Amritsar

This is my third morning in Amritsar. When I arrived on Wednesday we went straight to the Hospital, the Dr Vidya Sagar Institurte of Mental Health. It is a state hospital, newly constructed, in existence only 1 year (The part we are in.). It serves around 400 patients from four northern states in India. The Medical Director is a very kind and capable man, very supportive of the program. There are 50 patient beds in the De-Addiction unit. Our program, 3HO SuperHealth, has one wing of the hospital. We are scheduled for 10 beds, but we may wind up with 14 (their request). I taught my first yoga class yesterday to the patients (19, still in the screening process. My translator left half way through. It went very well. It was like a yoga, pantomime, theatre exercise class. The students followed my every move, even the unintentional moves. I need to be careful or I may inadvertently invent a new form of yoga.

Just before the class was scheduled to start, we learned of the Siri Singh Sahib’s passing. It was an emotional time for many, Indian and American alike. We decided to postpone the formal beginning of the program (A ceremony with press and tree planting & etc was planned.). We will continue to teach daily yoga, but postpone other program aspects until Monday.