While seva wasn’t a term I had heard before joining the Breathe Together Yoga (BTY) community, it has been profoundly in my heart for many years. Seva is a Sanskrit word meaning “selfless service” or work performed without any thought of reward or repayment. The service can be anything, but for me it was rehabilitating native wildlife for release back to nature.
About 20 years ago, I found myself in an exhausting, time-sucking career that left me with a spiritual hole. I realized that, while I liked my job, I certainly wasn’t passionate about it, and I needed to do something that I was passionate about. As luck would have it, around that time, my mom saw an article in the San Jose Mercury News about an upcoming “baby shower” hosted by our local wildlife center. It was February, and, with spring right around the corner, that meant “baby season.” The wildlife center needed supplies, such as paper towels, bleach, and T-shirts (hence, the “baby shower”). It was an open house of sorts, where they collected shower gifts as donations. This was the first I had ever heard of the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley, and, frankly, I was hooked.
When I started volunteering at WCSV, I could only commit to four hours every two weeks. I knew early on that I wanted to work with birds of prey – eagles, owls, hawks, and falcons. They are so majestic and regal. I literally knew nothing about them, but that’s what I wanted to do. So, what was it like? Chaos! When you volunteer at the hospital, you are usually a generalist, working with all the species from songbirds to squirrels to opossums – anything native, you name it. There are always mouths to feed, kennels to clean, laundry to fold, food to prep. Some species are on timers – feed every 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes. Sometimes, you make it through one round and realize the time is up and you start right back at it. It’s a labor of love. We have volunteers 365 days a year. In fact, for many years, it was my Thanksgiving ritual. Thursday mornings used to be my regular in-shelter shift; every Thanksgiving, it was a treat to give thanks to the animals and their role in nature by starting my day off with them.
Some species are higher stress, or can be time-consuming, and get sent home with volunteers for what we call “home care.” Early on as a volunteer, I started scheming and that usually means my poor husband is in for it (he’s very handy). I really wanted to do home care with the raptors, so I asked for my first aviary.
“How big do you want it?” he asked.
I responded, “Oh, 20-by-15 feet.”
“Lisa,” he says, “That is a garage.”
Sigh. So, my first aviary was more like a phone booth. My next was six-by-nine feet. Heh heh. My most recent is six-by-39 feet. Yes, I have a 40-foot “flight cage” in my backyard. And that’s just for the big birds. I also still have the six-by-nine foot home for hummingbirds, as they too are birds of prey. (They hunt and eat insects! Okay, I know it’s a stretch, but it’s fun to get people thinking.)
While at the hospital, I work with just about every species of native bird and mammal that comes in. From pelicans to bobcats. I can recall one time we even got a beaver! I’ve done everything from transport, to after hour phone support, to fundraising, to weekly in hospital animal care. However, my time doing home care for WCSV has been dedicated to birds of prey both big and small – eagles to hummingbirds.
You might wonder then, have I always been a bird lover? Heck no! Well, let me clarify: I love seeing birds in the wild. Flying free, soaring, being wild birds. I will never forget when another volunteer came to my house one day. Unbeknownst to me, she had and brought her two parrots – one on each shoulder. If you know me, you know I, sometimes inconveniently, wear all my emotions on my face for all to see. And boy, did she see it. She took one look at me, shocked, and said, “Oh my god. You don’t like birds.” So, when people call me the bird lady, I get a little weirded out.
I usually work with about 150 hummingbirds a year. Yes, I am crazy. I spend eight months of the year sticky and usually carting birds around. Hummingbirds have two rounds of babies each year. Some might recall seeing me at BTY with a little black cooler, wondering what the heck I was doing. Baby hummingbirds in a make-shift incubator. When I get baby hummingbirds, they have to eat every 20 to 45 minutes, so they go everywhere with me: to work, shopping, yoga – even a few weddings!
So, my seva words of wisdom for you?
Pick your passion. For me, serving animals is my love, my passion, and my way to give back. I give all that I can to the creatures, as an apology for all the ways we have negatively impacted their ability to live and thrive. But passion is personal. If animals aren’t your thing, opportunities to get involved abound! Whether it’s helping domestic violence survivors, supporting those with a disease, or cleaning up our beaches, find something that speaks to you. Just dip your toe into the water. Try something, and, if it’s not a fit, find something else that is.
Be gentle with yourself about the time you can commit. When I started, I didn’t feel like eight hours a month was “good enough.” I knew they wanted four hours a week! I thought I should be doing more. Don’t let negative and self-imposed barriers get in the way – just do what you can and be ok with that.
Be okay with stepping back. Things come up in life, and just because you committed and are giving in service doesn’t mean you can’t pause, or even stop. It is an ebb and a flow. You give when you can and cut back when you need to. I spent 15 years going to the WCSV hospital. Then, I needed to cut back and just do home care. Now, I’m ready to go back to the hospital while doing home care, too.
If you don’t make the time, no one will make it for you. Credit here goes to my mom. Back in the soul-sucking career grind, I didn’t think I had any spare time. I was billing my time in 6-minute increments. I couldn’t do anything but bill time. No personal conversations, no training classes, no volunteering. No way. But, my mom wisely told me that if I didn’t make the time, no one would make it for me and she’s right. I made the time because it was important to me. The first step starts with you. In the words of Ram Dass, “Helping out is not some special skill. It is not the domain of rare individuals. It is not confined to a single part of our lives. We simply heed the call of that natural impulse within and follow it where it leads us.”
