Happy Hour/ stepping stones meet up

TOPIC – CYBERBULLYING

We talked about examples of Cyberbullying like…

• Emma posted something about her mom criticizing her food choices/weight  and “people commented things like cry about it” or “just exercise bruh”  
• Someone asked do you want to hang out and people said yes but then that same person removed one person from the chat and said “ I forgot they were in the chat LOL let’s just keep it casual” and a different person said “that’s cruel”

If you experience cyberbullying use the pause frame work

P- pause the body, ground self, and put the device down

A- align with the breath, inhale for four seconds, exhale for six seconds, repeat

U- use a positive affirmation such as I am joy

S- seek support, show a trusted adults

E- establish a boundary, block and report  

QUICK ACTIVITY

Think about a time something mentally hurt you. Now take a piece of paper and fold it and crumple it for each thing that mentally hurts you.Now  unfold and smooth the paper. Does it look ok  to you? Because that’s how other people feel when you the same thing it might not go away like the left over dents in the paper 

Stop and THINK

Is it…

T- truthful

H- helpful

I- inspiring 

N- needed

K- kind

Before you post, talk, or act

STORY

When hunumanji came to lanka to learn more about lanka and where sita he ended up being captured and when he was brought up against Ravana he was surrounded by rashasas and asuras bully like things they all said mean things and enjoyed them. They talked so meanly to hunumanji but he didn’t respond back and even when ravana talked to him respectfully said that it’s not okay to take someone’s wife and keep them hostage. And he talked respectfully to Ravana not because of who he was but because that’s just how hunumanji was he treated everyone respectfully . And even Ravana realized hunumanji’s power and conviction. 

AFTER STORY THOUGHTS

We are all ambassadors of our actions, joy and when we pause and think we respond well and we don’t cloud our judgment 

We can use THINK and PAUSE in our daily life to help us make decisions we won’t regret 

That right doesn”t make might it makes right

DYNAMICS 

We had scenarios that we got to talk about in breakout rooms  

some scenarios where like…

A bunch of friends went to a sleepover that you couldn’t go to and they posted a bunch of tiktok trends during their sleepover, with the captions saying “dream team” and “my favorite people of all time”.  And other similar scenarios 

SMALL ACTIVITY

We wrote mean sentences like.. you’ve been so annoying what’s your problem? To things like are you okay? you don’t look well. 

REFLECTION QUESTION

How can I not be affected with social media 

REMINDER 

July 2- 5 at LIfe Gurukula in Akron! is the combined SS HH retreat Spots are limited, visit https://tinyurl.com/SSHH26, to register as soon as you can!

Recap:

In last week’s story, Brahma wanted to play a trick on Krishna. Krishna and his friends were playing on the riverbank, when the calves they were taking care of went missing. When Krishna went to look for them, his friends went missing! At this point, it was getting late. Krishna decided to become the kids and calves himself. Not just for a few days… for a whole year! Seeing this, Brahma felt bad, and realized just how special Krishna was.

The Sanskrit word involved with this story was Sharanagati, which means surrender. When we surrender completely, we feel lighter.

Our RAW, to think of a major and minor mistake we made each day, helped us practice Sharanagati. We learned that mistakes are part of growth. To accept our mistakes, first we have to pay attention to the fact we made a mistake in the first place. That was the real meaning of Sharangati!

Revival:

We did some triangle breathing.

Story:

By now, Krishna and his friends were a little older. They were now in charge of the cows too, not just the calves. They even got to play in the forest that was farther away! One day, everyone was caring for cows- and each other- in this forest. Then, they decided to pick some sweet fruit from a nearby grove. However, the fruits were being guarded by Denuka Asura, who wouldn’t share. He jumped out and attacked Balarama, Krishna’s brother. However, Balarama and Krishna defeated Denuka Asura AND all his friends! 

After the Asura was defeated, everyone enjoyed the fruits together!

Learning:

Renuka Asura didn’t even eat the mango, just held it for himself, and did not welcome anyone into his grove.

Renuka Asura is really inside us when we act selfish. 

Our Sanskrit word was atiti devo bhava, which means all are welcome. When you hold good things for yourself, they lose their sweetness. 

