Contacting Ali at Kripalu

I don't currently have a phone (it's actually really nice not have one), but you can call me and leave a message on my skype number:

772-360-4303

If I happen to be on skype at the time, I will answer, otherwise just leave a message and I'll call you back.

Also, if you feel like sending some snail mail (have I mentioned how much I love handwritten letters?) my address is:

Alison Mills

Kripalu Center c/o PATH

PO Box 309

57 Interlaken Rd.

Stockbridge, MA

01262

Kripalu Volunteer Program

The Gist:

I am currently living in Western Massachusetts at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health. I am part of a 4-month live-in volunteer program in yoga and self-inquiry. I work 35 hours/week in exchange for room, food, yoga, workshops, and a few other perks.

I love it and am so happy right now.

A Little More:

*Kripalu Center:

Kripalu used to be an ashram and is now a non-profit education yoga center (the largest in North America). It has a "Retreat & Renewal" program that includes yoga classes and other workshops taught by Kripalu faculty. The center also hosts outside presenters who lead weekend or week-long workshops in yoga, health, self-development, outdoor activities, creativity and lots more.

It is located in the Berkshire Hills (close to the border of New York) and the surroundings are really beautiful. Lots of hiking trails that I am loving.

(The main building is like a beached cruise ship - it's gigantic - 4 acres of floor space!)

*The Volunteer Program:

A crew of 60 volunteers helps to run Kripalu and we work for 4 months at a time. In addition to living and working at the center, volunteers take part in weekly classes in yoga philosophy and pyschology, peer mentoring groups, and are free to attend any yoga classes, other workshops or events (see perks below) when they're not working.

A big part of the program is simply living in community and being part of each other's lives. I live in a room with two other women in a big building with lots of other people. A lot of emotional, personal things come up while in the program and there is a lot of space held and support provided for doing personal work and self-exploration.

The people here are wonderful.

*My Seva:

The program is considered karma yoga: the yoga of action, and a big part of this is our work. Our "seva" is our selfless service to the community and mine is veggie prep and I LOVE IT.

We prepare all the vegetables for the kitchen, which means we chop veggies for 7 hours/day.

We work in the basement kitchen and we have a great time. We listen to music and chat and dance and sing and haul around giant boxes of kale and sweet potatotes and carrots, cutting and washing and putting all our love into the food.

We feed 200-600 people 3 meals every day and so the quantities are incredible. The other day I chopped 98 gallons of kale. It took me ALL DAY.

Because it's such a big kitchen, we have all sort of fun machines to help with the big quantities, like a Robot Coupe and a Halde (big chopper-dicers) and a fancy big scrubber (we drop in big bins of carrots or beets and it spins them around with big rolling brushes and water - way cool). Another thing I think it just great fun is that we get to power wash the floors at the end of the day. I mean, when do you get to dump soapy water on the floor, spray it with a giant hose and then squeegee it? Okay, I'm sure the novelty will wear off eventually, but right now I'm having so much fun with it.

*The Food:

Kripalu has AMAZING food. If you know me, you know what an important factor that is in my satisfaction with the place. It's really healthy, mostly vegetarian, lots of gluten-free stuff (even decent gluten-free bread!) and most of it is organic and local. It's beautiful and fantastic.

*Perks of the Program:

I am really impressed with how awesome they make it to be a volunteer. In addition to yoga and other workshops, there are nightly events like concerts, drum circles, kirtan (traditional Indian devotional chanting), speakers, and movies.

There is also a whirlpool and sauna we have free access to, we get discounts on massages and other healing arts, several free guest passes for friends and family, and two free programs (weekend workshops by outside presenters, normally $200-$400).

So:

a) if you are in the area, come by; I can get you in free!

b) I'm extremely happy here and know I'm in the right place in my life right now

Georgian Bay Kayak

As the capstone experience to my Ontario summer, I went kayaking with my Dad and Sally on Georgian Bay for a week.

It was gorgeous weather with sparkling, clear water and bright sunshine.

I love it up there and it was a wonderful opportunity to feel the expansive calm of the wilderness

We paddled, did yoga and ate really well

especially the morning on an island with wild blueberries, raspberries and blackberries

It's pretty wild up there. We saw very few people, and of course in the absence of people, there is the opportunity to see animals, like this cute bear

for more pictures you can look at this facebook album (you don't need to have facebook to see it!)

