It has been some years now since we have been offering our living room space for anyone to walk into Community Yoga practice. We held this one day every week, recently we stepped it up by doubling it -- twice a week, every week. Every week beautiful stories & connections (to soil & souls) emerge. We have been sharing these with our friends and family over casual conversations. A lot of them encouraged us to share this with the wider community online. Each of these experience humbled me, helped me grow, so offering these in the hope that these will help bring smile & inspiration to someone like you somewhere on the face of this beloved planet (Mother Earth).

1. An energy healer recently heard about this Community Yoga practice at Casa De Paz, was kind enough to join the practice & in one of the sessions, towards the end during our reflection circle said "the practice that gave me an experience in both Physicality & Spirituality". Moved by the practice this healer declares "my intention is to offer my time to this community whoever is in need of some healing through what I know best -- massage therapy". How beautiful it is to witness such organic outpouring of support from someone who just walks into the practice, experiences it and pays-forward unconditionally to someone who's in most need.
2. A Yoga teacher who is a regular, rain or shine shows up on time, one day recently shared that - "I am so touched by this generosity, I don't think I told you this before, I started inviting all my neighbors to my large backyard deck for our neighborhood group yoga & wellness practice, I didn't ever think before that I could use this space this way to open to the community to come together in the spirit of improving health for each other - thank you." How could I respond to such a creative gesture where this person looks around her own backyard and says I have an abundant resource (my deck space)? I said -- "thank you, thank you for keep coming, really."
3. Another person silently assigned a task for oneself -- to find joy in offering some simple, healthy, fresh breakfast to everyone, this manifested into a group breakfast, where there's enough food for everyone every-week although we have no idea how many would actually show up.  One day this person says  - "I am sorry, I couldn't prepare something today, but I got this freshly made dosa (indian pancake) batter just in case if there's a way we can make them here." My wife & I said why not, we said we absolutely can & we all ended up having a flash dosa mob :-), how cool is that to start the day in this spontaneous way!. Another day, I particularly remember one time where some additional people showed up for the first time, we thought we might run a bit low on food, as it would puzzle us all, one person says - "I love to share with my presence with you today & offer this flower & I am on fast today." There seems to be some magical way how this all seems to work out just the right way.It's Yummy! to the tummies every-week :-).
4. An artist surprised all of us one early morning. She walked in with some large stuff in her hand, we couldn't see it well as it was still bit dark. At the end she shows this beautiful hand drawn art and shares the story -- how deeply she was moved when she saw a little girl  one time while waiting in a community health clinic,  she seemed to be longing for some motherly love that she seemed to have lost in her life due to some unfortunate reason & she dedicated this piece of art to the little girl & named it after her -- Isabella. We were in tears as we heard this moving story and to witness this transformational shift in this artist.
5. Another time, someone gifted a hand-drawn picture of another participants dog who had passed away recently. These two people didn't know each other, had just heard about the passing of this dog in previous week class reflection. It's so deeply touching to see this space connecting these two people in such a deep way.
6. Another elderly man rehabbing from multiple surgeries, becomes part of this practice in the community and recently said " Now I have moved from  the space of constantly complaining about the chronic pain into a space of starting to enjoy life & have quality time with family". His next door neighbor summed it beautifully at a chance meeting this past week, she said -- "My elderly neighbor smiles a lot these days, he's a happy man & his wife is happy and together they are sharing all kinds of plans they are thinking of doing now, they are full of young & vibrant energy all over again".  So many more stories, what a joy to witness all these...Thank you all for co-creating these experiences -- none of us could have scripted any of these exactly how they are unfolding all alone. Thank you universe.

