Skip to main content

This 10-year-old girl is the youngest Bhakti yoga instructor in the US

Image
By

CHICAGO — As yoga studios pop up all over the country, the certification process for teachers has become more and more stringent. But that didn't stop 10-year-old Meka Leach.

"I just felt really connected to it; I felt it was my purpose," Meka told WGN.

At 10 years old, she's the youngest certified teacher of Bhakti yoga in the U.S.

"She's the youngest... but it's not about the age, but about the maturity of the soul," said Soderworld Yoga instructor  Shakti Divi.

Ask her mom, and she'll tell you Meka has always been driven to accomplish things well beyond her years. At first it was fencing, and Meka has been winning national competitions since she was eight years old.

In fact, it was the fencing that brought her to a yoga mat.

"My coach started to say that I should do yoga for flexibility because I was getting really stiff," Meka said.

There she found something bigger than gold medals. Something she calls "centering." So a month later, she announced she wanted to get certified.

"I was like, 'no, are you crazy? You don't have time. You have school. You have fencing,'" her mom Shannon Leach said.

It required 200 hours of training, a commitment that left her friends scratching their heads.

"They don't understand why I'd rather get certified in yoga than play with them," Meka said.

Not only did Meka complete the Bhakti certification, but also found a second love in the calming instruments.

"If you're playing the gong it feels very intense versus the singing bowls, which is very calm," Meka said.

The student is now a teacher to a room full of adults. And some of her friends are signing up for her  "Mindfulness with Meka" classes too.

"She's very soulful, and as you can see the sound healing, the gongs and the bowls and the didgeridoo," said student Mike Rodgers.

Meka also went on to win gold in the nationals for fencing this summer, and she credits what she learned from those 200 hours on the mat.

"She was so calm and so centered and so confident," Shannon Leach said. "This is just her calling."

Meka is already making plans to start her 500-hour yoga certification.

from fox5sandiego.com
Source: https://ift.tt/2Nhchi4
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Virginia family gets keys to Habitat for Humanity’s first 3D-printed home in the US

By
(CNN) — One Virginia family received the keys to their new  3D-printed home  in time for Christmas. The home is Habitat for Humanity’s first 3D-printed home in the nation,  according to a Habitat news release. Janet V. Green, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg, told CNN it partnered with Alquist, a 3D printing company, earlier this year to begin the process. The 1,200-square-foot home has three bedrooms, two full baths and was built from concrete. The technology allowed the home to be built in just 12 hours, which saves about four weeks of construction time for a typical home. April Stringfield purchased the home through the  Habitat Homebuyer Program . She will move in with her 13-year-old son just in time for the holidays. “My son and I are so thankful,” Stringfield said in a  live feed streamed on Habitat’s Facebook  page. “I always wanted to be a homeowner. It’s like a dream come true.” To purchase the home, Stringfield logged hundreds of hours of
Post a Comment
Recent News

Lawsuit: High school football player says coaches forced him to eat pizza as punishment, violating religious beliefs

By
CANTON, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio high school football player who says coaches forced him to eat a pizza covered with pepperoni grease in violation of his religious beliefs is suing his former district and the ousted coaches. The former Canton McKinley High School athlete and his parents filed a federal civil rights suit this week seeking millions of dollars in damages and alleging violations of his religious freedom and constitutional rights. The athlete says in the lawsuit that coaches were notified he doesn’t eat pork or pork residue as a member of the Hebrew Israelite religious faith, but that they ordered him to eat the pizza as punishment for missing an offseason workout — and indicated his spot on the team was at risk if he didn’t. The coaches say the player chose to remove pepperoni and eat the pizza rather than an alternative food. They weren’t aware it violated his religious beliefs, according to a  defamation case they filed  previously against the teen’s father, his attorney a
Post a Comment
Recent News

Bergeron, Pastrnak and Bruins finish off Capitals in 5 games

By
WASHINGTON (AP) — Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak dazzled on offense, Tuukka Rask was rock solid in net and the Boston Bruins are moving on to the second round of the playoffs. Bergeron scored twice at crucial times after Pastrnak’s  highlight-reel  goal, Rask made 40 saves and the Bruins eliminated the Washington Capitals in five games with a 3-1 victory Sunday night. Bergeron delivered the dagger with 7:35 left to set up a second-round showdown against either the Pittsburgh Penguins or New York Islanders. Chants of “TUUKK!” emanated from a large group of black and gold-clad Boston fans who were part of the limited-capacity sellout crowd of 5,333. Those were occasionally interrupted by “We want the Cup!” — the trophy the Bruins last won a decade ago after a 39-year title drought. They’re 12 wins away, thanks to their best players dominating in Game 5. Pastrnak made it look easy putting the puck behind his back and through his legs, assisted on Bergeron’s first goal and was par
Post a Comment
Recent News