Around Town
June 1, 2007

Meetings & Lectures

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

In recognition of Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) Sunday, Gay Gustafson addresses the topic of “In Search of Wholeness,” asking how do we keep hope alive as we witness injustice, inequality and genocide in our world? 

The UUSC, an affiliate of the Unitarian Universalist Association, focuses its programs to promote environmental justice, defend civil liberties and access to democratic processes, and advance economic justice throughout the world. Ms. Gustafson is the Southwest Texas Regional Coordinator for the UUSC National Volunteer Network.

The UU Fellowship meets every Sunday at 10:30am at La Posada de la Aldea, Ancha de San Antonio 15. People of all ages, races, religions, and gender orientation are welcome. Visitors are invited to attend the service and then join the UUs in the hotel restaurant for brunch. For more information about Mexico’s only chartered UU Fellowship visit portalsanmiguel.com/lifestyle/unitarians/unitarians.html.

Classes & Workshops

Bilingual yoga class beginning

A bilingual class in the style of Integral Yoga is being taught on Saturday mornings starting at 7am sharp, held in the basketball small back court on the west side of Parque Juarez. Participants bring their own mat and or blanket for the floor.

The class is taught by Guru Tattwa Ratnam Maithreyi S. ananda Radha Bhuvaneshwari, (aka Marcella Andre), trained in all aspects of Yoga by Yogiraj Sri Swami Satchidananda and diverse visiting teachers from all over the world, starting in 1974. Andre left her native San to study abroad, ultimately in New York City at the Integral Yoga Institute of New York. This is one of the most senior yoga schools in the west, and its founding was spearheaded by the artist Peter Max in 1966 after meeting the sensationally charismatic and dynamic, practical teacher Yogiraj Sri Swami Satchidananda, whose lifelong approach to Yoga was “easeful, peaceful, and useful.”

Yoga study for Marcella Andre with master guru Satchidananda meant an enormous workload in the founding of Yogaville, the international headquarters of Integral Yoga. This system is the only Yoga school endorsed by the cardiologist Dean Ornish, MD who was a contemporary student of Sri Swami Satchidananda as well. The class in Juarez Park always finishes with Yoga Nidra, the deep relaxation practice that promotes self-healing and is the sine-qua-non of stress-management. 

The yoga class in the park is adapted to the local ambiance, tailored to the students in attendance and grew out of requests by Dr. Carlos Gurrola Togasi, some of his patients, and the continued interest by new students. The class focus is on repair, alignment, deep relaxation and strengthening and relaxation of the respiratory, muscular and nervous systems with the classic Hatha Yoga approaches developed in the Himalayas on the banks of the Ganges River. This school of Yoga’s modern roots began there as the Divine Life Society in the Saraswati-Shankaracharya lineage in which the teacher, Marcella Andre, is senior representative in Mexico. 

Juarez Park serves as a place to be outdoors, to enjoy the early morning in San Miguel and incorporates being outside at that hour, the hour of the Dragon per Feng Shui, as it is considered beneficial for acquiring energy, leadership and strength.

In San Miguel, Marcella Andre is Tecocolli, the keeper of the conch, traditionally blown to lead the millennial ceremonial walks with the descendants of San Miguel’s Chichimeca royalty. This skill was acquired while training in Yoga and handily, the conch signals the beginning of the classes in the Park. The Sanskrit title “Guru Tattwa Ratnam” means “Jewels of the Guru’s Teachings.” The diverse and enchanting, more subtle branches of Yoga knowledge are like jewels, dispensed for healing and enrichment of life experience.

This work, through Swami Satchidananda, is the recipient of many honors including the B’nai B’rith Antidefamation League’s award, The U-Thant Peace award, also presented to the Dalai Lama, Mother Theresa, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and Rigoberta Menchu. 

For more information please call 154-9868.

Reference websites: http://yogaplanetjewels.googlepages.com/home2  www.swamisatchidananda.org 

Tours & Excursions

Instituto Allende trip

On Saturday, June 9, at 9am Instituto Allende Tours hosts a day-long field trip to nearby Atotonilco, Dolores Hidalgo and the vity of Guanajuato. 

We visit the sanctuary of Atotonilco, which is the very place where rebel priest Michael Hidalgo latched onto the likeness of the Virgin of Guadalupe and used it as an inspirational banner that became the freedom flag during the initial moments of Mexico’s fight for independence. The church also showcases murals, sculpture and baroque art from the mid-eighteenth century. Our next stop is Dolores Hidalgo, a center for Talavera-style ceramics. On Dolores’ main square is where Miguel Hidalgo uttered his famous, “Viva Mexico!” the historical cry for freedom, referred to as El Grito. The quest for independence took place on September 15, 1810. The main square also offers unique flavored ice creams too, with unusual flavors for ice cream such as avocado, shrimp and tequila along with other more traditional types.

