Moses Green Bus Tour Master Classes and Trunk Show at Midwest Power Yoga Appleton and Mequon and at Bodhi Tree Power Yoga Retreat!

Join Deborah Williamson, Master Baptiste Teacher, in Amelia Island, October 2-4,2009

Letter from Paige at Africa Yoga Project

Post - Bootcamp has been days of complete exhaustion, weeks of total inspiration, sleepless nights and many hours away from the computer. There is something that Baron says at Bootcamps "remember you are a transformed person going back into a untransformed environment" but the radical thing about this program is so many of the students live in the same community - 56 to be exact - that we came back to a transformed environment. It was more than personal development, what you guys were part of and gave to us - was community development.

We have been meeting as a group over twice a week, with many smaller meetings happening during the week. It is the money that you raised that allowed the training to happen and transportation costs for these weekly meetings. We practice on yoga mats, not concrete and wear comfortable, clean yoga clothes, not hole filled, dirty old rags. It is your letters, carrying of mats and money that has given us these supplies.

The school in Amboselli, at Jacobs town, opened this week. There are 50 children attending that were previously at home, either minding goats or helping their mothers cook and clean at ages 4-6 years old. At the request of the women in both villages we have purchased reading and writing books for adult education classes that are starting next month. These women are illiterate and now will be taught how to read and write. It is the money you raised that allowed us to buy these books and employ a teacher.

Everlynne (Victoria) is back in school, in the 7th grade. She had dropped out due to poverty. She now gets a meal everyday and has a new uniform, text book and will teach yoga to her school mates. Another boy from Jackson's village is going to high school, he is an orphan and had also dropped out due to poverty. This is a direct sponsporship that Dina T has provided for on top of the $5000 she raised.

My first trip to Kenya to teach and learn left me exhausted. It challenged me in every way possible - the food was different, I got sick, I did not feel safe, and at the same time something in my heart opened that had never been touched. I was the catalyst of change for someone besides myself. I experienced this muscle called "Making a Difference." If not me, who? That first trip to teach became the first of many. Just as yoga practice on the mat is addictive, so is making a difference. Once I saw that it was possible to affect a life so profoundly just by making phone calls, sending emails, raising money, and just plain "doing it" - once I saw the possibilities - well, who wouldn't want to keep going?

I believe that we all want to do good in this world. No matter who we are or how hard our own lives are (in fact, sometimes for that very reason), I think we all have an innate need to give to others, to share ourselves and our resources with those who have less than us.

I'm blessed to know you people who want to help – and blessed as well to know people who need the help. I know that may seem oddly phrased, but I do believe that both are an opportunity to open myself to the greater good in myself and in this world. I am consistently blown away by our beautiful needs - our need for each other, our need for connection, our need to devote ourselves to something larger.

Thank you,
Paige Elenson
Founder Africa Yoga Project

Deborah Williamson from Midwest Power Yoga and her crew will be teaching yoga in the Yoga Journal tent at the Avon Breast Cancer Walk in Chicago!

About the Avon Walk Chicago
Noted for its Lake Michigan shoreline and downtown skyline (considered by many as the most picturesque skyline in the world), America’s third-largest city plays host to the Avon Walk Chicago, June 6-7, 2009. You will travel along the vast lakefront, past stunning architecture and through vibrant multi-cultural neighborhoods. Whether you’re a resident or a visitor, you’ll come face-to-face with the Midwest warmth, friendliness and sophistication of Chicagoland—all the while helping the city’s breast cancer community gain momentum and take one step closer to a cure.

JOIN US!

Watch for more fundraising details to come...

AYP/BPYI - Day 10 Travel Home

Health Recap:
1. Blisters on my heels and cuts on tops of feet (new Keens)
2. Large bruise right arm with strange looking cuts (Bat night)
3. Sunburn on top of shoulders (Masai village)
4. Large bruises on shins from kneeling on cement (at Teacher Training)
5. Stye in right eye (at Teacher Training)
6. Left leg numb from knee down from foot sting 24 hours (bee? owner says small scorpion)
7. Severe stomach cramping and burping (2nd to last night of Teacher Training - Giardia?)
8. Near Breakdown (Mombasa ticket booked for May 29th vs April 29th)
9. Giardia Treatment (cxl'd in Sheboygan due to clinic busy with Flu - 2 Swine Flu cases)

Canceled teaching in Denver for weekend to rest.

