High School Lock-in

This year the high school lock-in was held at Saaket on Friday, March 2nd. The evening began wit hot pav-bhaji followed by Arati in the temple. The main activity for the evening was an interactive workshop conducted by Swamiji and our 12th grade teacher Pankaj Asundi, assisted by several CHYK volunteers.

This interactive workshop was based on the teachings from Kathopanishad. The theme of the workshop was “Arise, Awake, and stop not till the goal is reached”.

The workshop was set-up to analyze and discuss through interactive games and activities:

  1. The purpose of life
  2. Vision of life
  3. Clarity in the choices we make
  4. Accepting the present
  5. Rate of adaptability
  6. Assets and liabilities we have in life

Each concept was very beautifully introduced through fun activities which had a much deeper message behind them. After each activity there was a debriefing session to bring highlight the key points and bring the message home. It was amazing to see the kids coming up with the most brilliant ideas and analogies.

One of the activities was designed to demonstrate the ability to find equilibrium within ones self and others. This exercise required focus, ability to listen internally and externally. All the kids stood in a circle facing outward and chairs were placed behind them. Each participant was asked to close their eyes and at the count of 3, each of them was asked to sit up and down for about a minute. The first time they did the exercise all of them were sitting and getting up in their own rhythm. Rarely did we see any two of them sitting and standing together. We performed this exercise 3 or 4 times and each time we instructed them to focus more and listen and feel their neighbors and at the same time maintain their own rhythm. By the 4th time all of them were sitting and standing together in perfect rhythm! All of them had their eyes closed and were breathing calmly. Debrief included: breathing, listening, quietness, and thought concentration. Swamiji’s message to the kids was to learn to be in tune at the macrocosmic level.

It was very rewarding to see kids who worked in sub-groups learn several valuable lessons on deep subjects.

Categories: Past events