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Hood To NeighbourhoodPosted by Vinya Sankaran Vasu on Mar 11, 2013
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This is a story of three warriors who strive to fill the gaping holes in a torn community, one child at a time, one breath at a time.
The brothers had grown up in a family that had strong roots in spirituality. They recall practicing yoga and meditation from a very young age with their parents. Their keen interest in spirituality and philosophy connected them on a deep level to Andres who they met while at college. The newfound brothers shared several interests and a burning question: “what was wrong with the world and what can we do about it?”

They heard on TV about ways to get funds to run your own program and decided to apply for a grant in response to a request to work on creating an ozone detection system. It was while applying for the grant that they realized that they would need to be a registered non profit in order to apply for money. They dropped plans to apply for the grant and returned to Baltimore to the neighborhood where they had grown up. They realized that so much had changed about the peaceful haven that their neighborhood was. They were determined to do what they could to give a sense of community to the children in the neighborhood.

The HLF works as part of afterschool programs in elementary schools, programs for seniors, educators and adults. The benefits of the program have brought back more and more students with their numbers doubling each year. Ali, Atman and Andres take special care to tailor the program to the unique needs of each age group and needs of the population they work with. They have creatively interspersed music and basketball in their programs, thus tapping into the interests of the children they work with. So much so that it leaves the children reflecting on the connections between rap and yoga.
...And here is one for your beats:
I work out all day on tracks, I’m dedicated
Family history of depression self-medicated
I can teach you who you are, and how to regulate it
Prescribe the right diet, exercise and meditation
But I can’t make you drink the water
I just lead the way
For the food to flourish, gotta flush the weeds away
And I can see it in myself every single day
That’s why I go so hard
I know I gotta make a change
But the education system
Keep the lives ingrained
Along with the media
It’s hard to find your way
I know what it is, at the same time
I wanna play
To the point where
For real, whatcha gonna say?
I used to be worried bout what other people thought
But L-O-V-E
That’s all before the people talked
If you want someone to answer, you just gotta knock
The truth is a process, it’s something that can’t be bought.
The HLF programs prepare the children to lead their own practice and to teach yoga and meditation to others! So much so that the children teach the yoga and asanas to their parents. The older students of the program are now serving as mentors and volunteers completely prepared to serve as teachers in the programs as HLF expands its horizons.

The three brothers see themselves as instruments playing out a higher design: “When you see everyone as a part of yourself, it makes life so much smoother calmer and more relaxed. All you are is love, the essence of love.”
It is no wonder that the brothers have curbed several fights, one of which had left their student with severe head injuries requiring his head to be stapled. They spent considerable time talking to the involved boys which resulted in an amicable resolution instead of possible death.
Apart from yoga and meditation classes and sports programs, the Holistic Life Foundation undertakes several projects in environmental awareness, community clean up, vegetable gardening and workforce development programs. The story goes on…
Ali, Atman and Andres are doing the impossible, by bringing the sweet memories of their childhood back into the hood. The children there can skip into the doors of Holistic Life Foundation knowing they have not one, not two, but three brothers who will breathe, stretch, rap or dribble a ball with them.

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Ali, Atman and Andres live in Baltimore, Maryland and continue to spread ripples of serenity and love through their lessons in inner and outer work.
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Bela wrote ...
beautifully captured Vinu:)!
Guri wrote ...