A 3-part interview by Katie Elliott
(We’ll publish parts 2 and 3 of this fascinating and inspiring interview in the coming days… Keep your eyes out!)
Katie: You are obviously big into service. With all that you do, like Off the Mat, Into the World and the Youth Aids Organization, was there anything specifically that prompted you to get involved in service work?
SEANE: I first got involved in service back in 1984 but I wasn’t an effective activist at all. I thought I was great but when I look back at it I realize that I had a lot of unresolved issues around anger that I hadn’t dealt with and so I was really using the actions that I participated in as platforms to release some of the frustrated feelings that I felt inside. So I got out of activism, got very involved in yoga during this period, did a lot of deep work on myself and then ended up getting back into service.
I found a shelter in Van Nuys called Children of the Night which houses, educates and rehabilitates adolescent prostitutes, young women and men from the ages of 11 to 17. I thought, very innocently, super naively, that this would be a good fit for me, that these kids probably have body issues and yoga would teach them how to chill.
I went in to this environment and I was met by 15 girls and boys so rude, defiant, bored, angry and it was one of the most frustrating hours of my life and I couldn’t wait to get done. I got in my car and had all this pity towards these kids and I remember thinking to myself that they’re never going to get better, that these kids are just lost in the system. Then it suddenly dawned on me and (I feel like this moment probably really has impacted my life until today), I realized that I had just met 15 manifestations of the disowned parts of myself.
As a child I dealt with sexual molestation and so I was defiant, rude, shut down, angry, all these things that I saw in these kids that I could not deal with because I hadn’t chosen yet to deal with it in myself. That parts of them were in reflection of me, scared me and I thought oh crap, it was like I think I knew exactly where I was supposed to be. If I don’t heal that part of me, then I’m never going to be able to evolve and transcend in this world. I have no choice. I have to go back and meet that part of my nature head on and when I can learn to truly love these kids, then I’ll learn how to celebrate that part of myself.
And so it all came full circle, very yogic in my experience and it all evolved from there. I’ve never done any service that has been selfless. I don’t even know what that means. I say that because every single time I’ve gone out there into the world to be of service in any capacity, I have gotten more than I have ever given. My life has changed on so many levels and all I have to do is give time, energy, money, or some effort but what I get in return has been truly indescribable and priceless.
My confidence, my sense of self, my sense of purpose, my ability to relate, all of this has been a skill learned by working with people who are at risk and identifying not the differences but the sameness. It’s not to engage in the story but to really see the soul and yoga really taught me how to do that so my experience in being of service is really an evolution of my yoga practice, of my quest for transformation. One can’t go without the other. I feel very deeply in my purpose and committed to that purpose of being in service because I know it brings me very, very close to God.
…to be continued…
**Note from Katie: After learning more about Seane and the work she does, I’ve been inspired to participate in the SEVA challenge. To learn more about the SEVA challenge, click here or keep checking the Drishti blog for the continuation of this interview that I conducted with Seane.
If you would like to make a donation in my name, I’d be honored to represent you in Uganda (the next SEVA destination) in February of 2009. You can donate here:
(Please note that there is a place to scroll through to select the name of the participant you are supporting)
Or you can mail a check made out to The ENGAGE Network. Please include the name of the participant in the memo line and send to:
The Bleeping Herald, 1482 E Valley Rd. Ste 212, Montecito, CA 93108.
If you’d like to participate in the SEVA challenge yourself, Sign Up today and with a little bit of fundraising ingenuity and some major elbow grease, I’ll see you in Uganda!
Thank you! –Katie Elliott
