My First Saree

Films that Matter

With my projects such as Art for Peace and the Candid City Project, I've learned (or been reminded of) this one thing: that art really does have the power to create change and transform lives. I understand the idea of art for art's sake, but if, at the same time, it can do good for the world, why not bring it into that realm.

I wrote a story for New England Watershed magazine a couple years ago on an amazing Holyoke, Massachusetts-based art named Don Wilhelm. On the outside, Don was what you would imagine a painter to be: a wiry, white-haired, disheveled man who would break out into fits of artistic rage at any given moment. When he spoke about art, though, he spoke thoughtfully and quietly, as if he were traveling back in time to the minds of the great masters, such as Renoir or Michelangelo. He had lived as a sidewalk portrait painter in New York and New Orleans, but before that, oddly, he was a super-star football player for Arizona, drafted by the Dallas Cowboys before he was injured and forced to pursue another career. As a painter, he watched from the sidelines as the world took many hard hits. On his transistor radio, he heard the reports of the tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia, and shortly afterwards, word flooded in that Katrina had struck his beloved New Orleans. This time, he knew he had to use his talent to help the victims. For the next months, he doodled, sketched, and sculpted his ideas for a series of Katrina paintings, studying every detail--even having models stand in the river outside his studio to see how water dripped off their bodies. In the end, he created an eerie, haunting, and deeply moving series that he auctioned off to aid the people in need in Louisiana. This time, he knew that his paintbrush and easel could be as powerful as any hammer and nail.

Over the last five years, I've had the honor of meeting some incredibly talented people through Trinity and New England Watershed. But I've never seen anyone so dedicated to using the medium of art to create social change as filmmaker and boyfriend (full disclosure!) extraordinaire, Michael Burns. He has started full speed ahead with his latest film that follows three individuals struggling with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as they engage in a transformative mental health therapy called EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). Check out this film's site at www.emdrmovie.com/ or below at Indiegogo, and help make a film that really matters.

Nagpur Oranges, and More

At my yoga teacher training at the Yoga Institute of Santa Cruz in September, I met a friend, Smita, who has been incredibly helpful to me here, inviting me over for delicious dinners and setting me up with various appointments to help get my volunteer projects going. She comes from a powerful political family in Nagpur--a city in the center of India known for its juicy oranges--but lives in Mumbai with her two boys, ages 14 and 20.

Last week, I got back from spending time at her family's palatial home in Nagpur--complete with a swimming pool and, get this, a luscious green lawn! I haven't seen green in so long. The first thing I did was take my shoes off and let my toes feel the soft dirt and blades of grass underneath.

Although I could have spent all day lounging in the backyard with a book, we ended up on the move most of the time, presenting our yoga workshop, visiting Gandhi's ashram, gracing her father's huge birthday party, and attending a Children's Day event with over 2,500 children. It was great to get out of Mumbai for a while and see a different place. Not only was there fresh air, but there weren't the slum areas everywhere like I see all over this city. Mumbai is just so conjested and overpopulated that people just set up home anywhere and everywhere.

Yoga and Health Workshop with Orphanage Children

Since Smita's family is politically connected, they have set up schools and colleges all over their area. In addition, they built an ashram--an orphanage--where over 50 boys are considered part of their family. While I was there, both her niece and her father were celebrating birthdays, and each birthday is started by cutting cake with the ashram boys. Her father even had them all over to the house for a big breakfast! They've built a home for the boys, taken them on trips all around India, sent them to good schools, and have computers and tutoring lessons for them--extras usually reserved just for the very rich children in India.
Smita and I spent three, high-energy days with the boys, using games to teach them yoga postures and concentration. In one balancing posture, Utkatasana, the boys had to practice it while balancing books on their heads. The had so much fun, and they were so excited to have a foreigner visiting their home. They asked me such intelligent questions about the U.S. economy, the price of gas, and Barack Obama. So amazing! I also taught them some English songs and American customs, having them practice their English skills while giving them a bit of a cultural lesson.

Children's Day Drawing Competition

Our days at the ashram ended with a huge drawing competition for Children's Day India, with over 2,500 kids participating in the contest. There were various themes, including "Underwater World" and "Favorite Indian Monuments or Festivals." Some of these drawings were really incredible for such young children. One of the best parts of the day was when kids took the stage in the talent portion, where they showed off their artistic aspirations. By far the best was a boy of no more than eight, who had the crowd roaring during his stand-up routine. Even though I couldn't understand a word of his Hindi jokes, his delivery and inflection were so beyond his years that I couldn't help but laugh. India's next Jay Leno, perhaps?

Gandhi's Ashram at Sevagram: India's Non-violent Fight for Independence
Our time in Nagpur ended with a trip to the ashram from where Gandhi and his followers led India's peaceful resistance against British rule. Sevagram was a quiet, simple place with a powerful aura about it. There was a modest exhibit of Gandhi's incredible life and work, and one of the small houses still had his shoes and walking stick. He had extraordinarily strong convictions, and at the ashram, many of his rules to live by were offered all around. In 1947, without ever engaging in violent words or actions, Gandhi achieved the dream of independence for his beloved country.

M.I.A.

Rest assured, I am still alive, despite my dearth of posts these days. I was out of Bombay presenting a yoga workshop and somehow contracted something that has left me barely functioning for the past couple of weeks. I'm sure it's nothing more than a sinus infection or a bad head cold, but since I spend most of my time trapsing around Bombay's streets, breathing in highly polluted air and battling extreme heat, I just can't seem to escape long enough to recover. Anyway, read on--I'll try to catch you up on all I've been up to.