Recently some of the instructors from JOYFUL BALANCE (www.joyfulbalance.org) came out to teach our children how to do YOGA. The first session, a month earlier, did not go to well because the children did not understand what they were supposed to do, but by the second session they did much better and several children opted to stay for the second hour which was even more intense than the first.

Like many people with a background like mine, I thought YOGA was some sort of occult religion and so I stayed for the first hour to see what they were teaching. To my surprise it was more like an exercise and meditation class and so I joined in and found it to be very enjoyable. There are breathing exercises that accompany the physical exercise and so by the time they told us to lie down and relax I was ready for it. We were instructed to close our eyes and then a tape of meditative music was played. I haven’t felt such relaxation in many years. When the music stopped we were supposed to open our eyes and sit up but for some reason I and about half of the class missed that instruction and to the delight of those who didn’t, we remained lying on the floor deep in meditation (or sleep in some cases… but not mine of course).

At the end of the session they asked the children to take a deep breath and repeat after them the Mantra of our true self: SooooooHam … SooooooHam … SooooooHam. Chills went down my spine as I realized that it was the Mantra I had named the Society Of Harmony and Magnanimity (SOHAM) after a few years back when I first read about the Mantra on the internet. I have used it personally for meditation but it was the first time I had ever heard it chanted in unison by a group. It was the perfect ending to a beautiful hour of shared activity with our children.

Wayne