Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Hello everyone!

I posted this in the Transgender Discussion area but now realize it probably fits better here, so I'm re-posting it here and deleting it there. I hope that doesn't break any rules.

I'm a certified yoga teacher (yay!) and I've been teaching quite a bit since the beginning of the summer. Now I'm planning on starting a yoga class for women who come from a trans experience--whether in transition or beyond to help create a safe space for a yoga practice. So far I think it would focus on:

comfort to practice yoga
emotional healing
self-acceptance
body issues
addressing fear
confidence
connecting with the feminine self
and improving fitness

I'm still in the phase of deciding how to structure these classes and am looking for thoughts about what different women in here would appreciate having in a yoga class.

So to start, I want to ask, beyond getting a yoga butt, what kinds of things would you like to have in a yoga class, and what kinds of things would make it more likely you would try it?

Well, I don't know much about yoga except that it involves stretching.
I would like to learn more stretches to help stay loose, other than that I don't know.
I hope this helps a bit.
Aloha from Hawaii.

Jennie

Hi Sayta,
All the subjects you are looking at to cover in your class, I think are very worthwhile. I've always believed, the fitter I am both mentally and physically, the better I am able to deal with challenges.
Perhaps some more detail on how you plan delivering these classes could evoke more discussion. Only a though, as I'm oceans away from you, interested but not committed. Perhaps commitment would be enhanced if i could find it locally.
Be safe, well and happy
Lotsa luv
Catherine

Thank you for your thoughtful replies!
I realize most people in here don't live close enough to me to normally be able to take one of my classes--right now I'm mostly looking for personal thoughts that can help me create focused classes. Each class would be unique, so it's difficult to say specifically what would be included in a class.

Yoga is really more about finding mental clarity and emotional healing than it is about stretching. I mentioned briefly in the Hinduism thread that the physical aspects that most people think of when they think of yoga are mostly about making the body a more comfortable "vessel" for the conscious mind and to prepare you mentally for living as your true self. In the process of transforming your body, you increase flexibilty, open your hips, improve your posture, reduce anxiety, reduce fear, and improve your breathing and voice. But it would be unfortunate to think of yoga as a kind of religion and let that misperception prevent you from practicing it.

To borrow from the poet Osho, yoga is like peeling an onion. From the time we are born we begin building complex intellectual constructs about who we are as layers on top of layers, based on our life experiences. Yoga is the process of peeling away those layers like the layers of an onion...all the social constructs we've built about our gender, how we relate to our bodies, how we relate to other people, etc., so that we can bring our truest self to the surface and build a new relationship to our world, without those false constructs inhibiting us in our transformation.

It might be simple and easy to just talk about stretching your hamstrings, having better control of your voice and breathing, lengthening your neck, improving your posture, changing the shape of your rib cage, etc., but yoga is really much more than that.

So in that context, I'm asking what people find that they struggle with during transition and beyond (things that I may not have thought of)...physically, emotionally, behaviorally, etc., which might help me construct yoga classes to address in different ways.

Peace + Light

Well. For my 'five bobs' worth; confronting and dealing with the lie; of being a man, which I'm not. Since discovering I was a girl at age 4; every 'male' decision I've had to make, I've always had to stop and ask, "what would a boy/man do in this situation? And then look to my peers/mentor for an answer. Nothing in the male spectrum has come easy or intuitively. My mothers doctor got it horribly wrong. When he pulled me out; he had a look to see what I had, and said 'Yep, it's a boy!" Now having to deal with that, is going to create some physical and emotional stress.
The other thing yoga would no doubt enhance, would be the deeper appreciation of my feminine body, when it comes to fruition. And that; I feel would have a dynamic flow on to attitude, understanding and over all presence of womanhood. I'm very interested in your perception and possible outcomes of these needs.
I appreciate your time. Be safe, well and happy.
Lotsa luv
Catherine

Hi Satya


I would love to become a certified yoga teacher!    Have you seen that 101 year old yogi on YouTube?

I see that you are a fellow Osho fan to Satya.