Buckets of Samastitihi

We talked today of buckets, and how each of us has an one- an invisible bucket that we either fill up or empty out each day, and with that bucket we also have an invisible dipper by which we either fill or remove from ours and others buckets. In the book, "How full is your bucket?" I read to the boys class about how Korean POW's were treated and how many of them endured the worst torture--torture of the soul--In the Korean war, the American soldiers did not endure tortures of recent wars, no bamboo under the fingernails, no electricity to the body for information, instead, the Koreans made the Americans stand up in a room full of peers and confess their secrets good and bad, and in the confession they were forced to also tell of times where the soldiers could have done the right thing but didn't----this torture broke these American soldiers and many after this kind of "group" would go into their huts cover themselves with blankets and die--The soldiers were not held by barbed wire, or razor wire, they could come and go freely, but they became imprisoned in their minds--they lost all hope and settled into the idea that they were worthless and not even worthy of life--The boys found this fascinating, and we talked about how the soldiers buckets were empty--literally bone dry--they felt no hope for anything better. One of the silent warriors in the classroom said, that last week, he was being put into "holding"--solitary--for his aggressive actions towards kids and guards, and that he was so worked up he had to be restrained, but one of the boys from the yoga class yelled out to him from his cell--Samastitihi--and in that reference the silent warrior calmed down--he said it was because he did not feel alone--he felt a connection and knew that if he calmed down that it would be ok. Samastitihi has become the battle cry for the warriors, since Buck came to JDC and we worked for weeks prior to his arrival on Sun Sal A and B--when I would say come to Samastitihi the boys would repeat it back to me, all at once and in battle cry voices, this sweet yoga saying has become their center, their place of rememberance that they are worthy of more that what their lives have been, and in rememberance they know that in that moment they can take themselves back to a better time and calm down. Unlike the Korean Soldiers they have a blossoming in their hearts that reminds them they are ALL worthy of greatness, they are all Silent Warriors with Samastitihi carved in their shields. We worked on breath, and the importance of rememberance in class--and the boys had a great time--too much fun, but my most prized students were leaveing our yoga class to go into intensive treatment in Southern Idaho where there is no Yoga so I let it get a little crazy--for the first time, they were having fun with the yoga--one of the beauties got up into handstand for the first time in the middle of the room--unassisted and he was so proud, one of the boys did a full Urdva for the first time, and he was very emotional, and one of the boys, the leader, the rock of our yoga program, did Scorpion on his own, with proud shoulderblades and a soft heart--so in the end, the breathing and the rememberance filled the buckets of the boys and to the Silent Warriors leaving for Boise, I wish them a vibrant body, sharp mind and soft heart and many many moments of Samastitihi!