1. 12 SUMMER 2016 | Volume 25 | Issue 2 | Practice
Growing up as a Deaf woman, I intuitively knew the
importance of connecting to my inner self, but I didn’t
know how. Yoga has become the key to that connec-
tion, helping me to accept myself along my journey.
I’m a trained social worker and first discovered yoga when I was
working in a state psychiatric hospital, on a locked ward serving
Deaf and hard-of-hearing people. It was an incredibly challeng-
ingenvironmentandIneededawaytodecompresswhenIarrived
home at night. I watched yoga videos and copied the poses but,
sincetheyweren’tcaptioned,IknewIwasmissinginstructionsabout
the breath. For the next 12 years, I tried to form a relationship with
yoga through uncaptioned DVDs, books lacking live demonstra-
tions,andyogaclassestaughtinspokenEnglishthatIcouldn’thear.
In2013,IstartedworkingwithAdvocatesDeafRespite,thefirst
mental-healthrespiteprogramestablishedinMassachusetts
expresslytosupporttheDeafandhard-of-hearingcommunity.
Workingwithmysupervisor,Ibegantodevelopgoalsfor
self-care.ThisledmetoKripaluforaweeklongyogaand
fitnessretreat.ItwasthefirsttimeI’dexperiencedyoga
instructionwithanAmericanSignLanguage(ASL)
interpreter.Itwasatransformationalexperience.Ihad
neverhadaccessbeforetoinformationabouthow
tocombinetheposeswithbreathing.Iexperienced
adeepersenseofmyselfandanewsenseofinner
peacethroughthisawarenessofbreath—itwas
suchasimpleelement,andyetsopowerful.
I was inspired to share the practice with
others who don’t have access to yoga in
ASL, but as a Deaf person I was uncer-
tain if it was possible to become a yoga
teacher and whether Kripalu would be
open to accommodating me. Kripalu
embraced my journey and I began
to explore teaching yoga in ASL to a
visual community. Certain experiences
had to be “translated,” such as
the audible components of
breath and meditating with
a soft gaze instead of with
closed eyes. Other aspects of
yoga are naturally compat-
ible to a visual community
that communicates through movement, allowing me to offer a
few suggested modifications at the beginning of each pose, then
allow each person to practice at their own pace.
At Advocates, people come to us looking to increase their
capacity for self-regulation and self-care, to learn tools for
handling mental-health challenges and stress. I teach gentle
Kripalu Yoga classes to the Advocates signing community (both
hearing and Deaf). My teaching focuses on self-compassion-
ate, nonjudgmental practice. The name of the class, See Me
Yoga, comes from the complementary philosophies of Kripalu
and Advocates, communicating the message that those who
experience mental-health challenges need to be seen as people
first. I have also shared yoga outside our organization with ASL
interpreters, Deaf professionals, and Deaf survivors of domestic
and sexual violence.
Members of the Deaf community often experience being left out
of the loop, missing critical pieces of information or just gener-
ally left behind the curve. When a Deaf person practices in
a spoken class, they don’t have the same sense of connec-
tion as the people who can hear. In my class, where we
strive to be sensitive to cultural and language barriers,
I get to witness an inspiring experience of empower-
ment. My students have told me that they feel a
sense of clarity about yoga practice that they’ve
never had before. I’m seeing them start to get
to know themselves better. At first, when they
were in Savasana, for example, many of them
would keep their eyes open and their bodies
would fidget. Now, they’re becoming more
peaceful and more comfortable in the pos-
ture, as well as in the room. My students
can take this learned self-compassion off
the mat and out into a world in which
they face the challenges of life as well as
the unique experience of being Deaf.
I want to plant those seeds of self-compas-
sion everywhere, regardless of a per-
son’s age, mental strife, physical
abilities, or experiences with ad-
versity. I want to help them take
that first step on their journey of
insight and self-acceptance.
PlantingSeedsofSelf-Compassion
A KRIPALU YOGA TEACHER BRINGS A MORE COMPLETE PRACTICE TO THE DEAF COMMUNITY.
by Sara Dugas
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
Sara
Dugas