Although many of us would wish that “life is a bed of roses” (as in Christopher Marlowe’s poem), the truism that the thorns (or rather Bon Jovi’s “bed of nails”) will more likely impact and dominate our daily lives, our moods & actions, pervades. Looking after your mental health has never been so critical as in today’s highly pressurised and demanding society. It is a catchword, a mantra to repeat at the gym, a heartfelt query aimed at those who we care for.
The statistics make for terrifying reading. 1 in 5 adults in the USA, and almost as many here in SA, experience mental health disorders; those affected are almost twice as likely to develop cardio vascular & metabolic disease. And mental illness does not discriminate against age; a latest poll indicated 70% of South African children aged 15-24yrs needed help to improve their mental wellbeing, and in the USA, 3 million adolescents had thoughts of suicide (UNICEF; NAMI; SSM).
Help however, is at hand, in our own beautiful town, nogal! And whether you are feeling depressed, stressed, can’t sleep at night or just need a change in the pace and direction of you life’s path, please do read on about the Art of Living Foundation (AoL). We managed to chat to both Elizabeth Meiring and Susan Botha of AoL and Matt Davis, co-founder and coach at St Francis Bay United (SFBU). What lies ahead in the next few few paragraphs may well change your life – it has for one of us Daisies as well as the budding young soccer stars of SFBU….
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DD: We heard that you are the inspiration behind bringing the AoL & its affiliated courses to St Francis Bay. Can you tell our readers a bit more about yourselves and the Foundation?
Elizabeth: In 2003, Elisabeth Rautenbach and Stella Platinga attended a lifestyle and spiritual festival in PE and was introduced to AoL. They learned to do bastrika (a breathing method), were intrigued and motivated to organise the first course in Kouga for 20 people.
During the next few years, some teachers came and stayed on Elisabeth’s farm (including me), taking Happiness Programs and Art Excel Courses (part of the AoL suite of courses) at Seavista Primary. The community would hold short kriya (breathing meditations) followups locally. We found the breathing techniques and knowledge were of great benefit and helped us gain a broader perspective on life. We were keen to make the courses available for the whole community – whether king or pauper, EVERYONE can benefit.
Susan: I am JBay born and bred, and had discovered AoL during my studies at University of Cape Town. I had been finding life tough and the AoL techniques and life-skills changed my perspective from struggling to light. I loved the idea of shifting from being passive in life to being part of the solution, so I came back to this area to share my experience with all who seek this for themselves. I have since taught several hundred adults and children from all walks of life including the general public, schools, youth leadership training programs and in prisons. In this volunteer role, I have driven many, many miles in an effort to leave no person behind between Gqeberha, JBay and St Francis Bay – where Stella and Eliabeth have continued to share the love all these years.
The Art of Living (AoL) Foundation is a happening. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the founder, was quietly sharing spiritual knowledge and meditation, and the unique Sudarshan Kriya (SKY) that came to him after 10 days of deep silence, with people. And organically it has grown into a volunteer-based organisation in 180 countries with 35,000 teachers who have spread the benefits to millions across the globe.
A basic premise is that world peace starts from inner peace, and we strengthen society by strengthening the individuals within it.
DD: What do you think makes the AoL unique?
E & S: The depth! It’s like the ocean – you can gaze at it, paddle ankle deep, surf some waves, or deep dive – the choice is yours. We’ve tried many different modalities and practices and while they all have some merit they simply don’t have this depth … after a while you bottom out.
AoL shares authentic ancient yogi wisdom that has stood the test of time and is more relevant than ever in this modern era. There are many ‘life-hack’ fads based on one or other of the techniques … but none we’ve found has the whole vast deep package, backed with guidance from true masters. The amazing impact the founder, Sri Sri has had in the world is evidence that he walks the talk and works tirelessly yet joyfully to put a smile on everyone’s face. We are touched and inspired by his effective and selfless service.
DD: Can you describe in 3 words how has it impacted on your every-day life?
E & S: Empowering us to bring happiness to living versus waiting for life to line up and ‘make’ us happy. (not 3 words!)
