The New Builders

CHAPTER THREEThe Definition of Success

When Isaac Collins looked at the kids gathered in the elementary school library, he saw himself. “I grew up a couple of miles away from here,” he said. “These kids are me.”¹

The elementary school, the Academy for Integrated Arts, “wasn't in the best part of town,” he said. But the hallways were decorated with art, and he was heartened by the stories he was hearing: of progress, of hope. A number of the students had made breakthroughs, especially through an innovative yoga program – one that Isaac helped found and fund – that was brought to the school. Instead of acting out in class, they were learning to calm themselves by taking a break for a few yoga poses. Although it might be counterintuitive to think of groups of elementary kids breaking out into yoga for a quick respite, the program was working. On field trips, the boys in particular liked to show off their poses. The tougher ones, of course, like the chair pose.

Most of the kids were minorities, primarily Black and Hispanic. All the kids had name tags, and the mats fanned out in a circle rather than in rows. The central idea was to teach the kids a way to regulate their emotions and a positive way to play.

A successful restaurateur, Isaac had started the Superhero Yoga nonprofit on the side with two friends, Janis King and Laurie Bomba, to bring half‐hour yoga classes to schools in poor neighborhoods. And he loved it – he meditated and practiced yoga himself. But he struggled with ...