Dear Friends -

Love share sampling of the ripples flowing in all directions from this recent event. Here they are -

"Indeed, yesterday's talk was riveting and the author/presenter was outstanding both as a professional and especially as an individual. Thank you for organizing this very inspiring event and thanks too for encouraging me to attend. The little extra nudging from you worked!
I know that we have met before, but hadn't really interacted in any meaningful capacity. I'm blown away by your dedication and your enthusiasm. You're a beautiful young couple living a purposeful life with evolved aspirations. We don't see that everyday. Bravo! Thank you for doing what you do--it's motivating for the rest of the world to follow in your footsteps. One thing I forgot to do yesterday was to sign my book for you. Will do it the next time we meet :)
Thanks again and take care."

"I want to thank you again for your wonderful presentation on Saturday. The room was abuzz with enthusiasm and interest in your book, and for you! You did a great job presenting the subject for those who haven't yet read the book. It was clear and coherently presented, and impressive! It was really an honor for us to host you."

"It was a wonderful afternoon for us. Really pleasure to be with the guests and of course any time with you folks. Thanks for organizing it and making us part of it as well. We will continue meet up for this kind of events moving forward. With this + went to HSS shakha on Sunday and then my 1 hr walk + Visit to Fremont temple + my usual surya namaskara + Kriya- made my weekend beatufiul actually."

"Just wanted to say thank you again for forwarding me the information for the Infinite Vision talk at the library.  I really enjoyed it.  It was also nice to see you again, even briefly, and to meet your wife.  I hope to make it to a yoga class or cooking class in the near future, and I have another talk at the library in May, maybe I'll see you both again soon!
Take care :-)"

"I have so much to share that I dont know where to start. Let me start by saying that I am glad I did  dishes on Amma's birthday at the ashram :). If not, I may not have met the both of you. It is amazing how people's path cross and I am super happy ours did.  
The talk by Pavi  (on "Infinite Vision" ) last weekend at the library was incredible to say the least. Thank you so much for including me in this wonderful experience. I was at the Wednesday yesterday. It was a sacred space of learning and recognizing the commonality in all of us.  
I am getting into a wonderful space of knowing and experiencing inspiring things.. thank you so much for playing a crucial part in that. As you know, I am planning on starting a resource center for children with disabilities in India. With all these wonderful experiences, I feel like I am getting closer and closer to my dream.   I look forward to seeing both of you soon. 
Take care
In spirit,"

Many of you requested for the full video of the documentary that was showed after the author's speaking live event, here it is for you - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-430943131005128104

We encourage you to share further reflections and your stories from personal journey and learning moments from these events -- Thank you.

Smiles :-)
LiveWell :-)

Hayward is a small little town called aptly as Heart of the Bay has great historical significance. This place has been deeply touched by the works of many extra-ordinary people many absolutely invisible and some famous people like Cesar Chavez. This is a diverse community with people from all walks of life -- homeless, gang affected families, struggling to survive mom-n-pop stores, big marts & all kinds of typical clueless corporates, bee-keepers, community gardeners, everyday people living a life of value to do good in the community . Being rooted in this community and working closely at the grassroots level has been deeply humbling, grounding & spiritually growing.

Serendipitous meetings with ServiceSpace has been a big inspiration to us and many more in our community. This gave birth to our first child few years back as Sunrise Yoga, where we offer our living space to everyone in practice of Yoga, Meditation & Healthy Living Circles.

We all had a dream of spreading the generosity we experienced as the receiver to many more in the bay area, and a beautiful space Snappy’s opened up right here in the Hayward community with a open heart to work with us to make it a reality.

The owner of Snappy’s cafe is an amazing person who followed her values, left her well paying corporate job and started the cafe a few years back and now she is very excited to bring in the concept of gift economy restaurant to the Hayward community by introducing Karma Kitchen.

Today we are all very excited to share the launching of Karma Kitchen in April and we are awaiting the community to experience the abundance and generosity that we have experienced in life. May the ripples from these sincere efforts reach far and wide out into the universe.

