Moving On

It is with some sadness (yet with some excited anticipation too) that I will be saying good bye to Doon School and Dehradun. I am heading off to Jammu and Kashmir today (April 3rd or "yesterday" in India, as such I am probably already on the train or at my destination).

I am SO excited to go on a vist with Banita to her home! It's going to be wonderful!
I am sure to have more blog posting to do but, again, am not sure what the time will be like for the Internet(s). As such... I will try to post updates when I can but it might be a bit delayed. But that doesn't mean I don't love you.

Unexpected Picture with the Goddess Kali to prove I still love you.

Report Card for a Month at Doon

(as a final reflection on what I've learned while at the Doon School in Dehradun I composed this article to share my experience and gratitude with the people of Doon - April 3, 2011)

Report Card for a Month at Doon

When I came to Doon School at the beginning of March I had signed up to teach but also planned to learn as much as I could. At the end of this short term I felt I should assess myself, a report card of sorts. I expected to have a grade in Teaching Yoga to Youth and Social Service in India. The unofficial course descriptions for these two classes being "adapting the instruction of yoga asana for a class of teen-aged students" and "supervising students and participating in a variety of social justice projects" respectively. While assigning myself a grade for how well I taught yoga doesn’t seem proper I can evaluate how much I've learned. From class structure and planning to the excellent questions asked by the C-Formers, my perception of yoga warrants 70%. For Social Service my "assignments" were varied and three had substantial impact: the Bindal School, the John Martyn Memorial School and the trip with O and T House A-Formers to the Almora area. It impressed me to see the Doscos who served the Bindal students; inspired me to experience how the John Martyn School embraced education; and the expedition to Almora-area villages and the A-Formers with whom I explored provoked a deep inquiry and motivation about how to contribute meaningfully to society. Those four words (as both revelation and complication): impressed, inspired, inquiry and motivation were precisely what I needed for my own future endeavors: 96%.

That is where I expected my evaluation to end. However, I came to realize I had also attended two "unregistered" classes the first being Foreign Languages. As it turned out Hindi was not the primary language I was learning and I'm sure I picked up more in both "Body Language" and "Doon School." The latter unexpected language learning came quickly as I navigated new (to me) definitions and concepts like "passing out," "forms" and "cricket" (which I formerly only understood as 'fainting,' 'paper questionnaires' and 'small chirping bugs with wings' - actually, I had heard of the sport of Cricket before, but had never seen it played, let alone watched World Cup matches on T.V.). My effort in Hindi was a lot less impressive than I expected so I can only grade myself 50%.

My final course? It would have to be entitled something like Practicum in Excessive-Control Prevention. I knew I had a great deal to learn on the subject - with my background in event planning, organizational management and even post-secondary studies all the drives to schedule and over-plan are in overdrive while the ability to allow for flexibility and spontaneity is in sore disuse. I must admit I did not expect to have the experience of allowing life to unfold of its own accord in the midst of a well-structured and disciplined environment of a high-caliber residential school. Perhaps it was because of this that I could allow myself to enjoy what life had to offer from yoga lessons and art projects to dancing the jhoda, playing Holi and accompanying American exchange students – I was continually reminded to relinquish the impulse for meticulous over-management and enjoy every moment. Even though I have a lot more to learn, these life-lessons were revolutionary and worthy of an 97%.

It was a month of learning I won't soon forget. The lessons, the exercises and the classes were, of course, critical but were it not for all the people here at Doon - their creativity, cleverness and camaraderie - I doubt I would have learned nearly as much. So to all of you, my teachers, I extend my gratitude.

The Urge to Plan

As I am trying to practice contentment and living in the present moment AND going with the flow... I am feeling an overwhelming urge to PLAN SOMETHING. Oh no. Not now... There have been lots of intersting events going on in and around Doon and I have been having both fun and inspiring experiences - for which I am truly grateful but the last two days have started to sound like a ticking clock and I feel I should be "Making Plans" for the rest of my time here in India (1 month and 7 days to be precise).

