By Kate Feinberg Robins

Find Your Center transicionó suavemente de clases en nuestra escuela a clases virtuales apenas el Gobernador Inslee anunció las clausuras de las escuelas de Washington el día 13 de marzo. Para lunes 16 ya estábamos enseñando todas nuestras clases en sus horarios programados, conectándonos virtualmente con nuestros estudiantes desde nuestro nuevamente configurado “estudio en casa.” Desde el principio hemos tenido un salón virtual seguro, monitoreado para que no entre nadie que no esté inscrito en la clase. Nunca hemos compartido fotos o videos de casas ajenas y no lo haremos sin permiso explícito.
 
Durante estas dos semanas, hemos entregado la misma instrucción de alta calidad en grupos pequeños que nuestros estudiantes nos han llegado a esperar, a través de las reuniones en línea. Aunque no podemos ofrecer nuestro estudio espacioso, piso de baile profesional, barras de ballet y bolsa de patadas, hemos aprovechado de la oportunidad de enseñar a nuestros estudiantes cómo practicar en sus propios espacios en sus casas.
 
Nuestras clases siguen siendo interactivas, respondiendo y adaptándanos a las necesidades de cada estudiante en cada clase. Hemos creado coreografía colaborativa en Ballet para Niños, corregido la técnica de nuestros estudiantes a través de conversaciones en video, compartido letras de canciones en português en nuestra pizarra virtual para Música de Capoeira, y sobre todo disfrutado de bailar, mover, cantar y estar juntos.
 
Seguimos enseñando el mismo programa de estudios que ofrecimos en nuestro estudio (lo que se puede ver en nuestras descripciones de clases en www.FindYourCenterPasco.com/classes). Seguimos registrando el desarrollo de habilidades de cada estudiante a través del portal estudiantil en línea, preparando las presentaciones estudiantiles para el verano, y personalizando nuestra instrucción para cada estudiante y cada grupo.
 
Agradecemos a nuestros estudiantes y familias por su colaboración en esta transición. Mantener nuestro horario regular de clases nos ha permitido a nosotros y a nuestros estudiantes a encontrar estabilidad en nuestras vidas cotidianas durante tiempos de mucha inseguridad. Cada día anticipamos la hora en que podemos ver y trabajar con nuestros estudiantes, y esperamos seguir viéndoles por muchos días que vienen.
​

Mientras la circunstancias actuales han necesitado que algunas familias salieran de nuestra escuela hasta poder reunirnos nuevamente cara a cara, también hemos podido dar la bienvenida a nuevos estudiantes en nuestro salón virtual.
 
Nuestras inscripciones siempre son mes a mes y abiertas durante todo el año. Estudiantes nuevos se pueden juntar en cualquier momento inscribiéndose en el sitio web www.FindYourCenterPasco.com.
 
Esperamos que esto sea una oportunidad para reconectar con antiguos estudiantes que ya no viven en el área Tri-Cities, con seguidores de Find Your Center que viven lejos, y con cualquiera que no haya podido juntarse a nuestras clases en persona. Una vez que podamos volver a tener las clases regulares en nuestro estudio, nos comunicaremos con los alumnos de distancia para retirarse de las clases, o para seguir enseñándoles a través de secciones en línea.
 
Nuestras descripciones de clases, horarios y precios se pueden encontrar en www.FindYourCenterPasco.com/classes.
 

​Tenemos varios talleres y presentaciones programadas para este verano y otoño. Manténte al tanto para las fechas y detalles. Esperamos tener a todos de vuelta en nuestro estudio para la Presentación Estudiantil de Verano en junio. Siempre hemos hecho presentaciones simples, así que mientras podamos juntarnos, ¡el espectáculo seguirá!
 
Por mientras, necesitamos seguir pagando la renta para poder tener un estudio a donde podremos volver. Hemos estado abiertos por poco más de dos años, y dependemos de los pagos mensuales de los estudiantes para sostener nuestra escuela. Tenemos una próspera comunidad de estudiantes que se han juntado para seguir aprendiendo y entrenando en línea, y esperamos que juntos podremos superar esta situación y regresar a nuestro estudio antes de que pase mucho tiempo.
 

Sin importar si te juntes o no a las clases de Find Your Center, recomendamos que tomes un poco de tiempo cada día para centrarte entre medio de los cambios diarios y la inseguridad que todos estamos experimentando. Haz ejercicio, medita, crea arte—haz lo que tú necesitas para poder enfocar en tu propio bienestar.
 
Find Your Center ofrece recursos gratis en línea a través de nuestro canal de YouTube  (Find Your Center - Pasco, WA on YouTube), página de Facebook (facebook.com/FindYourCenterPasco) y blog (www.FindYourCenterPasco.com/blog). Puedes utilizar estos recursos para entrenar solo, mirar espectáculos inspiradoras, leer sobre la historia y las teorías de aprendizaje, encontrar recursos recomendados para la meditación, libros empoderadores para niños y más.
 
También recomendamos que tomes un poco de tiempo sin pantallas y conexiones virtuales para estar presente contigo mismo y con los que viven en tu casa. Para poder estar presente en nuestras comunidades, nuestras naciones y nuestro mundo, es necesario mantenernos centrados y sanos.
 
Entre medio de las luchas existen grandes oportunidades—de surgir como una sociedad más unida y compasiva; disfrutar de la compañia de las personas con las que vivimos; reconectar con los amigos cercas y lejanos. Hasta las oportunidades más cotidianas—de encontrar maneras de seguir bailando y jugando capoeira en los espacios pequeños de nuestras casas—pueden ser justo lo que necesitamos para poder tomar un descanso, centrarnos y resurgir listos para dirigirnos a los desafíos sin precedente que todos estamos enfrentando juntos en este momento.

