Reporting Back on 2011!

The UK Youth have really been on the road this year, covering good lengths of the country to meet, gather and share good times whilst keeping a strong spiritual focus. Our aim this year was to create a feeling of unity amongst ourselves, despite being dotted around in different parts of the country, to get to know each other better, and to explore new ways of integrating spirituality into daily life.

Leicester

We began our road trip in February with a get-together in Leicester where we chose to experiment with a new youth program especially designed to celebrate the International year of Youth. The program was called “Spotlight Values: A Look at What Makes us Shine” and has 3 main elements to it: ‘Explore’, ‘Express’, and ‘Exchange.’

The process involves exploring our core values through discussion and reflection, finding creative ways of expressing those core values via various means, and then finally exchanging our experiences with each other face to face and on-line with the global spotlight values network.

Our morning session resulted in some deep discussions around understanding the difference between values, virtues and principles – and how they all link together inside of us. In the afternoon we enjoyed an inter-city panel discussion between members of our team who have each found their own methods of successfully bringing spirituality into their lives in an authentic, inspiring way.

Milton Keynes

In May it was time to get our walking shoes on for a fun-filled day out at the North Willen Nature Park in Milton Keynes. “Easy Nature: Walk the Talk” was the title of our one-day adventures exploring the famous Peace Pagoda and contemplative walking labyrinth to be found at this uniquely spiritual spot. Just to top it all off, we also stumbled upon a beautiful Japanese style Buddhist temple where 20 of us piled in for green tea and lessons in salutation chants to the Buddha. After charming the temple residents with our unexpected visit, we enjoyed a delicious picnic followed by lots of games, talent shows and ice cream!

Manchester

From Milton Keynes we headed for Manchester in June where ‘Mission Impossible’ become ‘Mission Incredible’ as we unpacked some of the challenges of a spiritual journey, as well as the great opportunities for learning and growth that these challenges inevitably bring. First we looked at aims and goals through listening to the experiences of 3 young people who spoke about their aim in life and how it had brought them where they are now, followed by a little presentation exploring the importance intention and motivation.

After an Indian lunch we had some fun and games in the park including a drama where we had to come up with a scenario that demonstrated what our main priority was. The day was a great success and gave us all a lot of insight and enthusiasm to keep moving forward.

Worthing

In August we joined some of our European friends for a weekend retreat at the Lighthouse Retreat Centre in Worthing. Keeping the light focus of “Being Worthy in Worthing” we enjoyed a variety of sessions looking at everything from our own journey through the cycle of time, to disaster management from a yogi perspective. It was a weekend characterised by deep conversation, sweet exchanges, light-hearted fun, and special quiet time for the self. The Worthing seaside provided the perfect place for spiritual refreshment, with a happy balance of clean sea air and nourishing good food prepared with love by the retreat centre residents.

Oxford

From Worthing a small group of us made our way back up to Oxford in September, where we hosted a residential retreat for young and emerging leaders entitled ‘Choose, Change & Be: Inspiring a New Awareness’. The retreat was designed by the core group members of the UK Youth, together with our good friends, and professional consultants, Soo Redshaw, Maxine Green, Ian Lewis and Roger Orgill.

A group of around 30 young adults from a variety of backgrounds and organisations came together to explore leadership from an ‘inside-out’ perspective, and to deepen their understanding of how self leadership and personal development are crucial ingredients of a powerful leader. The 3 days were full of rich and insightful contributions from all participants and facilitators, and we left with a strong feeling that something new and dynamic had been sparked off on the hearts of all those who attended.

Young Women of Spirit

Parallel to the ‘great UK Road Trip’ were several smaller events for young people including a series of afternoon workshops for young women. In May we took a look at how to bring newness into our lives with ‘RedesignMyself.com’, a reflective workshop facilitated by Sarah Cavanagh. Then in September Judy Johnson of Canada facilitated a workshop on ‘Living in style: A Different Perspective’ where we explored how to find ones own unique ‘soul-style’ beyond all the external expression of the self. Finally, in November, we rounded off the year with ‘Feeling Great No Matter What!’, a workshop facilitated by Rachel Priestman on how to build resilience against life’s challenges and maintain inner calm in all situations.

A great year it has been and looking forward to what lies ahead for UK Youth in 2012!

