Twenty years ago, Andres Gonzalez set out on a mission to address suffering in the world.
With his experience teaching yoga to diverse populations in the Baltimore area and beyond, he began to witness the transformative power that breath work, movement and off-the-mat practice could have in people’s lives. Together with Ali Shah Rasool Smith and Atman Ananda Smith, Gonzalez conceived of a way to reach underserved young people through yoga and mindfulness education. Their efforts culminated in the creation of Holistic Life Foundation, a nonprofit educational organization with a heart as big as the number of youngsters who make up the Baltimore community.
Gonzalez and his colleagues launched Holistic Life Foundation as a pilot program at Windsor Hills Elementary and Middle School in Baltimore. The principal at the school identified 15 students who were continually getting into trouble and landing in detention. When Gonzalez and his team suggested working with the students through yoga, they were met with raised eyebrows. What could a group of troubled kids possibly learn from yoga?
The team started small, introducing the students to yoga gradually. As the students’ comfort level grew and their trust in Gonzalez and his partners developed, the number of kids reporting to detention began dropping.
“Kids who used to be getting into fights were now breaking up fights,” he says.
These students began to develop empathy and self-awareness for themselves and their actions leading from the practice of yoga.
From Windsor Hills, Gonzalez and his colleagues branched out to the Y in Druid Hill, bringing more and more kids in need of positive role models in their lives together for homework help, mentoring and yoga. Using a reciprocal teaching approach to yoga—in which teachers empower students to go out and teach others—Gonzalez and his team continued to work with kids to promote social responsibility and leadership development.
Thanks to a research partnership with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Gonzalez and his team conducted a study focused on urban youth and mindfulness. Their study indicated a positive correlation between their techniques and enabling youth to focus more, deal with conflict in a peaceful manner and remove ruminating thoughts that inhibit productive thinking.
Fast forward 20 years, and Gonzalez says that about half of the original 15 kids he worked with are now employed by Holistic Life Foundation. That employability factor continues to grow through the organization’s workforce development program.
“It’s beautiful to hear them tell me, ‘We didn’t know that when you were doing this, when I was younger, the impact it was having. Gaining these skills allowed me to deal with stuff in a positive way, and now I want to do the same for others like what you did for me,’” he says.
In addition to working with youth, Holistic Life Foundation also presents adult-focused programs at mental health facilities, drug rehab centers, homeless shelters and businesses locally and across the country.
The organization’s Mindful Moment program has gained significant attention beyond the Baltimore community for its approach in removing punitive practices from schools by changing detention rooms to “Mindful Moment” rooms. Holistic Life Foundation staff meet with students, listen to their concerns and offer helpful mindfulness and self-regulation practices, such as breathing techniques and meditation.
Gonzalez shares results from his organization’s work at Fort Worthington Elementary School. The school reported approximately 108 suspensions in the first year, which dropped to fewer than 100 in the second year and fewer than 10 suspensions in the third year, according to Gonzalez.
“We like to say that we are here to provide techniques to help people help themselves,” he says. “It’s about using your breath, taking a moment and focusing on the now. Work through what you’re going through.”
For more information about Holistic Life Foundation and to review research on the impacts of mindfulness and yoga for at-risk youth, visit hlfinc.org or call 410-235-4300.
