A view into medical classes at RIMYI

This link is to a short documentary about medical classes at RIMYI. This is the atmosphere that I was a part of in Pune. I am extremely thankful that the Iyengar teachers took time to help me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PLTHwCyPDY&sns=em

Yoga Not Allowed in Public Schools, Say WHAT!!!???

I just read this article about parents and community members putting an end to Yoga in public schools.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27008935/ns/us_news-education/t/yoga-school-causes-stress-among-some/#.UIsBsLtjKWV

As a teacher who taught and currently teaches "Yoga" in public schools, I have first hand seen the benefits of Yoga in classrooms. In a school in Washington state, I was not allowed to call this practice "Yoga," based on my principals advice, she advised me to call it "stretching." We both were disappointed that we could not use the correct term and call Yoga it's proper title. I decided to follow along because I knew that the benefits of "stretching" to the students out -weighed not doing it at all. The kids (elementary school students) knew it was really called "Yoga" they called it "Yoga," it was the parents that I had to worry about. Kids are accepting with open minds about anything they can possibly learn, I don't see why we cannot teach the true Art of Yoga. These elementary students had a thrill of learning the names of the poses, the real sanskrit names, not just "dog pose," do I have to hide the language too? The kids WILL understand that it is not a religious practice, in fact, people can practice ANY religion and still practice YOGA.

One student of mine, at 8 years old, helped his extreme anger issues through Yoga and precisely by learning from "Light on Yoga" by BKS Iyengar. This book is nicknamed "The Yoga Bible," maybe another term to scare people off. Anyway, this students' life changed by doing Yoga, the true form, his life became more peaceful which effected his family, friends, and school mates in only positive ways.

Furthermore, I taught students with Autism that had Emotional Behavioral Disorders. These students would try to commit suicide and hurt their parents while they slept, these students banged their heads on concrete walls. I decided to teach them "stretching" YOGA! These kiddos loved it and their bodies were all so different, some students could do one pose while another could not, they would practice these poses to get better. We used belts to create "jetpacks" and students buzzed around the room, having a blast with Yoga. At the end of class, we always ended with Savasana, this was their FAVORITE pose. I could not believe what I saw. Autism kids could lay down and soften their eyes, they would look up at the ceiling, look down-eye lids soft, close their eyes, and BREATHE! These Yoga learners LOVED savasana, they always did the pose for at least 10 minutes which is a challenge for most adults without learning and mental disabilities. I would teach these students for 1 hour a week and they would be sooooo excited for Yoga! Even more excited than when I would teach them Art. Their core teacher could see a difference in behavior and these kids learned poses to help them CALM down and to also be challenged.

I have thought about getting a PhD in the studies of Yoga because I think that the public needs to learn about these benefits and learn that it is not a religious practice. The benefits to Yoga are amazing especially in public schools where students sit in desk and are constantly tested, tested, and tested again. I know this, I've seen it, as a public school teacher for 13, going on 14 years. I have been an Art teacher because these students need a creative outlet. Now, I am seeing that students need an outlet for moving their bodies while taking the time to breathe and rejuvenate their brains, emotions, and confidence.

The article above saddens my heart, I have seen the benefits with my own eyes, time and time again. The students should have the choice to practice "Yoga." I see parents who step in and put a stop to things without even SEEING what the teacher is teaching and the positive effects it is having! Yoga should be called "YOGA" and it should be practiced in public schools as a successful way to help manage stress, encourage a personal connection of the body and mind, and a way to bring oxygen to the body.

I am very passionate about this subject and it is part of my life work on the trail ahead.
With love and good thoughts to those Yoga teachers and students who can now not practice "Yoga"
Kelly

The Importance of choosing a Qualified Yoga Teacher

I have decided to continue writing about Yoga through this blog and extend the journey past India....
Thank you for reading and feel free to comment! Please pass on any good book or article recommendations!

As I have 5 weeks until my Intro I Iyengar Yoga assessment, I study vigorously day in and day out, and I wonder about how people are lead to a Yoga practice? I recommend to do research and try out a few teachers/styles (even though true and true, my heart is committed to Iyengar Yoga) to see where you feel comfortable and most importantly SAFE. I hope people ask these important questions:

What studio is best?
Can a friend recommend a studio?
Do I practice in the morning for an invigorating practice or in the evening when I need more of a relaxing practice?
What type of Yoga do I do?
What is the difference between the Yoga styles?
And the most important question that I think needs to be asked is: Is the teacher Qualified?

Here is an excellent article by John Shumacher who has been visiting Pune and working with the Iyengars for over 30 years about the importance of choosing a Qualified Yoga Instructor.

