Yoga with Tampines MINDS end of season2 reflection

Most of our service partners that visit us to do yoga are people with intellectual disabilities. I initially thought that doing yog could be hard for some of our clients butI now know that our service is important to clients because it not only provides with them a mental and physical benefit but the partnership and interaction with us which guide them on how to interact with others and easily integrate into society. This service also give them an opportunity to go against the stigmas and stereotypes associated with intellectual disabilities. Majority of people treat people with intellectual disabilities differently without even noticing. This makes those with intellectual disabilities isolate themselves from social groups/ society. It is important for them to realise that there is an opportunity for them to take roles in our society and to learn how to behave when interacting with people. By taking roles as a instructor that teaches yoga to our partner, we could learn how to communicate with people with intellectual disabilities and sometimes had difficulties understanding their words and gesture. Especially my partner did not even try to listen to me at first and she kept saying she wanted to go to the restroom. I did not know what to do and it was hard to communicate with her.  After manny trials and errors of my attempt to communicate,  I realised that every single partners has different level of yoga skills and communication skills  that I shouldn’t treat all of them the same as help/support they need are all different. It was also an important learning for me as when I first started the service, I had some worries such as “what if I cannot understand what our partner is saying in the middle of the yoga sessions?” However, I learnt how to persuade them to stay and as I tried my best to do so,  they started accepting my request.

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