We also reflected on the word receive and share.

RAW:

Our RAW was to share everything we get. No, you are not supposed to share your broccoli with your sister. Instead, you should share things like kind words and actions. We also were supposed to think on the quote 

“God gives. Human gets and forgets”

Dynamics:

We found three things that we hadn’t used in a few months. Then we made a promise to give it to someone who might need it if we could. 

We ended with a guided imagery. 

Shankar ji was here today and we learned about acceptance.

We learned about acceptance through watching a video.

What we learned:

• Worrying about what you cannot control is pointless.

• Think about what you can control and have a positive attitude.

• There’s always something to learn.

Then Shankar ji gave us tasks and we did them in random ways.

Some tasks were:

Singing, Cartwheeling, Yodeling, and Pushups.

We finished off with questions and discussion.

Review

Last week we learned about aga asura and how krishna defeated him then learned the meanings of four sanskrit words: Tapa, Titiksha, Agha, and Satsanga.

In class we talked about last week’s raw which was at the end of your shower you should turn the tap to really cold water and how this trained us to be ok with being uncomfortable and how that can help us in life. 

Today’s exercise was: a breathing exercise the type of exercise was box breathing on four seconds 

Story 

(taking place in vrindavan) 

When all the gopis and gopikas  came out of agha asura’s mouth everyone was still scared so Krishna brought them to the lake so they would have the chance to calm down. When they finally started to calm down they all realized that the calves were gone. Then so they could stay calm, Krishna went to find them but when he came back everyone was gone. 

Since Krishna was Krishna he already knew who was responsible for this: It was Lord Brahma.  Krishna acted but instead of getting mad he multiplied to all of the missing kids and calves and for a year this stayed the same but when Brahma came to check the chaos  he was shocked everyone was there but they all soon changed to forms of shri krishna with know smiles saying that “I know what you did” and lord brahma realized that he was wrong and bowed to lord Krishna in relief. And thankfully in the end Brahma returned the people and calves.

 Sanskrit word of the week: Sharanagati  which means  surrender

Lesson 

 Opinions from the class: We should look after ourselves, think twice before acting, and etc.

The result is in the hands of bhagwan but the effort is your responsibility. Krishna showed that surrendering is giving your best effort and being ok with the result because our effort is the only thing we can control.

Dynamics

We did a little thing at the beginning of class where first she said the word surrender and we had to write down the first thing that came to our mind. Then after the Sumanji talk we were asked to answer the same question using what he said today and how the first and second understandings were different. But most importantly what changed your perspective. Like what sumanji talked about in class. In conclusion knowledge  changed our perspective and because we don’t know everything in the world so we don’t know the full answer to things.

P.S. At the end of class we had time to ask questions and share comments.

Reflection Adventure Of The Week

 Every morning think of one major mistake and minor mistake and at the end of the day share it with someone you respect. 

Last Week’s Recap: 

Last week we saw two Asuras who tried to trick Krishna. First, Vastsa Asura, who came to Krishna disguised as a calf. He represents sneaky thoughts, like “Maybe it is ok to eat just one laffy taffy, even though Amma said not to.” Krishna recognized this bad thought before it could do harm. To defeat it, he used the power of Virgo, which means you shouldn’t hold too tightly to things. If I wasn’t so attached to the laffy taffy, I wouldn’t have stolen it! 

Next, we met Bakasura, who was disguised as a crane. While he looked calm and wise, he tried to eat Krishna. To defeat this demon, Krishna had to see the real truth. This is called Arjava, and it means to be true to yourself. 

Our RAW was to eat whatever was put on our plate. Debriefing on this we realized that by eating everything whether we liked it or not, we were letting go- not holding tight- to our likes and dislikes. That helped us practice Viragya! By not pretending and just accepting what we didn’t like, we were also practicing Arjava. 

There was only one problem with eating everything on your plate- what if you were eating in a bowl? 😂

Revival:

For our revival we did 25 exhausting squats!

