From Stress to Success

Over the President's Day weekend, CHYK San Jose held their annual retreat for Junior CHYKs (Grades 9-12). This year, the retreat was led by Brahmacharini Akalkaji from Chinmaya Ramdoot in New Jersey. Hosted in the CMSJ Ashram in San Jose, it took place over two days with the theme "From Stress to Success." The camp was a resounding success and left JCHYKs walking away with new perspectives.

The retreat started off with exciting icebreakers, such as a rock-paper-scissors tournament across all 60 JCHYK participants and 25 CHYK volunteers. Then, Akalkaji started off her exploration of stress and success by posing the question of what success truly means to the JCHYKs, which sparked a discussion about how the ideas of success promoted in the outside world fail to provide the true inner satisfaction that every individual is seeking. Akalkaji contrasted "Laukika," or worldly ideas of success, which include money, success, fame, and fortune, with "Adhyatmika," or inner ideas of success. The lecture culminated with Akalkaji's direction to "look within" for the satisfaction and inner peace that is commonly sought after.

The JCHYKs then participated in a stress-management workshop where they were given a long list of activities to complete, such as thanking the food seva team to gossiping. The catch was that every task would earn their group either positive or negative points. The JCHYKs had to map each task to the four types of karmas - Nitya Karma (daily duties), Naimittika Karma (occasional rituals), Kaamya Karma (desire-prompted action), and Nishiddha Karma (prohibited actions), in order to maximize the points for their team. JCHYKs then discussed how this framework would help with prioritization and time management, to avoid the suffocation often felt by high schoolers due to busy schedules.

Mealtimes were a lively time to make connections with peers from across the Bay Area, complete with delicious food from the kitchen staff. JCHYKs were refreshed with refreshing, rejuvenating, and tasty food being served at each meal. This was followed by insightful group discussions.

The mood was enhanced by games as JCHYKs and CHYKs competed in a competitive game of Rumal-Jhuppatta, with two large teams lining up facing a rumal placed directly in the middle, and one person from each team trying to run into the circle, steal the rumal, and return without being tagged. Another creative game introduced at camp was a variation of Musical Chairs. The creative spin on the games added a level of competition and enthusiasm that everyone enjoyed.

Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda once said that "the mind is nothing short of a questioning machine." Indeed, questioning is a key part of any learning process and is especially apparent when learning and integrating spirituality into one's life. For this very purpose, Akalkaji took some time to address the questions of the JCHYKs during a lively Q&A section. Questions ranged from Akalkaji's personal journey growing up in the United States and pursuing the ashram, to how a person can find a healthy role model, and many more questions pertaining to modern life for the modern teenager.

To take a pause from the busy day of activities, the CHYK volunteers conducted a short bhajan session in which CHYKs and Akalkaji led bhajans as the JCHYKs followed along and played with mini instruments.

At various points during the two days, JCHYKs had the opportunity to break off into small groups and ask questions to CHYKs who have been through similar situations, about their lives, stories, and career advice as a way to gain insight on the futures that lie ahead of them. The open and vulnerable setting of the small groups allowed for participants to open up about their own experiences as Indian-American students navigating the challenges of both the academic and cultural life, and how the spirituality they have been exposed to in Bala Vihar can be a key to achieving a fulfilling balance. Many of the discussions focused around modern ideas of success and the way the Gita chooses to view them, and how true inner fulfillment only lies inside.

It would not be a JCHYK camp without fun activities/skits. JCHYKs ended the night by performing the skits they created within the mere twenty minutes given to them, showing how the stories of Arjuna piercing the eye of a bird, Bheema discovering the mighty Hanuman, Markanday being protected from death by Lord Shiva, etc., solved various modern day problems.

Beginning the second day of our retreat, the CHYK leads hosted another outstanding activity in which all JCHYKs received a chit. Based on clues from others, JCHYKs determined who their assigned character was. Then, everyone had to find their partners, as all characters had corresponding partners to form a duo. This was an excellent way to randomly meet and interact with new people!

The CHYKs then led one of the highlights of the camp - a session on destressing methods. Methods included yoga (JCHYKs extremely enjoyed the child's pose) and talking with friends. The favorite method among many JCHYKs was the "5 Why's," a journaling solution that encourages people to identify a stressor, and then evaluate a reason why it is stressing them. This is followed by determining the "why" of the reason, and this process again five times, to find the root of the stress. For many, journaling and accepting stressors/insecurities comes with a lot of shame, and this method really tackles this.

Concluding the amazing day, Akalkaji led an engaging version of the Hanuman Chalisa in which verses varied speeds. Finally, JCHYK participants gave speeches recounting their experiences in the camp, followed by guru dakshina to our spiritual gurus.

We would like to thank all the sevaks who made this camp possible, and the JCHYKs who attended for bringing your energy and making it so much fun! Overall, JCHYKs left the camp with renewed perspectives, inspiration, and guidance on how to live their lives with the balance and poise needed to achieve success, in the truest sense of the word.