Last weekend, a group of thirty Bhutanese people walked into the Art of Living Center. They had come for the Breath Water Sound workshop, a unique program offered by the Art of Living Foundation. The group comprised of people from all age groups. Old ladies well into their fifties, young men in their early twenties, middle aged women, even an eleven year old boy! Over the next three days, this group learned to sing, dance, laugh and meditate! They played games, sang Nepali folks songs, danced to soulful bhajans, and shared inspiring stories that moved us to tears.

There were people in the group who had spent the past seventeen years in refugee camps. While sharing her experience, a woman started weeping as she remembered her husband who was in a camp in Nepal. Observing our ping-pong table, one of the young men remarked, "In our camp, we had a concrete ping-pong table. With so many people, something like this one would never have survived." His words gave me an idea of how many years he had spent in refugee camps. Tulsi, the youngest participant, all of eleven years, was probably born in a camp himself.

At the end of the program, there were smiles galore. As one story after the other emerged, I could hardly believe what had transpired in the three days. One woman mentioned about body aches and pains that she used to experience due to stress, and at the end of the program, they had disappeared completely. Another woman revealed that she had arrived in Atlanta eight months back, and was currently without a job. This caused her much stress and tension, but at the end of the course she felt like all of it had disappeared. Another woman said that she now felt like she had gained a whole new power to do anything she wanted.

All the participants were determined to share their experiences with others in the community. They firmly believed that the knowledge and techniques would alleviate the stress and depression everyone was dealing with. For us, the organizers, this workshop was yet another opportunity to see Grace in action - healing wounds, physical and mental; bringing smiles back to faces, young and old; and ultimately empowering individuals to take responsibility for their lives and the lives of their community members.

Over the next 3-4 years, thousands of Bhutanese refugees are expected to be resettled in Atlanta. Our intention is to offer the Breath Water Sound program to every member of this community. We are also evaluating the possibility of offering special programs for the Bhutanese youth. For more details, please contact Pratik Jagad @ pjagad@gmail.com