DD: You are planning an Art of Happiness course later on this month – happiness can be elusive for many of us in these stressful times. How can this course help, what are its main aspects and most importantly, how can we sign up!
E & S: Nothing robs you of your happiness like stress – whatever the underlying reason. Yet we’re not taught at school or at home how to truly clear stress from our system. Many of us live in hope of circumstances or something outside of us to make us happy. But this makes us victims in life with the mind stuck in repetitive complaint, frustration or negativity. At some stage we realise …. its kinda like chewing very old tasteless chewing gum! Exhausting and yech. But how to stop?
The Happiness Program is experiential – you will feel a shift in just a weekend. You’ll leave not only feeling positive, calm and light, but also equipped with tools and a home practice to handle whatever life throws at you. The central technique is the unique Sudarshan Kriya (SKY). The results are backed by many peer reviewed studies now, but best is to trust your own experience.
Key benefits
- Quickly & Effectively Reduce Stress with the power of your own breath. Soothe your physiology and come to a calm and positive state of mind. This has helped many with anxiety, depression and addiction too.
- Build Resilience with mind mastery, so you won’t get bothered by issues that used to create frustration, impatience, worry and more.
- Make Meditation Easier and Relax Deeper – Sudarshan Kriya brings your mind to a place where meditation happens with ease. Guided meditations and low impact gentle yoga allow you to experience your beauty within.
- Most people say they Sleep Better, become Healthier, have Abundant Energy and Feel Great.
Learn more and register here for the next Happiness Program in St Francis
DD: What would you say has been your most impactful experience to date?
E & S: Watching people arrive looking tired and somewhat downtrodden by life, and in just a few days looking bright and fresh with a twinkle in their eye. People often say things like: “I feel like a weight has been lifted off me”. We’ve had many cases of people coming out of depression, self-loathing, suicidal ideation, and all manner of stress, anxiety and even middle-class-malaise. However they arrive, they always feel better at the end of a course, and with continued practice the benefits continue to grow and deepen. There is always a moment on every course we teach where we find ourselves shedding a quiet tear of wonder and gratitude at being able to be part of this movement of love.
DD: The AoL also offers really amazing programs for the youth, not just us older Daisies – what is available for our local children and how do you think they can benefit from taking part?
E & S: AoL offers some 52 programs for all people in all walks of life! Here in this area we offer courses for children and teens that are fun and light yet give them empowering life-skills that help them avoid many pitfalls and instead have an ‘unfair advantage’ as they grow into adulthood. We have free courses for people with no or low income and our paid courses are affordable and the funds go towards service projects. It’s the principle of ‘a stitch in time saves nine’. Giving children these outstanding life-skills early is possibly the biggest gift and best foundation they can receive.
DD: You (together with willing assistants, Stephen & Zelda) recently completed a 4-day workshop with a group of children from the St Francis Bay Sport for Youth Project (aka St Francis Bay United Football Club). How did that partnership arise?
E & S: Stella created the Community Umbrella forum so that all community workers could collaborate and support each other with resources. We were wanting to teach courses to children. Sri Sri encourages us to reach children, teens and youth. As the Dalai Lama said: “If every 8-year-old in the world is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation.” Stella introduced us to Matt from St Francis Bay United Football Club, and he was curious to bring beneficial practices to his team.
DD: What do you hope the kids will take away from these 4 days?
E & S: That they feel empowered and know they have options about how they experience life going forward, regardless of the circumstances. That may sound a bit big … but we are sowing these seeds. Two of them wrote us a short note about the course:
“It took away all the stress I had before coming here and it also helped me to stay calm.” Sipho
“After learning about sugar I have reduced my sugar to only 5 teaspoons in the past days. The breathing, I have seen it helped me over the days.” Zozo
DD: Can you tell our readers more about the other work that you and your partners are doing, and plan to do, in our local Sea Vista community?
