Sahaja Yoga program attracts big crowds in Wentworthville

Meditation and its health benefits for both body and mind is a popular subject these days, but what exactly is meditation and how easy is it to achieve?

According to Sahaja Yoga, meditation is the experience of a state of ‘thoughtless awareness’ or ‘mental silence’ where all your thoughts cease and you are able to be in the present in a state of peace. And to help people have this experience, Sahaja Yoga is running an eight week course at Wentworthville Community Centre until the 29th July.

Over 80 people attended the first two programmes from mainly Indian, Tamil and Sri Lankan communities. Parents, pensioners and students all listened to an explanation of how by raising your ‘kundalini’, or innate meditative energy, you can experience ‘mental silence’. A guided meditation was then led, with over a third of people raising their hands to say they had noticed their thoughts had stopped.

Chandana, 34, attended the meeting to learn how to relax and deal with the everyday stresses of work and home life. She had always wanted to try meditation but was unsure of how to practice it at home. She found the guided meditation very helpful.

Rekha, a homemaker with two children, initially felt a bombardment of thoughts during the meditation but then suddenly felt a nothingness and complete silence. She felt happier and more relaxed after the session. She said “It is good to have that smiley face, freshness and beautiful feeling”.

Sahaja Yoga was established in 1970 by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi and is now practiced in over 100 countries throughout the world. The Wentworthville program run by volunteers is in keeping with Shri Mataji’s vision by being open to all and free of charge.

So if you’d like to experience a moment of peace in today’s busy life and learn how to achieve this at home, come along to Wentworthville Community Centre at 7:30pm on Wednesday to try it for yourself.