Zuleikha with young mothers of the Hope Project Crèche program practicing wellness exercises before work

TSP at HOPE PROJECT 2016 Self-Care for the Whole Community – There are now 50 Hope Project trainers learning TSP’s Take A Minute™ exercises for Self-Care and how to teach them! Every aspect of this community is benefiting, from tiny nursery school children, to teenagers, vocational students, community women and clinic outpatients. We are so grateful for our partnership with the Hope Project Charitable Trust!

This first picture above is of a new group of about 25 young mothers. They are domestic workers who place their little children in the Hope Project Crèche while they work. The Crèche Director, Rajvanti, and I got inspired to start a self-care program with them, once a week, before work. They really enjoy the exercises—most of the women have never done anything like this.

Sharing an exuberant Push & Stretch with the girls of the Non-Formal School

The Girls Non-Formal School – Girls Lead!

I go to the school assembly program in the mornings at 8:00, and have chosen several girls to stand in front and lead the exercises. The teachers take part as they are inspired to, coach the girls and cheer them on.

Fun exercise with youth attending the evening Support Classes

Children’s Support Classes and Kindergarten & Nursery Classes

Four Support Class teachers have successfully  completed  the Take A Minute™ Training. They understand how to lead, and how to adapt the sessions to the circumstances of the day. 60 plus children are benefiting.

Kindergartners enjoying  a moment of group movement

Four kindergarten and nursery school teachers in training here are learning to implement these simple and fun exercises in their classrooms for  learning readiness throughout the day.

Self-Help Group

Community Women

This year there are two community groups with which we have been working. The first is SHG, the 79 Self Help Groups, women’s micro-finance groups consisting of 1000 women total, who practice the self-care exercises regularly.

I feel that the community women are accepting the concept of  ‘taking a minute’ for themselves, for their lives and well being. It is exhilarating to see it take hold.

Exercising outside with community women and children

The second group is community women I’ve connected to through the social workers of the health clinic. I have been going out every week to a new part of the community, and sharing exercises. The women are very poor, and for most, it is the first time they have done an exercise. We laugh a lot, meeting outside, sometimes amidst clotheslines and  overhead electric wires reaching every which way. Children come and join. This year, after so many trials of different ways of entering, we are now really inside the community. It is a wonderful feeling.

A joyful reach

The Outpatient Health Clinic

TSP’s collaboration with Dr. Luna, the Hope Project Outpatient Doctor, continues this year, allowing me to see many of her patients regularly (10-20 per week). Women, and men now, come in for help with cervical spondylitis, back pain, fat-shedding exercises, and overall wellness.

Zuleikha bringing pain-relieving exercises to patients at the Outpatient Clinic

© Zuleikha, Swan Lake Publishing, 2016