Healthy food for Healthy body

We started the class by chanting Gayatri Mantra. Today patti talked to us about the importance of eating different kinds of healthy food. She showed us how we can eat little bit of 5 food groups on each day. The fun part of today’s class was puppet show by Saideepa aunty. She had two puppets – mom and Son, Sam. Today was Sam’s birthday and mom planned the party on the topic of ‘Healthy food’. Thatha, patti, Bhuvana aunty and Mona aunty were invited and all of them entertained us with different activities. Bhuvana aunty started the party by teaching us bhajan. Thatha showed us how he can break a fresh coconut. Then we saw him collecting coconut water, cutting white kernel from inside the coconut. Patti read a book: ‘Choose Good Food’ by Gina Bellisario. Mona aunty taught us how we can make healthy snack with Celery, Carrot, Peanut butter, Cream Cheese and Raisin. Today Arjun was the ‘Child of the week’. He showed us his toy  car which he built with Lego pieces. 

Summary from parent discussion on Healthy food, 01/17/2021

Healthy eating 

Unity is Divinity; Purity is Enlightenment

Lesson Plan:

This year we are focusing on Swami’s teaching of Unity is Divinity; Purity is Enlightenment

Class Notes for 1/16-1/17

We started with sloka chanting and silent meditation. Children shared how they felt when they were sitting in silence with eyes closed.

Next, we discussed about the food journal tracker. Children had updated the tracker daily where they identified the food that they ate for each of the meal – breakfast/lunch/snacks/dinner fell into which category – Happy(Satwik)/DonalDuck (Rajasic)/Sloth(Tamasic). This was based off of last week’s discussion. Then we looked at the tracker to see if we could have more “H” and children shared their ideas on what they can replace for junk/processed food . The suggested baked items instead of deep fried, fresh fruit juices /milkshakes instead of aerated drinks high in sugar, jaggery/honey instead of refined sugar. In essence, everybody agreed that we have to eat Rajasic and Tamasic food in moderation.

Then we talked about what constitutes a “Happy Kitchen” . Few things we can do

• Do not watch TV/other devices during meals
• Help mom/dad in kitchen in small ways
• Help with laying the dining table/cleaning up
• Chant prayer together before meals
• Enjoy family time

We also had fun time with “food riddles “.

Finally, we had a wonderful fun activity where children made a food art with cut vegetables/fruits

Homework: Continue food tracker for this week. Chant food prayer before every meal

Class Notes for 1/9-1/10

We started with sloka chanting and silent meditation. Children shared what sounds they heard while sitting silent, many of them are able to hear multiple sounds, even very feeble sounds like door opening, someone walking down stairs etc

We recapped about what we learnt before holidays – How Purity of food affects our thoughts.

Story/Video: We watched the video of Sloth from Zootopia, the hyper active Donald duck and then of a Happy Boy who shared his lunch with a stranger who was hungry. Then we discussed why they all behaved differently. One of the big reasons for behavior is, nature of food. We slowly learnt about Satwik(healthy food) – keeps us happy, Rajasic(spicy and oily food- Donald duck) – makes us angry, Tamasic (processed food, high sugar content – Sloth) – makes us lazy. So, we need to watch the food that we eat.

We learnt a new bhajan – Narayan Narayan Bhaja man Narayan

Homework: Make a food tracker table to track food type eaten for every day/ever meal. Use different color pens to mark them as “H”, “D”, “S”. Chant food prayer before every meal.

Class Notes for 1/2-1/3, 12/26-12/27 – Break for holidays

Class Notes for 12/19

We started with sloka chanting and silent meditation. Children shared what sounds they heard while sitting silent, many of them are able to hear multiple sounds

We are discussing why purity of food is important. We learnt the food prayer – Brahmarpanam and its meaning. The meaning of the prayer is that the act of eating is same as yagna. Just like items are offerred to the fire in yagna, food is offered to the divine energy in the form of digestive fire. So, we have to be prayerful while eating and swami has has said personally he would remove al unwanted things from the food we eat, if we pray before meals.