Article by John Schumacher-Important Considerations when Choosing a Teacher

Communicate with your teacher your goals and questions. Everyone comes into a Yoga class with a reason whether it be a sore back, to loose weight, to de-stress. As my study budies and I talked about this subject in Laurie Blakeney's workshop a few weekends ago, we talked about how goals and injuries change over time, our bodies age. As our daily practice becomes a lifetime practice, Yoga brings us to meditation and a connection to subtle energies within ourselves and the Universe.

Yoga is a wonderful way to be a part of a community and balance that with personal practice in solitude. The environment of a Yoga class is important as it is a bridge to knowing the  "Art, Science, and Philosophy" (as BKS Iyengar says) of Yoga and knowing the true self.

Kindly,
Kelly

How to help wonderful Maher Ashram and info

If you are interested in knowing more about Maher Ashram, the website is www.maherashram.com. Also, you can visit Elizabeth Kerwin's blog at www.elizabetkerwin.wordpress.com, there you can join the mailing list. Elizabeth, amoung others has started "friends of maher" which helps maher through fundraisers and by communicating all the good that maher does by providing a safe, healthy growing environment for many souls in need. anyone can help through these websites, by seeing maher first hand, i can attest that donations and volunteer work with maher goes to people who are truly in need. funds go towards giving children homes, helping woman and children go to school, building more orphanage centers, hiring doctors to help mentally disabled, providing food &clothing, building toilets for villages that do not have any, and help all that attend and run maher have a bright future.

there is also a 9 minute youtube video that you can search about maher, im sorry, my computer tablet does not allow me to paste the link.

I encourage people to check out the websites above!

Maher

when i first arrived at maher, sister lucy welcomed me amoung others, with a smile. the children (about 40) sang to me and put orange and red powder inbetween my eyes. sister lucy then told me and another guest about maher. sister lucy started maher because she found a 7 month old woman badly burned on the ground. no one would help her. she was burned because her husband poured gas on her and lit her on fire, by the time sister lucy arrived at the hospital with her, she passed away and the baby too. sister lucy had to help so she started maher, an orphanage and womans shelter. over 600 children live at various centers. i was able to visit 4 centers.
maher definately needs support, these are not centers like the usa, the 25 children or so in each one live in one room, they lay out mats on the floor. each center has a cook, house mother, and social worker. they learn songs, english....i was there on a sunday, kids played all day. sister lucy starts centers in villages that need. maher buys toilets for these villages since people were going to the bathroom all over, making it very unhealthy. one of the centers i visited was in the middle of desert-like mountains, nothing else around, surrounded by mountains. this was the tribal center, very beautiful place. the children love visitors, the held my hand, loved my camera. i saw a house motjer picking lice out of a childs hair, giving the bugs to the child to see and let free. lets hope i dont get lice, not an easy cure in india.
these villages are very poor, some have a temple, some have a school.maher hair tries to raise money so each child can start a bank account for college, starting a bysiness, or marriage. sister lucy also has a center for woman and children with disabilities. she hopes to separate the children with disabilities to a different home. maher desparately needs help with the mentally disabeled and mentally disturbed from acts of violence. no doctors are available, they do not know how to treat these people or how to teach them . anyone is encouraged to help!
i saw some of the slums where the children come from, most have no paperwork. maher never says no to taking in a child. truly inspiring. 2 young girls were on there 3rd month volunteering, they were doing a total if 4 for college. if more colleges could help, it would be wonderful.
again, maher started 15 years ago, it has come a long,long way, it will be interesting to see how maher develops in 15 more. sister lucy has way more energy than me, she is not ready to stop helping, is extremely determined. i will post photos when i get back to usa. sister lucy told me to keep maher in my heart, after visiting, my heart and wishes goes out to everyone at maher, no doubt i will send good thoughts throughout my life.

apology for miss-spelling words

disclaimer for my grammar, i am using a tablet, not easy to fix mistakes. 

