That Indian Yoga Guy

The last time my young yogi group met, 3 weeks ago, I talked about Ghandi because 3 of my students are very interested in war. One had recently written a beautiful poem about how her grandmother felt during WWII right here in our community, as she had to pull down the window shades in fear at night or worry about what she would eat for dinner. I don't remember being so interested in war in elementary school but such is the world we live in. I had decided we would talk about friendship a bit this week...what makes a good friend....because I had "inside knowledge" that two of my students, sweet, bright little girls, were having friend problems. As we sat in a circle and opened class, and I mentioned our topic, I asked for questions. One of my yogis requested, "Can you tell us more about that yoga guy from India." We had talked about Ghandi and peaceful war....such a contradiction..peaceful war.... They wanted to know more. We went on to talk about how Ghandi used total non-violence (ahimsa), non-cooperation, boycots, and peaceful resistance as a means of resisting social injustice. He led organized protests and always spoke the truth. I could see the wheels turning in these young and open minds...in their world, how do you remain peaceful and stand up for yourself? How do you do that when somebody you think is your friend pushes you down and makes you cry? Difficult but important lessons for these young souls to learn :)