By Alyson Showell LaPorta
Last week, I sat quietly in the back of a classroom at Mastery Charter School, home to Inspiring Minds Greater Philadelphia’s summer program, observing an Inner Strength Education (ISE) session led by instructors Gaby Marquez and Heather Stapleton. Site visits are a regular part of my role—but this one was different. This time, I wasn’t just watching as a grant writer. I was observing as someone in the middle of instructor training, preparing to step into the classroom myself.
For the past six years, I’ve served as ISE’s Communications & Grant Proposals Manager, translating the heart of our work into narratives for funders and partners. I’ve also been a meditation practitioner for nearly two decades, which makes our mission personally meaningful. But this year, I’ve been given the chance to go even further: I’m training to become an instructor. I’m hoping to be able to step into a new role—bringing mindfulness and systems thinking tools directly to students. And yes, I’m nervous.
That’s why this observation meant so much. It felt like a convergence of everything I’ve been part of at Inner Strength—the writer, the practitioner, and now, potentially, a teacher.
Watching Gaby and Heather lead the session, I was struck by how naturally they complemented each other. Gaby brought a calm, grounding energy that set the tone from the start. Heather, drawing on her yoga background, layered in movement and systems-thinking in a way that was both engaging and clear. The students were curious, focused, and refreshingly honest—the kind of energy that’s impossible to fake and a joy to witness.
And then came the Mindful Movement exercise—an unforgettable highlight I’m still laughing about.
Heather invited everyone to try balancing on one foot. What began as a quiet moment of stillness escalated—quickly—into a full-blown showdown. Kids—being kids—turned it into a competition immediately. The final two students were absolutely committed to victory. There was hopping. There was flailing. There were arms spinning like propellers. And somehow, it was still… mindful.
Because even through the laughter and chaos, they were in their bodies, focused, adapting, staying with the moment. We may not include “record for longest one-legged hop” in our evaluation metrics, but moments like these—joyful, real, and deeply embodied—are at the core of what we teach.
