Part 1
We have been in this magic country for a week now, and each day brings a new adventure! After receiving VIP treatment on arrival (Sharmin’s brother has been elected a Senator as well as appointed Home Minister which is the highest office under the Prime Minister. We “rested” for 2 days—I put ‘rest’ in quotes since Judy and I spent many hours editing the “HIGH IDEAL FAMILY TRAINING GUIDE” which is a 70 page document that only outlines the prenatal education philosophy, including preparation before birth, conception, in utero, birth and delivery from a physical, emotional, psychological, mental and spiritual point of view, plus all the scientific references and data! And this Guide is only an introduction—just the ‘tip of the iceberg’—there is so much more material and information to process! We also feel that part of the Developmental Strategy for the participants who want to continue this work is to write their own Family Training Guide as it relates to their culture and country.
Our Training is ‘interactive’ and includes lectures, films, interviews, music, art, theatre, yoga, meditation, visualization, therapeutic touch, prayer& much MORE!!! Plus a great deal of sharing by the participants and ourselves. We also have invited guests who speak and participate such as members of the medical community, midwives from the villages, UN NGO members, artists & musicians, educators, etc…
The reason that Alexandre, Judy ,and I are here to facilitate this first Training is by the invitation and huge generosity of the members of the Ahmad Family, their visit to IDEAL (www.idealsociety.org) and, in particular, Sharmin and Taj, the daughter and grandson of the First Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Tajuddin Ahmad. Two years ago, Taj, decided to return to Bangladesh, after living his first 22 yrs in Maryland. He began his graduate studies in Law. As a lover & teacher of Martial Arts, he also practiced in a well-known park in Dhaka. Many other students joined him for this discipline as well as for discussions concerning world affairs, politics, and social affairs globally and in Bangladesh. With Taj’s innate leadership qualities and articulation of past and present history, the students and Board of Directors (which includes Sharmin and myself) formed a ‘transformational movement’ called “Jaagoron” which means “Awakening”, and wrote a Constitution so we can legally register as an NGO (non-profit).
Here is the mission statement of Jaagoron:
“Jaagoron” is a transformational movement, brought together by a sisterhood and brotherhood of free thinkers, aligned with Nature and the Heart, with the aim of awakening our individual consciousness in order to promote an environment of peace and harmony for all.
(“The phrase “civil society” in the preamble has been replaced by “transformational movement”. When thinking of transformation on an individual level, I invite you to picture a caterpillar morphing into a beautiful butterfly. It is when an innate purity manifests itself both inwardly and outwardly, shedding off the old exterior. We allow our inner beauty to take flight. The word “movement” here is preferred to the word “organization”. For while we are indeed an organization in a more formal sense, I believe the word “movement” connotes a flexibility and energy not as inherent in “organization”. – as explained by Taj)
Ignorance and complacence are at the roots of society’s greatest ills. An aware, informed, and enlightened populace is less likely to fall prey to such ills. “Jaagoron” aims to arouse awareness by appealing to the conscience of society, thereby inspiring and mobilizing people to do good works and uplift society as a whole.
The first aim of Jaagoron is: a) Provide Prenatal Education to the community and to enhance the possibility of birthing healthy children who will be the future of our society.
Some of the other aims are:
b) Provide/Ensure cultural, intellectual, social, physical, spiritual and charitable welfare especially to the needy, abused, neglected and orphaned children of Bangladesh regardless of their gender, age, religion, race or ethnic background.
c) Provide welfare and support to adults, especially the needy, abused, and neglected mothers and seniors of Bangladesh.
d) Promote goodwill, understanding, dialogue and cultural exchange among individuals, groups, organizations or institutes in Bangladesh and across nations.
Here are the objectives:
a) Establish Prenatal Education Centers
b) Provide Health Care Services.
c) Provide forums for expressing the common concerns of the community especially with respect to women, children and elderly, and ensure that there is a forum to instill among the children and youth of the community universal, moral, ethical, and cultural values that promote integrity, respect, compassion, tolerance, fairness and justice, irrespective of gender, class, race, religion, ethnicity or nationality.