I am no longer so sure I will be making it all the way out to Bodh Gaya on this trip as I have come across and been accepted to a different Silence Meditation course that is both closer to Delhi/Dehradun and will be a habitable temperature at the time of said course. The fact came to me that in Bodh Gaya around the beginning of April it can be will be HOT. We are talking a minimum of 27 degrees Celcius and highs more like the mid 40s. I have faith in my ability to be silent for 10 days... but not to spend 10 days in plus 43 degree temperatures. No. No thank-you. So this other retreat (which also allows for laying meditation, walking meditation and some silent morning yoga - none of which were permitted in the Bodh Gaya one) it is! As it turns out the Doon School is also going (for the four days prior) to work in a small village in the exact same area of Nainital! Coincidence?

Best part of it all is that the organization that Doon will be working with is AMAZING and I am just starting to learn more about some of the amazing and truly inspirational work they have done in fostering community, supporting women and educating children through their Badwali program (more about that later). Anyway, it is totally the kind of thing I'd like to see first hand and OF COURSE be able to help out with!

So maybe I'll just stick around here a little while longer and join in on these other projects in different areas of Uttakahand and plan two or three mini-trips (i.e. Agra, Delhi, Corbett Park) and then leave March alone. Ironically/coincidently/appropriately my alarm clock also broke last night. I take it as a sign to give up on the over-planning and go with the flow.

I Quit

After my first day at Doon School volunteering... I Quit!

I Quit my worrying about scheduling.

I Quit my panic over planning.

I Quit running from place to place.

I Quit, well... I'd say I quit my job... but I already did that!

I LOVED my first day! Even with a cough and head cold and some very potent oral remedies (making me both dizzy and detatched in the afternoon) it was FANTASTIC. And I am not overexaggerating to sell issues of Lyndia's India either!

First - I had a nice breakfast at the Foote House table of C-form students (the younger grade). I was announced/introduced at the post-breakfast assembly and it was official. The students are all required to address the female teachers (now I am one too) as "ma'am" which feels very formal and I keep wanting to say "it's just Lyndia" but the rules are well established and well followed here so I won't ever say it outloud :)

Second - I went to the on-campus hospital for some medicine and can safely say from the vantage point of the next day that they were well worth it.

Met the enthusiastic, intelligent and supportive yoga teacher KPS and observed my first class, was introduced to the group (1 of 5) and then even got to teach for 5 minutes at the end. When will I teach again? Well... as of now (Friday) it's already done! The best-est part of all?? One of the students (a girl, one of very few - and only as she is a daughter of one of the teachers) beamed at the affirmative response to her question of "Will you be teaching us at our next class?" And then today (at said "next class") she came up to me and asked if I could meet with her some afternoon too! I. WOULD. LOVE. TO. (but now I am getting ahead of myself... I need to focus on why YESTERDAY was awesome, not today...)

Then I felt all my medicine kick in and compile side-effect on top of side-effect... I was exhausted, dizzy, and very unfocussed. So I did the only logical thing - after lunch I took a chai break, had a cookie and went to sleep. And MISSED my after-lunch scheduled Social Service class.  ....luckily I was napping at the home OF the Social Service teacher so she knew exactly where to find me! :)

I woke up JUST IN TIME and she took me over to where the Doon boys were... teaching at the Bindal project - where the children and youth living in the dried river bed a few blocks from the school come for tutoring, classes and EVEN YOGA! Six Doon boys were teaching two yoga classes and I came to and came in just as they were starting. I got to supervise these great young men instructing the eight young women at the Under-the-Bridge school in yoga. I also was instructed to take photos (so: done and done!)

Bindal Students I taught yoga to for 10 minutes ;)

Then the best part of the class was when the yoga teacher said that the Doon boys would assist and translate while I got to teach some asanas to these girls! YEEEE-HAW! It was SO FUN! I've never had such a great 14 minutes of yoga teaching before! I had them dancing and laughing a bit too and a few times my poor translators could only say "just please watch ma'am." At least we all had fun and apparently I will be able to do this two or three times a week (again, just found out today).

Girls at Sapera Basti (village) I was *supposed* to teach yoga to but they wanted to tour us around the village and show us their house and bedrooms and jewlery and posters of favourite Bollywood actresses.

That, all that... that was the cake. So the icing?

I missed my walking partner/roommate and was accompanied home by someone new (the librarian who lives in the main floor of the home I stay at)... someone who actually just took me back via SCOOTER (aka. Scootie).

SO AWESOME!

p.s. today I taught my first class in the yoga school and I will have about four per week.