So apparently, when the yoga segment broadcast on Fox CT, I expressed my chagrin to the kids at having used the word “junk” in the interview.
Nadya today expressed this wisdom — “Don’t say junk on TV” — to my mom. Words to live by really.
I just thought that was funny.
So I just taught a yoga class to one person. It’s the awkward 9:15 Monday spot so not surprising. It’s billed as a Gentle/Prenatal class good for beginners, people with specific injuries/limitations and pregnant women. Two things occured to me:
1. The class time is critical. If people are working, they cannot come. If they aren’t early birds 6:30am is not happening. If all the “good” evening slots are full you need to go after the people your time slot works for: those working from home, retired folks, moms who’ve just dropped off kids…
2. The last population is point two. Moms. I am one. I am eager to teach this weary, flabby population. But we moms are martyrs. We suck at doing for ourselves. In fact, the Mom Yoga workshop Oct 22 at Eco Yoga in Durham has plenty of spots, despite being publicized on TV. I get it. Maybe I need to change my marketing from: “do something good for yourself” to “time to sweat away the baby weight and feel sexy again.”
Raising bilingual kids is a long-term thing. We’ve had our highs and lows. Or at least I have. Mostly the highs are when the kids have just been in Russia or babushka has just been here. Lows are when I worry that we aren’t doing enough.
Max is a native speaker of Russian and only ever speaks to the kids in Russian. So every day they get a dose, plus they only watch Russian TV (videos). But the vast majority of their day is spent in English.
We recently revisited the subject of the Russian School offered Sunday mornings at Yale. The thing is: we don’t have $25 per hour per kid to spend. To have it make an impact we’d need to do 2 hours for both kids — i.e. $100 a weekend. I’d rather buy plane tickets and fly them there.
They had an awesome visit to Russia this summer and seem to have no problem communicating with family and making new peer-aged friends. But for how long? I hear Nikolai, 6, struggle in Russian for the more sophisticated words that he now has in English. When his entire vocab in both languages was commands about his needs, like his sister currently, it was easier.
He said the other day “I am losing my Russian.” I said, “I thought you told me Russian people don’t lose their language.” He said, “I know but I’m English too.”
Bottom line: English will be his stronger language. He will speak Russian. Hopefully well, especially when we travel there. We’ll do our best but there are limits…like $100 for 2 hours.
We hope that English and Russian will be joined by Spanish and someday Chinese. Unlikely that any, other than English, will be perfect. But we’ll take communication over perfection.
This morning, while Nadya was in school, Nikolai and I had some alone time. New Haven Public Schools are off for Rosh Hashanah today and tomorrow.
We hit Panera where we talked about the kids in his class and what he likes about school. So far Math, Reading and Writer’s Workshop are easy on a scale of easy, medium and hard. He likes to play with Artem, Lily and McKenzie. The latter blows him off to play “girl games.” He is into girls for sure. I have seen him hugging female classmates on the playground. So cute.
Then we read a Magic Treehouse book about Pompeii. We talked about Rome, Romans and our mutual desire to travel there. We had just been lamenting not being able to go to Thailand (we often watch Thai music videos on utube), complete with him whining, “Please oh please can’t we go now.” And me, tears in my eyes after watching the Thai tribute to their King, say “yes, let’s go noooow.” Whining in stereo. Who’s the parent?
After reading the Pompeii book, I reminded him (and myself) that seeing new places might be pretty amazing. So we agreed to try Nicaragua and other new places.
It was a very nice morning with my 6 year old son. I am happy.
So I have three classes up and running at The Fitness Haven (State St. New Haven, CT) with paying students. Great news! After years of teaching for free it’s lovely to get an (itsy bitsy) check every two weeks.
The students that come seem to really like the classes. I love how relaxed and happy they look after class. And I love that I’m teaching the styles of yoga that I know best: alignment-focused Hatha, Gentle, and Restorative.
Now I want to spread the word and get more students. Especially those that might be intimidated by yoga, that have an injury or just don’t make time for themselves.
I have papered the East Rock section of New Haven and am chatting people up about it — within limits. The Fox TV piece about my upcoming Mom Yoga Workshop was emailed far and wide (shout out to VL at Eco Yoga and Kim at KidHaven.com). So what gives?
I think the Candlelight class at 6:30pm Sundays and Sunrise at 6:30am Tuesdays have a real shot at getting 6+ people. But I’m just not sure how to get there. Anyone out there have advice?
This Yoga Journal article was somewhat useless but sited College Park Yoga in Orlando as good marketers. They apparently use humor to catch college students eyes. They have a link on the navigation bar that says “WIMPS” which is pretty funny and may be a way to get non-yogis interested.
For now I’ll keep talking and hope the new fliers attract some newbies.
The other day two 50+ers joined my Gentle/Prenatal Class (The Fitness Haven, Mondays 9:15-10:15) and it was so great to work with that population. I can really see the benefits for people that want to stay active but who may be uncomfortable in a mainstream class. One of the guys (also in his 50s) who takes my class at AIDS Project New Haven thinks that there is a need for classes targeting this demographic. Hmmmm…in my spare time.
So the segment promoting my Mom Yoga workshop (Oct 22 Eco Yoga, Durham, CT) was broadcast yesterday on Fox CT/ CT Now’s Mommy Minute. Very exciting!
Here’s the link: http://www.ctnow.com/lifestyle/parenting/mommy-minute/hc-mommy-minute-20110919,0,7063041.story
Nadya just started at the New Haven Ballet. They have a very specific dress code and even give a little tutorial for bun-making. The space isn’t the greatest — the one-way window is hard to see through. But she loved it!
