I have been experimenting and playing with the power of space in the last 3 months after my last Inner Awakening (www.innerawakening.org) with my guru, Paramahamsa Nithyananda in December 2013. So in January, I had created an intention to start working with youth or teens since I am already working with children.
Interestingly, by end January, I was given by a contact to see a lady in charge of a social outreach for teens who are suffering from mental disorders. In that 2-hrs meeting with her, she shared with me that one of the greatest complaints among the teens was the fear of failure. Immediately, I proposed that I would conduct a workshop and help the teens to complete with their fear of failure during the 1-week term break.
The moment I created the space for this desire to manifest, everything started to fall in place like magic. Besides creation, it also requires us to take the responsibility to make this desire into a reality. So I sat down to conceptualise the flow of the workshop in terms how I would facilitate the workshop with the teens. Through the power of my visualisation, I gave birth to an outline for the workshop which made me really excited. Much like a new mother feeling thrilled to see her baby for the first time. Then I sent the workshop proposal for approval and within a week the proposal got accepted by her boss after some clarifications from my end. Within 3 weeks, things happened so quickly that the next thing I realised was the flier which I designed was already sent out to parents by end Feb.
The Youth workshop finally happened yesterday with a group of 9 teenagers. It gave me a direct experience of power of space and a feeling of fulfilment. Here are the revelations:
- My role as a space holder. This is a profound science because only when you experientially live it in reality, then you can truly comprehend the amazing space and miracles of life. In the initial self-introduction by the teens, each teen shared about what they wished to get out from this workshop. After understanding their desires, from the space of completion, I saw myself holding a powerful and nurturing space for them to come out of their fear of failure. I realised that even if a safe space was created by me but the participants still had the freedom to choose if they wanted to engage. Those who did the workshop sincerely, they received the gift of completing with their fear of failure whereas there were 3 teens who were unable to engage fully for whatever reasons.
- Same Consciousness residing in each body-mind. This realisation completely blew my mind away within the first 15-mins of the workshop. I set up an ice-breaker exercise by getting the teens to draw something about how they see themselves and share it with the group. This part worked at a deeper layer of their sub-consciousness. The sharing of their sketches included a powerful Sun, an evolved being like a Monk (sadhu), a meditating Buddha. At that moment, I realised, the same consciousness or energy in me, is also residing in every body in that room despite their mental limitation. WOW! I was totally humbled and whatever perception or judgment by the mind which was there prior to the start of the workshop, just dissipated in that instant!
- Consciousness vs. patterns. When the incompletions or hangovers from the past in one’s life start accumulating in the inner space due to wrong cognitions about self and life, unconscious patterns take over and he or she starts developing mental disorders. With this group of teens, you can get a sense that the unconscious patterns were the one driving their lives instead of their consciousness. However, during moments when they are relaxed and aware, they do express such purity, innocence and clarity about how they see themselves and their desires to go beyond their fear.
- Energy of the Divine feminine consciousness. Another fascinating experience that I had was during the knowledge sharing session. The moment I started to speak on the Vedic truths about fear and science of completing with fear, the energy which was expressed through this body was that of courage, power and compassion. The embodiment of Cosmic Mother energy, Goddess Durga, took over and she was guiding them in the completion of their fear of failure.
In the last activity of the workshop, the teens were asked to paint – how they will be if they are able to have courage to go beyond their fears. What got expressed in the canvas was a collage of a courageous warrior, a gentle butterfly, a vibrant flower, inner peace, unconditional love, a flying bird, a rainbow and a huge being standing tall against all odds in life. Certainly something got shifted in their inner space by their creative expression in the art.
One important thing you should know – the power of space does not happen if we carry self-doubt or incompletions. There was another experiment which I had but it did not happen due to my self-doubt. When I looked in, I realised that whenever there was no idea or thought of any incompletion such as “It will never happen” or “I can’t do it” at any time in my inner space. When we don’t carry such negative thought trend, simply Existence starts showering us by causing our reality.
In essence, this workshop had completely bolted the experience of power of space into my muscle and bio memories. I also learned that we all have the same ability to create and hold that space for others to heal themselves from whatever incompletion or powerlessness they may have. This can only come from the space of completion, the space of Advaita (non-duality). This is the real gift of life from Existence. With this treasure, life becomes a divine play for me, a canvas for expressing my creativity! My heart-felt gratitude to my Guru, Swamiji for this precious gift. Namaste. 🙂