Despite the Odds: Finding One’s Path

Carnet Hebdo

By Nita Chicooree-Mercier

In the distance, the sunset casts its last rays on the endless sea in an array of glowing red and yellow colours, soon to be covered by the dark pall of clouds moving slowly across the sky. The waves lap gently on the shore of the lagoon as the birds flock together among the branches of the filao trees, bidding good-bye to one another in a noisy meeting before settling in their nests for the night.

“My youngest pupil among the oldest is 82 years old in Mauritius,” Sweta says, as we roll back our mats and enjoy a few minutes’ conversation under the filao trees before parting. Julie is a young lady from Martinique and is a descendant of the local French community known as ‘Béké’ there. She has been to quite a number of islands and, as an islander, feels at home in all of them.

“Mauritius was a unique experience for me,” she tells us, her eyes glowing and a broad smile on her face. “I was really not expecting it.” What was so special about Mauritius? “The crowd in Mauritius,” she answers. “The people in the streets, in public places. A different atmosphere. I was drawn to them. Like a magnet.”

In fact, the well-being she experienced awakened something deep within her, something that had been lying in wait. It opened a window on another way of living.

“Maybe in a past life…,” I said in jest. “You already had it sleeping in your cells.”

“Oh sure!” she giggled. It was like a call she had been waiting for.

I referred to Sri Aurobindo’s chapter on ‘Memory of Cells’, something quite a number of Westerners are familiar with, I noticed, surprisingly, in encounters with seekers of deeper knowledge. So, the Mauritian experience kindled a strong desire in her to pack up and fly to India. There, she spent a few months in Varanasi and Rishikesh with yoga masters. She looks as though she spent years in India. The way she moves slowly around and gently clinks a bell at the end of the relaxation exercise, with a saffron-coloured shawl around her shoulders. Such sweetness emanates from the young lady.

“I found my path, what I want to be and how I intend to live,” Julie acknowledged. And now, she is in touch with the locals near a Kovil in the south of Réunion, where she continues the learning process.

Sweta is already an experienced yoga teacher in Mauritius. She gives regular courses to a group of elderly nuns in a convent in a village, all above 80 and very enthusiastic. A major obstacle is the availability of halls for yoga lessons, let alone the price. Open-air lessons are an option, provided that owners are willing to let their lawns be used. What we see on television on Yoga Day, being celebrated in the garden of high-ranking public figures, she said, is a one-off event with the participation of the High Commission of India. Otherwise, there is a flat refusal to let the lawn be used for yoga.

The other challenge is finding accommodation at a reasonable price. Thirty-year-old single people need to get away from their parents’ house and find a space of their own. The smallest apartment charges Rs 15,000. What is called a ‘studio’ is built in a haphazard way, with little thought for comfort and adequate layout for the kitchen and bathroom. From what I have observed in Mauritius, such accommodation glaringly lacks aesthetic appeal. An elderly Indian national who is a yoga teacher, she relates, is currently encountering an uphill battle to find some kind of decent accommodation between the twin towns of Quatre Bornes and Belle Rose and has to sleep in his car between lessons.

So, we put forward the idea of creating awareness among elderly couples who are likely to rent a room in their house and whose children have already flown out of the parental cocoon.

We discussed the necessity of setting up a properly structured federation of yoga teachers that would enable them to earn a decent living from giving lessons on a regular basis. The second point is about raising awareness of the importance of yoga and other disciplines. Those who should be in the frontline in showing interest in yoga are not sufficiently sensitized to the subject and are still wading their way knee-deep in merry-making, focusing on career advancement and material acquisitions. Indeed, the nuns at the convent are free from such worries.

A ‘retreat’ centre at Petite Rivière is generously offered for five-day Vipassana meditation sessions. Vipassana was initiated by a Buddhist monk in Myanmar, and its followers hold free sessions in many countries across the world. Participants meditate for hours without moving or talking. At some point, they can ask the organiser questions about the practice and its philosophy. It is open to people of all creeds and backgrounds. Not everyone can adjust to the demands of the discipline. It appears those who cannot stand the immobility and silence, give up and go home, are largely local Mauritians.

There used to be free yoga courses in the late afternoon within the precincts of state colleges. Not only is there an urgency for a national organisation with regular funding to enable teachers to earn a living from the knowledge they impart to the public, but also a need for an awareness campaign to understand the functioning of the body and the health benefits derived from yoga exercises.

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 11 September 2026