Image courtesy: KarmaKitchen.org

This morning as I was finishing up my early morning routine of exercise a thought flashed, it was a quick one, before it was gone too fast, I took a deeper look at it, an insight emerged. Realization showed that the thought was about the choices we make in our daily living. For instance the choices I was presented with in this experience I am sharing with you now.Several years back, we had moved into a new home, new neighborhood, new circumstances, new in every aspect, all were unknown. As part of the move, we had to forward all our postal mails to a hold service before we could start receiving them at the new address. The stuffs were piling up, it was time for us to fetch them from the central post office. A quick look at the map indicated that the post office is approximately about 1.5 - 2 miles from our new home. Driving by car for a quick ride to take care of this errand was the easy first choice that came to mind, followed by another thought doing a quick value check. Result of that value check opened the doors to another choice -- how about I take a walk -- although to most standards in this part of the world it could be considered a long walk to do this one simple task, given our commitments to values I chose this and opened myself to all opportunities of exploring the new neighborhoods, share some smiles with people on the walk and fit in my daily dose of fresh air and outdoor exercise. I pat myself on the back for doing a quick value check and feel good about this conscious choice I am making, although not knowing what's going to unfold as part of this experiment. I put on my walking shoe, put on a sun hat and start to walk.

Along the way, I got lost few times, that didn't bother me much as it opened doors to explore the neighborhood even more and connect with the place and people I encountered. Arriving at the post office, I was feeling so joyful with that walkers high, I am smiling and run straight to an empty counter thinking how nice that I can be out of here very quickly. I smile and ask the person on the other side of the desk "How are you? I would like to ask you a quick question - I am here to collect our mail holds - can you please help me?"  He showed me the long queue that circled the building and came back inside, so this left me with couple of choices either to go back home or stay put and wait for my turn to collect the mails.
I decided for the later one and stood there making good use of the time, watching and making eye contacts, passing on the smiles to many who I came in contact with.  Finally  after 30 min reached the window, still holding on to the smile and had a good conversation with the person on the other side, finally collected the mails and said our byes wishing each other well.

This incidence in my life made me stronger in my commitment to serve  "Mother Nature" every moment in simple and small ways for the rest of my life, no invention was needed for me except to invent a shift in self consciousness and to identify the small acts that will make the earth sustainable for many generations to come! 

A friend recently asked us to share some insights from our life that might inspire others to practice especially the next generation - our children. This friend asked this in context to preparation for a community event where 100s of people gather few times every year in celebration of a common theme such as celebration of a festival. So, ideas here might seem oriented towards one specific event, however, upon deeper look, it becomes clear that it could apply to all of our daily life. So, here they are -

1. Encourage carpools, especially for those coming from same neighborhoods. Consider doing it everyday starting today to drive the neighborhood children to schools and other classes (music, dance, sports & such after school activities).
   
2. Science projects - let children experiment with growing some fresh produce in your or a friend's back yard.
   
3. Take stock of what goes into the waste/trash & recycles in a typical day in your household, have children understand their impacts and see how the impacts can be reduced.
   
4. Building neighborhood recreation just by walking groups, volunteering in local park, removal of graffiti using Eco-friendly products, visiting a local community  garden. 
   
5. Build local projects for kids to understand the food sources, have a close relationship with food source by growing them, meeting local farmers by visiting farmers markets, local farms and bee-keepers to learn about bees and honey, this will help to create curiosity in kids and also a need to grow their own food.   
   
6. Have kids understand their own energy usage specially lap tops, ipad, ipod and the list continues, impact of playing video games on their own health and the environment.
7. Have children know the amount of toys, clothes they have and may be they can share it with their friends and family, in this way they can experience generosity in a small way! 
   
8. A wise person shared a gem with us some time back, that the right age to start meditating is not fifty, we can start this inner journey by the age of eight and it is a prime reason we are experiencing this physical body and let us all not waste a minute of this life from now on!. Are you game for it?
   

Thank you Dharma Comics for sharing your creative work.