December 8th, 2013 Class Happenings

Last week’s Balavihar class was the week after thanksgiving, and I hope everyone enjoyed spending time with their families. We started class with yoga and some students had forgotten to bring their mats so our yoga teacher told us why we need to do yoga on the mat and without socks. After understanding why we do yoga on a mat, we started with the opening prayers. Then we went on to warm-ups, where for each asana we recited a name for it and a shloka that corresponds with the asana. Afterwards we had a discussion about the importance of the Sun. We realized how much we depend on the Sun in our daily life and how our day would be different without the sunrise/sunset. Doing the Surya Namaskar is very beneficial for your health and improves your body in many different ways such as losing fat calories, increasing blood flow to digestive tract, improves flexibility in spine and limbs, and can make your hair grow longer and healthier (this is more helpful for women). By doing the Surya Namaskar you are thanking the Sun for helping us. Our yoga teacher wants us to practice the Surya Namaskar at least three times a week but you can do it more if you want. We should do the Surya Namaskar in the mornings of Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If you hadn’t done it on Monday, it’s still not too late to start now. We did three rounds of the Surya Namaskar starting with the right to left. We learned all the names for each asana and recited the shloka for the asana. If you don’t remember all the twelve postures and their names you can refer to the link Shri uncle sent us.

After yoga in class we started with our usual starting prayer. Then we proceeded onto our weekly meditation where we look at ourselves from different perspectives of the universe. For example, look how small you are in the whole United States and take it further at looking at you from the continent of North America, and then so on and so forth. After the meditation we decided to have a notebook where we will only be focusing on written meditation. The word लिखित जप means written chanting/meditation. We wrote the word राम or Ram over and over on a sheet of paper. We used the word Ram in our written meditation. Since we didn’t have a notebook we wrote it on a sheet of paper. Next, we took a short five minute break, in which we were reminded about our SEVA project. The 6^th and 7^th graders are bringing 100 lunch bags of healthy meals to a soup kitchen in Trenton.  We made it a competition, to see which grade will have the highest amount. After the break we discussed about what the meaning of a pooja is. Many answers later we all came to the basic answer that a pooja is an act of worship. We listed all the items we need for as pooja including fruits, flowers, offerings, and more. Next week we are all conducting our own pooja where Shri uncle has asked us to bring the materials for it. Finally, we ended with our ending prayers and class was dismissed.

 To sum it up, last class we had a morning of yoga where we did the Surya Namaskar. Then we started to do written meditation where we wrote Ram over and over. Later in break we were reminded of our SEVA project. Finally we learned what a pooja is, what it means, and the materials needed for one. We ended with our ending prayers and left the class. We learned many fascinating things about our culture, exercises that help our health, and more! What will be next…

Regards,
Vijayam Teachers

Nov 24, 2013 Class Happenings

Hari Om

This week's student volunteer blogger is Harshita Ramakrishnan. Here is her write up of last class's happenings:

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Last class, we started stating what we were thankful for, since Thanksgiving was around the corner. A few common answers were family, friends, a home, and food. But after an interesting activity, we realized that there is one more thing we should appreciate. We are fortunate enough to have no disabilities and mental or physical issues. We learned this by participating in an activity that was set up by the Vijayam class teachers. One group of children covered their eyes (like a blind person). One group covered their ears (as if a deaf person). One group covered their mouth ( like a dumb person). And the last group had their eyes, mouth, and ears disabled. The object of the activity was to communicate a message amongst the groups with your disabilities. This way we could see how hard life was for the disabled. Each group tried different methods to communicate including sign language and tracing letters on people's hands. Still, we were not able to get the message across clearly to the other groups. We realized the difficulties the unfortunate experienced everyday and understood that we should be grateful that god created without any problems.

For the second half of class, we reviewed a topic covered in the previous grades of Balavihar. We discussed and interpreted the 24 Preceptors. The earth, air/breeze, sky, fire, the sun, pigeon, python, sea, moth, elephant, ant, fish, Pingala the courtesan, arrow-maker, infant/playful boy, the moon, honeybee, deer, bird of prey, maiden, serpent, spider, caterpillar and water.Let's talk about a few.
The Earth. All animals and humans step on the earth. Earth provides food for all living things. People plow, dig, and pollute the earth. Still, the earth is patient and loving. This teaches us to care for the welfare of others.
The air. The air is everywhere. It sweeps through flowery gardens and dirty dumps. Though it holds the scent for a moment, but after a while it goes back to it's odorless condition. The air teaches us not to be affected by the dualities of life, joy and sorrow. Our feelings should be unaffected and our speech shouldn't be contaminated with vain thoughts.
The moth. Moths are attracted by bright lights. Often, they go into the source of the light and  burn to death. This teaches us not to let material desires affect our mind.

In conclusion, last class we thanked god for how fortunate we were. Not only did he give us a house, food, water, nice clothes, and an education, he also created us without any disabilities. Life is really hard for people with mental and physical problems. But we should look beyond just what is on the outside or the appearance and realize how good that person is on the inside. Finally, we freshened up our memory of the 24 Preceptors. We learned that each element of nature, from air to a moth,taught us an important life lesson. We learned so many amazing things last week, who knows what learning adventure we will embark on next class!
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Reminder: There will be Yoga class this Sunday 12/8/13. Please bring along your Yoga mats and come dressed appropriately.

Regards
BBNJ Vijayam Teachers
Sri & Aparna