Ontario Summer

While it started out a little rough, and there were a few existential crises in the middle, in the end I would have to say my summer in Ontario went quite well.

I'm now at the Kripalu Yoga Center in Massachusetts, about which I will blog soon, but I wanted to share a few experiences from my summer first since I haven't written much yet.

One thing that called me home from Thailand was the bounty of an Ontario summer and I was not disappointed.

My Dad and Sally (stepmom) had a garden plot at an organic farm just outside of town. I frequently went overboard on the harvesting (it's just so fun!) and ended up with trunkloads of veggies.

I also volunteered with an organization running a CSA with organic veggies grown in unused urban backyards and learned a lot from their awesome farmer, Scott. And of course, Guelph has a wonderful farmer's market that I enjoyed every Saturday.

I found food gardening to be fun and immediately rewarding (hehe) - as in, sit yourself down in the cherry tomato patch with your harvesting container: "one for me, one for you, one for me, one for me...."
but also rewarding in the more metaphorical sense of growing your own food and cooking with local, fresh, organic ingredients.

For anyone who has never harvested potatoes before, let me tell you: It's MAGIC.
You scrape some dirt away from the bottom of the plant and there are potatoes just lying there! It's like digging for treasure, but easier.

I had a lot of fun experimenting with cooking and preserving foods as well: pesto, sauerkraut, kimchee, soups, breads (when you leave the zucchinis on the vine too long, they get huge and you end up with a giant bin of them... and then what do you do but make zucchini, dark chocolate, cherry bread?)

and of course, there's nothing better than just plain fresh (I mean FRESH) veggies in a salad

Another highlight of my summer was Kayaking for a week on Georgian Bay. I'll post about that next time!

....and Sometimes Plans Change

I haven't written in a while. I've had a bit of a hard time.

The plans I had to come to work this summer with an old friend/lover fell through in a heartbreaking way. So I've been mending my heart and figuring out new directions to walk.

I was warmly welcomed back into my Dad and Stepmom's home which made all the difference. I had gone up to the place where I was to work and it became clear that it was not where I was supposed to be for the summer. So I came back to Guelph.

One month goes along and some ups and downs, but generally I am doing well these days. I am volunteering with an organization that turns unused urban backyards into organic vegetables for a CSA. I am working food prep at a raw food cafe.

My home hosts a musical jam every Tuesday and I am remembering my singing voice and my drumming hands... as well as exploring the other creative avenues artsy Guelph has to offer, making some new friends and reconnecting with old ones.

A friend reminded me that while I was in Thailand, one of the biggest draws to come back to Canada was the summer produce. Fresh spring greens, first strawberries, tart rhubarb, fat raspberries, late-summer peaches...whatever else has happened, in this I have not been disappointed.

Harvesting Honey

While I was in Florida, I got to join my good friend Ethan at his parents' house for a honey harvest. His mom and a few of her friends keep bees in his parents' backyard and the whole neighborhood comes over to help/watch. 

First they smoke the bees to calm them down and make them go away so they don't get squished while the racks full of honeycomb get moved around.

Then you take a special hot knife and slice off the wax that holds the honey in...

and then the honey comes oozing out and you lose all self-control.

Once you've gorged yourself on honey-filled beeswax, you put two racks in the centrifuge and crank away

then the honey comes pouring out the bottom 

Oh. My. God. Delicious. 

Somebody's learning the Future Perfect...

I got an e-mail from a past student asking what courses I was teaching this semester (I feel so loved), and when I replied saying I was no longer in Thailand I got this:

Dear teacher

 I don't know when you come back your country.
you will come back to thailand?
I hope you will have been a success everything.
I will have missed you.Thank you for everytime.

Or perhaps we could say "learning" the future perfect...

which brings me to my new favorite blog that made me laugh so hard I cried last week:

The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks - check it out

I supposed this outs me as a grammar snob. Well, then I might as well share this too, from The Economy Isn't Happening: a rant about the over(and incorrect)use of the word literally. 

Enjoy!