BasketSOUL
A program for today’s youth who are often put under pressure due to their less-than-ideal circumstances.
Through a variety of fun camps and healing methods he has experienced himself, Ricardo aims to facilitate activities that awaken young people to see all the possibilities and dream of a better future.
It all begins with BasketSoul.
Our Mission:
HEALING TRAUMA. BUILDING SELF LOVE.
OUR INNER-CITY CRISIS
2022 has been like no other year so far. There was a 30 percent increase in the number of murders from 2020 to 2021 and another increase so far in 2022 that is heading toward a 20 percent increase, according to a recent New York Times study and statistics by the Center for Disease Control. Carjackings and crime, in general, is rising substantially and being perpetrated by people as young as 10 years old. What is being done about it on a local or federal level? How are we to help these kids break from this cycle?
CAUSES OF CRIME BY JUVENILES
Today’s inner-city youth are dealing with many traumas, and each trauma can add up to life behind bars. Traumas include generational poverty, physical abuse, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, alcohol and drug abuse by a parent or other person in the home, violence and crimes that they experience firsthand, abandonment or incarceration by one or both parents, hunger, and, worst of all, they are being ignored. Inner-city youth have to be able to break free from these traumas. This is extremely difficult to do even when you have the necessary resources, but without resources, the outlook is bleak.
WHAT IS BASKETSOUL
BasketSoul is a youth trauma healing camp for students in grades 3 – 8 designed around movement and basketball. BasketSoul starts from the energy of love. Everything that our staff does is with the understanding that love and self-love is the basis of all healing. This is the number one, most important energy that is the key to our success. Everyone recognizes authentic love and responds to it.
Our program uses healing modalities including breathwork, yoga, Reiki energy, self-love building exercises, meditation, Emotional Freedom Tapping (EFT), and basketball AKA as creative movement.
WHAT ARE THE HEALING MODALITIES?
The healing modalities BasketSoul will be implementing, besides the creative movement of basketball, are Zen meditation, breathwork, Reiki energy healing, EFT, yoga, a self-love workbook, and self-building group exercises.
BENEFITS OF ZEN MEDITATION
Phil Jackson, the legendary coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, has 11 championship rings as a coach and has implemented Zen meditation into his life and for his teams.
Zen meditation is about quieting the mind and letting go of the past and future. Meditation offers a wide range of benefits, including:
- Emotional health
- Stress relief
- Increased patience and tolerance
- Reduced negative emotions
- Reduced fight or flight response
- Social benefits
- Increased self-awareness
BENEFITS OF BREATHWORK
Breathwork is a powerful way of flooding the body with oxygen and has been around for thousands of years with its roots in yoga. Each BasketSoul class starts with breathwork to bring immediate focus and release stress. Holotropic breath is a continuous breath that fills the stomach and lungs. This breathwork is fun, and the effects are immediate. This helps focus the mind and relieve stress, allowing the student to be more easily guided through the class.
Other significant benefits are:
- Reduced feeling of PTSD and trauma
- Release of stress hormones
- Fewer feelings of depression and anxiety
- Improved mental focus
- Improved outlook on life
- More joy and happiness
BENEFITS OF REIKI ENERGY
What does the John Hopkins Hospital, Mayo Clinic, Northwestern University, Cleveland Clinic, Harvard University, Yale New Haven Hospital, and New York University Hospitals all have in common? They all offer Reiki treatment. Reiki energy was first discovered in the early 1900s by Mikao Usui.
Reiki is an energy that can be learned through attunement, and its benefits include:
- Balances body, mind, and spirit
- Relieves depression and anxiety
- Improves focus
- Enhances learning
- Reduces mood swings, including fear, anger, and pain
BENEFITS OF EMOTIONAL FREEDOM TAPPING
Emotional Freedom Tapping or EFT is an easy and effective way to clear negative emotions quickly and easily. EFT has been around since the 70s and has been used to heal veterans with PTSD. EFT uses acupressure points and verbal affirmations to clear out anxiety, stress, PTSD, and other negative emotions. A round of tapping can last 5 to 20 minutes for stubborn emotions. Typically, we ask on a scale of 1-10, how painful is this emotion? After each round of tapping, we ask how much is the emotional pain? Usually, after 2-3 rounds of tapping, the emotional pain diminishes significantly, leaving the person in a much calmer state of mind. Anyone can learn EFT as it is simple and requires little training.
BENEFITS OF SELF-LOVE
Self-Love is something everyone can use more of but especially those of us who are alone. Nobody teaches self-love in school, and they didn’t in my public education experience. Self-love is the most important love, and BasketSoul will provide self-love workbooks that teaches us about ourselves and how wonderful we all truly are. Everything about BasketSoul will be driven by the energy of love. The people that work with BasketSoul will be centered in self-love so that every child will feel love and learn about self-love.