Later the tour heads to the capital city of Guanajuato, a charming city with great cultural tradition and home of the University of Guanajuato. Famed painter Diego Rivera’s home is on the bill along with an easy-going walking tour of other sites of interest like the Plazas de la Paz and the main Jardín.

During the heyday of Spanish silver mining the city of Guanajuato was recognized as one of the wealthiest cities in the entire world. Grand houses were built by the Spanish silver barons of the day. On the tour, special attention is given to the preserved architecture of the colonial period in residential areas.

Other points of interest that will be visited include: the university and the stately governmental buildings in Centro, along with a number of museums. Cost for the all-inclusive trips is US$55. 

All tours are led by native-speaking, bilingual guides within a secure environment. A free lecture is given each Wednesday, at 4pm for the weekend’s upcoming field trip. Reservations are a must and fees must be paid in advance. Visa and MasterCard accepted. For more information, visit or call 152-0226





Performances & Events

World Environment Day celebrations

The Environmental Education Project in San Miguel de Allende PEASMA invites you to celebrate World Environment Day on Sunday, June 3 at Parque Juárez from 11am to 7pm.

The goals of the fair include providing environmental education for children, fundraising for PEASMA and promotion of their Educational Project. Organic and ecological products such as organic fertilizers, plants organic vegetables, compost containers, recycled paper and much more will be on sale.

The program for the day begins at 11am with a workshop for children on how to make a compost pile. At 12:30pm another children’s workshop, “Water Rally” will be held. Some fun and games begin at 1:45pm with a puppet show and continue at 3pm with ecological games. Two more workshops follow: “Percussion and Puppets” and “Recycling Paper” at 4pm and 5:30pm respectively. Finally at 7pm there is a presentation from a trio from Huapango, Huasteco called “Los Juilgueros de Atarjea.”

The Environmental Education Project in San Miguel de Allende has as its primary objective, to educate new generations in the knowledge, care, love and respect of the cultural and the natural heritage. Thanks to several non-profit organizations and the government Departments of Ecology and Water Resources, being coordinated by Fundación de Apoyo Infantil (Save the Children Mexico) have been working on environmental issues in San Miguel de Allende. Each group specializes and focuses on one environmental theme based on their organization’s missions. Each group is working with one grade of some of the elementary schools, teaching the children about wildlife, ecosystems, resources, garbage recycling, river restoration, earth charter and water treatment.

At the moment we have worked with 29 schools, 9,050 boys and girls of rural and urbane zones. This program has been so successful, that 96 percent of the children, teachers and parents requested the workshops and field trips to continue year after year.

In today’s society it is essential to teach children about the environment to create a consciousness and build a good citizenship that then benefits the individual and the community at large. 

For more information, email peasma05@yahoo.com.mx , visit www.peasma.com  or call (415)-152-3686. 

Volunteer Opportunities

Casas Hogares volunteers needed

San Miguel’s three children’s refuges—casas hogares (Mexiquito, Santa Julia, and Sollano)—need the help of the community in order to meet their many volunteer and special event opportunities this summer. Please call 152-3709 in SMA, 925-418-8003 from the US, or email robin@robinloving.com if you might be able to oversee an event or coordinate volunteers. You would be working with English-speaking volunteers and event participants and Spanish-speaking directors of each children’s home. Thank you!

Feed the Hungry volunteers needed

The Feed the Hungry program in San Miguel has need for volunteer drivers to deliver food commodities from our warehouse located in San Miguel to Feed the Hungry kitchens attached to various schools in poor neighborhoods located in and around San Miguel. Volunteer drivers provide their own vehicles for delivery on Tuesday mornings from 8–10am. This opportunity provides a wonderful chance for you to participate in a program providing a free, hot, balanced meal to over 3,000 children per school day. Please contact Duane Eriksmoen, Director Food Distribution at 154-6904 or deriksmoen@aol.com  or Al Kocourek, 152-5576 or penq1@aol.com. 

Volunteering at the Biblioteca

If you would like to volunteer to assist in any of the following departments, please see Elia in the Sala Infantil, Monday-Friday, 4–5pm, or send an email to volunteers@bibliotecasma.com and Judy Boston will get back to you. The departments with the most need are La Tienda, teaching English to kids, the Book Committee, English conversation with students, the computer room, the Sala Infantil with literacy programs and painting, administration, the Café, the House and Garden Tour, and Atencíon. A minimum commitment of 3 months is requested for most of these positions.

See you in the funny papers

Mark Saunders, creator of Atención’s “Más o Menos” cartoon, invites suggestions from readers for funny material about living in San Miguel that would lend itself to a cartoon. Selected ideas will be drawn by the cartoonist, and authors will be given credit as well as a signed copy of their cartoon. Please send your “expat” cartoon ideas to edit@atencionsanmiguel.org.