Story: There is a beautiful story of Swami. Once during a lunch , Swami was sitting and a school boy offered the food to swami. He took a pinch of the “vada” and then he told the boy, he took the chilli from the “vada” which may be spicy for the boy, symbolically telling he will remove all impurities from food, if we pray to him before meal.

Activity : We made a 3D heart shaped Christmas ornament to celebrate Christmas.

Homework : Chant Brahmapranam before every meal

Class Notes for 12/12

We started with sloka chanting and silent meditation. Children shared what sounds they heard while sitting silent, many of them are able to hear multiple sounds

We started with discussion on what are the thins that can affect the purity of our mind. One of the important thing that affect our thoughts is food. 3 steps of purity of food – Pathra shuddhi (purity of container for cooking), Padartha shuddhi (purity of the ingredients) and Pachaka shudhi (cook’s thoughts). 

Story : Narrated a story of a priest who was invited to king’s palace for a feast. The priest who was a good hearted person, at the end of the meal stole the silver cutleries. When he went back home, he was thinking why did he do it. he next day, he went back t return it and then the court ministers were called for help to find out what made him steal and then return back. They found out that the rice that was cooked was taken from the thieves who were caught the previous day, so the rice was stolen material. This induced the thought of stealing into the priest’s mind, who otherwise was a very good hearted person. This showed us how much our thoughts are impacted by the food.

Activity: We put the 3 steps of purity for food preparation into practice by doing a recipe. We cleaned the ingredients and the container that we used and we were chanting slokas or bhajan while preparing. we made a “happy cracker” by decorating cracker with grated vegetables and grated cheese/spread.

Homework: Say any prayer or a “thank you” to God before eating any meal. have happy thoughts while eating.

Class Notes for 12/5

We started with sloka chanting and silent meditation. Children shared what sounds they heard while sitting silent, many of them are able to hear multiple sounds

We started new topic – Purity. We discussed what is purity – keeping your surroundings/yourself/house clean.

Why is it important – Helps us connect with God. What you put inside(feelings/thoughts/emotions) is what comes out in the form of words/actions.

Activity : We did 2 activities to bring out the ida of purity. A clean glass of water in a transparent glass. Add stones, dried leaves/sticks to eat. Now it becomes not suitable to drink. Second one, we took a cellophane tape and rubbed it on carpet, then when we tried sticking, we were not able to as it had dirt on it. Same way when we have not pure thoughts, we will not be able to connect to God.

Homework: Keep your surroundings clean.

CLASS DATE: 1/18/2021

Summary: PURITY IS ENLIGHTENMENT

ATTENDANCE: 24

JANUARY 18TH, 2021 :

“PURITY IS DIVINITY”

              – “PATH TOWARDS PEACE”

Attendance: 24

OM, Gayathri Manthra, Light Meditation

Life Application follow up on  

     Peaceful song – express with your own creativity (tune it, rap it, color it, express it the way you feel)        

      See God in Everyone

The Nailed Fence – Uncle Lion Tales

Be Calm Be Strong – Uncle Lion Tales

The two wolves within

Peace caterpillar activity:

Life application: A) See God in Everyone B) In order to bring peace – fill the below C) Complete peaceful path song from last session

Swami’s quotes:

           You Cannot Always Oblige, But You Can Always Speak Obligingly

           Speak with Love; Speak Good Words; Always Speak with a Smile

Affirmation

Closing prayers

JANUARY 1OTH, 2021 :

“PURITY IS DIVINITY”

              – “PATH TOWARDS PEACE”

Attendance: 26

OM, Gayathri Manthra, Light Meditation

Life Application follow up on A) Anger journal B) Use light meditation to overcome anger through love C) See God in everyone

