It has been almost a year now since I graduated from yoga school in November 2013. I wrote this letter for the Open Space Yoga Teacher Training Scholarship Program. I was awarded the only scholarship for my graduating class of Fall 2013. This is the letter I wrote to Jennifer Reuter, one of the head yoga teachers at the school, explaining my reasons for wanting to deepen by understanding of yoga and to become a Yoga Teacher.
Wednesday,
June 5, 2013
To Jennifer Reuter
I am
writing concerning the
Open Space Teacher Training Scholarship Program with
your school. I have a particular
interest in learning from your program and would appreciate being considered as
a candidate for a scholarship
I was
drawn to your school with my strong interest in the depth of yoga offered
there. This is because at the beginning
of the 2012 year I was undergoing a significant transformation in my life and
yoga helped facilitate change. An
ex-lawyer, passing through Oahu, told me about how he left his entire life in
the mainland and went on a journey, traveling around the world. As he traveled, he discovered yoga. Being burnt out from his own life, as I was
myself around that time, he arrived to Oahu to stay for a year and discovered
Open Space Yoga. As he spoke to me, he
had the opportunity to experience how other studios and wellness centers on
Oahu did yoga. His response about Open
Space’s yoga was, “They do it right!” Since
that moment, I inundated myself in yoga from Open Space and discovered yoga
beyond the fitness, where yoga actually takes someone deeper.
My
recent jobs in the last few years were a psycho-educational instructor,
providing both group and 1-on-1 support, at various Oahu prisons for 2 ½ years. I have nearly 2 years of experience as a
group facilitator and 1 ½ years’ experience as a Stress Reduction
instructor. As a Stress Reduction
instructor I was supervised by a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and a
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. I am
familiar with instructing psycho-educational classes for wellness, teaching
various relaxation techniques, meditation, conducting 1-on-1 sessions to assess
mental and emotional stability of clients, assisting clients with any issues
they are comfortable addressing, and functioning independently in a prison
setting. My experience includes direct
contact with those with mental health and substance abuse issues. Also, I have had nearly 4 years of experience
as a Part-Time Teacher for the Department of Education (DOE) and as a
Supplemental Contract Instructor in various Oahu prisons teaching general
education courses and have participated in DOE workshops to strengthen my
teaching style. In total, I have had 6 ½
years of experience as a teaching inmates in a prison setting in multiple
programs.
Currently,
I am a Counselor at Hina Mauka Waipahu Clinic and a Group Fitness Instructor
for the YMCA. I have been teaching
fitness and wellness for the YMCA for nearly 1 ½ years teaching at different
sites. I have been given the authority,
given my personal practice and AFFA Yoga certificate to teach yoga at various
times at Leeward and Nuuanu YMCA. In the
past, I had regularly scheduled yoga classes and have substituted classes as
needed per site. Currently I am subbing
yoga classes and other formats and have communicated to the YMCA that I want to
be placed on the regular schedule, as in the past, to teach at least 1 yoga
class per week so I may practice teaching while attending your school. That soon will be a reality.
My current fitness and wellness
experience includes the following: AFAA
Group Primary (since Feb 2012), AFAA Yoga (since Feb 2012), Schwinn Indoor
Cycling (since March 2011), TRX Suspension Band (since Jan 2012), Zumba Jump
Start Gold and Aqua Zumba (March 2012), Silver and Fit (since Oct 2012),
GlucoFit (Nov 2012), CPR/AED + First Aid (since August 2012) attend various AEA
workshops and certificate pending upon completion of exam, various workshops
(2012) through OpenSpace Yoga on developing personal yoga practice, Yantra
painting as meditation, and Restorative Yoga Teacher Training (March 2013 pending
completion of assignments).
I have a bachelor’s degree from
the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Philosophy and have completed the clinical
courses in Substance Abuse Counseling from Leeward Community College. On the horizon, I am enrolled in a Vipassana
10-day course this June 19, 2013 to June 30, 2013 on the Big Island of
Hawaii. My belief is that meditation is
at the heart of yoga. I have cultivated
and nurtured a daily insight meditation practice as well as a yoga practice
most times of the week. My strengths are
my sense of humor, creativity, and love of learning,
My
plan is to complete the Open Space Teacher Training Program this Fall 2013 and
to deepen my personal yoga and meditation practice. Then I am to move to New York City
immediately after graduation from your program to teach the spirit of aloha and
the specific style of yoga imbued in me by your school. In New York City I will explore and nurture
my creativity. There I will teach a
depth of yoga, going beyond fitness, in both a group and private individual
settings. In addition, I will continue
to teach other fitness and wellness formats I am trained in and involve myself
in opportunities to develop my personal and professional self. Recently, in the last few years I noticed
more of my time and energy has been focused on meditation, yoga, and wellness
training that surround these subject matters.
Ultimately, I want yoga to be part of my life. I love yoga and meditation.
I hope
this will be helpful in evaluating my qualifications as a candidate for your
scholarship program. Please feel free to
contact me at your earliest convenience.
I look forward to meeting or chatting with you to discuss my future
Open Space Yoga Teacher Training Program in August 2013.
Thank
you for your time and consideration.
Namaste,
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