And on the third day, God said, "Let there be internet!"

Please enjoy some delicious Ravi Shankar while you read this entry :]

Life without internet is just plain horrible. Okay, I'm kidding. Life without internet would probably be pretty nice but I just feel so disconnected from everyone. Going back to non-attachment, well, let's just say I'm ready to take the next step into the modern ascetic's life. Wow, the modern ascetic. Ha. But really, the idea has always tempted me to drop everything and become a wandering sage, and it still does.

So today I snapped a photo of the girls I'm teaching poi and hoop dance. They sit there, and I demonstrate stretches, moves, and groups of 10-15 come up and try for about 10 minutes. The school has these bamboo hoops that are about 25" around, and perfect for first-time practicing. They're lightweight and small so they don't need too much room. Today we did some yoga stretches, wrist movements, I had them feel the muscles required for this type of dance, then we all got in circles and gave each other back massages! They thought this was weird, but whatever. I'm making it a daily thing because massages rock. Then I taught them the X-Y-Z planes of movement with the hoop and all in all, today was a lot of fun! I enjoy working with these girls, and they love everything I have to teach them.

 These are the girls I spent my weekend with, since there's not much going on in the neighborhoods around here I just hang out with them.. They stay at the orphanage next door to the guest house (where the elders reside). They ask me hundreds of questions and love looking at photos of me and my "lover" Brock. They teach me some Tamil, and it all sounds like tongue twisters to me. So far, I can say "I like you." Which is pronounced: yanika ungala pudachidaka. Instead of "ungala" you can insert anything you like! So, yanika Chennai pudachidaka. I like Chennai! Yay.

During yoga today, I noticed that the disabled students were struggling. The instruction is strict and not exactly relaxing, which I suppose is necessary when you're teaching yoga to a huge group of restless fourth graders. I offered to give personal one-on-one assistance to these two students. I don't have much experience with special Ed, but I'm going to start slow. Start sitting next to them, working on the easy postures with them, doing more grounding work. I emailed those at Spectrum Yoga Therapy for some advice. Everyone can benefit from yoga, from oldfolk to youngfolk to those in between! I'm excited to gain some experience with non-traditional students. I'm going to start spending a free period once or twice a week in the special ed room working with a few students.

Also, I was reminded today that I haven't had a good thoughtful post in awhile. Mostly because I've been quite busy! Worry not, though. My brain is still as pensive as it always is. I just haven't had people to bounce my thoughts off of, and I miss my philosophical discussions with my homies. There's a couple things I've been meaning to mention, one is the presence of religion in the Lady Andal School. I haven't witnessed much at Seva Sadan (the government school), but there is daily prayer at Lady Andal. It's general prayer, acknowledging the "omnipotent, omnipresent God," asking for guidance in academics. I think the majority of the school is Hindu and Christian, some Sikh (you can tell because of their unique headwraps.) From what I can tell, I would say this is an excellent example of religious coexistence. That said, does religious coexistence include those who choose not to have a religion? I'm making daily observations on this, but I'm skeptical about religion in school.

So yesterday I had to make an important phone call using the landline which is right next to a TV which one of the elderly women was watching on super loud volume. I was upset that she had the TV on so loud and was trying to avoid making assumptions in my head about what a grumpy old crazy lady she must be, but I was getting annoyed. Another woman came over and asked her to turn it down in Tamil, and she snapped back. When her show was over she turned it off and left. I figured she was mad that I was using the phone while she was trying to watch TV, but really she just wanted to finish her show. Talk about living in our own subjective worlds. So, later that night I was doing yoga in the garden and a couple girls recruited me to teach them. I taught them a mudra and we practiced alternate-side pranayama and surya namaskar. The same old lady who I assumed was crazy and grumpy came over and asked me where I learned yoga. I told her I took classes but she just didn't seem to understand that yoga is popular in the West now. I told her I learn it from the Bhagavad Gita, which was clearly the right answer. She told me she would like to see my Gita some day, as she lives down the hall from me. Who knows, I might make friends with her. We'll see, I'm learning to be free of expectations and assumptions, as India is such an unpredictable place!

Alright, time for bed. Your messages are motivating, so please keep them up!

Sending love,
Om Shanti