Robert Loses his temper

 I need to …  Others need to…

 Life application

• Peaceful song – express with your own creativity (tune it, rap it, color it, express it the way you feel)
• 
• See God in Everyone

Swami’s quotes:

The desire and anger in man – one is death itself. For the tree, ‘anger’ is an enemy like the root pest. There is another pest bothering the tree, the termites and that is anger. Anger and jealousy together destroy the tree of human life. Today, every man has lots of anger. Affliction by anger leads to many differences. When differences crop up, one only sees hatred everywhere. In daily news one finds the manifestations of anger, jealously and hatred in various forms. Anger and jealousy are the greatest enemies of mankind. There are many planets. Out of those, only two planets are said to be harmful–the planet of ‘anger’ and the planet of ‘desire’. Humanity is ruined because of these two planets. Desires cause more danger to man. Desires must be there, but they must exist under a limit. One must not foster limitless desires. In one moment one is angered, the next moment one feels love- these momentary anger and love are not true. These are the bad qualities that result from man’s habits and the food he eats. One must set a time for everything.

Affirmation

Closing prayers

DECEMBER 20TH  :

 “PURITY”

 Attendance: 22

 OM, Gayathri Manthra, Light Meditation

 Life Application follow up on being aware of challenges and writing down if you react or respond over the week

 6 virtues (Faith/confidence; Daring/determination; Courage; Intelligence; Energy; Valor)

6 Vices (Desire; Anger; Greed; Fascination; Pride; Envy)

 Anger – Strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure or hostility

Peace – Freedom from disturbance of mind

 Watch Video:   https://youtu.be/gyrMFBYOFK8

 Activity: Watch yourself when you are smiling and angry on a mirror

Life application for holidays:

• Watch angry birds 1 & 2 movies
• Watch inside out movie
• Be aware of your anger, write a journal of when, how, where and who angered you
• What were the consequences of your anger
• Did you address if so how
• Light meditation to spread the light of love to your self and the other person
• See God in everyone

 Affirmation

 Closing prayers

DECEMBER 13TH  :

“PURITY”

Attendance: 23

OM, Gayathri Manthra, Light Meditation

Life Application follow up from our 3 week break – Thanks giving and Swami’s birthday celebrations, Group 2 students offering for Swami’s birthday

Discussions on what the words purity, free, cleanliness, contamination mean

Purity is absolute unwavering inner cleanliness free from contamination

Unity between thought, word and deed

Life application – 1) Be aware of your challenges mentioned in the class 2) Note down how you addressed the challenge – did you react or respond?

Affirmation

Closing prayers

SUMMARY:  Student presentation of Interviews they conducted (Session 2), Service projects 

1/17/21

Session 2: Learn good & get Inspired from others lives. Students presented many inspiring real life experiences they learned from the interviews. 

New service project proposal & plan was reviewed with students.

Update on existing service projects progress.

Valentine’s day, E-day idea discussion & plan.

1/10/21

We had parent teacher meeting @ 3:30pm. It was very encouraging to see 99% parents join, provide feedback and listen to the student presentations.

During Christmas break, students were asked to conduct interviews of their grand parents, uncle/aunty etc to Learn good & get Inspired from others lives. Students presented to both teachers and parents many inspiring real life experiences they learned from the interviews. 

Whom did you interview?

What did they aspire to achieve in their lives

What were the struggles/hurdles they faced & how they overcame them

What did you learn from them?

How will you bring these lessons into your own life to practice?

12/20

Today’s was last class on Oneness topic

Analogy: Showed students many lamps that were not lit except one. All of the others were lit using the one lamp, post which students cannot identify the one that was used to lit them all. Message: Everything is spark of the divine, but we forgot our source. 

We played a Ted Ed video on the discovery of Higgs Boson aka God particle and Higgs field. Quantum physics shows God particle is one that is giving energy to all, the Higgs boson field pervades whole universe that we cannot see but gives mass to the particles. 