Story:

Krishna and his friends were on a picnic- when Agasaura got there. He had lost his brother Bakasure, and his sister Poothana. He wanted revenge, and all he felt was anger. He transformed into a snake so bis, his mouth looked like a cave! When Krishna and his friends went to explore it, he closed his mouth and trapped them! Krishna was calm, and grew so big that Bakasure couldn’t breathe. The kids were saved. They happily went home. Only years later did they fully understand that Krishna saved them.

Agasura was defeated because Krishna controlled his anger. From this we learn to show titiksha or steadiness. Agaura represents sin. He can be defeated by burning selfishness. We also learned the sanskrit value of tapa (embracing discomfort). Tapa grows titheeksha. Being able to be uncomfortable grows your strength. Being with Krishna means standing with what’s right. Keeping good company requires inner strength.. Once you have inner strength, you can grow, just like Bhagvan Krishna did. The kids with Bhagvan Krishna weren’t perfect, but standing with righteousness helps you become better.

RAW:

Captain Suman said that we had to end our shower with cold water. Hopefully, we will survive the RAW and come to class next week!

Dynamics: 

We thought of a time we were selfish. To make up for that we noted 8 acts of kindness we could do. We have to choose one to do everyday. Sumanji added a thought that whenever we feel regret, we should pay attention to it so that we are motivated not to repeat actions that cause it. 

At the end of the class, we saw a super funny Happy Hour Promo video!

Last Week’s Recap: 

Story of Krishna and the fruit seller. How Krishna got excited seeing the fruit seller and ran to her with a handful of rice to get some fruits. As Krishna ran towards her, rice kept falling through his fingers and hardly anything was left when he reached her. The fruit seller was watching all this unfold, but did not care how much rice Krishna had in his hand. Lost in her sincerity, she gave all her fruits to Krishna. That night the fruit seller found her basket full of gold. Then we talked about the Sanskrit word “DANA”, meaning giving with your heart, hoping for nothing in return. We should not be focused on how much we can give, but how we are doing it.

Resources, time, and effort are three things we can give in the order of increasing difficulty. Generosity can feel hard in the beginning, but once we start practising, it becomes easier. Over time, “what can I give” gets stronger and “what can I get” grows weaker. When we give, both our heart and the receiver’s heart get bigger and lighter. 

Revive Activity:

Breathing exercise – breathe in for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds and exhale for 5 seconds. Repeat.

Content for the Day:

Sumanji told us two stories about two asuras. 

Story 1 – One of Krishna’s responsibilities as a kid was to take care of the little calves. There were so many calves that it was difficult to keep track. King Kansa sent Asura VATSA to get rid of Krishna. When Krishna was busy playing with his friends, Vatsa disguised as a calf and hid among the other calves. The calf, Vatsa, started moving closer to Krishna and once it got closer, charged at Krishna. All the other kids froze, not knowing what to do. Krishna knew it was not a calf. He grabbed the calf by its legs and hurled him away, killing him.

Moral: Vatsa symbolizes negative thoughts. Wrong or negative thoughts enter our mind like Vatsa and try to blend in. We have to learn to catch them early. Practice VAIRAGYA (Sanskrit word – Vairagya is made of two words Vai – without and Ragya – strong like or craving; Vairagya means non-attachment or to not hold too tight). The more we start negotiating with a negative thought, it will start looking like a good idea. Try not to be controlled by likes and dislikes. The world becomes smaller when likes and dislikes are held tightly. (Sanskrit Word – VATSA, meaning attachment)

Story 2 – Asura Baka took the form of a crane to kill Krishna. Cranes stand still to hunt, waiting to catch fish. The crane, Baka, stood motionless and tricked all the kids. The kids got curious, seeing the motionless crane, and moved closer to take a closer look. When they got close, Baka swallowed Krishna. Inside Baka, Krishna became a fireball – so hot that Baka could not keep him inside and was forced to spit Krishna out. Baka’s feathers caught on fire and he was burnt to ashes. 

Moral:

Something that is good outside could be something else inside. The antidote to Baka is ARJAVA (Sankrist word, meaning to be real or straightforward). Be who we are both inside and outside. What we say and what we do should match. (Sanskrit Word – BAKA, meaning hypocrisy – Hypocrisy creates noise. Arjava creates inner alignment, which in turn creates ease).

