Bending Over Backwards - 271
Hal Wastes His Wages
December 1, 2008

Yoga made the news recently, with Muslims in Malaysia issuing a fatwa forbidding the practice based on fears that the exercise and mental discipline may conflict with that of Islam. Now I’m not about to tell the Malaysians how to run their country, nor do I want to step on any fatwas (thanks for shedding light on that one, Salman Rushdie)--all I’m saying is personally I have no problem with yoga.

I even did yoga once. And despite my strong physical resemblance to Siddhartha Gautama as a fat, bald man, I wasn’t too concerned about losing my soul to the Buddhists. Even a beer-swilling, beef-eating Catholic boy can benefit from yoga, if he can get past the exercise and mental discipline portion--which of course I couldn’t.
Nevertheless, my brief foray into yoga established a deep respect for its practitioners, particularly when their strength and flexibility is demonstrated beyond the rigorous posing.

Off the Mat, Into the World (www.offthematintotheworld.org) pretty much sums it up with their moniker, organizing real community service groups comprised of yoga students who look to stretch a little further in their search for fulfillment. In conjunction with The Cambodian Children’s Fund (www.cambodianchildrensfund.org), the organization is sending a group to the Steung Mean Chey municipal garbage dump in Phnom Penh in an effort to create a better quality of life for the hundreds of children who attempt to make some sort of living scouring the dump for anything worthwhile.

Hoping to be among those traveling to the site is Hobokenite Lisa Palumbo. A certified yoga instructor, Palumbo feels drawn to the plight at “Smoky Mountain,” a nickname given to Stueng Mean Chey by the locals based on the omnipresent smoke given off by smoldering rubbish and general miasma of unimaginable filth in which these children operate.

“The fathers don’t work so they’re forced to send the children to the dump site to rummage around,” says Palumbo. “And since they’re at the dump they can’t attend school.”

This obviously creates a cycle, one which she hopes to disrupt. “The Cambodian Childrens Fund provides aid to the families, provided the children stay in school.” In the meantime, Palumbo and her colleagues hope to train the children in vocations other than rummaging.

For example, “They’re working on designing a line of clothing,” she says, “in addition to the bags.”
“The bags” are a current successful venture by the Cambodian Childrens Fund where fashionable tote bags are assembled from durable discarded rice bags, doing more for the environment than some $800 Anna Hindmarch “I’m Not a Plastic Bag,” and a lot more practical at $35 each.

Palumbo is certainly excited about leaving in February to do her part with her yoga companions, but as it turns out she still has a little more stretching to do before she goes. Of the $20,000 she needs to participate, she still needs to raise $5,600 by December 31.

“The yoga community has been incredibly generous,” says Palumbo. In one event at Devotion Yoga (79 Hudson St., Hoboken) she managed to raise over $2,200, and the generosity hasn’t stopped there. “Every now and then I find more and checks coming in from friends of friends who hear about it through yoga.”

So you see, Malaysia, a lot of good can come from yoga. And other than a few winces from the small arms fire in my out-of-shape back the next morning, I’ve never experienced any harm.

At any rate, anyone looking to help Lisa Palumbo get “Off the Mat, Into the World” and over to Cambodia, contact her at (201) 362-4887 or Agapytrelee@aol.com. Not to get all Sally Struthers on you, but $5,600 is nothing--whether it’s 5,600 readers at $1 each or 560 readers at $10 each, please chip in and help get Lisa over there.
Namaste.

*******************************************************

Christopher M. Halleron, freelance writer/bitter bartender, writes a biweekly humor column for The Hudson Current and websites in the New York Metro area. He spends a lot of his time either in front of or behind the bar in Hoboken, New Jersey where his tolerance for liquor grows stronger as his tolerance for society is eroded on a daily basis. Feel free to drop him a line at c_halleron@yahoo.com

Christopher M Halleron owns and retains all proprietary rights to the Site and the content provided by the Site. The Site contains material, including links and compilations of individual data, trademarks, and other proprietary information of chrishalleron.com.  Except for that information which is in the public domain or for which you have been given written permission to use, you may not copy, modify, publish, transmit, distribute, perform, display, or sell any such proprietary information.  Any questions or comments, please contact Chris Halleron at chris@chrishalleron.com.