Community work of Sahaja Yoga

As a non-profit organization Sahaja Yoga Meditation committed to help all areas of society using our expertise in meditation and stress management.

For more than thirty years we have proactively identified areas of society that can benefit from our services, from supporting the rehabilitation of prisoners to introducing meditation on the streets and in shopping malls.

In the modern times the student is under immense pressure. He has to face competition in a very aggressive environment. This creates a state of worry in his mind-“I must work hard, I must get ahead of others, I must make my career, will I get a job?”

As he worries more and more, his mental thoughts shift his attention from a balanced state, and he becomes more & more disturbed. Worrying too much, one gets lost in one’s own thoughts & falls in the mire of depression and frustration. Such a person suffers from loss of memory, his attention becomes wobbly, making him irritable, short tempered & impatient. When the attention is bad we can’t remember any thing. In advance situations, this has a bearing on the stomach and digestion, causing many psychosomatic problems.

Parents in Sahaja Yoga Meditation are concerned, as all parents are, with helping their children to grow to adulthood without falling prey to the traps of peer pressure, drugs, violence and immorality along the way. We use the techniques of Sahaja Yoga Meditation to help our children stay balanced, alert, healthy and self-aware. As they grow up, we teach them how to meditate, and to understand the subtle inner workings of their own energy systems, to know when they are in a healthy, balanced state and when they are not. We teach them how to treat imbalances within and to take responsibility for their own states of mind and awareness.

We have found that as a result, children in Sahaja Yoga Meditation develop a beautiful reverence for goodness, for practicality and for righteousness. They maintain a bright, positive attitude toward life long after children of similar ages begin to show signs of encroaching cynicism and disillusionment.

Sahaja Yoga Meditation has been taught in schools, daycares and related facilities for more than 20 years.

We cannot immediately change the outside situation but we can change our self from within. Why to look outside for a solution, when it resides within our self. Here are a number of improvements that a student can develop by practicing Sahaja Yoga Meditation:

1. The liver gets relieved of the heat generated due to mental tensions so our temper calms down.
2. As our attention improves we are able to grasp the lessons better.
3. The memory also improves, thus enabling us to retain what we learn!
4. Our physical health improves.
5. There are no more headaches, nervousness, depression, and lack of self-confidence or restlessness.
6. The creativity is heightened. If you are good at some art like drawing or music or singing you can reach the peak of your capabilities.
7. But most importantly we become peaceful and joyous.

As well as educational and professional guidance, offenders need emotional and spiritual support, a service that Sahaja Yoga Meditation offers free of any charge.

The testimonial below is published with the owners permission.

Pedro is an inmate who started Sahaja Yoga in January 2004 in a jail from Helsinki and is meditating since that time.

My name is Pedro, I am thirty years old. I am inmate in a Finnish jail called Helsingin Vankila. My sentence is: all life in prison.

I went to jail in 2001 and the first years I was in emotional roller coaster. I tried not to show it outside but inside I was feeling terrible. But then in January 2004 when I had lost almost all hope, Sahaja Yoga Meditation was introduced in our prison. I immediately felt something wonderful that I never felt before. Something I couldn’t explain in words. But I knew that was something that I had been looking for all my life. I got my Self-realization.

After that, I started to meditate every day. I stopped smoking immediately, thing I couldn’t do before. I know that I am just in the beginning of this wonderful journey.

Now, we have been meditating since almost two years and a half with yogis supporting us weekly with their wonderful programs and love. Our little collective also has permission to meditate every Sunday morning together, 4 or 5 brother inmates and me.

Several times somebody working here tried to prevent the group to meditate. But actually what happened is that Sahaja Yoga Meditation is becoming stronger and stronger. And people is now more interested to know what is Sahaja Yoga Meditation because they can see how wonderful we are feeling.”

My lost smile returned inside of me. I am in peace now and want first of all to follow this path the rest of my life. I can see other inmates are as much helped as me. So I really wish that every prisoner in the world could have this life changing experience .And I want to help as much as possible for that!

Pedro Avila Mahkonen Helsinki April 2006