Meet Guru

Guru is a 9-year old boy living in a poor Indian leprosy community whose brain, through complications at birth, did not properly develop.

As a result, he has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and is unable to speak, partially paralyzed on the right side, and because of the difficult birth, lives in a high state of trauma that causes him to hyperventilate during all waking hours, not be able to take food (he is sustained by a little juice and milk per day) or talk, and must have somebody in his presence constantly, otherwise he is prone to fits.

That position on the floor you see him in in the photo, is the position he stays in for just about every hour of every day. He’s currently not able to go outdoors because his mom can’t carry him due to an operation she had and he slumps over in wheelchairs due to his lack of physical strength and mental presence to hold himself upright. Sores on his back have formed from this.

For Guru, every breath, every day is struggle and his special needs further burden a family that already struggles to survive in one of the most marginalized communities in Ahmedabad. 

It’s a tough situation and one that moved me when I first met the boy and his family. 

Guru is going to be a primary focus for me over the next 6 months as I work with the Gandhi Leper Seva Sangh. Out of everybody I met when I went door-to-door meeting all the community residents, he was the one I saw who was in the highest state of need. 

Guru’s mom has agreed to let me treat him with Jin Shin Jyutsu twice a day for as long as is necessary. I do not expect to see much reversal related to his mental handicap, this is something I believe he will have to live with—his burden to bear. However, I do expect to see major changes relative to the traumatic state he’s living in, if not an outright 100% harmonization of it. 

No doubt the pain of his difficult birth has made him fearful and distrusting of this world, which is what I suspect is behind his inability to take food. It’s as if his nervous system is in the state yours would be if a plane suddenly starting descending rapidly like it was about to crash. 

So, his process with me will be about learning to trust the world, also including his home that is his physical body.

Guru’s story is our own, one that differs only by degree. We all have our traumatic story which caused us to distrust the world as it is, which gave rise to all the issues and anxieties we have with the present moment. For this reason, I think it is so interesting that this boy’s nickname is Guru. Teacher. He is certainly going to be one as we watch his condition evolve. 

I can only hope that as the trauma releases and he becomes more trusting of the world, quality of life adjustments can be made. Such as introducing education, seeing some level of self motivation and independence, being able to wheelchair around, form relationships and so on.