Children’s Land

Be like children.

Jesus Christ

On Tuesday, I was visiting my sister-in-law Lyuba and her 10-month old son. All the three hours when I was there, we were “communicating” with Svetik (my nephew) with smiles, mimics and imitation of sounds and from time to time exchanging ideas on life with Lyuba.

Very often, you start realizing the things you have heard or read before only meeting them once again when they are expressed in other words by another person. At some point of time, our discussion with Lyuba approached the idea that you should strive for your thoughts to be always pure and then you (both your physical and energy bodies, health and vibrations) will be in purity and harmony and no negativity will be able to attack you. But it is not an easy matter taking into consideration that your chakras and, consequently, their reflection – thoughts, are often far from balance. And Lyuba told me the words of one of her acquaintances: “When you feel that there is no purity in your thoughts any more, ask God to place your consciousness into His consciousness”…

Before I went home, we had meditated. And the vibrations before, during and after it were such as usually one has at collective Sahaja events. Three hours spent with a child, with purity and innocence, three hours spent, mostly, in a thoughtless state, in the centre, had obviously contributed to it.

Yesterday we had our first of five scheduled programs, duration 30 minutes, at the Bergenfield Head Start Program.

We were two groups of two yogis introducing Sahaja Yoga simultaneously in two classrooms of children age three to five. There were twenty children in each group accompanied by their teacher and a teaching assistant. All the children and their teacher (a lovely lady from Iran and a long time US resident) were sitting in a circle on a red carpet. Heidi and Ophelia sat opposite each other in the circle; A 11×14″ colorful chakra diagram of a child in lotus posture was placed on a display panel in front of the children. The child’s face had features which could be attributed to any of the many nationalities represented by the Head Start children, combination of Asian, Hispanic, European, etc.

Heidi started the session by asking if the children could take off their shoes. The shoes were placed behind the children and Heidi proceeded to guide the children in stretching exercises, one of which was stretching up their arms several times and wiggling their fingers in the air. At the end of the stretching which lasted no more than two to three minutes, the children were told to shake out their wiggles in their hands and feet, so they could sit calmly in lotus posture. Ophelia then introduced the idea of a star was shining far up in the sky and how the children could reach it, but first putting their attention on a seed that was at the bottom of their spine and that by raising it up, up, up it would come up to reach the sky. Then, she asked them to raise their right hand (the teacher added, “your writing hand”) which they all did, and Ophelia told them to put their hand on their heart.She asked them, “Do you know what is in your heart?” One of them said, “a flower” and Ophelia said, ‘Yes, but what else?” and then she said, “It’s love. This is where you feel the love of your mommy and your daddy, your teachers, etc.”She then asked them to close their eyes and feel the love. The teacher helped by directing the children to do as they were instructed. Then Ophelia and Heidi went around and checked the children’s vibrations and helped raise their kundalinis. Heidi also worked with the teacher and she felt the energy and was very positive about the experience. The children eventually became more silent and some of them really seemed to fall into meditation. The whole room became calmer as the vibrations permeated the atmosphere. The children were guided all along, to keep calm so they could feel the love in their heart.

When the children opened their eyes, they were asked to put one hand then another, on top of their heads to check if they felt the “cool breeze.” Some children said they did, others said they felt the flower, and so on. The children were told that they could send the love they felt in their heart to others and to the whole world.

Miss Holma, their teacher, exclaimed that they would start each day with feeling the love in their heart. Finally, the children were shown how to raise this love from the seed every day.

The teacher said next time they would try to have a video camera in the classroom.

We all parted, smiling and hugging each other, and really “connected.”

We have really worked on ourselves while disciplining the child. We always noticed that he is not behaving properly when we are not meditating or behaving properly.

And one more thing we realised that if we keep on doing the wrong behaviour or wrong actions in front of him he picks them up like pointing finger, showing eyes, saying “no” for wrong things etc. So, we stopped doing such things in front of him. We tell him in a positive manner that “the thing is wrong to touch it” rather than saying “don’t touch this”. Also, if he is repeating mistakes, we ask him (though he is very young) that “what do you think, will Shri Mataji like it?”, and in many cases he would slowly slowly stop doing those wrong actions.