We then watched Q&A with Swami on this same topic asked by his students and we dwelled upon Swami’s message for us and Life application. 

Life Application:

From Swami’s message: How to gain confidence, I am God

Life Application

• Mindful living: Always think before every action about the source of the energy (consciousness in you) example
• When you play instrument – hands moving, memory- attribute to that God/energy in you.
• When eating, drinking, studying – attribute it to the God/energy in you
• When you see nature (Water, flowers, fruits)- attribute to the energy (same consciousness in all)
• Practice God qualities- kindness, compassion, love.

Class presentation

12/13

We started with prayers, had an icebreaker (make a wish for someone else this Christmas, what will that be and for whom). Students mentioned well being on front line workers, everyone who lost family members or jobs during the pandemic.

Based on last class, students were supposed to set SMART goal to practice from now thru next Swami birthday, monitor and track it. Each student shared their goal and we discussed how to track & measure progress while practicing them. We will share the goals with parents so they can help as well.

We had open discussion about: Oneness with nature. 

1. What are the 5 elements how are they connected to you?
2. How can you respect nature through your actions?
3. Can you share some rituals/customs that keep reminding us that nature is God

 12/6

We started with prayers, had an ice breaker (number of dishes you had on Thanksgiving meal) This led to being thankful & our Inter Faith food drive progress, contributions for Nov and plan for Dec. We narrated two stories that Swami shared during a discourse about 1) Story showing how one bad habit can take you down like while digging a well 2) Story showing how one good habit can take you up like while constructing a wall. Activity time: Students were divided into 5 break out rooms & asked to pick one bad habit & tell with example how it leads to many more and 2) pick one good habit show examples how it helps build yourself. Students presented for bad habits: procrastination, lying, wasting time, laziness, too much device time. for good habits: self confidence, Discipline (twice), doing our duties, positive self talk We talked about these good habits in terms more SMART goals. We also discussed different means to learn good virtues: Stories, experience from others, parents, teachers, Swami. To help more learning, we have asked them to Interview their grandparents, uncles/aunts or anyone to get to know their lives and get inspired. Goal: Students have to pick one good habit for Swami’s birthday, parent’s birthday or even their own birthday to start practicing. Students prepare & present their thoughts on Oneness with Nature/Universe in next class.

Summary of the discussion & class presentation 

11/8/20

Students watched a video as homework, they discussed in breakout rooms and presented to the class their thoughts.

Summary of the discussion & class presentation 

Thought Vibrations -What are you broadcasting?

• Your intentions/emotions positive or negative are creating vibrations around you and also attracting similar vibrations from the universe
• A negative emotion/thought impacts you first before it reaches the other person.
• Positive affirmations and thoughts are the key for the success.

Word Vibrations 

• Masaru Emoto experiments on impact of vibrations created by words.
• There is relation between sound vibration and the form it takes.
• CERN (Geneva) experiment on atom vibrations and form.
• Watch your words, use them wisely.
• Do not raise your voice to prove your point.
• Most of the time, the tone (how you say) is more important than the message (what you say)

Deed Vibrations 

• Do more and more deeds to show Love, Compassion, Kindness round the clock. 
• These deeds generate highest vibrations for person doing the act, receiving & watching/hearing the act. We discussed how we get emotional while watching a scene in the movie.
• Self Love
• Service at home
• Community service     

11/1/20

After invocation prayers we started with an ice breaker, reviewed food drive service and communications on google hangouts

Today topics

1) We played Kahoot that covered quarter 1 topics. 

2) we had students divided into 8 breakout groups, gave each grp one topic to discuss for 15mins. Each grp presented the summary of their discussion to the class.

