The Teach Fitness Network - The Next Step - Articles - Teaching Through a National Tradgedy

Have you got an article you would like to submit to
this section?
Please click here
to forward your article.

TEACHING THROUGH A NATIONAL TRAGEDY
by Mark Grevelding

     As my thoughts turned to writing this month’s column, I felt the need to put the dimmer switch on “light-heartedness,” and opted instead for an article more reflective of the times. I knew I could still write a story about the life of instructors, but that life suddenly became very different during those dark days after September 11th. This is a story about how we coped, what we did, what we said, how we comforted, how we inspired, and how we re-defined our role as instructors.
     Driving to the club on the morning of September 12th, I was an emotional wreck. Arriving at the gym, I was dismayed to see a packed classroom. I had secretly hoped no one would show up for my step class. Honestly, I think I was resentful for being forced away from the TV and my numbing paralysis. I gave a speech before class and told them I wasn’t sure I could do this and I saw a few faces fall.
    Halfway through class, you could sense a palpable release of stress, and even though I toned down my normally atomic energy and refrained from any joyful antics, I did find myself encouraging their efforts. To my surprise, I found myself telling them that this was their hour and that they deserved a break from the horrors on the TV. I suspect I was trying to convince myself as well. After a silent and reflective stretch to soothing music, I thanked them all for showing up and I also thanked them for helping ME feel better. Several people came up after class and told me that the only reason they had showed up was because they knew I would take away their pain for an hour. They had counted on me. Driving home, I felt incredibly proud.
     I knew that there had to be countless other stories like mine. I wanted to hear how other instructor’s held up and what they said or did in their classes. I asked Australian presenter Greg Keyes for help in putting me in touch with instructors from around the world. Thanks Greg, the response from instructors was overwhelming.   I’d like to share some of their stories.
     In an aerobic studio in Simi Valley, California, instructor Adrea Gibbs struggled to keep her yoga classes focused, as a bank of televisions projected haunting images of destruction on the windows of the studio. She ended one of her yoga classes with a meditation that sought to remind her students of their individual strength and power. “I encouraged them to find that power and strength for themselves, their families, and our country,” says Gibbs. She said many of the participants sobbed their way through the meditation, only to thank her at the end for giving them some vision and clarity.
     In a pool near Charlotte, Tennessee, Barb Batson instructed her students to look at a tree outside the window as they calmly floated on their noodles during cool down. She says she softly spoke them through the changes in a tree during the seasons. After the class, one of her students told her how moving that had been for her and that as a teacher she had done similar things with her students and how in her mind it had helped her understand the order of things and God’s plan. “I asked her if she would narrate that portion of class next time and share her words with us,” says Batson. She says tears glistened in the woman’s eyes as she gently nodded yes.
     In Sarasota, Florida, AEA presenter Christy Samuelson decided to end her classes a little differently. “The day after the attacks, we finished in the prayer position and said Namaste. I then asked each participant to pray for all the lives that had been lost, and for America, since life as we knew it had changed forever,” says Samuelson. She thinks it’s ironic that prior to September 11th, most would hesitate at mentioning God in class, but on this day, no one objected and many thanked her for ending class in this way.
     Presenter Shannon Leyen from Discovery Bay, California, says she has always ended her classes with “God Bless you.” After tearing a muscle in her leg this summer, she says she added “God Bless me too!” Since September 11th, Leyen has expanded her blessing once again and now says, “God Bless you, God Bless me, God Bless our nation, and God Bless the men and women who fight for our liberty.”
     Recalling the three minutes of silence on Friday, the National Day of Prayer, presenter Margie Caldwell Cooper of Sun Valley, Idaho, says, “It was a beautiful, blue, Idaho day and we all sat on the pool deck for those few minutes in silent contemplation.”
     In Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Judy Kosaka, searched high and low for American theme songs to uplift her students. She also incorporated red, white, and blue into her attire. “I wanted to show my colors for the country I love," says Kosaka.
     In Toronto, Canada, John Henderson posted the late Canadian journalist, Gordon Sinclair’s “Toast to Americans” speech to the attendance board. “Every person who signed in, stopped and read that speech and remarked on how timely and suited it was to current events,’ says Henderson.
     In Bern, Switzerland, Edith Locher wrote a touching commentary for Greg Keye’s Special Edition Global Communique. In it, she wrote, “In each class I have taught since Tuesday, I have committed one piece of music to the American people. Nobody talked, everyone was moving and just giving their spirit to America.”
     In Australia, Val Smith-Orr retrieved an old tape with the song, “New York, New York,” on it. She introduced the song a week after the attacks, by saying, “Girls, let’s dedicate this song to all those rescuers still working in New York, and to all those families and people everywhere in the USA.” She says she never witnessed a cool down with so much precision and added, “There was a bit more water in that pool by the time we got done shedding some tears.”
     Like many Americans, some of our very own suffered tremendous losses. AEA presenter Heidi Hill, from Boise, Idaho, and her husband, a United Airlines pilot, lost dear friends in the attacks on September 11th. Despite her own devastation, she says teaching through this tragedy is important. “This situation will not get better before it gets worse, and instructors need to know that for perhaps a long time, people are going to rely on our energy to help them through what is yet to come.” She also says we will need to provide a happy refuge for our clients and treat it as a contribution to public service.
     Providing a happy refuge? I like the sound of that. Is this our post September 11th role as instructors? Is it really a new role? Haven’t our students always come to classes for stress relief, a feeling of belonging, and an hour-long diversion from the tolls of life?   I’m sure they have, but like others, I was often too busy choreographing to notice. In the last couple of weeks, I have forged a much greater respect for my students. This has manifested itself in small ways, such as making EXTREME efforts to start and end classes on time, and saying please and thank you while cueing, instead of barking commands. No more storming into my morning classes at the last minute, coffee cup in hand, hair askew, and a frown on my face. Well, I can’t vouch for my hair or the coffee, but I am making an effort to greet everyone with a warm smile and a pat on the shoulder. It’s hard to put into words, but my classes just FEEL different now. They feel good and they feel right!
       As a fitness community, we have made great efforts to strengthen our student’s bodies and now we must collectively strengthen their spirits as well. The e-mails I have received are proof positive that the fitness community is rising to the occasion. I’m just sorry that I couldn’t print everyone’s comments. I received MANY responses and I thank each and every one of you for your touching thoughts and stories.
       This article is a tribute to all instructors for stepping up to the plate and going above and beyond what we thought was our call of duty. Each of you has done it in your own unique way, simply by doing what you love, doing what you do best, and by providing that happy refuge to your students. I am reminded of words that my pastor uses during his greeting in church. He always says, “You are safe here. Drop your shoulders and just relax. All is well.” I hope I can engender the spirit of those words into my classes.
       I almost forgot. Shannon Leyen had yet another blessing! To the fitness community, Shannon says, “God Bless you, for all you give to others, hugs for hope and faith in God, for His mercies are new every morning, for us to begin each day with a fresh start, and God Bless America!”
     You gotta love her!

SPECIAL THANKS:

- To Greg Keyes for his tireless efforts and his help on this article.
- To Angie Proctor and the staff at AEA for their encouragement and support.
- To the other fitness websites who are also posting this article in a show of solidarity within
the fitness community.

Back to The Next Step