No video or blog or retelling of the story can do the actual experience justice as it was so compelling and powerfully moving that you really did have to be there to feel it. suffice it to say - the smiles and the energy and the manner of these children was so beautiful, loving, giving, pure and full of light - that I must rank this at the top experiences of my 45 years of already unbelievably wondrous experiences. Enjoy and Namaste.
I can't express gratitude adequately or often enough to Neli, Angel, Britt, Kathy, Luisa, Michelle, Ouenn and Rose for the time and the shared experience of love and magic.
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Original invitation and introduction excerpted below from Neli Hristova, who I am honored to call friend, my yoga teacher and an overall ray of beautiful light...who organized this trip and did the vast majority of the fund raising to make it all possible through over a year's worth of free yoga in the park sessions, and fund raising parties dedicated to this event.
" Karma means Action, and Karma Yoga is associated with selfless actions that would benefit the society, doing something with no expectations of anything in return!
Join us for a long weekend trip at the beginning of December to the breathtaking Indian state of Kerala. A life changing experience - spending time with little orphans, surrounding them with love, care and compassion. They just need to know that the society has not forgotten about them.
Let us make this an unforgettable experience that they will keep in their hearts forever!
As some of you know, I started the Yoga donation initiative last year in October, initially I was holding classes on the Corniche and the money was collected for Maiti Nepal - an organisation supporting young ladies victims of human trafficking. However, I did not feel that the small amount of money we were collecting would have had an impact on a big organisation like Maiti Nepal, also, I did not know how the donations were going to be used.
I kept looking at various options on the internet - from helping with education expenses to donating money for purchasing food and clothes for a child. My research lead me to different articles where the authors were claiming that with this type of donations, the children do not actually benefit from the money, the kids were made to sign disclaimers or write letters to sponsors confirming the receipt of the donations, but they actually did not see any of it.
I did want the donations from my Yoga students to bring positive changes to the orphans's life, and wanted to know how and why the money are being used.
Then I started talking to my Indian friends to see if they know personally a trustworthy charity where I can send the donations. I was given details of a few charities near Bangalore supporting orphans and underprivileged children. I decided instead of just sending the money, I would travel to India, and stay at the orphanages as a volunteer. Then I would know what the kid's daily life is, get to know them better, find out what they need the most .... and purchase it myself. I want to bring a smile on their little faces, give them love, happiness and joy, a wonderful memories that they will keep in their hearts forever...
I choose India because Yoga was born there, and Yoga helped me turn my life around, made me a happier, healthier, a better person. My Yoga Guru, Devadasji, who I deeply respect is from India as well, and I wanted to give something back to the people of this beautiful country.
In terms of a destination, I finally decided to organise a trip to Kerala - it is easy to get there, also My Yoga Guru comes from the beautiful state, and he has told me about 3 orphanages in a desperate need of help that he personally supports. Devadasji also recommended an Ashram where we can all stay, located not far from the orphanages."
As mentioned previously, the ashram was the Amritapuri Ashram www.amritapuri.org in Kerala, India.
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