![\"\"](\"http:\/\/csop.cmu.ca\/wp-content\/themes\/academica\/scripts\/timthumb.php?h=200&w=250&src=http:\/\/csop.cmu.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Marissa-Rykiss-2-e1394048074978.jpeg\")
The 22-year-old Winnipegger enrolled in the course \u201cWomen and Peacebuilding\u201d at the 2012 CSOP as part of a B.A. program in Conflict Resolution Studies at Menno Simons College.<\/p>\nFor Marissa Rykiss, attending the Canadian School of Peacebuilding was nothing short of life changing.<\/p>\n
The 22-year-old Winnipegger enrolled in the course \u201cWomen and Peacebuilding\u201d at the 2012 CSOP as part of a B.A. program in Conflict Resolution Studies at Menno Simons College.<\/p>\n
Inspired by her mother, who practices collaborative law, Rykiss wanted to pursue a career as an immigration lawyer in order to make a difference in the world by helping vulnerable people.<\/p>\n
After finishing the course, Rykiss realized she wanted to help people in a different way. Now, she plans to pursue a Master of Arts degree in Family Therapy.<\/p>\n
First though, Rykiss is becoming a certified yoga instructor. She wants to teach yoga and potentially open her own studio.<\/p>\n
Rykiss says her interest in teaching yoga stems from her desire to help people develop their self care so that they can be better people and lead more compassionate, empathetic lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter taking [the CSOP] course, I realized there\u2019s so many other ways I can help people, and I don\u2019t necessarily need to have a title like lawyer to do that,\u201d she says. \u201cMy happiness, and the happiness of others, is more important to me than having a title like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ouyporn Khuankaew, a Buddhist feminist peace trainer from Thailand, and Anna Snyder, associate professor of conflict resolution studies at Menno Simons College, taught the course.<\/p>\n
Rykiss says it was the way the course was taught that impacted her so greatly.<\/p>\n
\u201cOuyporn had a non-traditional way of teaching where she offered guided meditation at the beginning of each day, and it just allowed us to become a bit more mindful while we were present in the class,\u201d Rykiss says. \u201cShe is one of the most inspiring and engaging women I\u2019ve ever met.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the course ended, it was emotional for Rykiss.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cried on the last day and was so happy that I decided to participate in that particular course,\u201d she says. \u201cIt felt like it was meant to be. It made me ask myself why I need to be pursuing something (a career in law) that isn\u2019t consistent with who I am, and helped me understand that where I need to be is in a more transformative pathway\u2014helping people who can\u2019t help themselves get to a place of awareness and mindfulness.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t intended in the curriculum, but that\u2019s just what I got out of it. A lot of people who participated were put off originally by this new way of thinking, but by the end, everyone there had experienced profound change in the way they thought about learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rykiss\u2019s experience in the course led her to pursue a practicum placement in Thailand with International Women\u2019s Partnership for Peace and Justice (IWP), an organization Khuankaew co-founded.<\/p>\n
Rykiss\u2019s work in Thailand included helping with a weeklong workshop for women that IWP organized. Each day began with yoga. While Rykiss had practiced yoga before, it was during this week that she came to fully appreciate the healing nature of yoga therapy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI realized \u2026 how important it is for people to learn how to be better to themselves, to treat themselves better and come back to themselves through yoga and meditation,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
The practicum and change in career direction would not have happened without Rykiss\u2019s transformative experience at the CSOP.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really grateful that I was able to take a course where everything could be condensed into five days,\u201d she says. \u201cThere are such a variety of courses [at CSOP], and [the organizers] go out of their way to find people to teach the courses who have first-hand experience with the material.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a very inspiring time in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019m really grateful \u2026 It was a very inspiring time in my life,\u2019 says Marissa Rykiss For Marissa Rykiss, attending the Canadian School of Peacebuilding was nothing short of life changing. The 22-year-old Winnipegger enrolled in the course \u201cWomen and Peacebuilding\u201d at the 2012 CSOP as part of a B.A. program in Conflict Resolution Studies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":220,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[171,156],"tags":[28,213,504],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4341"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4341"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4342,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4341\/revisions\/4342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}