the role of yoga as a methodology to accelerate- memoir of an immigrant girl

8/2/2019 The Role of Yoga as a Methodology to Accelerate- Memoir of an Immigrant Girl

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The Role of Yoga as a Methodology to AccelerateBrain Develop:

My Memoir and Mentorship as a Yoga Therapist

Memories of ResiliencyAs a young girl, born into a Sicilian immigrant family background,I struggled to engage cognitively in what was being taught to meand fell in between the cracks of the educational system. I wasconsidered an under-represented youth, who was challenged withovercoming cultural and social marginality, which impacted myopportunities to excel to my fullest potential academically duringthe most impressionable years.

The Early-Childhood stages of development were greatlyimpacted in my classroom experiences. Text books were takenfrom me because my English language was not articulate enoughand I had difficulty reading due to a psychobiological condition,two lazy-eyes, which created a neurological imbalance of brainchemistry.

The teachers were led to believe there was no hope for myacademic future and therefore there were more deserving

assimilated students who would benefit from the classroom’salready limited textbooks. The hidden message/injunction was, “that girl of ethnicity is not worth being educated.”

I was verbally and physically abused by nuns and priest teachersthroughout those informative years of learning because I haddifferent cultural mannerisms; and to add to my list of challengesI was left handed, my penmanship was impossible (during thatgeneration there were ink wells on the desk and you dipped your

inkpen to write), and I dealt with more social ostracizing!

Needless to say, failing grades and failing citizenship was acommon message I accepted as I grew up struggling with amarginalized sense of my own, god-given gift of intelligence.



In spite of many years dealing with learning and emotionaldisabilities, there was always a innate hunger to creatively learnand study on my own accord.

It was not until 38 years old I managed to finally break free fromthis false sense of academic inadequacy. I re-enter the world of academia and attended the University of San Diego, graduatingfrom the University with a 3.7 GPA, no longer stigmatized by ahaunting past. I was mentored by a USD Ethnic Studies andCultural Literature Professor, who encouraged and inspired mydecision not to give up! I am forever with gratitude for heramazing Spirit!

All of these life memories are what has compelled me toundertake the professional roles as an empowering agent andmentor for youths of cultural and social marginality and toencourage them towards academic and psycho-social success inorder for them to also fulfill their godly gifts and potentials.

Transformational Change

I was inspired to write this article due to receiving a recent phone

call…it was like the Spirit was speaking directly, through the voiceof a young 22 year old woman, whom I had mentored as a youngteenager when she was assigned to my caseload as a SpecializedUnit Probation Officer. She was 15 years old at the time and in avery precarious situation.

She was from a Chinese immigrant family, had great challengesovercoming cultural and social marginality, there was greateconomical hardships, and as a result she became involved in

gangs, drugs, dropped out of school and was heading into adestructive lifestyle. When she was assigned to me I informedher I was going to be her ‘worse nightmare’ because I would notbe letting her continue her destructive behaviors!

God has always given me the intuition to see the good in allchildren and adults. I told her I believed she was intelligent and



capable of making positive changes in her life. I placed her intwo schools, but she was kicked out as positive changes are hardto adjust to in the beginning.

Finally, I contacted an amazing teacher who taught at analternative court school, her expertise working with marginalizedyouth was powerful and she was able to engage the young girlthrough her firm, but kind demeanor and inspirational, motivatingcurriculum.

Please note there is an affirming behavioral pattern withinresilient children – they innately seek out adults, healthyextended family members, teachers, or those in leadership type

positions who can positively influence their lives and create forthem an identifying vision of hope for a better future.

In the interim of being an empowerment agent and mentor, I wasdealing with political injustice within the chain-of-command; as aresult I resigned after a 14 years career in the field of lawenforcement. Out of the pain of no longer working proactively inthe communities, I suffered severe depression and a sense as if my hands had been cut-off.

Making a life changing decision to heal and seek health andmental wellness comes with a great financial demise. My wholeworld came to a crashing halt!

Where was God in all of this? The Divine was working indirectlyin the heart of the same teacher who had motivated and inspiredthis young girl. She encouraged me not to lose hope and thatthe youths needed my positive influencing their lives. The

teacher urged me to come back to the culturally marginalizedcommunity in a unique and creative way. Her words resonated inmy mind and heart!

