Ellen Rennard is an English teacher at Groton School, 35 miles northwest of Boston. The school's campus stretches across 480 acres in a setting so scenic that Architectural Digest named it the most beautiful independent school in the state. It faces mountain vistas suggesting infinite possibility.
A nature lover, Ellen used to be an amateur photographer and her pictures of horses bring to mind the romance of horse riding. She says that long ago, when horse racing was the most popular spectator sport in America, she rode a horse around the exercise track at Arlington Park and “entertained a fleeting dream of becoming a jockey.”
From her photographs one can ken, that Ellen has an eye for detail. So we ask her what would she have captured during her stay in India. “I don't take photos anymore and don't know how to answer that question, but my eye is drawn to the natural world, and if humans are in it, they are a small part, plus, I'm drawn to colour now. Even before, what drew me was what might be called energy. Sometimes I'd walk up and down the shed rows, and I'd wind up photographing a horse that would win a race that day or the next. I could sense the horse's energetic field. I'm not sure if this answers your question.”
Today, she tells her high achieving students who sometimes get anxious, about keeping regular hours. “I tell them not to nap during the day or if they do, 20 minute or 90 minute naps, which keeps from interrupting sleep cycles. That has become important with on-line instruction in an international school where I have kids on the West coast coming to class at 6 a.m. in their time zone. I also tell them not to consume too much caffeine or sugar, especially if they're having trouble sleeping. That's the extent. Because under normal circumstances we are a boarding school, kids eat the food that is served, which is quite good but not Ayurvedic.” She does admit that she has not been able to keep up with her Ayurvedic diet either.