Q: How did you become involved with the Lineage Project?
As a kindergarten teacher, and a graduate of the Urban Zen Integrative Therapy Program, the Lineage Project seemed like the perfect fit: mixing two of my passions, yoga and working with underserved youth.
Just for clarity, not all LP programs are yoga-based. The LP model works with any mindfulness practice: some teachers favor qigong over yoga, others use only seated meditation. The site where I have been working is a secured juvenile detention facility. It acts as a central booking and detention center for the other juvenile facilities in New York City. Most of the youth I work with are transferred out within a week or two, so the hour or so that I/we (we generally work in teams) have with them may be our only opportunity to work together.
Q: What is it like being a part of the Lineage Project and what is your role as a teacher?
A: At the facility, I am not trying to save anyone or ‘fix’ them. I feel like the most I can be for these young people is a guidepost. I tell them I have a tool that I have found that works well for me and offer it without expectation or attachment. Maybe it will be useful for them or maybe not, but they won’t know unless they really give it a go and experience it for themselves.
I’ve seen a lot of youth cycle in an out of this site in three years. I’ve worked this site alone and with a handful of other partners and trainees, and at times continue to be frustrated by the system, by the youth themselves or by the idea of working with a young person only once.
And some days they appreciate our time and ask when we will return. Occasionally there is even a magic moment, a breakthrough that a youth has during a session where you can see a palpable shift or maybe just a spark. At other times a group may be too disruptive to engage with and the most respectful choice we can make is to leave them.
Q: Why be a part of the Lineage Project?
A: I periodically ask myself why I continue to make this journey to the Bronx each week, especially when it takes me an hour to get home to my spouse and young child whom I left 14 hours earlier. Clearly it is not for the extra time on mass transit during rush hour, nor for the chop shops that line the street, nor their metallic paint smell that I do my best not to inhale as I turn the last corner before the prison. It is definitely not for the bathrooms or the toxic soap the prison uses when they mop the floors.
I think the reason I continue to go is that it is enormously rewarding when all the variables come together: this work fills me with meaning, the youth can be dynamic and engaging, co-facilitation is a powerful model when both partners are working synergistically and, most importantly, this population is in dire need of services. Ultimately, I believe in the youth’s potential and in their (as well as each and everyone of our) ability to change. I don’t know how long I will continue to do this work, but for now instead of asking why go, it seems more valuable to ask why not…
Stephan W. Kolbert, Integrative Therapist, RYT
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