Village Art de Vivre

One look at the gray gloomy sky on Monday, and you couldn't help but wonder, "What the heaven happened here yesterday?"

To start from the begining, this last weekend, Sept 27th and 28th was the National Reunion plus "Village Art de Vivre", a project initiated by the members of AOL Fontainebleau. We arrived in Ermitage on Friday morning to find the place covered with dust and cobwebs. The two halls looked cold, dampy and uninviting, certainely not the warm cozy atmosphere we were hoping to create. Thankfully we were armed with broomsticks, rugs, scrubs, detergents and a team of super enthusiastic volunteers, who scrubbed the place so clean that you could see your smile reflecting off every surface. And overnight the place was converted to a haven of bliss.

Chandrika: all smiles


Kriya and satsang on saturday

On saturday the whole atmosphere was like that of a happy beehive, buzzing with activity. Chandrika and her team cooked us a delicious meal, while the rest of us cleaned, scrubbed, decorated, hammered nails, built stuff and tore them down, glued, ate, sang, danced and laughed. In short we were family.

Ryan: What's cooking?

Chantal and Valerie: obviously having FUN!

The one amazing thing about Art of Living is that anytime you need anything (or anyone), it (he/she) is made available. You need a terrific venue at a reasonable price, Chantal makes it available. You need people to cook, they are there. You need people to scub and clean, they are there. You need a solid sound system, it is there. You need big bowls to serve food in, its there. You need something small to crush peppercorns in, its there. You need stuff to put other stuff in, its there. You need someone tall to fix curtains on the ceilings, he's there. You need someone small to go under the table, she's there. You need 7 tents, its there. You need someone to clean toilets, while the others are busy having fun, she's there.You need a place to sleep in, its there. You need someone to keep the kids busy while the parents work, she's there. You are on the middle of the road hoping to get a ride to the venue, the ride is there. You need someone to go pick up people from the station,over and over again, even though these people miss their trains and come an hour later, Serge is there!

Serge's shuttle : Navette Art de Vivre

Philippe taking yoga for adults

It was wonderful to meet Art of Living members from the rest of France, people who we knew only through emails sent to mailing lists. Sophie and Mathieu (who cooked the most delicious meal on Sunday), Chantal (from Toulouse) who spoke enthusiastically about courses in Fbl to all who went to her stand, Philippe Goudrat (President, IAHV) who encouraged me on the way AOL is developing in Fontainebleau, the team from Bad Antogast, who with their magic touch melted away the stress from so many through their Ayurvedic massage, and the young group of musicians from Lyon, who charmed us all with their mystical, spiritual music.

Vish congratulated me on the success of Fontainebleau. He said, "You are the catalyst that started this all!" That made me think, if we were not all catalysts every moment, waiting to trigger a chemical reaction. The results could be constructive or destructive, depending on the quality of one's thoughts, words or actions.

Isabelle managed 2 stalls at the same time. An atelier "Crea bougies" (making decorative candles) which was an instant hit with children and grown-ups alike, and also a stall for her delicious home mades compotes and pastes. The rate at which her bottles were disappearing is a sure sign that she will have more orders in the coming weeks or so. We wish her all the best in her endevours!

Linda, even though she couldnt be with us that day, made delicious Indian patisseries which disappeared in seconds. And everyone kept asking me for the recipe!! And Katrina, even though she was was ill and tired and had her choir rehearsals that weekend, made 4 delicious English cakes that vanished almost immediately.

The children had a ball! There were activities for them throughout the day...Jungle Yoga, Laughter Yoga, Isa's workshop, fun and games.

Cristoph taking yoga for kids

Of all the kids who were there I would especially like to mention Tejas (Chandrika and Vish's 11 year old son). While the others kids jumped and ran about, Tejas had his own idea of fun. He helped stir food in the kitchen, helped carry food to the serving area, and even served food till late afternoon (at which point I had to insist that he had his lunch, lest it should get over). He even dog-sat for Frederica's dog, while she gave her conference. All this with a million dollar smile :) Trust me, this is one seva warrior you definitely want for your next project!

