By Consul B. John Zavrel
'I spend my days at the finance ministry, but allmy mornings are devoted to yoga. Every day of the week, even onSundays,' says with a smile the young man from Burkina Faso. Hiscountenance reminds one at once of the great African statesman-poetLeopold Sedar Senghor. The eyes, bright and filled with quietconfidence, look around the large lecture hall filled with nearly ahundred yoga and meditation teachers from USA and 9 other countries.They have come to study for two weeks with Swami Veda Bharati, adisciple of Swami Rama of the Himalayas. He has lectured around theworld non-stop for 53 years and is a much esteemed meditation masterand spiritual guide.
'I would like to say a special welcome to IdrissOuedraogo, who came all the way from West Africa to this seminar. Yousee, even the middle-class people in these countries have to savehard for more than a year to be able to make the trip to the UnitedStates. For them, it is a great expense. And I feel blessed thatIdriss has become part of the lineage of the Himalayan Masters,' saysSwami Veda.
'Where on earth is Burkina Faso? And is therereally yoga being practiced in Africa,' I ask the young man withbright, intelligent eyes. 'It used to be called Upper Volta, formerlya French colony in West Africa Our neighbors are Ghana, Ivory Coast,Togo, Niger and Mali. The capital is the city of Ouagadougou.Ourpopulation is about 10 million and the official language is stillFrench, but we have three native languages also: Moore, Dioula andFulfulde.'
'I discovered yoga some 13 years ago, when I cameacross Gandhi's biography My Experiments with Truth. And I though tomyself, from where did this man get the spiritual strength to facethe mighty British Empire? So I read more on India and itsphilosophy, on yoga and meditation. I found a book on yoga in French,and started learning the basic yoga postures and relaxation. And thenI met my hatha yoga teacher, Avaduta Chinmayananda from India, whowas at the time teaching in the neighboring country of Niger. Istudied with him for about two years, and then started to teach yogamyself.'
'With my friends, we established a yoga club inthe capital of Burkina Faso, where I work. During the day, I work atthe office. But before going to work, I give yoga, relaxation andmeditation classes every day. The American ambassador to our country,also a yoga practitioner, supported us from the beginning and westarted giving classes at the school for diplomats' children at theUS Embassy. Soon diplomats from other countries started to come toour classes, and our club grew. As time went on, more and more peoplein the capital heard of our club, and became alsointerested.'
'One day, I saw this older woman, who could havebeen my mother, carrying a small child on her back. In the morning,she had to walk ten miles to get to work in the capital. After work,she had to wait till the sun's heat became less intense, and thenwalk again ten miles, with the child on her back, home to hervillage. And I thought to myself, what can I do to help thesepeople?'
Idriss continues: 'So we got the idea to teachyoga to mentally handicapped children. That was a good program and wedid not charge any fees for them. Then, we started yoga classes forpregnant women. You see, in our country, one in ten pregnant womendies during delivery. And in yoga, there are certain exercises whichare helpful in pregnancy, and that's what we taught them.
In our yoga clubs, teachers wear the traditionalwhite yoga dress; white, to symbolize peace and purity of thestudents, like a lotus flower. Also the students are encouraged towear this yoga dress. When students come through the door to attend aclass, they observe silence. All our teaching of the asanas is donein silence, almost like a ritual. We end the sessions with the 'yogamudra' and the Indian greeting 'namaste.' And after the class isover, then they can ask questions and we have adiscussion.'
Let me tell you a story. The wife of one of myfriends was expecting, and the doctor thought they would have todelivery through a Caesarian section, which in our hospitals is notso common as in our country. So, she came also to our classes forpregnant ladies, and her baby was eventually delivered naturally,easily. Afterwards, my friend, who is the head of the army, told me'Oh, Idriss, that was wonderful. Thanks for your help.'
Later on, some other friends of Idriss in the armywanted him to start teaching yoga to them. They managed to get theauthorities to approve a demonstration. Many officers came to watchit, with military bands and large attendance. Many of the soldiersliked what they saw, and when the headquarters saw that this 'yogastuff' is not a religion, they approved the plan and yoga will betaught to the soldiers in the future.
'At this time, we have six clubs with some 200members,' says the young man. 'And we continue to grow and teach alsoin some of the neighboring countries.' Idriss and his friends arebuilding a small yoga meditation center in the capital: downstairs,it will have a yoga room, bookstore and office. On the second floor,three bedrooms, two living rooms and kitchen, and on the third floora large meditation room. They acquired a nice piece of land, about330 yards in circumference, and the building is already about 2/3completed. For their country, it costs a lot of money to build. Totalcosts will reach approximately $ 40,000.
'We are financing the project by fees fromclasses, from donation from friends, and from a sale of thesesculptures,' continues Idriss. He shows me a series of small, bronzeand shining brass sculptures of people in various yoga postures:triangle, tree, cobra, camel, bow, etc. 'You see, there are only afew families in our country who can work with fire and bronze. I madethe forms of the various sculptures in clay, and they then makebronze sculptures. Originally, I made this project to give thesesculptures to my students. After being stationed in our capital for 3- 4 years, these diplomats return home or are assigned to othercountries. So I wanted to present them with a gift that would remindthem of yoga, and also inspire them to continue their practice in thefuture. People really liked these little sculptures, and now we alsosell them in order to finance the construction of our newcenter.'
'We still need about $ 20,000 in order to be ableto complete the center next year. Maybe people in America will alsolike some of these sculptures and buy them for themselves and theirfriends. That would help us to be able to open the center next year.Swami Veda Bharati has promised to come all the way from Rishikesh,India to inaugurate the center when it is completed.
Then, in December 2001 we plan to host the "PanAfrican Symposium on Yoga" in the capital of Burkina Faso, with 200 -300 yoga teachers from all over Africa participating.
Information on the bronze and brass sculptures canbe obtained from:
Museum of European Art, 10545 Main Street,Clarence, New York 14031 (USA). Tel. (716) 759 - 7078, fax (716) 759- 7925. E-mail: zavrel@meaus.com