RAW:

At meal time, don’t ask for anything. Eat whatever is put on the plate.Dynamic Activity: Worked on the recipe book.

Revive Activity: for our revive activity, we had to do something physical, so we did 3 different types of pushups. One of the types was wall pushups. Then we did one hand pushups followed by one leg pushups.

Story: Baby Krishna story The moral is just because we made a mistake, does not mean we failed

Sanskrit Word: Sanga 

Dynamics: We discussed some recipes with our parents to put in our happy hour recipe book. 

Review

Last week’s word was Bhajana and there were three stories. One of them was about how butter was made and how Krishna always stole and got the butter Plus, how you do the work but baghvan gives the  results, things about were…

 1) If you’re going to be serious about something, be serious about being happy.

 2) do your best and offer the rest.

The revive was a quiet exercise that was a breathing/mini guided imagery kind of  revive.

 The sanskrit word of the day is… Bandha

Another word for Lord Krishna is damodara

Story

The story was about gokul and how yashoda has churning butter and when she sees krishna cries she feed him butter but she has leave for a bit so he gets mad and breaks the pot and runs away when yashoda ma comes back then goes to look for him and when she finds him she chases him and sees that he’s just a child and only tries to tie him but the rope was always to short and when baby krishna sees yashoda’s love for him plus her true purpose and lets himself get tied.

Lesson

• God is only bound by love
• Take one step to bhagwan and bhagwan comes running
• Values over valuables 

Dynamics

We did a show and tell but for values and we could only say it in one sentence.

Reflection Adventure Of The Week

Not to say negative words the WHOLE week

Preview Of Next Class…

GAME NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RECAP:

Last week’s raw was to do a needs check, where we choose one space, and got rid of things we didn’t need. Reflecting on this, we realized that we feel cluttered with lots of stuff, so naturally we feel lighter with less stuff! 

  Last week’s story was Trinavartha, who tried to kill Krishna with a tornado! Trinavartha represents desire, like the whirlwind of desire within us. Krishna used Dhama, the power to stay steady, to overcome him.

ACTIVITY:

This week was another physical activity, where we did jumping jacks and squats. Whew!

STORY:

There was a story about three ways bhagvan helps us move toward him with love. 

Gargamuni, Nanda and Yashoda’s family guru (yes, they had family gurus!) was in town. However he told everyone to keep it a secret, because he worried kamsa would harm Krishna if he found out. So, when Krishna’s parents asked him to do the naming ceremony for Krishna and his older brother, they decided to do a small ceremony, without a big celebration.

Gargamuni named the older boy Balarama, which means to bring happiness to others through great strength (even as a kid, he was superstrong!) “This child has come in many forms. A fish, a boar, even a lion-man! He has been many different colors in the past, like white, yellow, and red. Now he is dark blue, so his name will be Krishna, the one with blue skin.” proclaimed gargamuni. And so, Krishna now had a name!

Krishna was now a toddler, and he was very mischievous. He would go around playing with fire, or annoying cows with sharp horns. Watching him, the villagers laughed and forgot all their worries. Krishna also LOVED butter. In fact he even went as far as stealing it. Lots of people tried to prevent Krishna from eating this butter, by hanging it on the ceiling. But Krishna, along with his friends, would find things to climb on to reach it, orif they left in in the dark, Krishna would start to glow!

Sanskrit word: We learned about the Sanskrit word Bhajana which means to go to Bhagvan with love.

LEARNING:

In the story, there are three ways Krisha helps us be closer to him (Bhajana)

First is that he comes in many forms. If we find it hard to connect with one of his forms, we can learn from the others

The second way he helps us is by teaching us not to hold on to life too hard. In the story, he played with dangerous things, but seeing this the villagers couldn’t help but smile at his play

The third help was that by stealing the butter that was so hard to make, he shows us that no matter how we may work, the results of our action is in Bhagvan’s hands

RAW:

Write your favorite form of Bhagvan, and carry it around with you all week 

DYNAMIC:

We thought about someone we didn’t really like, and a bad quality they have. We were assigned a RAL, to think of one good quality for everyone we don’t really like.