Please conduct these workshops more often!
We want to become volunteers in DISHA!
These were some of the most common statements that we received as feedback from the students participating in the DISHA workshops, giving us the satisfaction that we had indeed managed to touch the hearts of our young audience.
July to September 2013 was an enriching experience for us at DISHA. Around 1000 final year graduate and post-graduate students from various city colleges belonging to the Arts, Science, Commerce and Management streams participated in the 1-day value education workshops organized by DISHA. The colleges included Ammanni College, MLA AHL, MES Mgmt Institute, KLE(Post-graduate and Management), Sheshadripuram College and the response from students and management were simply overwhelming, to say the least.
The workshop began with a yoga session in which students participated with full spirit, trying out the different asanas ,breathing exercises of pranayama followed by dhyana. Next was a counselling session that saw students exploring their strengths and weaknesses and seeking realistic answers to the issues they face. This session was often an emotional one, with quite a few students confessing a few of their deepest personal conflicts to the DISHA counsellors and seeking guidance.
This was followed by a session titled “Know Your Country and Culture” that kindled the patriotic spirit of students in such a manner that after each round of questions, the auditorium spontaneously reverberated with the slogan of “Bharat Mata Ki Jay.”
Post-lunch, students viewed exclusive videos that sought to enhance the sense of social responsibility. So marked was the effect of these videos that at the end of the day, many of the students voluntarily came forward expressing their desire to do something for society.
Next was an interactive session on the importance of values as an integral aspect for achieving success. Through apt illustrations and examples of some of the country’s most respected personalities, DISHA succeeded in driving home the point that the blossoming of one’s inner personality is important for holistic personality development in the true sense.
The last session of the day was one the students found highly enjoyable – games. The games master of one of the city colleges taught simple yet enthralling Desi Games that the students enjoyed as a great stress-buster.
The workshop concluded with this quote of Swami Sivananda:
“Man gets and forgets, God gives and forgives. When man learns to give and forgive, he becomes God.”
The important take-home message that DISHA sought to convey was that each and every one of us should endeavour to elevate to this plane and by doing so, we can make our life and that of our fellow beings truly meaningful.