Debby Kaminsky is a yoga instructor and a mother of two, but she likes to be known as something else.“I call myself the ‘Peace Igniter,” she said.Kaminsky teaches yoga at workshops around Essex County, but she is also proud of teaching yoga at Newark’s public schools and of her participation in the upcoming Newark Peace Education Summit from May 13-15.“I’m incredibly excited,” says Kaminsky. “They asked me to be on the advisory committee and oversee the yoga component.”She said the peace summit will have such honored guests as The Dalai Lama, Nobel Laureates and local celebrities, including Mayor Cory A. Booker.But Kaminsky isn’t the only suburban yoga instructor taking her practice to work for peace. Jennifer Kohl, founder of “Lotus in Action” yoga studio in Montclair, will also be taking part in the summit. Both Kohl and Kaminsky are visiting instructors in the Newark public school system and both teach privately at their own studios.“Through yoga, I can create positive change in my life and community,” says Kohl. “It’s all fine and well for Debby and I to go into Newark and teach yoga, but the way to really help people is to contribute to a sustainable practice within their communities.” Kohl said her goal is to help Newark residents learn to teach yoga themselves, which in turn helps spread the message of yoga.“In yoga, the word 'shantih' means peace,” explains Kaminsky. “The first shantih is for peace within, the second shantih is for peace with others and the third shantih is for peace in the world/universe. One can't have peace with others unless one has peace with oneself. Yoga is an incredible way of getting you there."Kaminsky and Kohl work with children in Newark’s public and charter schools but are looking for ways to expand their outreach. Kohl will be working with the Tiki Barber Opportunity League to bring yoga into Newark’s city parks this summer. (The Opportunity League, in conjunction with “Let’s Move! Newark,” is part of Michelle Obama’s campaign to end childhood obesity.) As part of their philosophical approach to their work, both Kohl and Kaminsky practice yoga with low income, special needs and underserved portions of the population.“Lotus Studio in Montclair opened six years ago,” says Kohl. “It served people who wouldn’t otherwise be doing yoga, like women in shelters recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. We went into schools, hospitals and detention centers, where people could use yoga to improve the quality of their health and well-being.”She said Lotus Yoga teaches at an orphanage in Ecuador every year. “It’s an honor to teach someone from a different cultural environment,” says Kohl. “It helps you .
Source:Montclair Patch
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