Marci couldn’t stop moving.  Some days it seemed like she was going to literally bounce off the walls.  She talked and talked through all of her classes.  Marci’s hyperactivity wasn’t a huge surprise since she had arrived at Job Corps with a diagnosis of ADHD.  And her doctors hadn’t been kidding.  Once she enrolled at PIVOT JCC, teachers and staff set out to help Marci reign in her energy.  Marleen Packard, PIVOT’s health and wellness nurse, decided to introduce her to yoga.

After a few weeks of practicing, Marci made a strong anecdotal case for the benefits of yoga.  Her academic teachers began commenting on her “remarkable shift.”  She was calm and focused.  It was almost like Marci’s ADHD had disappeared.  Unfortunately, like all good things in life, the session of yoga classes was coming to an end.  Marci came to Marleen with something just short of panic in her voice.  She had felt the changes in herself and didn’t want to go back to the way things were before.  She was enjoying her newfound serenity.  Marleen tried to allay her fears.  After all, yoga can be done anywhere, in a group or all alone.  Marleen had already taught Marci yoga postures and breathing techniques, and how to go within herself to calm down.  All Marci needed was a quiet space.  It worked!  Marci walked away from this yoga class, and eventually from Job Corps, with a new take on life.  She had gained the ability to control her feelings and actions.  Marleen had not only taught Marci and the other students yoga postures, she had introduced them to a new way to look at themselves and the world around them.

PIVOT JCC, with an OBS of 60 non-residential female students, is lucky to have a skilled yoga instructor like Marleen.  Marleen understands that practicing yoga is about more than becoming more flexible then your friends.  Although yoga does improve balance and flexibility, there is much, much more than can be gained through regular practice.

A few years ago, Marleen did something that many of us dream about.  Upon entering a new decade in her life, with a successful career in pharmaceutical sales, she took a leap of faith.  One morning, she walked into a doctor’s office to tell him about the new drug she was selling.  She could tell by the look on his face that he couldn’t care less.  In fact, he wasn’t paying attention to her at all.  This was her ‘Aha!’ moment and the end of her career in pharmaceutical sales.  She decided that she was going to take a year off work to find fulfillment in her life.

Marleen had always loved yoga.  She practiced well before yoga was trendy, in a time when it was an unknown and slightly foreboding ritual practiced a world away.  Marlene knew that teaching yoga needed to be part of her future.  She did a little searching and found a group of yoga centers that offered intensive yoga teachers’ training.  Marleen had the choice of studying in California, three hours from her home in Portland, or traveling to Paradise Island, Bahamas.  Other than travel expenses, the two ashrams cost roughly the same amount.  Marleen didn’t take long to make her choice.  She was off to Paradise Island for a 6-week stay.

Life in the ashram on Paradise Island was not all fun and games.  Yoga students woke up at 5 a.m. everyday to meditate.  After meditation, they joined discussions or listened to readings, and spent about four hours per day practicing yoga postures and breathing techniques.  Students ate two light, vegan meals per day, usually served at room temperature.  From 8 p.m. until lights out at 10 p.m., students listened to speakers or musicians.

Marleen came back from the ashram refreshed and ready for the next chapter in her life.  It was time for Marleen to go back to work.  Marleen spent some time teaching for a hospital CNA program. When the CNA school closed, Marleen came to be the health and wellness nurse at PIVOT.  PIVOT’s Site Director was ecstatic when she learned that Marleen taught yoga.  A kindred spirit, she also believed in the physical and mental benefits of practicing yoga.  The center’s first yoga class began soon after Marleen came on board.  This was the class that changed Marci’s life.

The next series of yoga classes will begin after winter break.  Right now, out of their population of 60 nonresidential female students, 18 have signed up to stay on center after the training day to learn yoga.  Marleen has big plans for this new class.  Her yoga practice has evolved and she is ready to pass this on to her students.  She is going to teach students how to bring focus into the New Year through breath work and how to live their brilliance through positive thinking.  Marleen will pass along some of her nutrition knowledge by helping students understand the relationship between food and energy.  A whole new, calm, peaceful, world is about to open up to these 18 young women.  They probably don’t even know it yet.  I guess none of us really know what exciting new path is ready to unfold during this New Year.