When I visited Mysore, India, the source of my vinyasa flow and Mysore practice, I fell in love. I fell in love with the country, the chaos and the contradictions. I also fell in love with the people.
After practicing at the Yoga Shala, I often passed through a slum where kids excitedly introduced themselves in perfect English, with wide eyes and beautiful smiles, wanting me to know they were learning the language in school. My heart broke every time. They were living in the worst conditions I had ever seen, and these were the kids who had a home; many kids in India are abandoned by their parents who can’t afford to feed them.
Some of these abandoned children are lucky enough to land at Operation Shanti, a nonprofit with an orphanage founded by Tracy Kunichka, an Ashtanga Yoga student from San Francisco. Many of the visiting yogis practicing in Mysore volunteered here regularly.
Upon returning to L.A., the memories of the kids stayed with me, inspiring me to organize a series of Yoga-related fundraisers to support Operation Shanti. This morphed into the campaign “Los Angeles Rocks! Operation Shanti,” with a group of dedicated volunteers including Alex Ward, who encouraged me with the simple statement, “Let’s go for it. What have we got to lose?” It was time to put the strength I gained from asana to use making a difference. I wanted to demonstrate that the next stage of our evolution isn’t just our personal transformation, but how we can be of service.
In a recent conversation with senior teacher Beryl Bender Birch, she reported feeling like many people were stuck in the doorway of asana, so fascinated by the door, the frame, the hinges, and the doorknob, that most of them didn’t even realize that they were only standing in the doorway. I’ve been inspired by people in the community, like Seane Corn, Hala Khouri, and Suzanne Sterling and Off the Mat, Into the World; by Brock Cahlil traveling ot the Gulf, by Jaime Oliver trying to feed kids healthy food. Even amidst the challenges they all face, they prove that with passion and persisitence it is possible to persevere.
It is time for all of us to step out of the doorway of asna and practice Yoga.
“What can we do to help?” I asked Tracy.
When she said the orphanage was overflowing and had far more kids than they had the capacity to house, we decided to help them build. So far, we’ve had successful events in the South Bay and the Valley, raising a total of $20,000 toward the $80,000 needed for another orphanage. Now we’ll be rocking the Westside on September 17, and demonstrate the power and strength in action from groups coming together with intention. We have the collective power to make change.
Garth Hewitt’s dream is to see this campaign through until the orphanage is built, then continue to organize community around solving problems and changing the world: Garthhewittyoga.com
