Belmont Abbey College RA’s Get Grounded
The week before college life officially started at Belmont Abbey College, the Student Life department held one of its biggest and most important trainings of the year for its Resident Assistants. “RA’s” are some of the most influential student employees on campus. They represent the college in helping new students settle into resident hall life, assist in planning social events, lead discussions, report maintenance concerns, serve as a resource to campus information, lend a listening ear and comforting shoulder to cry on, perform room checks, work in the hall office and much more.
Needless to say, the RA position entails a great deal of responsibility, but these students are ready and capable of giving even more light and love back to those they serve. With all of the trainings, seminars and long check-lists to prepare the resident halls for new student orientation, the RA’s wanted one more important thing to prepare them for this celebratory new year of college. . . to get GROUNDED!
Between “room search” and “drug inspection” training, we found an empty classroom to get grounded, laugh and find elevation. The theme for our grounded workshop was, “finding strength to be steady, 
blossom and serve others,” focusing on muscle energy and organic energy. It was a beautiful blend of grounded poses, meaningful quotes, traditional poses, discussions, games, group poses and partner poses.
As the workshop teacher and facilitator, one of my favorite parts of the session was breaking into groups and assisting the RA’s in teaching grounded poses to each other. They are, of course, natural compassionate leaders and articulated each pose well and with humor! Many RA’s commented that the best part of the workshop was simply taking time to mindfully move together as a group, be joyful, laugh together and fully relax into savasana.
It is my hope that this grounded workshop sparked a fire to ignite their semester goals of creating the strength and fortitude in themselves in order to continue to blossom, develop and care for others in the Resident Halls. By popular demand, Belmont Abbey College will hold a grounded yoga class in the cafeteria after dinner each Thursday night.
As Earth Day approaches this year, I am struck by what it means to truly foster Peace on this planet. I remember as a child, learning about anti-nuclear protestors who chained themselves to fences and were forcibly removed and jailed. These brave souls became my heroines and heroes in the late 1970’s and 1980’s. I was moved to tears singing Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind” and hearing stories of civil disobedience and the message of non-violent resistance. Later in the 1990’s, when I danced barefoot on my very first Earth Day, a lump would form in my throat when I celebrated each small victory (and the Gigantic Hearts) of environmental protestors who sacrificed so much to save a single tree and worked to preserve open space for our children’s children. Peace.
Found: This Fear escaped from a very Grounded 9 year old’s first chakra. Her thighs were rooted and her connection to the earth was solid. She faced her fears, and actually whispered to herself, “I have the Right to be Here.” After the Fear escaped she felt even more Grounded and Elevated and aware of where she was in space.