Journey
Ekatva is the journey.
Many people have asked, “so what happens if you don’t get the passports or visas for the children to tour the show?” The response is quite clear: “Its okay, the value of the entire project lies in the meaningful day to day interactions that we have with the children. Everyday is the reason for the project’s success. We are not depending on an outcome to deem this experiment successful. It has already succeeded. Every day the children are growing and their seeds are being watered and nourished.”
Daily Schedule:
Since August of 2010, we have been meeting for four hours, each day, with our 16 kids. In the morning the children attend school—unfortunately the schools have meager resources and poor management, and as a result, the children’s education suffers. By afternoon they go home for lunch, followed by tutorial classes run by Manav Sadhna. They then come to Ekatva practice at 3 pm. The kids return to their homes by 7:30pm for dinner, followed by studying and then sleep, only to start the same schedule over again the next day. They have been dedicated and committed to this daily routine for the past 15 months with very little vacation.
Practice Schedule:
Prayer
We start practice in prayer and gratitude, with all eighteen of us sitting in a circle.
Meditation
Next, we meditate for 2-5 minutes, listening to the sounds of the birds or focusing on our breath going in and out. We initially started by closing our eyes for 10-15 seconds. As the kids have become more comfortable with silence and stillness we have extended our meditation time. We are now able to meditate with eyes closed for up to 10 minutes. We are also planning a full one-day meditation courses for the kids.
Circle of Sharing
Then we have a circle of sharing where the children can talk about anything they want. Sometimes they share what they were thinking during meditation or something that happened during the day or any number of other things. This leads to a variety of discussions, and in the end, provides an outlet for the children to open their minds and hearts to a trusting family and group of friends.
Exercise
After our circle of sharing we do exercise for half an hour. When we first started the children could not even do basic exercises and had no stamina, strength or flexibility. They did not take the process of exercising seriously and would often laugh at their collective inability to do some of the exercises. Now they have taken the initiative to rotate daily in leading the exercises. Their entire demeanor has transformed to one of discipline and capability as they are gradually building their strength and stamina.
Dance and Drama Practice
After exercise we start dance or drama practice. We are blessed with the opportunity to have our kids learning from great teachers at Darpana Academy of Performing Arts. So far the kids have learned a variety of acting techniques, folk dance as well as contemporary dance. Currently with the EKATVA show under production, the kids are learning and practicing scenes that have been developed and choreographed for the EKATVA show. Dance practice usually lasts about one and a half hours.
Cleaning
For all that our kids are receiving on this journey, we are continuously looking for ways they can give back as well within our daily routine. One way, near and dear to our hearts is cleaning. Daily, after practice we rotate our team members in cleaning the male and female bathrooms at Darpana Academy. We also go to a nearby park and pick up all the trash there before playing, praying and eating our snacks. Practicing cleanliness and cleaning our environment are key elements in building a safe, healthy and beautiful world to live in. This practice also gives us a chance to constantly find humility through our actions.
Play, Pray, Meditate, Share We end our daily activities in a circle of sharing and prayer.
Nutrition
Since we started EKATVA, daily nutrition has been a part of our routine. The children’s health is just as important as their spiritual, academic and creative development. After doing lab tests of each child we found that all the EKATVA children are anemic and many have blood and urine infections stemming from their eating habits.
We are attacking this health challenge in two ways:
- By educating the kids and their families and trying to get their support (ie. Eating less fried food and sugar)
- By providing as proper nutrition as possible during snack time after practice. Currently we provide the kids the following daily snacks:
Protein and mutli-vitamin powder plus calcium tablets with their milk or juice (1 glass), banana, bowl of peanuts and dried pulse, wheat glucose crackers, iron tablet, glucosamine in their water bottle before practice. During Summer Vacation we have a full meal together for lunch at Manav Sadhna and then snacks and juice after practice.