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5.11: Sahaja Meditation: Awaken and Balance My Energy

  • Page ID
    14094
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    • Instruction: In a group or think-pair-share format, have participants discuss the following questions. Acknowledge those who have progressed toward their goal(s) and encourage anyone who wants to change or modify their goal to get 1:1 support.
    • Share: Let’s discuss our SMART Goals.
      • How is it going with your current SMART goal?
      • What are some ways you can improve progress towards your goal? (Grows)
      • What are some ways you are doing well with progress towards your goal? (Glows)

    GUIDELINE: Decrease Negative Perception of Challenges

    • Share: What guideline do you think is related to today’s lesson? Who has a SMART Goal related to this guideline?
    • Instruction: Select one activity.
    1. Guideline Popcorn: The group lists all 8 guidelines rapidly in popcorn format.
    2. Guideline Charades: Divide participants into groups and assign each a guideline. Each group has to silently act out the guideline for the rest to guess.
    3. Two Truths and One Lie:
      • Truth 1: Meditation has a positive impact on overall health (physical, mental and emotional)
      • Truth 2: Meditation means being in the present moment, without thinking.
      • Lie: Meditation means deep thinking.
    4. Questions to discuss and/or journal:
      • What does meditation mean to you?
      • What are the possible benefits of meditation?
      • What are some barriers to meditation?
      • How often do you currently meditate?

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    • How to silence the mind and find inner peace by being present in the moment.

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    • Worksheets
    • Slide presentation
    • Paper
    • Writing utensils (pens, pencils, etc.)

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    [As defined by Merriam-Webster Learner’s Dictionary, n.d.; Sahaja Meditation System of Knowledge]

    • Stress: A condition that is often characterized by symptoms of physical or emotional tension.
    • Distress: Negative stress that can manifest itself through changes in behavior.
    • Silence: Gap between two consecutive thoughts, resting phase of brain
    • Meditation: Being in silence (without thought), in the present moment
    • Balance: Being neither overactive nor lethargic, being in the center where one is relaxed yet alert
    • Imbalance: Being either overactive (restless, angry) or lethargic (dozing off, sluggish)

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    • Do Now: Thought Check
    • What’s Sahaja?
    • Awaken the Energy
    • Balance the Energy
    • Exit Ticket

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    Do Now

    • Instruction:
      • Ask participants to close their eyes for a minute and be aware of what thoughts are in their minds.
      • Ask them to open their eyes and write down two (2) or three (3) thoughts that came up on their worksheets.
      • Have them categorize them as thoughts coming from the past or the future. They can write “P” next to thoughts from the past and “F” next to those about the future.

    Good to Know: Why Sahaja?

    • Share:
      • We can become overwhelmed with distress if we think too much or allow ourselves to be overcome by negative thoughts and reactions.
      • If we can slow down our thoughts or reduce them, we can cope with distress in a healthier way by becoming more relaxed and achieving a state of balance.
      • We will now learn a simple meditation technique called Sahaja Meditation that helps us to go beyond our thoughts and promote inner peace and balance.
      • This has worked for hundreds of thousands of students around the world. Most of them had never meditated before and still could get something out of it.
      • Some have reported that slowing down their thoughts has helped them in school and their relationships in addition to adding to their own sense of satisfaction and wellbeing (Sahaja Meditation, n.d.).
      • Sahaja Meditation is a method of meditation which helps us become more balanced, peaceful, and physically/mentally/emotionally healthy. It works by awakening an inner energy in us, which puts us into this state of silence.
      • Sahaja means spontaneous or effortless, the literal meaning is “born with you”.
      • This meditation was started in 1970 by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, a global icon from India, who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and honored by the US Congress for her extraordinary humanitarian contributions.
      • Shri Mataji has made a profound impact on the world which continues to grow today through her message of love, peace and inner transformation achieved by meditation (Sahaja Meditation, n.d.).
    514143-1535732629-74-2-sri.jpgImage From: Sahaja Meditation. (n.d.). About Us. Retrieved From: http://www.studentsmeditate.com/#about
      • Meditation can bring silence to our minds, where there is neither a thought of the past or the future. If we are able to stay in the present moment (i.e. in silence), we may feel less distressed about what happened in the past and less worried about what will happen in the future.
      • It is almost like we are passively watching a TV show of everything that happens in front of us, without reacting to it or getting troubled by it. This can put us into a steady state of peace and balance.
      • Furthermore, if we are in the present moment, we are automatically neither overactive nor lethargic, but we are relaxed and alert. This can allow you to be more focused in school and worry less about things (Sahaja Meditation, n.d.).
      • Meditation can be used anytime, anywhere, at home, school, and in virtually any situation where a quiet, secluded place can be found for a few minutes. We will be learning how to meditate in our environment.

