Summer Camp 2006

The summer camp (Kala Protsaha) we did this year focused on music, yoga,Sanskrit,sketching and knitting. We had nine students in the camp from ages six through thirteen. The students started the day with yoga as the first activity in the morning followed by singing. They worked on their breathing techniques and few simple exercises to encourage voice culture and sensitivity to sound. Later they had lunch and proceeded to craft activities of their choice. Some of them chose sketching and watercolor painting and others took to knitting and needlework. They ended the day with learning Sanskrit. It was heartwarming to hear students wanting intense work in all these activities. Their enthusiasm kept us going from day one to day five. By the fifth day, they enjoyed doing a 'suryanamaskaram' with several poses integrated and worked on two Carnatic compositions enjoying the meaning and above all great food and fun craftwork.

Summer Camp 2006 .. in their own words - from the participants

"I really enjoyed the knitting, but we did not do it for so long. I am really looking forward to doing it next time."

"The first thing we did in the camp was tell a slokam and this made me very calm. The singing exercise was very good because it made us bring out our voices and also helped us listen to everything and everyone around us. I chose to draw and it was very good because Vidya mami showed me how to bring out every detail and show it in the drawing. In Sanskrit we learned the meaning of Mahaganapathim. It felt good to learn the meaning of a song that I have learned and have been playing on the veena for so long."

"At the beginning of the day we did yoga. We started with a slokam and later on, we learned what the neutral spine is. We also learned tadasana. We learnt about sitting bone and how to bend without bending your back. We split into groups and sang Om in different notes. The result was a bell-like sound. We learnt the meaning of the words in Mahaganapathim. I enjoyed this because I was able to listen to Sanskrit and notice that Telugu was similar to Sanskrit. Tomorrow I would love to cook."