Meeting Guruji BKS Iyengar and Maher

...been a while since i have written, SO MUCH happens everyday in india, it is extremely hard to put into words. all the little things, constant honking, electricity going out with a bang, a family of 4 on a motorcycle, little child sleeps at the front with his head resting where the gas tank goes, eating at locals housrs, getting lost if u even try to walk more than a block, craving salad, locals always saying "no probem...come, sit, come eat ...its no problem, i show you..."
the best thing that has happened so far is meeting guruji BKS IYENGAR, I walked down into the tiny basement library at rimyi the first day i was accepted inti classes, just to check it out before class and there he was! it was him, no one else looks like guruji, you cant mistake it, he is an icon for all of his teachings, my hero at 93 years old, still walking down steps to study at his desk in the libary. i looked away and meandered to the books.
, a nice woman in a gorgeous sari, she was an elder offered me dried garbanzo beans and dates, said i could only have them if i was not on my period, her welcome gift,she said. then, i wanted to look at BKS Iyengar more and thought, this is my chance with only 5 or so people in the room, i knelt down before him and thanked him a few times, honor to meet him,tried to make small talk about dean lerner coming. i could barely understand him, he said "bess you,bless you......"among other things and i stood up, went to class, that was the start to my experience at the institiute, wow!
my 1st class was all woman, the teacher was very kind, mostly locals in the class who got in trouble for talking. i did good, the poses flowed pretty fast, good thing i know the sanskrit names. i loved it.usually, gunaaz dahi teaches this class, but she is out of india.
my 2nd class taught by a man was men and woman, restorative and pranayama class. he gathered us very close and talked for a long while about pranayama. he said "most people think pranayama quiets the mind, it is asana that quiets the mind so you are ready for pranayama. i LOVED this talk, then, we did headstand, not many people could do it in the middle of the room, i felt honored that si can, thanks mom for all of those gymnastic classes, now look yoga classes in india, who knew and who knows what we can become or do in the future! anyway, i will get my teachers names and write back later...then we did backbend thru a chair, shoulderstand in a chair, not at the wall. i am in the intermediate classes, by the way. then pranayama lying down. after that, our teacher demonstrated sitting pranayama with a "sharp, long exhale" teachers here talk about using "sharp"breaths. it was mind blowing to watch this masters chest expand and how far his shoulders roll back. he said "the exhilatin goes from the bottom tip of the chest bone down on an outward diagonal to the floating ribs"he had us use our hands to feel. then we tried. soooo challenging for me to do sitting pranayama, i have only tried it a few times. he guided us for3 rounds...aharo, long exhilation, inhalation,back to normal breath, again, he guided us for about 3 rounds, then we had to do our own. this was challenging, i felt like i might faint or puke, but i know being a student of yoga, that that is the begining, pranayama takes timeand dedication to learn. i also learned a trick while sitting to bring the arms slightly away from the chest, roll shoulders
back, bring the arms back closer to the chest, elbow tips desendin to the floo....very helpl!
savasana tips.."if the back o te heel
are touching the floor, your leds are not ready for savasana, the outer edge of the ankle should be touching the floor."
much to learn in deed, i really like this male teacher, very direct, yet kind, firm voice.
todat, sunday was a day off, i went to maher ashram, the orphanage and womans shelter. avery hard travelling day, i rode there on a rickshaw for an hour, anyone who has ever ridin in one knows an hour is WAY too long. i got very sick and once at maher, travelled for 4 more hours on dirt bumby roads, no bathroom break, very very sick, i even saw a mirage at one point...we were out in the very desolate dry, desert like india, even went to a tribal community in the middle of thedesert mountains.i would have enjoyed it more, except i was ill from the extreme, and i mean very tremendous amount of pollutuon and exhuast i inhaled from the rickshaw ride even while wearing a face mask(thanks to tracy)and a scarf! i finally was able to lay down for a while, then became worried about having to ride home in a rickshaw for another hour after 5 hours of bumpy pollutiony roads. sister lucy was kind to have her driver take me home, which felt like forever to come being so sick. maher is an amazing place, i will write more about it tomorrow as i am tired.tomorow, i look forward to my evening yoga class and maybe a massage after my rickety day, 7 dollars for a massage! on that note, good night!i

acceptance into rimyi

walking into the ramamani iyengar memorial institute had my heart pounding, walking down a street with gigantic huge trees, birds singin cool tunes, car exhaust, hopping across streets playing frogger. then, i see the sign....ramamani memorial institute! past the security guard, beautiful carvings on the wall of bks iyengar, shoes outside, shrines. i kept thinking "i cant believe i am here! " Nervous because i hope to get into classes upstairs, i really need yoga, so tight from traveling,need a routine. found pandu, the famous to me secretary, we shook hands,smiled. he asked me how long have i been doing yoga, isaid 8 plus years, showed him my paperwork from elizabeth as verification. (thank u to elizabeth), also said that i am friends with dean lerner whom i am meeting in pune. pandu wrote out my daily yoga schedule on a small paper... i'm in! lots of paperwork, good thing i brought an extra passport photo...100 dollars for a month of 6 days a week classes. then, another secretary told me from my emails to the center that i was not supposed to be able to take classes until august. when i emailed from the states, they said i couldnt come till august...i put on ,y nice face and said i couldnt come in august and pandu said ok, the other secretary showed me the old emails and i was scared he would not let me in...then he said ok! phew, close call!!! my class starts today, it is hot hot here, have to wear a t shirt which i am not used to. muscles like vise grips right now, excited for class. sunday is my only day off. i still plan to go to maher, its true, a month is not long in india.
ambience hotel rules. they laugh at me cause i put extra hot paste on all my food which americans must not usually do. food is super yummy, veggies and good spices. saw a mom feeding her baby a bottle while ridin the back of a motorcycle in insaine traffic, no hemets anywhere.quit drinking coffee withdraws. made a clothing line in bathroom, had to wash mumbai off.
good day, it will be scary and a thrill to sit before class starts today. aaron fleming, a certified iyengar teacher told me india is a ver scary, very amazing place, very true.
i cant publish photos till i get back cause this tablet is too flashy and my camera wont plug into it. speaking of flashy, i definatel have to cover up here, a shawl at all times. cant wear my hair down, i tried it and walked about a block and the stares were a sign, i stii have a faint touch of blonde at the ends, woman tie their hair back here, i need t blend in,not many americans, i think i have seen 3 besides me. this is more of a journal so i hope i dont bore you with my long writing,good thing to do as i  need lots of rest in between the wild whirl of india!

