Disclaimer: I am not a teacher but just a full-time working mom. Every week from 9 Feb 2021, I will be posting about Sahaj Homeschool. If you would like to copy and paste from this blog, please credit to this blog and the author. Thank you!
Jai Shri Mataji!
To us as a Sahaj family, Sahaj has been the building blocks and foundation for our spiritual growth. Having practise Sahaja Yoga for many years, when we had Miss A, our little girl, we want nothing but Shri Mataji's teachings and guidance for her. We want her to inculcate Sahaj culture in her.
So, we started her as soon as she was born. We started oil massaging her every night when she was about 3 months old.
In the earlier years, there was not so much on Sahaj education as it was mostly play and have fun. When she was 2 years old, I made her a Sahaj Busybook. You can read the details here. Though she is still keeping the Sahaj Busybook (though not as beautiful as before), she can now recognise the deities in the books.
When she knows how to sit upright without support (about 6 months old), we made her footsoak every night with very little salt. We made sure that she footsoaks every single night with us. No excuses, except when she is too tired until slept off. We had to be strict with her because we lived with non-yogis and Miss A is quite sensitive. If she doesn't footsoak for one night, sometimes she gets intense pain in her legs that will make her cry which doesn't go off until she footsoaks and do clearing.
She still doesn't really know what meditation is but can recite some mantras during footsoaking. She closes her eyes and sit for meditation. Sometimes her vibes are good, sometimes not. So as parents we have to continuously clear her because our vibrations will also affect the kids.
It makes a huge difference. I see the difference in her and in other kids. She is peaceful in nature, creative and courageous and innocent all around. That are the qualities we want to instill in her.
Personally I feel, a good upbringing is essential in shaping a good person and a better yogi. This is from my personal experience.
I have known a 30 years old man and now in his mid 40s, who cannot make a single decision on his own. He needs someone to spoon-feed him information and his parents had been making probably all decisions for him since young, so much so that he can't function on his own. Every single action need to be told to him in order to be taken. I blamed the parents for this. But of course parents would say, he is old enough to decide on his own. Then I will pose this question, "Having someone made decisions for him his entire life, and not taught to think on his own, do you think he knows how to do it on his own?" Complacency, laziness, lethargy would take over since his brain never needed to think much. It has gotten to the point that he can't even decide if he wants to use a spoon or a fork to eat. I am not joking, this is true story.
Another now going to be 40 years old man, whom his mother has always been deciding many things for him, and sometimes the decisions were so bad that influence the man's future, including divorcing his wife. The man's mother has recently passed on and now he has to make his own decisions, then only he regretted his actions.
Both men are good hearted but lack common sense. And I feel our current education system is not helping them much too. If we want to shape a good society, we should give them good education. If we have teachers who also need to be told what to teach, then we will not have good students.
I feel a child should be given freedom to explore on their own but parents should be the one controlling to what extent the freedom their child should have. A child should be allowed to speak openly, ask questions, teach them to be confident and speak from the heart. But the type of actions should be check and controlled and disciplined. Like freedom of speech means you can speak freely but not rudely. You don't want your child to mix with the bad apples and speak foul languages and get into drugs and bad activities.
I grew up very insecurely. When I chipped my 2 front teeth and my parents didn't want to send me to the dentist for a year, I grew shy and had inferiority complex. I refused to ask question, refused to smile, refused to talk, just because I refused to open my mouth and show my ugly teeth. Even after the dentist fixed my teeth, the psychology effect of being so scared and nervous had already set in. And this happened the moment I changed school, so I had no friends at all. Slowly through projects, I met this group of good friends who shaped me to who I am today. They scolded me because I refused to ask a salesperson a question when I was out shopping with my friends. Another friend taught me to be braver and more confident. This group of friends are also very smart and I learn a lot from them.
I grew up feeling very scared to ask anyone question. I was told to be more assertive in my speech and more confident and Shri Mataji told me I lacked courage. It took a long time to change. Through work, through colleagues, through Sahaja Yoga, I learn to ask many questions.
One day, when Miss A asked me why she is not allowed to dance on the stage (as it was made from very flimsy material and not suitable for dancing), I just told her to ask the uncle who is in-charge of the stage. And there she was, my 3 year old then, went to ask this uncle on her own and got the answers.
Children need to be encourage to do things on their own, to see their own potential and see how far they can go. So, start young.
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