger generation from this point forward. 
I was asked an interesting question a few years ago: “is justice or mercy more important?”
I thought this question was interesting because everyone around me was answering justice, while I sat in silence saying, mercy. In yoga, we focus on practicing Ahimsa, which means “non-violence.” Practicing Ahimsa is something all ages should be doing which is why it’s so great that yoga has something to offer anyone of all ages!

Just because someone does something to me, does not validate me retaliating. In no circumstance, ever. Do you agree?

We are shown time and time again that hurt people, hurt people. But as a child, when someone hurts you, you want them to feel the pain you felt. So as children when we grow up and are abused and neglected and unloved and uncared for; this hardens us and we grow up showing this kind of treatment to our own children. Most of the time as a child you do not have a choice in the matter of the environment you are surrounded by. As you grow older you do however have free will to start choosing. Whether you choose to grow positively or negatively has a lot to do with the foundation you have built those decisions on. If you had poor examples or no healthy outlets to life’s ups and downs, this can create utter chaos. 

I guess the point I’m trying to make is, bullying is a vicious cycle and we need to start taking accountability and talking about it. And a lot of things contribute to this. And no person will be the perfect person. But if you can keep in mind that bullying is real. Bullying is happening every single day. And bullying kills people. I think we can all agree that, that is simply just not okay. 

We may tell our children they need to grow thicker skin and we may make fun of boys who talk about their feelings or girls who show a lot of emotion, but as growing adults, we need to stop expecting children to act like adults and we need adults to act like adults. 

The way we treat others is a reflection of the way we treat ourselves. And just as we teach our children in school, the saying: “treat others as you would like to be treated.” It’s truly THAT simple and this is preached about over and over but not practiced nearly enough. 

Just like any other awkward teenager going through life’s changes, I experienced bullying that changed the course of my life forever. It’s unique when I say that though, because it wasn’t changed for the worse. I changed high schools my senior year to get away from the social pressures and unnecessary cliques that had formed and I focused on my well being. I decided to remove myself and rise above which I’m willing to bet many don’t have the necessary resources to make this achievable. I am lucky to have had the support when I needed it most, and at ULP we want to create that safe space and support for these children. 

To this day when I’m face to face to a bully I turn the other cheek. No, not because I am weak and can’t stand up for myself. I rise above because I recognize people can only meet you where they are at emotionally and mentally. This is my reasoning behind becoming involved with Urban Lotus Project. I want to meet children in a place I’ve been once before. Being a child is painfully awkward and stressful at times. You’re trying to find yourself. You’re trying to understand life. The last thing you need is more pressures and bad treatment and experiences. If I can be a part of an organization where I am inspiring and encouraging and uplifting someone in need, my life has purpose. 

At Urban Lotus Project, we have certified yoga instructors that teach trauma informed yoga to at risk youth. This gives children a healthy outlet. This gives children opportunities to self reflect and meditate and be in companionship with others. It helps reduce stress, anxiety, and depression which is a major issue with children who have been surrounded by traumatic experiences. 
It’s a beautiful thing to see people in service with each other. It’s a beautiful thing that we have non-profits in place to help prevent further trauma. It’s a beautiful thing to realize we all have a second chance to make a difference or do or be better. 
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Visit the link below if you’re interested in getting involved: 
www.urbanlotusproject.org
And visit this link if you want more information about the Bullying Prevention Movement: 
www.StopBullying.gov

Our volunteers are the pebble that create a ripple effect and they are changing our community. We start with ourselves and when we feel strong ourselves, we share. 

Urban Lotus Project has spent the week gathering in a friendsgiving style meeting for the launching of the first ever Urban Lotus Project handbook. In 2016, we have continued to expand classes offered to the community, have increased our number of volunteers and are so grateful for the community support. We now offer 9-10 classes a week to community programs such as Jan Evans Juvenile Detention Center, Willow Springs, Jane Aubrey House, Josh Montoya House, Eddy House and The Children's Cabinet. We also recently added a class at the Human Behavior Institute. 

Hannah B has actualized her dream to share yoga with kids like her who would benefit.  She drove the point home this week.  At our gathering this week she had us do an exercise where we all went back to our 14 year old selves and we remembered what it felt like to be 14. For me that was anxious, depressed, perfection seeking, tight in the body. Yuck!  But then she asked us to consider what yoga would have done for us. Even during the guided meditation, I felt the tension dissolve. Yoga and the breath - it is a beautiful thing. And to share it is even more powerful. 

Fast forward to Thanksgiving. In case you don't know, doing yoga with 50 plus yogis and music offered by Anthony Postman and our fearless, powerful Director of Development Andrea Moore is the best way to spend the holiday. More than 600 dollars was raised at this event. Yogis show up! The room was packed and 14 people went into overflow in the room next door!  Wow, Reno. Thank you. Also a big thank you to The Studio Reno for sharing this space and supporting ULP. 

ULP has gratitude for all of those who show up, who support us so we can bring yoga to our community's youth. We know that yoga helps us physically, mentally, emotionally and perhaps spiritually. We are so grateful to keep being the catalyst of change for our community. 

As the holidays are in full swing, we know your resources and time may be limited. Our goal is to start out 2017 strong. We would love to have your support for Giving Tuesday. 
If you would like to support us, please check out our donation page. http://www.urbanlotusproject.org/donate.html

By Jenn Olsen/Board of Directors