Yoga, Art & My New Friend Emma

I’ve known Emma since the day she was born, but until this trip I didn’t really know her at all. Emma is the 25-year-old daughter of my mom and dad’s dear university friend Nancy. Throughout more recent years, Nancy and I have been involved together in a variety of e-learning Web projects that brought us closer together and practically drove us nuts at the same time.

Emma heard that I was traveling to India and called to ask if she could ‘tag along’ for two and a half weeks before her first year of Graduate school at University of Toronto. She had never visited a ‘developing’ country and had no idea what to expect. I agreed (a little hesitantly as this was my big solo mission) and our plans began to coincide. Emma and I were set to travel to Leh together and volunteer at DWLS. She decided to bring art supplies and teach art classes to the students while I headed up the yoga initiative. Somewhere along the way we met in the middle, discovered one another and re-discovered ourselves.

Emma is a bright, bubbly, beautiful girl … ‘with a bounce’. She is witty, funny and has her own set of anxieties such as consuming dairy products in India and packing absolutely everything in zip lock bags. I must say she handled India with an open mind, big heart and a sense of humour. Throughout our time together, we both had our ups and downs, our strong moments and weak. We held each other’s hands when we needed it most and conversely allowed one another the freedom to walk our own paths.

As volunteers in the school, Emma and I not only learned from one another but from the students as well. And even though I was teaching Yoga Asanas and Emma, drawing techniques … the students were teaching us to be truly in the moment and just be ourselves - to let go of expectations, keep things simple, live happily and not take everything too seriously. Many lessons were learned in patience, humility and compassion.

As my Nanny used to say, ‘In relationships, you have to give more than you receive and take more than you give.’ Somehow this mantra has taken on an entirely different light. Emma left to go home a couple of weeks ago. A tear rolled down my cheek as we said our final good byes before she departed to the chaos of Delhi. I know all of the people that she met and touched in Leh will miss her dearly … I also know now that I have a new little sister.