Underground Kindness touches young lives

SANDPOINT — Never underestimate the power of the ripple effect. Whether for good or ill, this immutable force does its work, sending waves coursing outward to impact lives and, yes, even change the world.

Fortunately, the positive ripples seem to be a more robust catalyst for change. Drop a pebble in the pond of self-kindness and there’s no telling whom that concentric current might touch as it extends its reach.

Lindy Lewis learned that lesson the hard way, after a bruising divorce and a simultaneous diagnosis of multiple sclerosis cast her into an emotional wilderness. What she found there was surprising – self-acceptance and a sense that love abounds, despite the steep climbs and rugged terrain of life.

During the 2011-’12 school year, she founded an organization called Underground Kindness, meant to pass that message along to high school students who, these days, navigate schedules that would wear most busy adults to the ground. It all started with yoga classes as a “below the shoulder workout” to get kids out of their heads for a few minutes, the founder explained.

A residual benefit – and the underlying strength of Underground Kindness – was to introduce students to the concepts of self-care and personal grounding.

“Initially, I went into this to just plants seeds for the kids so they can live more fearlessly,” said Lewis, who now leads what she calls “a quiet movement.”

In its first year of working with high schoolers, Underground Kindness offered roughly 25 classes as it began to build a network of volunteer “compassionists” to teach those sessions. By the second year, the number of classes nearly tripled as word got out and the idea caught on.

By the end of this school year, the group will have led more than 300 courses for 2015-‘16, with yoga still a mainstay, but additional topics to include gratitude, stress management, authentic relating, creative journaling, belief systems and empowerment art taught by a team of more than 20 presenters.

As the core curriculum gets ever tighter and more focused in schools, these classes have little chance of becoming embedded in those courses. Rather, the Underground Kindness offerings are delivered as electives at the request of classroom teachers who are aware of the program and feel it can make a difference for their students. For example, a compassionist might lead a chair yoga session in a math class, designed to help teens build stress-management skills prior to a battery of tests. According to Lewis, the big ideas they walk away with can take the anxiety out of the test process as they learn to breathe and reflect before reacting. Obviously, it’s a skill that can transcend rough mathematics and spill over into daily life.

“It helps you move through the moments,” Lewis said, adding that enhanced awareness helps kids write a personal narrative grounded in kindness. “I believe your biology is affected by your biography – what you tell yourself.”

That’s a tough one, said Kate Lyster, director of operations for Underground Kindness. More than ever, young people are faced with an onslaught of messaging that tells them how to look, what to feel and who to emulate. And because the majority of these images are commerce-driven, the overwhelming message is – you’re not cutting it.

“There’s so many demons out there – like social media – where you’re comparing yourself to everyone else,” Lyster said. “We’re trying to contradict that.”

“I call it the ‘comparative narrative,’” Lewis interjected. “It’s not useful.”

A big concern for this age group, the two women agreed, is what sort of challenges they will face after high school. The Underground Kindness classes are set up to hand over transitional tools from that grade level into college and subsequent life choices. Looked at in a different way, younger students face many of the same fears as they prepare to make the step into high school, which prompted the founder to reach out to middle school educators.

“The teachers are seeing the value and the counselors are super supportive,” she said. “And by the time they do get to high school, there’s more balance for these kids.”

As word spreads and parents see the difference in their own children, there also has been an older demographic expressing interest in what Underground Kindness is up to in the community.

“I can’t tell you how many parents are saying, ‘How can we get some of that?’” said Lewis.

In response, the organization now offers monthly workshops for adults, based on discussions with parents, proving that the impact can ripple through to younger and older generations alike.

“We’re small but mighty,” Lewis said of her quiet movement. “We’re handing kids a hard world and we’ve got to give them some tools.

“We’re taking a moment – in a very busy world – and accessing some of our innate kindness,” the founder continued. “We do this because we want them to ripple out and bring it into their home life and community.”

“And so that they can then offer it to others in their path,” added Lyster.

To this point, Underground Kindness has been funded solely by private donations, with classes taught by a smallish team of volunteers. Lewis and Lyster foresee a time when the curriculum might be made available to other schools and districts, with grant monies helping to pave the way. They also predict a steady influx of new volunteers as the program grows – something the founder has been working on since the beginning.

Which adds one more ripple to the picture, as those volunteers connect at a deeper level with students, teachers and the place they call home.

“In a perfect world, I’d love to generate a lot more interest,” said Lewis. “We could use more professionals who feel they have some wisdom to share.

“It’s like, ‘If you build it they will come,’” she went on. “I think it will attract people who understand the importance of this vision.”

Underground Kindness will host a workshop for parents and community members on Tues., May 17, at 5 p.m. in Tango Café, located in the Columbia Bank building, with featured presenter Foster Cline addressing the topic “The Parent Connection.” The workshop is free and open to the public.

To learn more about Underground Kindness and to volunteer or make donations, visit online at: www.undergroundkindness.org.