Himalayan Bootcamp Diaries

My dear readers, I need your help and feedback!

I would like to provide my guests the opportunity to interact and give back to the local communities in India they visit during their Himalayan Boot Camp journeys. I truly believe that it can be a rewarding experience if one has brightened the life of someone less fortunate in the community one left behind after the vacation is over.

I am thinking of providing this interaction at a couple of the local schools that cater to the more impoverished children. Here are just a couple of my ideas for my guests:

1. Take 3-4 books and have a storybook session with the children. The local children will love this!
2. An afternoon of crafts with the children using supplies we take from here that those children have never seen and can take home with them (paper dolls, painting etc – the possibilities are endless)
3. Distribute some clothes (T-Shirts?) and have some afternoon refreshments and snacks.

These are just small things but they are a start. I grew up in this area of Meghalaya, India and know exactly how much brightness this will bring to the children. I am not sure where this idea will take me but I just have this gut feeling that both the givers and receivers of this kindness will be so blessed and the memories will be amazing.

Please provide feedback – tell me what you think. I also welcome any additional ideas you may have.

Here’s to a brighter world for children!

Connie

Starting in March 2009, We are offering a conditioning boot camp for the day in a beautiful location in Scott’s Valley, which is in the Santa Cruz mountains of California.  These boot camps will have a combination of yoga and meditation, but will also have some fitness exercises.

Our boot camps in California use similar principles of healthy food, exercise and mental/spiritual rejuvenation as our boot camps in India, however we have added an Indian flair to them with fitness dance exercises Bollywood style, and a cultural Indian dance performance that our guests can enjoy.

Nima George will be both the Bollywood dance instructor and will be performing a cultural dance as well. She has over 10 years exeperience in Indian cultural dances as an instructor, choreographer and performer so you are in for a treat. And those Bollywood steps during her fitness instruction are fun and quite a workout.

Andrea Halper will be the yoga instructor for our March boot camp. Andrea is a certified Ananda Yoga and Meditation Instructor. Andrea will focus on yoga exercises for busy people that you can take with you to practice at home.

Our day camps are also designed as a short getaway to relax, do some yoga, meditate among quiet surroundings and eat nutritious, healthy food, again with an Indian twist.  This is also a really great way for friends to attend together and have fun, so if you know someone you would like to bring with you, please do so.

Lunch will feature cooking recipes from my upcoming book, The Deity Diet with a hands on cooking demonstration so you can go home and cook some of these delicious dishes yourself.

Hope you can join us for a fun filled day.

For future reference, we also customize these day camps for special occasions such as bachelorette or birthday parties, or even just a quick getaway with a group of friends.

Click here for more details.

It has been a while since I have posted to this blog. After our Oct 08 boot camp in India, I went and spent an additional four weeks in another part of the Northeastern Himalayan foothills in the state of Meghalaya, India. This is where I grew up and it was just wonderful to spend a few weeks with family and friends.