Wading into Karma Yoga - Summarizing the first 3 weeks

Hari Om,

We’re going to start using this blog as the platform for updates on the Grade 9-12 class. We’re thrilled to be helping to teach this class. Please reach out to us with any feedback.

September 12, 2021 – Introduction

• We introduced the syllabus for this year which is Immersion into Yogas. Your young adults will delve into the various 4 Yogas (Karma Yoga, Upasana/Bhakti Yoga, Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga, Jnana Yoga) each through 7-week sessions. Each week will build on the prior to give the students ideas about how they can practically implement these yogas into their own lives, today!

• On our first day last week, we did some icebreakers and learned a little bit about each of the students. They gave us honest feedback about what works for them, so we intend to make these sessions discussion based with debates and focused on the relevance of these yogas to their lives as young adults. We hope this builds on the solid foundation that you already provide for them as they progress through high school, college and beyond.

• We discussed the background of the Gita, briefly, and how Bhagavan Krishna and Prince Arjuna find themselves in their position at Kurukshetra

• Reflection Adventure of the Week (RAW): Think about classifying actions in a normal day as either Shreyas (long-term gain but maybe short term pain) versus Preyas (short-term gain but maybe long-term pain)

September 19, 2021 – Immersion into Karma Yoga

• A case-study was presented that related to fictional student who was conflicted because his coach had given him an opportunity even though he hadn’t proven himself in tryouts yet. We discussed how students would handle the situation and what drives our choices in one way or another. They brought up interesting points of view about how we make choices for our immediate self-interest and other choices for the betterment of the team even at the expense of personal short-term interest

• We watched a scene from “A Simple Plan” and discussed how the various characters show different aspects of our own personality. Check out the scene here.

• We defined Shreyas and Preyas and used IdeaBoardz to classify actions we do into one of those

• We ended with defining Karma Yoga: Proper Action with Proper Attitude

September 26, 2021

• We asked all students to have a notebook and pen for this class

• Several students shared some of the nice things they did this past week (your kids are doing great things!)

• We played Kahoot to review what Karma Yoga is. They did great!

• Eisenhower Decision Matrix: We created a 2x2 matrix of Urgent/Non-Urgent and Important/Non-Important. The students placed various activities in a typical week for them into the various quadrants. We discussed how some things we do become urgent because of procrastination, sometimes because we choose Preyas over Shreyas

• We saw a portion of a very amusing Ted Talk on procrastination. Take a look here!

• Students were very honest about how they see this as applicable to their lives as high-school students

• We discussed how we often develop bad “habits” like procrastination for the sake of short-term happiness even when the consequences of our actions may be quite dire. And, Karma Yoga is the practice of making a habit of good decision-making.

• Focusing on the moment may seem difficult but it is in our best interest and can make the busiest high-school student much more efficient. We played a little game to emphasize this writing numbers, Roman numerals, and letters.

• Next week, we’ll explore what we mean by role models and whether any of our role models could be classified as Karma Yogis

• RAW: Think about the consequences of not being fully engaged in the action of the moment

Thank you for entrusting your kids to us! They have wonderful perspectives, and we will provide updates on what we’re discussing. Consider pursuing those discussions at home!

Sujana/Suresh