As I was driving one day in Barrio Logan I drove past El Cristo delRey Iglesias and saw that the statue of Jesus’ hands hand beencut off. I asked what happened to the sculpture and I was told



by the priest that it had been vandalized, but he was adamantthat God was using the incident as a message that thecommunity was to be Jesus’ Hands!

That night on my yoga mat, while lamenting in tears and prayer,the Divine’s Voice told me to get up and start writing because myhands were growing back for Him!!! Out of the healing birthedmy Positive Choices through Yoga/Meditation (PCYM) program forat-risk youth.

I was invited to teach the eight week course at the school mymentee was attending. The teacher who edified me later thatyear awarded Teacher of the Year throughout the United States

due to her outstanding and pro-active approach for Excellenciesof No-Child-Left-Behind academic policy and curriculum.

My young mentee participated in the innovative program andbenefited from the PCYM curriculum that was an integration of kinesthetic education, psycho-therapy, art therapy andyoga/meditation. These small steps of faith had big resultsthrough my new found Calling! The outcome of reaching out tothe marginal youths was going to bring amazing news!!!

The amazing news came this week, after six years with nocontact with my mentee; she contacted me to inform that shewas a studying at Berkley University in Berkley, California Shewas on a 4.0 GPA academic scholarship, majoring in MedicalAnthropology.

The Divine’s timing is always the right timing! My heart leapedwith absolute joy that only comes from the Spirit to share her

accomplishments. She had courageously broken free from allthe barriers that afflict so many youth of color and socialboundaries.

However, this is the bottom-line facts - breaking free frommarginalized social oppressors cannot be done alone by theseunder-representative youths. It is imperative the marginalized



youths receive help from Empowerment Agents in all professionalarenas:

• Educators involved in academia who are ethnically andculturally sensitive and model messages of hope

•

Non-Profit Community Based Organizations who havefinancial grants and social services to shore-up their dreams

• Spiritual Life-Coaches for youths to be inspired andspiritually illuminated

• Holistic Therapist who use Integrative Yoga-Breathmythologies that increase their mental and psycho-socialstamina, physical well-being and spiritual consciousness.

Taking a Spiritual Leap of Faith

On my yoga mat in prayerful meditations, the question keptpresenting itself how could I continue as an empowerment agentin my newly redesigned profession as a Yoga Therapist andcontinue to inspire youth’s academic and social success? That iswhen the Spirit instructed me to start writing again…beingobedient to God sometime requires not using any excuses whyyou cannot respond to his calling.

Two years after leaving my career, money depleted and I becamehomeless for over three years. In my obedience to write mygreatest inspirations took place in coffee shops, libraries and anyplace that I could plug in my laptop and allow the Spirit to movethrough me. These were extremely painful and humbling times inmy life…from riches to rags. Was this how the Divine was callingme into a spiritual leap of faith? I have been faith walking eversince in the merciful hands of Illuminator!

Evidential Findings:Integration of Yoga Therapy for Accelerated Cognition



I did extensive research regarding the brain and its ability to healand rewire its pathways to have appropriate functionalprocessing. When I was introduced to recent research that wasquickly emerging, regarding the results of various forms of yoga

taught to students as part of their academic education, theanswers began to be clarified how valuable it was to advocate foryoga practice in the classrooms, where children spend the longesthours of their days.

Statistics are revealing significant and powerful affects of yogaand breathe work on the student’s brains, their central nervoussystem and immune system.

There appears a strong correlation of the role of yoga as amethodology to accelerate brain develop, which provides the keyto unlock evidence that yoga breath-work increases mentalintelligence/cognition. Outcomes of significant GPA increaseshave propelled youth’s access to elite Universities. Research hasindicated that 30% of marginalized youth have the potential toexcel, but need creative and innovative methods for them toexcel in the classrooms and meet the goals to enter into eliteuniversities…such as Berkley!

A solution, that is somewhat simple in nature, is to focus on thephysiology of youths’ brain functioning and provide yoga, breathwork and meditation in the classroom. Introducing thesetechniques as part of their early education curriculum has provento accelerate brain development. The PCYM program, which Iimplemented in 2006, was one of the first innovative and createapproaches that worked in this paradigm and had amazingtherapeutic and academic results!!!

As a means to Accelerate Brain Development the solutionis to provide:

• Yoga

• Breath work



• meditation

What are the Experts saying?

