Cross the plane: on the field and in the mind

Chase WohrleStaff WriterAs a substitute teacher, Jason "JB" Battung takes teaching and makes it his own creation. During a lecture, he'll sit cross-legged on a desk and tells of the American Revolution leisurely, saying the Americans were "just a bunch of dudes who wanted their rights."After school, Battung can be found coaching football against the pink sky of the setting sun. On the field, Battung is the same, bringing his calm, understanding method of teaching to the fast-paced sport of football, always approaching his players with a smile."He's just a great coach in general," sophomore Wellington Vicioso said. "He pushes you to do your best, but he does so in a way that makes you want to do your best."As a child, Battung grew up in Eastlake, Ohio. The suburb, lying near Lake Erie, was filled with other children, providing constant games of baseball or football in the street. An active child, Battung kept busy, playing tag or swimming in his neighbors pool.As Battung grew up, his parents imposed their values of hard work in him, especially his father. From as early as fourth grade, Battung began working, helping his father on construction sites during the summer and running a daily paper route. He was required to pay $10 monthly rent to his father; that money went into an envelope that would eventually go into his college fund.“It was challenging growing up with him,” Battung said. “Early on he was showing me how things work, instilling a sense of work ethic.”Throughout high school, Battung performed well both in academics and athletics. He maintained a 4.2 weighted GPA and scored a 1300 on the SAT — then out of 1600 — and he was a starter on his school's varsity basketball team as a freshman.However, the real athletic attention came from starting the first game of the season as a varsity quarterback his sophomore year. Battung led his team to become the best in its region for three seasons. With his name in the local newspapers almost weekly, Battung’s father wouldn’t permit him to read the papers during the season from his junior year on; he feared the attention would go to his son’s head.“I’m really glad it worked like that because it was an awesome lesson,” Battung said. “Just as quickly as they’ll praise you, they’ll chop you right down.”For college, Battung attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in business. The summer after his freshmen year, he decided to take a month in Spain to study abroad. Battung resided with an old couple in a noisy, run-down apartment complex without air conditioning. There he endured severe isolation because of the language and cultural barrier.“I had only my mind to keep me company,” Battung said.Back in Pennsylvania, football had begun to fall off of his list of priorities because of his broadened perspective of the world that he took from his Spanish experience. However, he decided to keep playing for his parents. He said he knew they supported either decision, but playing football made them proud.  His senior year at Penn, the team won the Ivy League Championships, beating Cornell in the championship game.After college, Battung began working with Rustic Pathways, a company that helped groups of kids travel internationally. Besides moving around in the U.S., he temporarily lived in Costa Rica, Fiji, India and Thailand. It was around this time that he submerged himself in the culture and philosophy of Southeast Asia.“I was observing little things I enjoyed about the culture, layout and people of a given city,” he said.In fact, one of his most memorable experiences took place in Thailand’s Udorn Sunshine Garden. The garden is home to a famous Thai botanist whose work with natural anti-malaria medicines, orchids and dancing plants is world-renowned.“They take cancer and AIDS patients there, so they can witness the power of the mind,” Battung said.While traveling with a group of musicians, he decided to investigate this. At the garden, scientists had been selectively breeding plants so they would more readily react to human stimulus. The musicians began to play, testing this theory. According to Battung, the plants began to move slightly. The next test they performed required everyone to focus on a single plant and attempt to move it, just by focusing their minds.“After a while, nothing happened,” he said. “But then we noticed all the other plants around it began to move like crazy.”Inspired by his experiences and the positive impact it has had on his life, Battung has zeroed in on yoga and eastern philosophy as his main focus to help students because of the positive impact it has made on his life.“I was really getting deep into my yoga practice, using those tools that yoga was teaching me to deal with things when they didn’t go just how I wanted or expected,” Battung said.He believes that yoga should become a course in every school so that all students can reap its benefits. This inspiration stems from the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh.“In one of his books I read that we don’t teach children how to love, to lose, to really live. Learning how to read and write isn’t easy, but they still do it," Battung said. "When I read that about eight years ago, it really struck me.”Battung considers yoga a better alternative to physical education for some students.“By high school, kids have a pretty good idea on whether they want to play sports, whether or not they are ‘athletic,’” Battung said.To him, America’s current form of physical education is outdated because the students are being taught something that they aren’t interested in and that they will not use.“Badminton teaches great hand-eye coordination, but you’re going to use it probably twice in your life, if that,” Battung said.He appreciates that Samo has a yoga program because he uses it a foundation for incubating his ideas.“The beautiful thing about Santa Monica High School is that they currently have yoga as a P.E. elective,” Battung said. “I’m hopeful that the school understands that this can be a breeding ground for something that I really want to pioneer across the country.”Santa Monica in general is also ideal for new yoga practices.“It’s a culture that understands the importance of it. The conditions are best here,” Battung said.As for himself, Battung hopes to become a full-time yoga instructor at Samo.“I want to have something that’s so solid, that it meets the current P.E. standards and also reevaluates them,” Battung said. “I live here, I work here, I breathe here ... I want to teach here.”High school students are especially great targets for yoga because of their open mindedness.“The approach I take is slightly different because I think high school students are more capable of taking in the philosophical aspects,” Battung said. “At the high school level, there’s been enough life experience so when I talk about suffering and happiness, they get it.”Battung’s students really do “get it” when it comes to the practice of yoga.“JB has great energy. He is very positive and inspiring,” sophomore Josh Picker said. “He has encouraged me to really get into yoga and let my chi flow.”cwohrle@thesamohi.com