E & S: Yes! On 6-8 May we taught over 400 children from grade 3-7 at Sea Vista Primary, where the principal is a visionary legend. Stella and Susan have worked with the school consistently in smaller ways over time and built a relationship there. We’d love to teach the whole school annually, take followups with the children regularly, & teach adult courses for teachers and parents. Our bigger vision is to bring this program to ALL St Francis schools and their communities.
DD: So, how can we help? Do you need volunteers or donations – what can we do?
E & S: If you’ve not yet had a taste of the instant joy of being a volunteer doing service – we invite you to join us. The journey starts with attending the Happiness Program yourself. We’d love help to start :
- a nature outing / hiking club for Sea Vista kids and money will be needed for basic gear, transport, and light refreshments on outings, and
- an empowering movement for girls (could include sport but we’d like it to be broader). The Sea Vista boys have soccer and they need supporting too, but to get going with the girls we need local young women with leadership and facilitation skills and a passion for our young girls.
INTERESTED? FIND OUT MORE…..
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s seven minute video gives a good sense of the Art of Living Foundation. The SA website provides info on local and online courses. Our service initiatives fall under AOL’s projects organisation the International Association for Human Values (IAHV) – website & facebook.
Sri Sri’s knowledge is best experienced through video, but again, come on a course and raise your energy so you can appreciate the subtleties and depth with your heart and not just your head. And we’ll point you to all the resources.
DD also chatted to Matt Davis for his feedback about the course. But first, a little background for those of you who haven’t yet heard of the amazing work he has done for over 100 St Francis Bay youth ….
Matt : Thanks, it actually all began in August 2019 when I started volunteering coaching some kids from Sea Vista. From there I noticed there was a need for youth soccer coaching in the community. William and Inga Brooks from Village Square then noticed us and started sponsoring kit and equipment to get us off the ground and that is what shaped the start of the project. The main objective was to keep the kids off the streets and bring them into a safe active environment where we could train and coach them soccer skills.
DD: Sport for Youth is not only about football though – you strive to achieve your mission of providing ‘a safe environment for the youth of Sea Vista Township and surrounding communities’ through life skills programmes and community projects – please tell us more.
Matt : Yeah, we started with football, which teaches kids a lot of life principles in itself but I always felt we had to bring in some other programs to gel with the sport. Currently we run a life skills and environmental awareness program every Thursday, before we start with practice. We are also actively involved with the Kromme EnviroTrust beach clean ups and whenever they need extra hands to make a difference to the environment. But we are always open to new collaborations for our boys to get involved in!
The boys really enjoyed it, especially some of the younger ones. They learned breath work, yoga and to just be peaceful in those moments of silence which is quite rare in the townships. The kids that finished the course were super stoked and had that sense of pride. Was good to see!!
DD: What inspired you to sign up with the AoL for your group?
Matt : I met Susan, who is really cool and she told me about the program. I thought it would be great for my boys to learn something new and the art of breathing seemed like a great opportunity.
DD: Did anything surprise you during the sessions and what were the main challenges, if any?
Matt: I feel just getting full commitment from the some of the kids and teenagers is always a challenge but those that came every day really enjoyed it and were happy when they got their certificate on the last day. I think even if you are getting the message across to 10 out of 30 kids then you doing a good job.
DD: Have you noticed any changes since completing the course – both on and off the soccer pitch?
Matt: We have been doing some breath work before games to focus and calm down and it seems to be working. We will definitely join another course in the future.
DD: Your organisation is going from strength to strength – what’s next?
Matt : Our aim to to become the best team in Kouga , we just finished 2nd in the top Kouga League so hopefully next season we can win it . We also really need to get our own facility so we can improve the standard of football in the community and run programs out of it for the youth. Its proving to be abit of a struggle but we will keep pushing till we get there.
DD: So, how can we help? Do you need volunteers or donations – what can we do?
Matt : We would love to have volunteers who are interested in soccer coaching or just helping out in any of our programs. We have recently introduced a monthly supporter subscription whereby you can donate a R100+ a month to our project. I would be glad to talk this through with whoever would be interested. You can also check out our website where you can find our newsletters (posted every 2 months).
What a great read. Thank you