(e) Provide scholarships for education and also extension of any kind of help in the field of learning for the disadvantaged children and youth in Bangladesh.
(f.) Serve as a vehicle for the exchange of information and views on matters of interest to different communities.
(g) Invite distinguished speakers to speak, and share their ideas on topics of interest and relevance to the society and establishing a forum for honoring any distinguished person, organization, or institution that contributes substantially to the cause of the Bangladeshi people and/or culture.
(h) Promote and facilitate activities and events to raise awareness of the various socio-cultural problems in Bangladesh and to engage in creative problem solving, and peace building; also facilitate the activities of any other groups that are in harmony with Jaagoron’s vision, aims and objectives and provided that such groups or organizations are non-political organizations duly organized under any country law.
i) Facilitate information exchange on, and between, communities abroad and in Bangladesh to promote community and human development.
Part 2—“A Journey of the Heart in Bangladesh”
Our Training began on the 6th and 7th of February, Friday and Saturday, which is considered the ‘weekend’ in this country. Originally we were told that there would be 20 attendees. However, there were over 100 who wanted to participate so we doubled the attendees to 40 +! Most of the group are from the universities in Dhaka, the capital, yet there are a few professors and NGO participants as well. The ‘magic’ of all is that many people that we come in contact are so magnetized by this project that they decide to come without an invitation, such as a couple of bankers, teachers from the more rural areas, and artists!
The “High Ideal Family Guide” is divided into a number of sections, such as an Introduction which consists of our premise of ‘Humanity as One Family’ and the definition of Prenatal Education, its applications and benefits for the couple, family, society and a global educational approach. One of the more important aspects of this Guide is the following:
It is a generally accepted idea that the genetic inheritances of the parents determine a myriad of health-factors in their child without their involvement beyond contributing that genetic material. However, recent research shows that parents do have an influence on the genetic choice the child makes in utero. Geneticist Bruce Lipton (2001) says:
“The activation of the programs of the genes is controlled by the atmosphere of the environment. More precisely by the perception the organism has of this atmosphere… Maternal emotions (such) as anxiety or anger, or, on the contrary love and hope influence bio-chemically the selection and the rewriting of the genetic code of the child in utero with very profound evolutionary consequences on future generations. Parents-to-be are real ‘genetic engineers’. It is urgent for them to be informed.”
The first full day of training was phenomenal! The students are some of the brightest I have ever encountered. They are eager and interested. The only issue is getting them to open up a little more, especially the women. It is not part of their culture to do so
However, I could see and hear that everyone was amazed and asked many questions about this new paradigm that we are creating in their beautiful country! We were inspired by their enthusiasm and passion for knowledge. We had an ‘awareness writing’ exercise called Proprioceptive Writing that Judy led– I have never heard so much gorgeous poetry shared by both men and women!
One of the teachers was a mother & she shared her birth experience with us; afterwards, we discussed this experience with our feelings as our ‘barometers’…Many of us began processing our own birth experiences and relations with our parents and other family members—quite a transforming experience as well as sharing our ‘discoveries’ with each other.
I had lots of fun telling stories with respect to the “Preparation before Birth/Education begins Before Birth” which was the next section of our Guide. I also taught some simple Anusara Yoga postures to enliven the group and open our hearts within and towards one another.
By the second day of Training, the group was really a Family and we had created a very sacred space!
Taj emphasized many points that Sharmin and Alexandre had discussed: the importance of nurturing and the mental/psychological power that we all have to change ourselves and to be an ‘example’ without lectures and judgements!
At the end of the 2nd day, the students had an exercise drawing their family/ancestral tree. It was quite surprising the intensity of some of this sharing, yet the trust and responsibility we felt towards each other was overwhelming.
MORE to COME!!! (check out: www.yogaontheroad.com)
