A last minute trip this month, took me away from my work at Bernal Yoga to the Art Creation Foundation for Children in Jacmel, Haiti. I found myself surrounded by the bursting energy of about 40 children, many of whose schools have not been in session since the earthquake. I don’t speak Creole, have no background in French and was at the mercy of dictionaries, hand gestures, charades and translators which is frustrating for a gal like myself who likes to talk quite a lot.

In an effort to encourage young Haitians to tell their own stories on what’s happening there, my friend Jennifer & I were training kids to work as photojournalists through her nonprofit Zanmi Lakay. Often our Haitian colleague Georges would patiently translate for me as we taught the kids. When Georges was too busy doing other things, my limited vocabulary of words like hello, thank you, good and beautiful, just simply wasn’t enough. The kids & I wanted a real conversation.

One afternoon my translating companions Georges and Jen were in a long meeting and I couldn’t just sit there in a room full of beautiful, lively children with nothing to say to them. So I took a breath, touched my toes and worked my way down into crow pose. They were delighted and within a minute three little boys were next to me, palms pressed to floor, proudly presenting their own sweet versions of the pose. By this time a small boisterous crowd had gathered, pleased as punch with the arrival of something new in their world.

I took another breath, kneeled down and put my elbows on the floor. They giggled, wondering loudly, in Creole of course, what would happen next. I understood them and delivered an answer to their curiosities. I cupped my hands, put my head down, tightened my tummy, lifted my knees and stepped up onto my tippy toes. “OHHH” they responded, not expecting this.

They leaned down to meet eyes with me, trying to guess where this was going. Next I slowly lifted my right leg, then my left and floated up into headstand. You would have thought Michael Jackson had arrived by the excitement this ignited in the kids. Now I was speaking their language! I twisted my legs to the left, then the right, back to center, slowly touched my toes back down and took child’s pose where at least 20 warm little hands reached out to greet me. Finally, we’d had a whole conversation all on our own, thanks to yoga. It was fabulous!