…And then there is a way of correcting children. I mean, I don’t like that punishment, you can correct the children, never. But by telling them stories, by telling them, talking to them, by sorting out with them, you can work it out very well. And if you talk with them, I tell you, these days the children are so wise, that they immediately take to wisdom, immediately. When they talk, they talk wisdom. I mean all of them sometimes, if you talk to them, you feel you are amongst grandparents or great-grandparents, the way they are talking about things. So, you have to understand that these are special children, are to be treated with respect and to be brought up with respect and instill in their mind that: “You are special children,” that “You are children who have to change the world. You have come on this earth for a very great purpose and that’s why you have to be brought up like that.”

“And then the disciplining also comes in children when they understand that they are …, they themselves discipline. So, the first thing is to instill in them the sense of security and a sense of self-respect. I think this is the most important thing we have to do….” (Shri Mataji, Children, Parents, Schools, 1985)

An example:

We both had a bad habit Read the rest of this entry »

The first term in the Russian Sahaja kindergarten “Cool breeze” has come to an end. Little children were being taught to walk, they were taking the first steps. As they are glad, so their mothers are glad, too. Among teachers and aunties the belief even appeared that the kindergarten is a place where pure desires are fulfilled. Because if you want something, everything is solved, everything is organized.

This is really a Russian project in which the efforts and vibrations of the teachers, tutors and parents of various Russian cities were combined. In the first term 18 children (6 of which came from other cities of Russia) lived in the kindergarten. First it was rather difficult, because this project differs from all the others which we had had in Togliatty. We learned all together.

And collective aspiration for developing this project has worked out! Teaching activity was filled with various lessons according to the pre-school curriculum. We began to coach children of the preparatory group for school. This work will be continued in the second term.

At Sahaja lessons and daily meditations children learned to balance themselves using various cleaning techniques, to conduct meditation and to sing bhajans.

At weekends various trips were organized: to the forest, to the city Philarmonic Society, to the winter-field, along the Volga (we went along the river by yacht).

In the second term, we are going to add visits to the theatre and staging stories to our leisure activities. We plan to introduce lessons of English as well.

We would like to tell you about the final holiday. We have worked with children for about 12 years, we have never had such a balanced holiday before. Everybody just dissolved. The aim of the festive occasion was to sum up the term, to consolidate the knowledge received by the children and, which is more important - an ability to put this knowledge to life. In general, only adults were preparing the holiday, so the scenario of it was composed in the form of a theatre - impromptu. We made up rather vital situations (those we watched in the kindergarten during the term) which the kids should have overcome using the knowledge and experience received. The examination was passed.

With respect,

The organizing committee

About 3 months ago my wife Leela was asked by one of the teachers, at our kid’s school if she would like to offer a meditation class for any interested kids, after school. You see my kids go to a public school call “open class room.” In this school it is required for a parent to help every week in the class room. So many parents with special knowledge’s like science etc. will help teach a subject. Or parents just help out the teacher with grading, or arranging assignments etc.

Anyway after school they offer different activities, and Priya’s teacher had noticed that she was somehow more balanced than the other kids. So this brought about her asking Leela to conduct a meditation class.

The fist class was in November and the turn out was great - 16 kids and they all loved it. So much so that when the following week came the kids were asking Priya, our daughter, questions about what they would be doing that day and saying how much they enjoyed it.

Then came the second class and Leela again had 16 kids come. Some of them were really benefiting from the experience, and they loved it. Also some of the parents commented on how much calmer their kids were after the class.

Then came Christmas break and so everyone was off. Last week the teacher asked Leela if she wanted to continue with the class. There had been a little bit of a conflict of after school activities because one of the other fathers decided to have a chess club on the same day. So Leela was not sure if the kids would want to go to meditation or to the chess club. But the teacher informed her that she had already received 12 inquires for meditation. So Leela agreed.

Everything was great, and to this point now one can be happier that such an event is happening in LA. After all how great it is that we can possibly save these young children from the strife of our world, and the fact that they want such a subtle experience is a wonder.

