"So, Tell Me All About It"

Everyone is asking me, "What are you going to be doing there? How long will you be there? Are you going by yourself?"

I'm going to try to answer as many questions as I can.

It all started with the book Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Great book about the author's search for peace after a horrible divorce. She travels to Italy to eat, India to pray, and Indonesia where she finds love. When I read about her time at the Ashram, I knew that I needed to do that. I dreamed, in that I'm-so-excited-I-just-know-it-will-happen-but-then-it-never-really-does
kind of way, that I could save money and travel there one summer. I shared my thoughts with my husband and he totally supported them.

Then, maybe a few months later he runs into a former co-worker of ours and friend. We hadn't seen her in a while and so they chatted for a while, catching up. She mentioned that she had received a Lily Endowment and spent the summer running marathons. My sweet quick-thinking husband asked all about it and came home with the details.

The Lily Endowment gives out hundreds of grants each year to Indiana teachers to do something creative and rejuvenating over the summer so they have more energy and enthusiasm with which to do their jobs. Our friend was going to a dinner where endowment recipients from our region would be presenting what they did with the grant. He said that she said I could come a long if I was interested. Was I interested?!?!?

So, I attended and was totally blown away. These people did all those amazing things that we all dream about (in that way). One ate her way through France and took cooking classes there too. But, there were so many other cool ones. Other just traveled around taking photographs. I knew I had to apply to go to India.

So, I did just that. My proposal simply asked for this opportunity because I suffer from depression, anxiety, and unexplained infertility. The stress of teaching in an at-risk school on top of everything else, meant that I wasn't the teacher I knew I could be. I wanted to find a place where I could focus on relaxing and form healthy habits that would follow me throughout the chaos of a normal school year. I mailed it off on Oct. 31st and received the news on Feb. 23rd.

I will receive $8,000 to cover the entire project. My budget includes the taxes on the money, tickets, equipment, my stay at the Ashram, and a personal stipend. I will probably leave mid-June and will be there for 6 weeks. I plan on sharing what I learn with the other teachers, since burn-out is so high at our school. I also plan to share it with my students so that they can stay relaxed during testing. Of course, I'll share photos and the culture with them as well.

I will be going alone. The money is meant for me only. It would be fantastic if my husband could join me for a week or so during the summer, but that is up in the air. We're still recovering from the dogs' vet bills.

The Ashram is located in the city of Amritapuri in the state of Kerala which is located along the southwestern edge of India. There is meditation and chanting going on all day starting at 4a.m. You do not HAVE to attend all the meditations and chants that are held. They are taxis available at the Ashram that will take me to and from the airport (some 4 hours away in the city of Cochin).

While I'm there I plan on taking a boat ride through the famous backwaters, visit the local markets and villages, get the Ayuervedic treatments (a kind of India whole-body therapy) and see if I can visit the teaching hospital to look into research on the benefits of meditation on stress.

I hope this answers most of the questions you all have. Don't worry, I'll be posting more.