india first class

everyone has the glimmer ofhope they will someday be bumped to 1st class.that was me, always trying to beg my way with never any luck. my chances to get bumped up on ahjn international flight i knew was hopeless, was i wrong.  i felt glad to sit next to a dentist who lives in mumbai, he told me places to go, even offered a ride to my hotel so i didnt need to take a cab, we talked for about 30 minutes, he put a blanket over his lap.....i was reading..noticed he started straight up masterbating. not appropriate for such close quarters. i just hoped he would stop, nope. iwas stuck in the window seat. finally couldnt take it anymore and asked him to get up, he was frazzled trying to cover himself. i got help and they bumped me up to first class, full bed seats for 8 hours. the flight crew spoiled me rotten. no charges since it was my word vs his, creepy, definately shook me up.
getting into mumbai late at night, found a cab...scariest drive ever! tiny tin can cabs no seatbelts no road rules. no english.....just get me to my hotel. went in hotel, no english dark back room office...scray. then i swa my name in the book and knew i was ok.



woke up went to the gateway to india! travelers sunshine hot. i wanted to go to elephanta island, waves to big people yesterday were stuck there till midnight. then an english speaking local snaged me and offered me a car tour, i took him up on it..figured he needed work. in a movie phil and i watched said india is like a wave and not to fight it, so i went  in a tiny cab with the driver and mr. mike tour guide. we ate food, ginger veggie balls wih oily sauce,so far so good. went to gandi's house museum cool! had to stop and buy a shawl forgot mine to wear to go in temple. the shop owner was mad sine i walked out of the store 3 times not wanting to pay so much since i had one at hotel, good bargaining on my park. went to hanging gardens park, all was good but just being in a cab here is a ride in itself! bought some young kids (about 5 and6) a big bag of rice,they wanted more more more, i can put my teacher voice on and told them to be thankful for the rice.lots of beggars.they mostly ask for food. oh yeah, the temple had a god that was for vegetarians...or something. i said a prayer for my friend jennifer to find a teaching job. the cst train station is amazing!, beautiful building.tomorow i hope to take the train to pune....stay tuned,need lots of rest, india is quite the zing on the senses.love,kelly forgive the miss spellings and slang, im on a template....lucky to have internet!

*Thank you to my Granny for being my spirit guide and for always encouraging the gypsy within me.
*Thank you to my Mom for always being worried with so much love and caring spirit and always talking to my Angel Aunt Kathy to make me safe.
*Thank you to Phil for helping make this trip possible by watching Tosh, packing the house, helping me pack my maze, helping with technology, putting suprises on my tablet, and for always being loving.
*Thank you to Elizabeth Kerwin for being my guiding light with Yoga, helping me plan my future and being supportive with a positive growing life. Also, for the lovely card.
*Thank you to Susan, Stacey, Charlotte, and the 8 Petals students for being supportive with my Yoga teaching.
*Thank you to Tracy for being excited and taking the leap to go in the future which will fly by....
*Thank you to Valerie for screaming in the phone with me for the excitement of travels and laughing about our Costa Rica trip and her baby.
*Thank you to Heidi, Brad, and Nova for inviting us over and over and over!!!
*Thank you Jennifer for calling and remembering the day before I leave.
*Thank you Michelle for ALWAYS calling no matter what.
*Thank you to Anthony for wanting to hang out and have fun in between the busy times of life.
*Thank you to Betsy and Wendy for being great friends and family.

*Thank you to everyone else who gave blessing for this trip and especially for anyone I am forgetting. It is getting late and I head out tomorrow for a very long travel time! I hope to have internet access so I can share this exciting experience with others!