So this morning Leela was sick, and as we sat around the breakfast table we were discussing how we needed to call all the parents of the children, that would be coming today for meditation, and let them know that it would be canceled. They would need to know so that they could pick up their kids right after school instead of an hour later when the meditation class would have been over.

Suddenly I found myself saying, “why cancel the class Priya can do it.” And Priya Read the rest of this entry »

Together with the children we were going up the chakras following the scheme of the subtle body designed for children.

We studied the number of petals, learnt the colors of the chakras and then there was a quize: guess what the chakra is by the color and the number of its petals. After it, each child coloured the center (=a flower cut out of white paper prepared in advance) he/she liked most of all. At the same time one of the adults drew a silhouette of a boy and the children glued the coloured flowers into it. Finally we got a very cheerful boy with the centers of different colours.

Before the kids started to colour the chakras, the yogini leading the program made a very nice analogy between our subtle body and a rainbow. “The sun light which makes everything around bright seems transparent to us but when it gets onto a drop of water it starts to play with all the colours of a rainbow. We also have such a sun inside and it also creates different colors”. The sister painted lines of colours on a sheet of paper using water colours (making the edges of each of them flow into the next color): red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, blue, purple. The flower of Muladhara is red, Swadisthan – between orange and yellow, Nabhi – green, Anahata – between green and light blue, Vishuddhi – blue and the white part of the paper – for Aghia. Sahara is combining all the colors.

After it, a sort meditation followed. And then, when we all were going up our own chakras, the adults were singing the music notes: sa, re, ga, ma, pa, da, ni, sa. Vibrations obviously became stronger.

At the last program we talked about Mother Kundalini and the Mother principle in general, explaining it with the Mother Earth and how she cares and nurtures us. Then the fruits and vegetables came in. For this we brought some fruit and vegetables to the class. I made 3,5 kg of red, green and blue play dough and we tried to recreate the fruits and veg with the play dough. Just simple, like banana, apple, broccoli, grapes etc.

The veggie play dough worked brilliant!

Sia

Question:

I wanted to ask our knowledge base about how to treat cold & congestion for a 7 month old. My son got bad cough & cold in our India trip and it is still persisting. I have not taken him to the doctor as yet, as he is not feverish, so didn’t want him to have antibiotics, if could be avoided. He is not able to breathe though his nose, as it’s completely blocked.

Manisha

Answers:

Have you tried ajwain burning? I have found that the smoke can help unblock the most stubborn noses. Of course it may be too strong for the child directly to inhale, but you can just burn it in the room he is in. Also you probably are already using them, but saline nose drops regularly given are good, and the slight elevation of the head of the crib (under the mattress, a few inches of pillow) helps the breathing, once a bit unblocked.

Love, Michelle

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My son suffered a lot from colds and coughs (croup) last year. He has again developed it yesterday night all of a sudden.

I use Read the rest of this entry »

Question:

What is your advice or experience in integrating a one year old in morning meditation???

Do you meditate separately and then with the child do a small meditation?.. Because before our son was walking, he would sit quite some time and we would sing… But now he just wants to walk around… and also for songs he has no “time” since it is so much more interesting to explore all the surroundings, emptying the dustbins while I am not looking etc…. also now he sleeps longer in the morning approx. until seven and until that time me and my husband have already meditated because he needs to go to work…

Answers:

When our son started walking at about 14m of age, there has been challenging moments in making him sit down in meditation. But the truth is Read the rest of this entry »

Question

We all know that each child should be massaged at least once a day! But sometimes I only get a chance to give my child one oil rub/massage a day instead of two. Is that okay?

Answers

1. There are days when I am too tired to give 2 massages. happens! we just try do the best we can.

Eva

2. I found the first month of life with the baby the most difficult, as everything was so very new and I used to panic a lot, wondering if what was happening was normal or not. So massage wasn’t regular (I don’t remember massaging him more than once ever and skipped the days he or I didn’t feel too well).

Yogita

3. I used to give my both children oil massage only once a day, before bath. I was more regular in doing it with my elder daughter. When the son came I was more busy as they were two now. So I must have massaged her till 3 years old, but with him, I stopped after he became 1-1 and a half. This is the disadvantage of being second child!!!

Christina