Learning Yoga for Peace in the Classroom

Wow, is this the greatest gift ever! Children with autism respond to it so positively. Such children often have a hard time understanding words. This bowl, which comes in different sizes and metal combinations, and thus has different sounds, doesn’t speak words– it just sings. Sometimes it sings slow and deep, other times, it’s faster, higher, or just different. Many children are attracted to the sound, which is said to be the same frequency as the earth, similar to the sound “OM”. Children who have a hard time focusing for even 1 second can watch me play for a minute, or even more. Today, it worked wonders on one child who has a tendency to cry. Everytime she started, I would ring the bell or play it and her mouth would soften and...

By now, if you’ve been following my posts on Yoga for Peace and how Yoga is related to Peace, you won’t find this information new. Rather, it will be a condensed version of what I’ve been talking about all along…. Bringing Yoga philosophies to Peace Studies in order to create inner peace, communities in peace, and world peace. This is what I taught at the University of Jaume, in Castellon de la Plana, Spain, a region south of Barcelona, east of Madrid, and north of Valencia. I was pleasantly surprised that many of the students had taken yoga lessons, even yoga teacher training before. One mentioned she planned to use it in her Master’s thesis! Our discussions traveled further than the 5000+ mile- journey from India to Spain. We used...

In peace building efforts it is important to go slow, not to expect immediate results or for a project to blast off immediately, and listen to the recipient’s feedback. Last year there was an “arab spring uprising”, in places such as Syria, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen. These did not happen overnight, nor did they happen without open ears and hearts. The planning for these uprisings took a lot more time than what we might have witnessed from the outside. There was much discussion and  I know this, because a dear friend of mine was a key planner in the events that unfolded in Egypt. I reminded parents this today. They should not worry if they cannot practice a lot with their child, or their child does not catch on immediately. Instead, it is important...

Yoga for Special Needs children is an unique situation in terms of peace studies. While you are trying to affect the children and bring some peace through relaxation, focus, and calming, into their lives, you often have to work with the parents. While this is different than most peace-related work, where you aim to direct your attention to the people whom you are serving, there’s a sense that this is similar to a lot of international development: an organization in a developing country is used as a third-party manager, a sort of liason between the donor and the community. This, as you very well know, is one of the biggest difficulties in development projects: getting the donor to understand the needs of the community and provide funding appropriately. I got...

Lately, a lot of people have been asking me what I’m doing in India, how long I’m going to stay here, and what my plans are. Especially as I keep falling sick or getting hurt. My answer is usually standard: I’m here until God takes me elsewhere. I’d love to go all around the world. And I have a plan to make it happen. I just don’t know when it will happen. It could be frustrating, but over time, I’ve learned to let go. Part of yoga is to persevere and overcome the obstacles in one’s path to samadhi (nirvana/ enlightenment). You might not get the asana perfectly the first time you try it. You might not even understand what to do. In the peace field, one must also persevere, struggling to get the message across. The first...

This evening, I had my first class at the local domestic violence organization. For most of the students, it was their first class too–ever. Some had heard of yoga but none knew what it was or what to expect. I understood their mindset all too well. I remember when I left my abusive situation and started taking yoga classes at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA). Though I come from an Indian heritage with plenty of active years in ashrams and yoga classes, at that time, I was lost and confused. I was alone. I remember asking the receptionist several times about all sorts of things from, “will the teachers be understanding?” and “will you tell them about me?” to “which class should I take?”. I kept saying...