Academia de Yoga Satyananda Colombia

Taking Care of Caregivers

A 6-month course (one half day workshop and daily practice) has been started for government employees in three institutions, all of which deal with customer service positions in high stress situations that are dealing with ‘burn out’ syndrome. The served interest groups are:

  • Call centre agents at a hate and gender crime hotline (Secretaria de la Mujer)
  • Civil servants helping family caregivers of patients with disabilities (Secretaria de Integracion Social)
  • Civil traffic officers dealing with road awareness and education in school children. (Secretaria de Movilidad)

47 applications have been received to participate in the course, and over the first 2 sessions, nearly 35 have attended.

The program is based on three pillars:

  • Personal work and growth through yoga philosophy and lifestyle teaching, based on the SWAN technique, karma yoga and seva.
  • Daily yoga practice with the FFH App.
  • Commitment to share with others the most relevant and impactful techniques learnt throughout the course, becoming multipliers of knowledge.

From the initial session it was found that participants began to share their new found knowledge with other members of their institutions. Civil Traffic officers led relaxation and meditation capsules in the middle of the workday for their team. Call Centre agents led mid-day de-stressing activities for other agents, and caregivers have begun teaching techniques to both patients and family members.

Besides the volunteers committing their time for the monthly session, a group of Yogic Studies students also have weekly follow-up with the participants to deal with any questions and needs. Requests for additional virtual support to deal with anxiety have also been received after a particularly violent high-profile case they had to attend. The team led a virtual class for those participants who were struggling. Here are some impressions of the participants:

  • Super, I learned to breathe and that is fundamental for my life.
  • The techniques have been very useful to me when I have to approach a person to give him/her a ticket. The first thing I do, is to be aware of my breathing and that calms me down so I can approach the person with more tranquillity.
  • If we want to have a healthy body and mind, we have to take care of it as we would do with a luxury car that we had won in a lottery. With the company of our teacher’s assistants, we know that we are not alone.

Community Activities

Since the beginning of the Outreach program, the Academy has facilitated a series of activities, courses and educational spaces for general well being.

  • An hour and a half lecture and Q&A session centred around yoga and the management of emotions. During this session the Academy helped highlight the similarities in the understanding of emotions from a traditional psychological point of view presented by Dr Angela Hernandez, PhD, and the yogic outlook presented by Mr Ignacio Copete.
  • A two-hour cooking class, to learn how to make samosas and tamarind chutney, led by Mrs Maria Teresa Valencia de Copete
  • Guru Bhakti Yoga on 4th, 5th and 6th of every month according to the Bihar School of Yoga program led by Mrs Claudia Schmith.

Yoga Ecology

  • The Academia has undertaken an educational and ecological program under the banner of Yoga Ecology, aimed at increasing awareness and knowledge regarding produce growth in urban environments.
  • For this project a hydroponic vegetable garden will be built in one of the centre’s balconies. This will serve as an educational aid to teach others through lectures to do the same in their homes.
  • To finance this project and increase the eco-friendly footprint, tree planting sessions are being organized in the outskirts of Bogotá. In May a gathering of over 30 people, including small children planted 60 trees. After the activity, there was havan, kirtan and a shared meal.

Donations

Students and devotees of the Academy are being encouraged to donate goods to be distributed through a charitable organization to underprivileged communities. In May non-perishable food was collected and in June, school supplies.