By Kate Feinberg Robins

Find Your Center transitioned smoothly from in-person to online classes as soon as Governor Inslee announced statewide school closures on March 13. By Monday, March 16 we were holding all of our classes at their regularly scheduled times, connecting with students virtually from our newly set-up home studio. From the beginning we've had a secure virtual classroom, monitoring our door so that only enrolled students can enter. We have never shared photos or videos of other people's houses and will not do so without explicit permission.
 
Over the past two weeks, we have delivered the same high quality, small group instruction through our online meetings that students have come to expect from us. While we can't offer our spacious studio, sprung marley floor, ballet barres and kick bag, we have been taking advantage of the opportunity to teach students how to practice in their own spaces at home. 
 
Our classes continue to be interactive, responding and adapting to the needs of each student in each class. We've created collaborative choreography in Children's Ballet, corrected students' technique through video chat, shared Portuguese lyrics on our virtual white board for Capoeira Music, and overall enjoyed dancing, moving, singing, and being together. 
 
We're continuing to teach the same curricula that we offered in our studio (outlined in our class descriptions at www.FindYourCenterPasco.com/classes). We continue to track students' skill development through our online student portal, to prepare for summer presentations, and to personalize our instruction for each individual student and each group meeting.
 
We would like to thank our students and families for helping to make this transition smooth. Maintaining our regular class schedule has enabled us and our students to find stability in our daily lives during uncertain times. Each day, we look forward to seeing and working with our students, and we hope to continue for many days to come!
​

While the current circumstances have led some families to withdraw until we are able to meet again in person, we have also been happy to welcome new students into our virtual classroom.
 
Our enrollment is always month to month and open year-round. New students can join at any time by signing up at www.FindYourCenterPasco.com. 
 
We hope this will be an opportunity to reconnect with past students who no longer live in the Tri-Cities area, with Find Your Center fans who live far away, and with anyone who has been unable to join our classes in person. Once we are able to move regular classes back into our studio, we'll touch base with our distance learners to either unenroll or continue teaching online-only sections of some of our classes.
 
Class descriptions, schedules, and tuition rates can be found at www.FindYourCenterPasco.com/classes. 
 

We have several workshops and presentations planned for this summer and fall. Stay tuned for dates and details. We hope to have everyone back in the studio for our Summer Student Performance in June. We have always kept our student performances simple, so as long as we are able to get together, the show will go on! 
 
In the meantime, we do need to continue paying rent in order to have a studio to go back to. We have been in business for just over two years now, and we count on monthly tuition payments for our school to be self-supporting. We have a thriving community of students who have come together to continue learning and training online, and we hope that together we'll get through this and return to our studio before too long.
 

​Whether or not you join Find Your Center classes, we urge you to take some time each day to center yourself in the midst of the daily changes and uncertainty that we are all experiencing. Exercise, meditate, create art—do what you need to do to focus on your own wellness. 
 
Find Your Center offers free online resources through our YouTube channel (Find Your Center - Pasco, WA on YouTube), Facebook page (facebook.com/FindYourCenterPasco), and blog (www.FindYourCenterPasco.com/blog). You can use these to train on your own, watch inspirational performances, read about history and learning, find recommended resources for meditation, empowering children's books, and more.
 
We also encourage you to take time away from screens and virtual connections to be present with yourself and those in your household. In order to be there for our communities, our nation(s), and our world, we need to keep ourselves centered and healthy. 
 
In the midst of struggle there are great opportunities— to emerge as a more unified and compassionate society; to enjoy the company of the people we live with; to reconnect with friends near and far. Even the most mundane opportunities—to find ways to keep dancing and playing capoeira in our own small spaces at home—can be just what we need to be able to take a break, center ourselves, and re-emerge ready to address the unprecedented challenges that we are all facing together.

By Kate Feinberg Robins

This one is for all of you out there who are getting your small businesses off the ground, keeping them going and growing, and trying to stay centered in the process. It's for those who are raising your kids, working your jobs, going to school, pursuing your dreams, and feeling overwhelmed by it all.

The past few months have been a whirlwind for us. We started renting our studio space in November, and spent the holiday season painting, renovating, learning to do bookkeeping, and finalizing our course catalog. On January 15, we worked from 4am to midnight installing our dance floor so we could teach our first classes the next day. Needless to say, there were countless moments of exhaustion, doubt, and frustration. 

When it all seems overwhelming, when there's too much to do, when we feel defeated--those are the moments when it's most important to pause, sit, and meditate. It's this daily practice of meditation that gives us the confidence and the energy to keep pushing through. It helps us to remember why we're doing this, to center ourselves, and sometimes just to observe that we're not centered and why.

There are many kinds of meditation and I think the best kind is the kind that works for you. DeShawn and I approach it in different ways, but the important thing is that we help each other remember to do it every day--especially on the days when it seems like we have the least time.

The guidance that I've found most useful comes from Jack Kornfield's book Meditation for Beginners, where he guides you through simple Vipassana, or Mindfulness, meditations. Like many people, I've always had trouble with the idea of clearing my mind. I also struggle with guided meditations that are filled with instructions. What I like about Mindfulness Meditation is that instead of trying to clear everything out of your mind, or put something else in your mind, you focus on observing what's already there. Instead of judging yourself for feeling angry or distracted or disappointed, you observe and acknowledge how you feel. If your mind wanders, you bring it back without judgment. 

You can find Jack Kornfield's Meditation for Beginners at jackkornfield.com/meditation-beginners/ and browse his website for more resources.

Whatever your project is, whatever your dreams, whatever your state of mind, we've found meditation to be a powerful tool in bringing us to the next level and moving forward with confidence. We hope that you will too.