Family and Friends…again….WOW! It’s been a whirlwind experience the last few days in Rio that have been stirring the pot of emotions, feelings and connections. I finished my programs at Blyss Yoga and was very happy with my teaching experience there. Once again, I felt totally received by the students in classes and the ideas and concepts I am sharing about the path of Yoga are breathing new life into the communities where I travel. My teacher intensive programs at Blyss were well attended and the teachers who came have already shared with me that they are passing on the information / insights to their students…which is extremely satisfying to me. I know I am just a link in the chain of this path of Yoga and when I can share my studies, practice and ever evolving philosophies to open minds and hearts…then the waves of vibration carry on and stay strong.

After teaching to teachers…for the second time on this tour, I had an amazing experience teaching kids in another of Brazil’s Favela’s (slums). This venture was a bit more independant and slightly scary as I organized to enter into the Cidade de Deus (City of God) Favela. Many of you may have seen the film with the same name that shows just how rough, violent and out of control life is in this Favela. Through mutual friends, I found Fatima Lopes of the Brazil / Canada Cultural Center who helped me with everything. She and the cultural center work with a school within the favela teaching the kids art, music, computers, English and various forms of body movement. On Wednesday morning, i awoke early (6:30) to catch a bus from Jardins Botanico to Barra Point. I was by myself and with my guitar on my back. After almost 3 months here in Brazil and with my hair and tan….I have to actually convince people that I am not Brazilian (or try talking to them in Portuguese!). So the bus was no problem. Fatima told me to get out at a mall and take a taxi to the main praca at the entrance to the favela. I did and the taxi driver was very curious about why I was going to the favela alone with my guitar…I explained to him (in Portuguese) that I was a traveling yoga teacher and going to offer a class to the children. He told me he doesn’t go into the favela and I heard the same from many of my friends here. I told him that the children are so isolated in there that even their own countrymen are afraid to enter the favelas and that these kids especially need contact with the outside world if we are ever to break the cycle of violence and economic oppression that exists. He looked at me rather strangely and was happy to be arriving to the place where I would leave! Fortunately, as soon as I arrived at the Praca, Fatima called and said she was 2 minutes away and to wait the bus stop. This was at the ‘entrance’ to the favela and I felt totally fine being there on the street. It was a 3rd world country experience with busses, street vendors, workers and kids all over…and a random gringo with a guitar!

True to her word, Fatima arrived within 2 minutes and whisked me away in her car. We started driving into the Favela and she explained to me a bit about the school and the programs there as well as a little ‘tour’ of the favela. We got to the school within 10 minutes and the street outside was fairly empty except for a maybe 5 - 7 old men at the bar across at the street enjoying their 8:45 AM beer! We went in to the school and were greeted by the staff…soon, Socorro, the director of operations (a title I just gave her now!) arrived and was really happy to meet me. The kids were also arriving and she guided me upstairs to the room where I would teach. The last experience I had at Casa do Zezinho was a production…lots of kids, an altar, many cameras and people of all varieties wanting to see what we were doing. This morning at REI, the school, it was me, Fatima, Socorro and 23 children ages 9 - 14! As I walked into the room, one of the boys was in handstand! And the others were playing around…but they quickly all sat down and put their attention on me. I sat in front of them in lotus pose and smiled and looked at them. Many tried (and some succeeded) with Padmasana (lotus pose) and I began to give them an introduction to myself and to Yoga. None of them had ever heard of Yoga! A few had heard of India but they all knew about California! I introduced to them the idea that everyone in the world breathes so when we breath, we are actually connecting to everyone else on the planet…and not just people. They thought that was pretty cool…I gave a nice ‘intro to yoga for kids’ talk for about 10 minutes and then we were all ready to move. I asked them; ‘Where does the Sun rise’ in the morning…they were a bit confused…I asked them to point in the direction of the sunrise, and none of them knew. I knew where East was (it is one the first things I do when I arrive in a new city…align my inner compass) and turned them all there. Then we started a story of the sunrise and sunset with Sun Salutations….and were off and running…after about 20 - 25 minutes of lots of yoga poses and fun, we were all ready for a shift so I put them into savasana (relaxation). They all got on the floor and most of them closed their eyes like I asked! I sang to them a beautiful song in Spanish I recently learned (Promesa - by Shimshai) and brought them back from relaxation. I could see a subtle shift in most of their eyes and they were certainly more open and relaxed then when I first arrived. I gathered them close and gave a little concert / sing-a-long….not mantras this time, but Michael Franti, Bob Marley, Marissa Monte and a Portuguese translation of Lokah Samastah Sukino Bhavanto (Todos os Ceres, Em todos lugares, Seja Feliz e Livre)…we were all pretty blasted open afterwards. Looking into their eyes and singing with them and seeing their smiles really touched my heart and the reflected smiles that came back to me acknowledged that they were touched as well.

