Somewhere in the tiny roads of Degla, Maadi lies a little flat--the reception of which has been turned into "The Breathing Room". The apartment itself has a community of tenants and teachers--a mix somewhat reminiscent of Berkley in the 1960s--with warm air wafting about, yoga mats in the closet and a calm and pleasant tone to the voices. Jessica Moos, the founder of this enclave, organizes a pretty well-filled schedule of meditation and yoga-like classes, drawing together like-minded individuals for moments of mutual spiritual celebration. Yoga for kids is a new workshop for The Breathing Room. With its second run just ending last week, the workshop will be off for the summer and will commence again in the fall, with the return of children to Maadi for school. Carolina Freund is the children's yoga instructor and her calm patience and little bell fascinate her three to six-year old students. Parents are involved in the class but only in as much as they want to be--but when your child is trying out different yogic poses and looks to you for guidance, it's likely you will want to encourage him or her by doing the pose as well. Freund uses jungle animal images to conjure up creative interpretations of yoga-like positions. She believes it develops their creativity, their breathing and their movement. The students in her class seem to enjoy the techniques as well, each one coming up with a new jungle animal to interpret. This last workshop had three participating families who put down LE175 at the beginning to attend every Monday for the five-week course. Others appeared on a week by week basis, paying LE50 to walk in. "Some days were busier than others," explains Freund who, once again, has enjoyed the process immensely. "I always practiced yoga with my children," she explains, "and when I decided to get licensed, I went for yogakids.com to be licensed to teach children." The parents of the students at the kids yoga course were enthusiastic about the outcome. "My daughter loves it," explains a parent who wished to remain anonymous, "she really lets herself go during the class and is much more at peace when we get home." Freund also attributes the success of the program and of The Breathing Room to Jessica. "She's the one who holds this all together." Although a number of other courses are scheduled to continue throughout the summer, the Kids Yoga course is on hold till next fall--unless an overwhelming number of requests come in for summer sessions.
