- by Carey Sims at careysims.com
Compassion fatigue is real. Teaching has come with a serious emotional toll over the past couple of years. I’ve lost many students and others have lost family members or partners. Not too long ago, I was seriously wondering how long I could continue to do this work. But…my students constantly remind me that what we experience in our time together is valuable and that my place in their lives is important.
Friday’s class was a beautiful example of this. Usually after 20 or 30 minutes into practice I ask everyone to check in and notice subtle changes in their body, energy, and breathing. A student who has heart failure and practices in a motorized wheelchair answered by saying that she felt “stronger.” Another student who lost her son to gun violence and is often very anxious said she felt “calm.” And another student who has just been diagnosed with a life altering disease, said she felt “safe.” My eyes welled up. I’m not sure if anyone caught that or not, but it was a beautifully human moment and one I desperately needed to feel.
Carey Sims E-RYT500, NASM-CPT lives in Charlotte, NC. His mission is to to help students explore their bodies and breath in an accepting and non-judgmental way. He teaches “Gentle Back Care” at NoDa Yoga and offers Chair/Adaptive Yoga classes at various senior living centers and gyms in the Charlotte area. He is a student of Adaptive Yoga pioneer Matthew Sanford and an Accessible Yoga Ambassador and leads continuing education workshops on Chair Yoga and Adaptive Yoga. Carey holds degrees in Psychology from Winthrop University and Religious Studies from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte teaches modules on Yoga History and Ethics for several 200Hr Yoga Teacher Trainings.
To book Carey for a workshop or to add him to your YTT faculty click here.