After the show, they were working on a dance coreography that there were really excited to show me! I sat a the front of the room and was elated to watch their dance…they were great! Coreographed moves, all moving together and with style and rhythm…muito legal! When the piece ended, I was almost in tears and they were all super happy. One of the helpers at the school then arrived with a shirt from the school for me. I gladly put it on and took some photos with them…and Fatima had a great idea. They have been following some of the Olympic Torch travels and Fatima suggestd that perhaps I could take this shirt from their special school in the favlela of Rio and take photos of me wearing it in all the places I go…and send them back in email to them. I LOVE this idea and am very happy to get to share stories from the world to these kids while they have a sense of connection to world through the shirt! Stay tuned for stories and photos!

After the class, Fatima and I talked a bit about how to bring more yoga teachers to the school and ways we can support each other and then she took me back to the bus stop for my ride home. I had great feelings of joy and happiness having seen and brought smiles to the faces of those children (see the photos on the photo page!) and also was inspired to create more opportunities for myself like this in other cities on my tour….if you happen to reading this and have a school / community center I could teach a free class to kids….let me know!!!! I also had feelings of great peace and gratitude for the blessed life I am living right now which were balanced with feelings of sadness and despair of what will happen to the lives of those children and to the millions of other children who live in poverty and violence. One thing I did notice with these children was that none of them looked ‘hungry’ per se…but after the class, I saw them all eating cookies and packaged junk food….this is a major hurdle in the health of the planet….shifting the tide of diet and nutrition. Brazil is rich in fruits and vegetables but there is a terrible over consumption of junk food, packaged food and sugar. When you order your fresh juice a the local corner suco stand, you have to request No Sugar or else it comes with 2 heaping spoonfulls…in Gods naturally sweet fruit juice!!! Caramba!!!! These children (and most children in the favelas) do not have the guidance or direction to learn to eat healthy and take care of themselves, which is like violence against themselves…then they are faced with gunfights, drug trafficiing, and lawlessness on a daily bases with violence on the outside. There is a lot of work to do….

Fatima and her Organization can be found here:

http://www.centroculturalbrasilcanada.org.br/

As my life is about balance…and often that takes the form of radical extremes, my afternoon experience was equal but opposite and incredibly educating in a different way. My good friend in Rio, Antonio Tigre, has been teaching yoga to children for several years now and he called me in the afternoon for a little hike. It was a welcome call and trip to the top of a park overlooking the lagoon of Rio and then it came to go as he had a class to teach at Nirvana, Rio’s super posh chiky-micky yoga studio. After my experience of teaching to kids in the favela, I wanted to learn from Antonio so he invited me to his class in the afternoon. He was amazing and although he acted like a kid the entire time, they respected every word he said. He guided them through a few poses and then had 2 or 3 games that were super fun (I played with the kids!). Then I watched as Antonio saw 2 girls in the class doing something different from the group…he walked over to them and asked what they were doing. They explained it to him and he quickly called all the others around….and had the children make us a brand new game on the spot….he allowed them to make the rules, the guidelines, how and where to start, etc….it was truly inspiring to see him empower these kids and for them to use their creativity and imaginations and to be allowed to run with their ideas to make a new game! Antonio told me this is the work / philosophy of one of his teachers and I look forward to trying it out next time I teach to kids…plus the games that he created that are very fun and effective.

From the City of God to Nirvana….classes of Yoga for kids who live lives within 10 miles of each other, but completely alternate universes…this is much of life in Brazil and very unique!