Vikas and Tejas

Coming back to the weather, this was one thing that was truly beyond our control! Since most of the activities were planned outside in the garden, a little drizzle or even a strong wind could have ruined everything. The ground would have been muddy, it would have been impossible to put up tents, or do the yoga sessions. we put up a few tents on Friday, but the wind was so strong, that the tents kept falling apart. But the weather on Sunday was...well there is only 1 word to describe it...DIVINE! In fact, people kept saying that they hadn't had a day as beautiful as this ALL summer!

Marylene at the Divine shop

On Sunday more than 300 people attended the Village Art de Vivre, many of them discovering it for the first time. Some of them were so thrilled, they kept asking us when we were going to do this next.

Serving food

An Euro A Day: Designed by Daphne and Diane (Alexia's kids)

We collected 4000 Euros during the weekend! We thank everyone who came from all over the country to help make this weekend so special. We thank all the teachers, Stephane, Serge, Philippe (Goudrat), Philippe Chaussande, Cristof, Marylene, Mary-Cristine, Sophie and Mathieu.

Diane announcing the winners of Tambola

To the team of Fontainebleau, especially to Stephane, Alexia, Chantal, Serge, Katrina, Anne, Isabelle and Valerie, I can only ask, "When are we doing this next?" :)

For more photos see: http://picasaweb.google.fr/yadathore.vish/WeekendArtOfLivingFrance?authkey=LMVfh3TaKhQ#

http://picasaweb.google.com/serge.katrina/ArtDeVivreKriyaAGSatsang270908?authkey=N7hbXXCKx2E#

http://picasaweb.google.com/serge.katrina/ArtDeVivreYogaVillageFranchard28092008?authkey=0JVu3vJsxGk&pli=1#

love
Suparna

P.S: The next course in Fontainebleau will be from the 10th to the 13 of Oct. Number of places is limited and we already have a few inscriptions. So if you know of anyone who is interested do pass on the message!

Stephane turns 38!!

We celebrated Stephane's birthday in the Chateau of Fontainebleau (where else?).As expected, he was showered with gifts, hugs and love.

Later we went to the Chateau de Vaux-le Vicomte to do a candle lit tour and watch a performance of Les Arlequins. Interestingly, they performed Moliere's play in the same area, where Moliere himself had performed with his troupe in the last century.

Advance Course with Kiran!

The Part2 course took place at the La Rochette, 10 mins from Fontainebleau from July 10th to 14th. I missed it as I was in India, but here is the photo.

From Kiran (by email):


Dear friends!

Takk for sist (as they say in Norway - which means 'thanks for last
time when we met') - it was so nice come to France and be together
with you all.

I trust you are all having a smooth transition back into everyday life
and are enjoying the benefits from the course.

Please find the group photo attached - the photo came out very nicely
and is a lovely memory of the time we spent together.

Please feel free to contact me anytime if you wish.

With love and best wishes

Kiran

From Isabelle MAILLET:

Hi family ! Salut la famille !

It's an effort for me to write in english but it's worth while doing for all of you even if it takes very time for me.

C'est un effort pour moi d'écrire en anglais mais ça vaut la peine de le faire pour vous tous même si cela me demande beaucoup de temps.

But, it's an excellent exercice for perfect me because I hope to be bilingual one day. It's so necessary nowadays. Isn't it Kiran ! "YES !" (this, it's for the key n°1).

Mais, c'est un excellent exercice pour me perfectionner car je souhaite un jour prochain devenir bilingue. C'est tellement nécessaire de nos jours. N'est-ce pas Kiran ! "OUI !" (ça, c'est pour la clé n°1).

So, I count on you to correct my mistakes for help me to reach this objective.

Aussi, je compte sur vous pour corriger mes erreurs afin de m'aider à atteindre cet objectif.

At first, I hope to thanks warmly Stephane without who I never could be have the happiness and joy to know this moment magnificent and extraordinary magic that we have together share.

Tout d'abord, je souhaiterais vivement remercier Stéphane sans qui je n'aurais jamais eu le Bonheur et la Joie de connaître cet extraordinaire et magnifique moment magique que nous avons tous partagé ensemble.

After, I want to said to Kiran that I'm very, very happy to meet himself. Happy that his account show that all is possible : we can change if we want !

Ensuite, je voudrais dire à Kiran que je suis très, très heureuse d'avoir fait sa connaissance. Heureuse de son témoignage qui nous montre que tout est possible : nous pouvons changer si nous le voulons !