    Hands-On: Awaken the Energy

    • Instruction:
      • We will now do a meditation technique—awaken the energy.

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      • Put both your hands on your lap, palms facing up and fully open. You can close your eyes if you want. Take a few slow, deep breaths to calm the mind. We are going to focus on a few areas of the body and say affirmations silently, to ourselves.

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      • Put your right hand on the center of your abdomen (navel/belly button). Say inside, silently: “I am at peace”. Say it several times. Then sit in silence for a few moments.

        514143-1535735136-53-47-Screen-Shot-2018-07-02-at-12.10.58-PM.pngImage provided by Sahaja Meditation
      • Put your right hand on your forehead. Say inside, silently: “I forgive everyone, and I also forgive myself”. Say it several times. Sit in silence for a few moments.

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      • Put your right hand on the top (crown) of your head, so that the center of your palm is in touch with the top of your head say inside: “Let me be in the state of meditation”.
      • Bring your hand back down on your lap, with the palm facing upwards fully open. Continue to keep your attention at the top of the head, without thinking of the past or the future. Just enjoy the present moment in silence for a minute or two.
      • Open your eyes. If you liked the experience, show your thumb up. If you didn’t like it, show it down. If you are neutral about it, show your thumb sideways.
    • Share:
      • Now, we are going to do a “cool check.” This means verifying in a tangible way whether the inner energy has been awakened in us.
      • Put your left hand 6-12 inches above your head with the palm facing your head. See if you can feel a gentle cool breeze coming out of your head and into your palm.
      • Then, put your left hand down and try the same with your right hand (feel above your head).
      • Last, hold both hands out in front of you, palms up, and see what you feel in your palms.
    • Share:
      • There are some sensations you will feel in your hands and at the top of the head.
      • If you felt some coolness in your left hand, raise your left hand.
      • If you felt any coolness in your right hand, raise your right hand.
      • If you felt the coolness in both hands, raise both hands. Coolness is the sign of our inner energy flowing well.
      • Heat or tingling may indicate some blockages or imbalance. For example:
        • Heat or tingling in the left hand may indicate that you are more on the emotional side, and you may have more thoughts coming from the past.
        • Heat or tingling in the right hand may indicate that you are a more active person, mentally or physically, and you may have more thoughts coming from the future.
      • These sensations can change on a daily basis. The heat or tingling will usually reduce and you can check it again in 5-10 minutes time.

    Hands-on: Balance the Energy

    • Instruction:
      • We will now learn two (2) simple meditations techniques for clearing the energy from both the left and right hands – one at a time.

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      • Put your hands on your lap, palms facing up and fully opened. Close your eyes if you’d like. Take a few slow, deep breaths, and bring your attention to the top of your head.

        514143-1535734227-05-49-Screen-Shot-2018-07-02-at-12.17.00-PM.pngImage provided by Sahaja Meditation
      • Balance the left side energy: put your right hand towards the floor and sit like this for a minute or two. You can say, silently to yourself, “I let go of all my past, I let go of all my tiredness.” When you are done, bring both hands back on the lap.

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      • Balance the right-side energy: put your left hand up, with your palm facing towards the back; sit like this for a minute or two. You can say silently to yourself, “I let go of the future, I let go of all my activity.” When you are done, bring both hands back on the lap.
      • Sit in meditation i.e. in silence, without thinking of the past or future.
      • Open your eyes.
    • Share:
      • The above technique for balancing the left side can be used anytime you feel sluggish, unmotivated, or depressed.
      • The above technique for balancing the right side can be used anytime you feel restless, angry, or heated up.
    • Instruction (optional):
      • Repeat the “cool check”.

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    Exit Ticket:

    • Instruction:
      • Ask participants whether they liked and/or felt differently between the second meditation versus the first one.
      • Ask participants to indicate “Yes” or “No” to each of the following questions by putting their thumbs up or down:
        • Do you feel calmer and more peaceful than before the meditation?
        • Do you feel less overactive or frustrated than before the meditation?
        • Do you feel less worried, or more confident, than before the meditation?

    Special thank you to our partners at Sahaja Meditation for supporting the content of this lesson:

    Sahaja Meditation is a proven method for reducing stress and increasing physical/mental/emotional health and balance. Meditation helps students relieve their negative energy or negative stress to promote a healthy and balanced lifestyle.


    Bibliography

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    5.11: Sahaja Meditation: Awaken and Balance My Energy is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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