Monica Ho knelt to the floor, arms outstretched, nearly touching her nose to the ground in a position called the child’s pose. Her students – a group of homeless individuals – breathed deeply in the sky blue room as she instructed them to stretch and relax the muscles in their backs.
“Inhale, exhale,” said Ho, a third-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student. “Let your stress melt away.”
Ho, a member of UCLA’s MEDLIFE organization, helped lead a class on yoga, mindfulness and meditation for the homeless in Santa Monica on Wednesday. MEDLIFE, a primarily pre-health student club, launched a biweekly life skills and wellness program for residents of Turning Point transitional housing this quarter.
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MEDLIFE introduced the program this year so members could serve the local community. The UCLA chapter was originally established to send student volunteers abroad to medical clinics in countries such as Ecuador and Peru with the national MEDLIFE organization, said club president Ilana Greenberg.
Turning Point is a transitional housing facility for the homeless operated through the Ocean Park Community Center in Santa Monica. OPCC is a nonprofit social services agency that runs several homeless programs, including care for homeless women with mental illness and outreach for homeless transgender youth. So far, students have taught Turning Point residents tai chi and given lessons on mental health.
Greenberg, a fourth-year human biology and society student, said the club aspires to establish long-term relationships with Turning Point residents and hopefully see familiar faces week after week.
“This is where MEDLIFE members have the chance to work with homeless clients … and learn how to talk with patients.” Greenberg said. “We try to take MEDLIFE’s values and apply (them) in Los Angeles, because we realize not every student can go abroad (to volunteer) every year.”
Turning Point houses nearly 55 individuals at full capacity, said Vivica Cole, the shelter’s intake and volunteer coordinator. All residents receive medical care, meals and personal cubicles for about a six-month stay, but some residents stay longer if they have medical or mental health conditions. Residents must take wellness classes in order to stay, and MEDLIFE lessons help them meet that requirement.
As part of this week’s curriculum, second-year neuroscience student Karina Keus discussed the biology of stress. Stress induces high levels of the hormone cortisol, with long-term consequences such as fibromyalgia and other chronic illnesses, she said.
“MEDLIFE was focused on mindfulness this week because there are so many stressors for people dealing with homelessness and financial instability,” Keus said. “It’s so important to give classes and information on this topic to people who might not have access to it otherwise.”
Wednesday’s class began with an exercise in mindfulness meditation. Ho encouraged attendees to close their eyes and control their breathing as she played soothing music. Meditation can improve blood pressure, decrease the risk for heart attacks and lower cortisol levels in the bloodstream, she said.
Gloria Flores, one of Wednesday’s class attendees, recently started chemotherapy for cancer. She joined MEDLIFE’s yoga session because she wanted to exercise lightly and avoid lying down all day, she said.
Flores just moved into a bigger room at the facility, and said she wishes to continue yoga on her own for the benefit of her mind and body.
“I really appreciate that these students come,” she said. “As homeless, we need services like this to go back to the same life as before and to keep up with society. Doing yoga is better than going out to a bar and drinking beer; that’s not going to take me anywhere.”
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MEDLIFE previously collaborated with Turning Point to survey homeless individuals with the Vulnerability Index Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool, Greenberg said. The VI-SPDAT ranks homeless people on a numerical scale to assess their vulnerability to death on the streets. For example, students questioned individuals on their emotional state or medical conditions to evaluate how urgently they required housing assistance.
Earlier this year, MEDLIFE toured Turning Point’s living quarters and received a spot on the center’s programming schedule.
Ho said the largest class so far has been about 15 people. She added that people at Turning Point enjoy yoga sessions in particular because the center’s former yoga instructor is no longer available to teach. Some clients approach club members with advanced questions and requests for detailed presentations.
“We hope to bring in useful skills that will benefit our clients in the long run,” Ho added. “We’re trying to better their mental health, and their emotional and spiritual health as well.”
MEDLIFE will pursue diverse topics for future classes, such as health insurance education or even a book club, Greenberg said. Keus added that participating MEDLIFE members meet before site trips to research topics and prepare teaching material. In the future, she’s interested in creating a fun, educational lesson on neuroscience.
“I didn’t realize how much (teaching the class) would positively affect me,” Keus said. “ It was nice to … relate to people and realize we can all deal with stressors in similar ways.”