Thanks for all that he can pass on to and share, thanks for his generosity, thanks for all.

Merci pour tout ce qu'il a pu nous transmettre et nous faire partager, merci pour sa générosité, merci pour tout.

Lastly, I want to say at all of you : thanks !

Enfin, je voudrais vous dire à tous : merci !

With all my love.

Avec tout mon amour.

Isabelle MAILLET

May-June: The journey continues...

The course from 30th May to 2nd of June was all set to be cancelled. 3 days before the course we had only 5 people (3 people cancelled), and with a heavy heart I typed out an email informing everyone that the course would have to be postponed. This is something I absolutely hate doing (i.e,cancelling a course) since I know how important everyone's time is, and how much they have to rearrange their family lives in order to take 4 days out for themselves. But sometimes it has to be done. So I typed out the email, and before I clicked 'Send', I saw there was a new email waiting in my mailbox. So I decided to read that one first. It was from Veronique (who had signed in Oct which was later cancelled) and she wrote to say that she and her friend Marjorie were going to join us!! (At this point you should have seen the way Steph and I were jumping :)) And the next day, Annie called Steph to say that her son Aurelien will participate too :))

Well, what can I say...God sure loves FUN!!

(From L to R) Aurelien, Veronique, Marjorie, Catherine, Kirsten, Stephane and Sheila

Our group of 8 consisted of Aurelien, the sisters Kirsten and Catherine, Sheila, Hazel, Herve (Hazel's husband), Veronique and Marjorie. This was the quietest group we have had so far...though it had its moments. On the first day of the course, they were told that they would see or do nothing that they had expected to(no yoga, no respiration, no meditation, no stress releasing techniques) ...were they really ready to waste 4 precious days of their lives?? Herve seemed the least bit bothered. His logic..."On any other weekend too, its the same. So why should it bother me?" Talk about leaving your expectations behind:))


On Sunday as usual we took the traditional after lunch Chateau walk, though Hazel and Herve could not join us. Sheila turned out to be quite a botanist, educating us about the various species of trees in the chateau gardens. It was nice to see Kirsten, Catherine and Aurelien, all aged between 17 and 22, participating with such openness and sincerity. In the "off times" they asked questions about the humanitarian work that Art of Living is doing, and expressed a strong desire to do concrete work for the betterment of this planet.

In the English gardens

On the last day, everyone was asked to bring a gift. Stephane, "It could be something you have created, or something you might want to get rid off...:)"


Herve', "Its probably one and the same thing".


This is the last course we did in Centre Alchimie des Sens, 13 rue Guerin. The place is quite dear to us, having brought together so many different people from different walks of life, all searching for something other than a mundane everyday existence. On behalf of all these people I thank Stephanie Coudert for giving us this space, which allowed us to start this fantastic journey inward...

Les Arlequins

We met Les Arlequins, a local theatre group, when they accepted our invitation to attend an Intro workshop. What resulted from a simple 1 hour exchange was a very special friendship :) Loulou, the Director of the company invited Stephane and me to their next performance (perks of being AOL volunteers)at the Cinema Ermitage...their interpretation of Moliere's "Les Malades Imaginaires". I cannot begin to tell you how impressed I was...the play was interactive, involving a few unsuspecting members of the audience, which made it all the more fun. The acting was vibrant and energetic, with sound effects created by some artists standing right behind the audience. And props for special effects that I cannot give out :))

For information about their next performances please visit http://www.lesarlequins.fr/ For those of you who are in the region, do try and make it to one of their shows..

At the end of the play Loulou introduced Stephane and Art de Vivre, to the audience, with the result that during the break that followed we had to satisfy people's curiosity about what exactly is this "Art de Vivre"??

The play was followed by the screening of the film "Sur les traces de Molieres", which is about a very important part of Moliere's life, where, inspired by the characters he met in his real life, he wrote most of his famous works. The film too was thoroughly enjoyable, sort of a "Shakespeare in Love" only not that boring, and much more fun.


The following saturday, Loulou and his team organised a "Festival des Associations"...basically inviting all associations in Fonty and surrounding areas to showcase their activities. Since there was a last minute cancellation, Loulou contacted us to see if we might be interested in participating. Stephane invited Philippe to do a session of "Laughter Yoga". Ours was the last programme of the evening, and was received with a lot of enthusiasm, as the Municipale Theatre of Fontainebleau, reverberated with "HA HA HO HO HEE HEEs".

