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Austin Wright and Prem Lata Memorial School

CYS created and fully funds a free elementary school for impoverished children in Chandigarh, India. Most of the children are of the Scheduled Caste; often tragically referred to as the "untouchables". The school also offers adult education and many community development projects. We currently struggle to help around 100 students, but literally thousands more in the area could benefit tremendously if CYS could expand its capacity.  Please consider making a donation; you might be amazed at how far a few dollars can go!!!

Donations are tax deductible as they are taken through the karma yoga arm of CYS

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But...

Would you rather offer service to this great cause?!..

We can't afford to fly you to India, but once you get there our teaching staff feed and house you, and give unmatched Indian hospitality. In exchange you would be working at the school in a teaching capacity. It may be the most rewarding experience of your life! However, it wont be easy! Below is a response I recently emailed to someone inquiring about interning at the school.

Dear _________, i am so happy to hear this! [her decision to intern at the school for several months] but to be honest i must say first off that even just a couple of months can be very hard on anyone that is not accustomed to poverty at the extremes you find it in India; and though we can find you a somewhat comfy place for room and board, you would be working in an area that has no immediately tangible outward beauty, as we know it, no grass, no parks, garbage and dust everywhere, etc.


Beauty may sound like a strange thing to mention in terms of how it can be difficult to live there without it, but you will find that the lack of it can have quite a heavy impact over the long term; however one person CAN tangibly make a difference when they Do decide to stay for a long haul, as you have implied. But even a short time has shown to leave an impact as well; on the school/ faculty/ children/ parents/ and whole community too, but the biggest impact would probably be on you! it Will change you forever! you Will cry! (perhaps often) and your heart Will be ripped out (perhaps often); but this isn’t actually bad.  ...would you never allow yourself to see the greatest movie ever made because you knew it would impact you so deeply that you might sob unceasingly for hours???

It is actually a most beautiful thing, it is the awakening of compassion ~a necessity for more and more individuals to have, that the earth has been waiting for, in order to bring about the necessary collective awakening of humanity to compassion. It is compassion that will save the planet from destruction while constructing a new earth held together with the conscious realization of our oneness as one human family.

So you definitely Will Not return the same. you Will Not live the same. you Will Not see the value of a dollar the same, and you Will Not be able to look around you -back in America- without seeing so many endless absurdities/ atrocities in the disparities between the 'have everythings' and the 'have nothings'; and thus you will become conscious of something obvious to all but hidden to most; and in that consciousness to the obvious you will become a most excellent yoga teacher; the real stuff -not that asana fetish!

I think ideally it would be cool to take the South India Adventour i lead in feb to break you in; and if you don’t break altogether (just kidding) you could then stay after the trip to do service at the school. Either way, i highly suggest you do not go straight into serving without first settling your spirit into India first; like with this tour or something like it; otherwise you will not know how to get away, to recharge your batteries, to know that there are other sides to india, rather than get stuck in a slums consciousness; and then u can also take the kids and teachers parents, etc out on field trips (which we could fund for you); as they can be very ingrained into that slums consciousness for lack of never getting out o it from time to time. (by slums consciousness i mean having little concept of the possiblity of finding and creating beauty around oneself and ones neighborhood) / But the work i would like to see our yogically inclined interns to do there is to teach and help implement the things like we teach n our yog teacher training; things which help them to recognise their innate nobility; as this school works with the caste that historically were referrred to as "Untouchables"

Ok, well lets keep this conversation going until the direction gets clear.
Cheers!
Will

So, if that letter didn’t scare you off, but rather piqued your interests even more!!!, then please please contact Will for more information: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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Donations:
You can make donations via the Paypal button below or by mailing a check/money order, payable to Virtues First, Inc.

Mail to:
Cincinnati Yoga School
6125 Ridge Road,
Cincinnati, Ohio 45213.


BIG NAMASTE!