• Grp 1: Open minded (what is it, how it helps, how to practice, qualities of person with open mind)
• Grp 2: Learning things faster  (brain hormones, how it helps, tips, practice)
• Grp 3: What is unity in worldly sense and in spirituality (examples of diversity, unity, practice)
• Grp 4: Who is dear to God (devotee, qualities, practice)
• Grp 5: Purity (define, why is it important, how to purify, practice)
• Grp 6: 4 Qualities for pure heart (what are they, example scenarios, practice)
• Grp 7: Bad company (define, examples, how to handle, practice)
• Grp 8: Stress & Anxiety (what, when, how, practice, tips)
• Grp 8: Science behind sacred sounds (sounds & vibration exp, sacred sounds, how they help, sounds and water, practice)

Please find link to the class presentation.

Home work:

• 1. Nov 8th class : Watch this video & come prepared with your thoughts/talking points
     • “If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.” Nikola Tesla
     • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYZMi4TpROE&t=16s&ab_channel=UniverseInsideYou
  2. Nov 15th class: 
     • Watch The Social Dilemma on NetFlix. https://www.netflix.com/title/81254224

10/25/20

After invocation prayers we started with an ice breaker, reviewed food drive service and communications on google hangouts

Today we discussed about

1) What rituals in Navratri are meant to help see divinity in all

2) What is Anxiety, what symptoms do they notice & when does anxiety kick in

3) Three tips to overcome anxiety. These 3 tips have to be practiced daily.

• Sit in a comfortable position (on chair/ground), close your eyes and chant OM 3 times, with each OM imagine a circle of protection forming on top of your head
•  With eyes closed Chant Gayathri mantra 3 times, with each chant imagine a circle of protection forming around your body
• Positive Self talk –  talk to Swami in your heart, Swami please help me put my best effort and take ownership of the result

4) Sounds & frequency impact on matter and water

5) Science behind scared sounds and how they help curb anxiety

Grp 3 had Swami birthday bhajan today. Please find link to the class presentation.

Class notes for previous classes can be found here.

10/3/20

As class we dwelled deeper into what does oneness mean? what is the definition of Unity per Swami. Black Lives Matter was a topic to discussed & examples to help identify oneness in diversity.

What does unity mean? It is not the combination of many; it is the realization of oneness. Satya Sai Baba

 Please find link to the class presentation.

Note to Parents:

Please encourage students to follow (virtual) class best practices.

Students were asked to participate in their academic/extra curricular activities with enthusiasm to see the difference in learning process. If possible discuss this topic as a family.

Do not give yourself too much importance. Be less self centered

• Take time to socialize (in person)to identify oneness. Set goal for without digital device time.
• Listen when people are talking, make an eye contact during a conversation and be respectful.
• Get to know someone you don’t like. Try to guess why someone is the way they are. Be kind to someone who gets on your nerves.
• Accept your mistakes 
• Look out for service at home & community. Service starts at home.
• Notice every time you are judging someone, this is a first step towards realizing oneness
• Consciously remind yourself , the same Divinity is present in the person, bug, tree you come across.
• Be confident, you are divine, same divinity is in you as well. Give this affirmation to yourself everyday morning, Turn on video in zoom, you are beautiful/handsome 🙂
• Develop qualities of pure heart Karuna (compassion), Muditha (appreciation), Mytri(friendship), Upeksha (disinterestedness).
• Do not raise voice against your parents to prove you are correct.

Group 4 Activities and Presentations

ATTENDANCE:

13

Main topic:

The class on December 23rd,  we had a virtual class where we started with announcements. We then went through many upcoming activities such as tutoring at EK Powe Elementary and WG Pearson Elementary, virtual music performance at Chapel Hill Senior Center, Women’s Shelter Cooking, reducing plastic usage. We ended the class with two groups of students presenting on stereotyping/discrimination and racial equality. Both groups did a great job and we look forward to seeing the other presentations during the next class.

Note to Parents:

Sairam Parents –

Group 4 will continue to do virtual classes, our next class is on Sunday, January 10th. We will be discussing the initiatives mentioned above in more detail.

-Group 4 Gurus

Jai Sai Ram!