On Sunday, June 22nd, Loulou and his friends had a get together at his house, La Belle Etoile. Its called a DIMENTRAM ...or DIManche ENTRe AMis (Sunday with Friends). The idea is to meet in the morning, then go to the local marche' to shop for vegetables etc, and then cook together, and enjoy a long Sunday afternoon lunch. Stephane and I were invited again :) We were the Chef's surprise!!Though I couldn't join them this time, Stephane tells me he had a ball! I could only join them in the last half hour, where the whole team of Arlequins (some 10 of them) joined in whole-heartedly in singing Indian bhajans to the strumming of Stephane's guitar :)

I have also decided to put Urvi in their Theatre workshop for Kids this fall. I figured at 5 I/2 she already does enough drama at home, might as well give her talent some direction :)

Birthday Surprise!

Monday, May 19th was my birthday :)

A flurry of wishes, ecards, phone calls, SMSs and emails, from almost everybody in AOL Fonty, left me totally surprised and wondering how all of them got to know of my birthday...none of them of course would tell me the truth! And they came up with the most incredulous sources, like "a little birdie told me", or there was "something in the air" etc etc It took me some cajoling to get it out of I-can't-mention-who to find out that Steph was behind it all...the little devil...

Steph and Severine had dropped by that day with chocolates(Yumm...)which hubby and daughter finished in no time. Friday, after the follow-up, everyone threw me a surprise party!! With more cakes!!!

This was probably the longest birthday ever, but I feel miraculously young, fresh and full of possibilities ...

Pentecourte, Picnic and a Project!

May 8th to 12th, was a looong weekend in France, popularly known as the weekend of Pentecourte. Stephane decided to spend his vacation in Fontainebleau, and we took full advantage of the amazing weather by taking long walks in the forest (with much reflection on maya and reality), daily Guru Pujas, follow-ups and satsangs, and a fantastic picnic on Sunday in the forests of Fontainebleau. On saturday, we went to Barbizon with Bea (where she played dog-poop cop and literally freaked out a young dog-owner, which left Stephane and me in splits!) Bea is also a terrific local guide (having lived in a nearby village for long), and freely filled us in with the hottest gossip about the local residents...who was murdered when, and who is serving jailtime etc...

Bea and Stephane frolicking à la forêt

Bea and me 'on the rocks' :)

The Three Muskeeteers!

Tree-shool

For the picnic on Sunday, we were joined by Chandrika, Viswanath, Vikas, Tejas, Saritha, Mahmed, Raphael and Sarah from Paris! From Fonty we were Max, Valerie, Robin, Chantal and her daughters, hubby Kanchan, Urvi and myself. Not sure in which group I mention Stephane, but I have a feeling he is leaning more towards Fonty :)

Robin (Hood) and his girls..Urvi, Elodie and Eve

Vikas and Tejas

We lazed on the green grass and sang Om Namah Shivaya, played Jungle Yoga with all the kids, and gobbled up a delicious picnic lunch. Later we went for a long walk in the forest, following the crazy blue and yellow arrows (some of which were either pointing straight to the ground, or painted at the top of a high rock, pointing skywards!) During the walk we talked about our project...and discussed the possibility of doing a Village Art de Vivre to start with. Words like "notre Coeur du metier" resonated strongly with the group, and an impromptu brainstorming resulted in a variety of ideas, all of which looked positively brilliant!

Max...on top of the world! Looks like someone followed the signs alright :)
Stephane and his kids

The President...contemplating the future of Art de Vivre...

All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable day, and a great way to celebrate Guruji's birthday which was on Tuesday, May 13th!

It has been decided that the weekend of Sept 27th and 28th will be Weekend Nationale de L'Art de Vivre. Largely due to Chantal's effort, we have now reserved L'Ermitage de Franchard for the Weekend. At least 150 AOLites from all over France are expected to participate. The ayurvedic massage team from Bad Antogast have also confirmed participation for the Village Art de Vivre.

And we started our adventure in Fontainebleau only a year ago! Looks like the plan to convert Napolean's chateau to the future ashram is well on its way:))