BK Youth Leicester

2008 Gallery Being Effective Leicester 07-12-08






2008 Gallery Shaktis Intensive Leicester 02-11-08





2008 Gallery Madhuban October






2008 Gallery Mumbai October







2008 Gallery Sheiluben Peepul Centre Leicester 28-09-08







2008 Gallery EYR GRC 06-09-08







2008 Gallery Kumaris Retreat GRC 30-08-08







2008 Gallery Kumars Retreat GRC 22-08-08






2008 Gallery BKLY Scotland 09 to 17-08-08







2008 Gallery Children's Retreat GRC 01-08-08







2008 Gallery Living in Style GCH 27-07-08







2008 BKLY Alton Towers 20-07-08






2008 BKLY Outdoor Pursuits 13-07-08





2008 Gallery SaM GCH 14-06-08






2008 Gallery Dadi Janki Rocks GRC 010608







Worthing BKLY May 2008








2008 Apr GRC New Students

Living in Style

Young people from all across UK get together to put up a show for young people to attend.

Today, style can be based on your looks, the clothes you wear or even what car you drive. This event explored how we can bring spirituality in our style.

We asked our young audience what they thought style was at the beginning of the show. We got answers like "Clothes" and "Hairstyle". After a few answers, they began to think and explore further... Then we got answers like "how you act with others" and "believing in your self".

This event had 3 special guests along with our Key Note speaker, Sister Jayanti. The 3 guests were- former England Cricketer, Chris Lewis; A young Space Scientist, Max Beaumont and a Senior Associate with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sonal Shah.

After a question and answer with the above named panelists, the audience were split into 3 groups, where they went away in different areas of the Global Cooperation House in London to workshops based on such aspects like creative & practical meditation to exploring ways of dealing with pressure.

There was a 'Global Cafe' session where ice cream and cool drinks was served on this hot day. We had a DJ, Sunit Panchal from Dream Warriors, playing 'World Music' on his decks. This gave everyone a chance to talk and get to know one another.

Overall it was a very successful show. Some of the feedbacks we got were:

"This was a great opportunity to understand and experience the benefits of meditation"

"Do more such get-togethers. A wonderful experience"

"It was excellent - fabulous energy. SO peaceful and amazing people!"

"It's given me a sense of direction which I knew about, but shown me a way to get there. I am very happy with this"

Panel discussion with Sr Jayanti:

Being Effective in an Affected World Event

Young BK's inspire an event that brought together a diverse group of individuals to share their experiences.

This event explored how we can use spirituality to glide through our daily routine.

This was a very successful event where we had Sister Jayanti, the Lord Mayor of Leicester and Steve Humphries (Games Director of the Special Olympics) come down to share their experiences.

The aim that was inspired by the young BK's was to shake hands with students and working professionals in the City Centre, introduce and inspire them to have spirituality in their lives.

Over 200 people turned up to watch.

The core team consisted of mainly young faces. All of us took lots of benefit from it. We attended meetings twice a week and then went to rehearsals.

The event on the evening was held by young people. The 2 hosts, sound and video team, the director of the event, Q&A mic runners, stage crew and even the ushers all had young BK's involved.

This was very special as it bought everybody together, using teamwork on the day and group meditations on the build up.

To add to this, the event was held at a University in Leicester (Demontfort University). This gave an opportunity to target the students.


The event started off with a 10 minute video introducing the audience to the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University (UK). This was put together by a recent graduate in Media.

The event was hosted by Jyoti Basra (25) and Vishal Gohil (24) who guided the audience through introducing Steve Humphries (Games Director of the special Olympics), The Lord Mayor of Leicester and the key note speaker: Sister Jayanti.
They facilitated a question and answer session and made sure the event ran smoothly.

There was also entertainment from 2 artists that have done many live music performances throughout the world: Rahul Thanki (22) and Hitesh Ramji (24).

The audience left, taking with them the inspirational words of wisdom from Sister Jayanti and the warm experiences of Steve Humphries and the Lord Mayor.

Inner Calm in a Chaotic World

How can we maintain our inner calm in this ever changing Chaotic World?

This event explored ways we can use meditation to help us cope under pressure of working life.

On this day, we had Sister Sheilu, who has appeared on many TV channels to present the aspect of spirituality to the viewers. The Lord Mayor of Leicester, who is the first Asian Lady to receive the title, shared her experience of remaining calm using Spirituality.

Jyoti Basra and Bipin Anand were two of the young people (both under 26 years of age at the time) who shared their experience of working under extreme pressure. One training to be a teacher and the other working in the media, making television shows- respectively.

Rahul Thanki and Hitesh Ramji gave an outstanding live music performance, bringing together India's Hindi music with the American born Rap music cleverly written with positive lyrics.

This show ended with 15 young people help Sister Sheilu with a guided meditation. The audience enjoyed this new experience of meditation.

The Lord Mayor shares her experience

Music artists, Rahul and Hitesh with their performance

Jyoti Basra, the trainee teacher shares her thoughts

Bipin Anand, in Media, gives an inspiring talk

The audience