Tuesday, August 17, 2010

DRINK, Pray, Love: Water for Widows

The yoga community is abuzz this week over the film Eat, Pray, Love, based on the eponymous spiritual memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert.  I'm looking forward to sharing my thoughts on the movie soon, so please stay tuned.

In the meantime, I am moved and humbled by a much shorter film, by Katie Ullman and her classmate at Vanderbilt University, Vasanth Kuppuswamy.  You may recall that this inspiring om gal and I (along with help from a dear mutual friend, Abby) collaborated to create a yoga benefit here in Boston called Put Your Money Where Your Mat Is.  I taught a class at Brookline Ballet, and all the money raised by the yogis in attendance was donated to Katie's fundraising efforts for a freshwater pipeline in India, serving an ashram for widows with nowhere else to go.  You can see photos of the event here and watch a short film about Katie and Vasanth's fascinating, sometimes-frustrating, and heartfelt journey.

Thanks to their "karma yoga," the women at the ashram in Vrindavan, India now have access to one of life's most basic necessities: clean water to drink.

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