• Table of Contents
  • The Yoga Youth and Children’s Retreat by Joanne Sullivan
  • Wisdom of Ten Years Old by Swami Veda Bharati
  • To Serve Nature by Swami Veda Bharati
  • Seeds Were Planted by Sabina Cesaroni
  • An Experience of the Yoga Youth and Children’s Retreat by Carolyn Hume
  • TTP for the Taiwanese: Reflections on the 2011 TTP by Joanna Siauw
  • A New Important Project by Giancarlo Colombo
  • Dr. Shirley Telles at SRSG by Joanne Sullivan
  • 40 Days Silence at SRSG by Dave Downing
  • Something Swamiji Said by Four Sadhakas
  • Three YMT Seminars in Italy by Danielle Belloni
  • Toronto News December 2011 by Shanta Sawh
  • Expanding Identity by Randall Krause
  • Perpetual Youth by Swami Rama
  • Book: "Yoga in India" A Journey to the top 24 Yoga Places
  • Book: "Love is a Song of the Nightingale" by Nandini
  • 2011 Events and Beyond
  • Full Moon Meditation Dates
  • Location of our SRSG ashram
• AHYMSIN Newsletter Archive

An Experience of the Yoga Youth and Children’s Retreat

by Carolyn Hume

(Click for larger photo)

(Click for larger photo)

Families with youth and children flowed into each other’s and our hearts and minds at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama 22nd – 31st December. They came in response to Swami Veda’s invitation to come “So that the Grace and the practices and teachings of meditation in our lineage may continue into next generations and meditation may become a family-centered experience.”

Such a coming together as we played together, worked together, studied together, practiced together.

And in this stream of time, meeting those that will succeed us or those who have preceded us, the perennial within these many expressions of the same life force, the timeless Guru lineage pulsed love.

(Click for larger photo)

The days were filled with yoga practicums, classes in the arts, free play, excursions, ayurveda lessons, magic performances, dance and music performances, and on the last days showcase performances from the youth and children participants.

What stands out in my memory?

A child arriving very withdrawn and quiet becoming animated in full play and laughter (and his parents becoming more joyful as they experienced this).

A young mother who has always seemed tense smiling.

A stressed out family which had been anxious about little things laughing.

In silent meditation, the sound that a newborn baby makes.

A young adult leader suffused with beauty as she taught and led young children a special song.

An old woman whose youth shines brightly in her eyes as she leads you into her story.

Unheralded workers who arrived at the kitchen early and stayed to ensure as good a meal experience as possible, who gather to fill welcome bags, who deal with electrical problems, who smilingly take pictures, who help carry luggage and arrange opportunities for all who have come.

(Click for larger photo)

The pleasurable noise that children make.

Children singing. Adults singing.

The vitality in a meeting of “future leaders.”

The full silence of children’s blessings.

The constancy of the Guru presence.

And now that the families and children have left SRSG, the feeling that they have not left, that they have always been within this village and will always be here. There is no “they.”