The 2003 Karma Yoga Awards

As global tensions continue to rise, karma yoga (the practice of selfless service) is more important than ever. We salute several especially devoted and effective karma yogis.

By Phil Catalfo

In the Bhagavad Gita, perhaps the most revered of all the ancient yoga texts, Krishna tells the conflicted warrior Arjuna, "You have the right to work, but for the work's sake only. You have no right to the fruits of the work." With these words, Krishna presents a timeless vision of karma yoga, the path of self-transcendent action. Krishna's teaching allows Arjuna to see that when we act without regard for rewards and because life presents the opportunity and responsibility to act, we can lose our selves and experience atman, the oneness that the discipline of yoga is all about.

This year has seen no abatement of humanity's age-old afflictions--war, poverty, hatred, greed, and so on. But each day also provides us with the opportunity to take action, to show compassion, to alleviate suffering. While not everyone takes advantage of that opportunity, some people do. We are pleased to present the most inspiring of them as the winners of the 2003 Karma Yoga Awards.

Leah Green believes in the power of reconciliation. As director of the nonprofit Compassionate Listening Project, she has offered an alternative means of attaining peace in the Middle East by encouraging compassionate communication between Palestinians and Israelis.

This technique starts with posing nonadversarial questions and cultivating the skill of nonjudgmental listening. "We started doing it with the full spectrum, including extremists on both sides," Green says, "and they experienced the power of compassionate listening themselves, as the beneficiaries of it. People on all sides felt safe under our umbrella--they knew they weren’t going to be discounted, that they were going to be heard, that it wasn't going to be a debate." Once Green and her coworkers saw that they could facilitate a real dialogue, they started training the participants to teach others. The method of communication was developed by Gene Knudsen Hoffman, a Quaker, therapist, peace worker, and writer who was heavily influenced by the teachings of noted Zen Buddhist monk and author Thich Nhat Hanh. Each year, the Compassionate Listening Project--which is based in Indianola, Washington--offers workshops around the United States to train individuals and groups in the technique, which, Hoffman has written, "seeks to see through any masks of hostility and fear to the sacredness of the individual and to discern the wounds suffered by all parties."

The nonprofit also leads trips of "citizen delegates" to the Middle East and has produced both a guidebook to the technique, Listening with the Heart, and a video documentary, Children of Abraham.

Green's own understanding of the need for empathizing with those whose views and cultural traditions differ radically from her own began in 1979, when, at age 19, she moved to Israel to live on a kibbutz for a year. "I didn't know what the conflict [between the Palestinians and the Israelis] was all about, but I’d inherited a lot of wariness about Palestinians from my culture," Green recalls.

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