I would go back to Africa in a heartbeat! It was amazing and I feel so blessed to be a part of the Africa Yoga Project. Look out! Midwest Power Yoga - Kenya. Moses, one of the participants from BPYI Teacher Training 1 and Bootcamp was a facilitator with Baron at the Africa training and found a studio location in Nairobi. His rent is $100 a month and would like to offer free classes and bus fair.

Back to the regular teaching schedule next week!
Glad to be home.

AYP/BPYI - Last Day Diani Beach

My last morning was spent lounging in an infinity pool at one of Paige's friend's home. This is the 8 bedroom house down the road from Shaanti where the girls stayed during Teacher Training.

I road Mario the camel down the beach and after lunch, jumped into a van with Lisa and Siddiqi and headed to Mombasa to begin the journey home.

The ride to Mombasa was scary at times. The streets were dirty and crowded and the ferry was full of people and cars. Mombasa is an island of haze from all of the exhaust. At one point on the highway we were pulled over at a Kenya Police checkpoint. We weren't sure what would happen and the Police are not always safest people to run into. When the officer approached our car, he noticed our "Be The Change" shirts and immediately smiled waving us on yelling "Obama, Kenya's son!"

AYP/BPYI - Day 9 Leaving Shaanti

Shaanti was another beautiful resort. The food was most challenging. Meals consisted of mostly rice, potatoes and bread and rarely fruits or vegetables. I ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the 5 days and we had a few treats like fish, beans, and ice cream.

AYP/BPYI - Day 4-8 Teacher Training 1

The 5 Day Teacher Training was amazing! The group was very young, with the average age around 18. I realized that people are people and the program was run exactly the same as any other Level 1 Teacher Training. It was a condensed version, but just as powerful and transformational.

AYP/BPYI - Day 3 Heading to Coast

Paige has spent 3 years working side by side with the Masai to develop and empower this community. Not only has she given this community a school, they are planting bio-diesel trees.

Later in the afternoon we boarded 2 planes and took a short flight to Ukunda, Kenya. We will be staying at the Shaanti Holistic Center where the Baptiste Teacher Training with take place.

AYP/BPYI - Day 3

We began with and early morning game drive, breakfast at the base of Kilimanjaro, and then the Masai village where Jacob (our resident Masai for the trip) lives.

At Jacob's village we were greeted with a beautiful dance, signing and ceremony. We saw them play games, start a fire, and toured the inside of their dung huts.

I had another opportunity to pee in a hole. Success! I pulled my pants up and squatted with my feet wide. Not the end of bathroom troubles. The Masai are known for their jumping. One of the girls grabbed my hand to start jumping, prior to locating the bathroom and I almost wet my pants.


Later in the afternoon we gathered together for the opening of a brand new AYP built school. The ceremony was beautiful with school children lined up in sweaters? During the ceremony, Wade played a whaling kirtan and Baron was given a spear.

AYP/BPYI - Day 2 (Night)

We stayed at Ol Tukai Lodge at the base of Kilimanjaro, where zebra, buffalo, monkeys, and elephant are within a 100 feet of your dinner table.

At night, I roomed with Dina. She asked me if she could read with the light on, but I wondered why she wanted to sleep with the light on. I could sleep through anything and it didn't bother me. At about 4am the generator kicked off and I awoke when I heard something in our room. I couldn't see and my flashlight was in my backpack. I kept hearing this rustling. Dina was asleep with her sheet and pillow over her head and I could tell her flashlight was on. I assumed she fell asleep reading.

At around 5am, the generator kicked on, the lights went on and something black, round and heavy landed on my belly. I brushed it off the bed and took up sleeping (hardly) under my covers like Dina. When we got up in the morning, Dina asked me if I saw any bats? That's why she slept with the light on and under the sheet. She said they were flying all over the room.

Neighboring the Lodge is a closed down resort overcome with blue balled monkeys. There were hundreds of them, always coming out to the roadway to check out the cars. Their balls are literally bright sky blue!

Cell phone reception was amazing! I had a signal everywhere, including in the Masai villages. Most of the men had a beaded belt to carry their walking stick, billy (club), knife, and cell phone.