Yoga breath work has been the focus of research by UCLAdoctors, who teach yoga breath to their young patients (andadults) in order to increase their mental stamina and cognition.There continues to be quickly emerging research on how variousforms of yoga taught to students are showing significant andpowerful effects on student’s brains, their central nervous systemand immune system…once it is introduced and implemented aspart of their academics.

Dr. Loren Fishman, New York City physician (who is also a yogainstructor) indicated:

• Yoga practice thickens the layers of the cerebral cortex, thatpart of the brain associated with higher education

• Increases neuro-plasticity, which helps students to learnnew concepts and change the way they do things.

What we are witnessing in the classrooms is the forms of yogaand yogic breathing are expressing extremely powerful effects on

student’s learning:• Concentration

• Memory retention

• Motivational responses

• Reduced stress level

• More affective test taking

• Higher levels of physical and mental energy

• Positive choices and decision making

• Cognitive Attending and Function Procession

• Over all sense of wholeness and wellness• Positive Attitudes

More Specific Findings correlating yoga practice to braindevelopment:



• Parieto-frontal integration theory states that generalintelligence depends on the brain’s ability to integrate – pulltogether several different kinds of processing, such asworking memory

• Outcome of yoga practice has provided researchers withinformation indicating that, rather than residing in a singlestructure, general intelligence is determined by a network of regions across both sides of the brain hemispheres (yogabreathing, poses and meditation shifts the brain into AlphaBrain waves, lifting the bridge between the two hemispheresto create brain wave balance…which is the most create,positive and focused state of mind)

• Recent neuroscience studies suggest that intelligence isrelated to how well information travel to the brain (Haier,Professor of Psychology in the School of Medicine/HumanIntelligence researcher indicated, “Our view of imagingstudies identifies the stations along the routes whereintelligent information processing takes place. Once weknow where the stations are, we can study how they relateto intelligence

• The data suggest that some of the brain areas related tointelligence are the same areas located to attention andmemory and to more complex like language. Haier andJung state that this possible integration of cognitivefunctions suggest that intelligence levels might be based onhow efficient the frontal-parietal networks processinformation.

Yoga therapist assists in the effort of brain development andhealth by accelerating cognitive benefits:

• Improved concentration

• Sharper focus

• Increased mental clarity

• Improved reaction time

• Improved processing speed



• Attention

• Memory

• Executive functioning

• Stress reduction and lower cortisol levels

The combination of Neuroscience, Yoga and Creativity is a newparadigm for teaching. Utilization of sustained mind/body yogaasana, mindfulness during practice, and contemplativemeditation/prayer focus can entrains the mind in ways that arehelpful in cultivating this natural plasticity in the brain.

With this evidential findings brought forth, it is the intent of thiswriter to bring an awareness to professionals to rise up as

empowerment agents for culturally marginalized youths, so theywill have the opportunity to holistically succeed in theirdevelopmental domains; physical, emotional, cognitive andspiritual, in order to attend elite universities and fulfill their god-given gifts and potentials…” You can’t never always sometimes

tell ,” quote from Mark Batterson, Author of The Circle Maker!

It is with gratitude and honor that I am blessed to glean from the

past, utilize my gift as a Holy Yoga Master Instructor and SpiritualLife Coach, to reach back and grasp the hands of our futureyouths, of all cultures and ethnicities, and assist in guiding themforward to be the Hands of the Divine!

My personal philosophy engraved in my heart is that every aspectof growth comes from the recognition that God is building mycharacter from every situation, dilemma and encounter set beforeme and with this knowledge I am to press forward in faith!

Commit your work to the Divine, and your plans will beestablished.Proverbs 16:3Breath by breath be blessed, Gina Tricamo, R-MHYI

Brief Bio: Gina Tricamo holds a Degree from the University of San Diego inPsychology and Cultural Counseling, the Author of Positive Choices through

Yoga/Meditation (PCYM) Program, former Deputy Probation (Specialty Units) Officer



with over 300 hours in Psycho-Therapy, Criminology and Substance AbuseEducation, and holds a Masters in Holy Yoga Therapy. She currently teaches Holy

Yoga Therapy at the Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, AZ., write and teaches forthe Holy Yoga Master’s Program, facilitate s Holy Yoga Retreats and has a privatepractice as a Spiritual Life Coach and Yoga Therapist. She can be contacted [email protected].

mailto:[email protected]

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