Project Gurukul
Working Towards a Better Tomorrow
Holistic Healing Through Yoga
Project Gurukul is a programme that is designed, keeping the student at the center, with the parents, teachers, and non-teaching staff forming a cocoon that nurtures this student within.
The parents, teachers, and the non-teaching staff are guided towards conserving their energies through effective Stress Management, so that they are able to provide support to the student as necessary.
The students, on the other hand, are helped to resolve their anxieties/ conflicts independently, to be in a better position to focus positively on their holistic growth in an unrestricted and conducive environment. Certain games and activities are included that help the students increase their liking towards studies or certain topics that they dislike.
Who We Serve
Target Audiences
a. Foundation Workshop:
This approximately 8- to 10-hour introductory workshop is a highly effective programme to help participants learn to balance their emotions and conserve their own energies in adverse situations and thus, create effective Stress Management. It helps understand the concept of Energy Exchange in a simple yet forceful way. The content of the programme can be modified as per the context of the participants (Parents / Teachers / Non-teaching Staff / Students). Hence, it can be used as an introductory session for all the above-mentioned groups to set the tone for the further programmes/ interventions.
Though these methods are derived from principles of Yoga, the presentation of these techniques is done through games and other fun-filled activities to ensure maximum learning.
Considering the schedule of the teachers as well as the jobs of parents, which may not allow them to attend this programme over a stretched period, this program is preferably conducted as a 2 half-day workshop.
b. Follow-up sessions – ‘Practice makes a man perfect.’
Yoga too suggests the importance of practice (Abhyasa) as important to reinforce any learnings that have been obtained. These will be a minimum of 25 sessions of 50-60 minutes each, held once or twice a week.
Though the schools can and should be responsible for the overall growth of their students; the parents, de facto are more responsible for everything about their child.
However, with the pace of life becoming fast and the size of families smaller, the amount of stress on the parents too has grown exponentially over period.
Modern families having become nuclear, has reduced our earlier resources including, siblings, cousins and other elders who were always available to take care of every child in the absence of their parents. Though the schools can be owning certain responsibilities, it doesn’t take away the fact that child would be looking primarily to its own parents as the primary source of support in every adverse situation.
Hence, it becomes equally important that the parents too, take the step of working on their personal stress to be able to listen or understand the feelings emotions of their child as & when necessary.
Children are always compared to a sponge – absorbing everything around them, without distinguishing between right and wrong. A dominating environment imbues the concepts of right and wrong onto the child, killing their ability to decide on their own, through logic.
Also, a child being dependent on its environment for every need has his/her own insecurities, especially if the environment is unhealthy.
The problems for students can range from:
- Inability to concentrate while studying and poor recall ability during exams,
- Restlessness, Fidgetiness
- Bullying, Violence, and other anti-social behaviours,
- Exam tensions, Fear of failures,
- Poor Self-Image, Self-Esteem
- Depression, Addictions, Suicidal tendencies,
- Sulking, Suppressive behaviour,
- Sports-related issues
- Poor Motivational Levels,
- Lack of Team Spirit,
- Lack of Self- Confidence,
- Absence of a Winning Spirit
- Emotional disturbances in teenagers, Etc.
Who We Serve
Interventions & Programs
Foundation Program: (Mandatory)
a. Foundation Workshop:
This approximately 8- to 10-hour introductory workshop is a highly effective programme to help participants learn to balance their emotions and conserve their own energies in adverse situations and thus, create effective Stress Management. It helps understand the concept of Energy Exchange in a simple yet forceful way. The content of the programme can be modified as per the context of the participants (Parents / Teachers / Non-teaching Staff / Students). Hence, it can be used as an introductory session for all the above-mentioned groups to set the tone for the further programmes/ interventions.
Though these methods are derived from principles of Yoga, the presentation of these techniques is done through games and other fun-filled activities to ensure maximum learning.
Considering the schedule of the teachers as well as the jobs of parents, which may not allow them to attend this programme over a stretched period, this program is preferably conducted as a 2 half-day workshop.
b. Follow-up sessions – ‘Practice makes a man perfect.’
Yoga too suggests the importance of practice (Abhyasa) as important to reinforce any learnings that have been obtained. These will be a minimum of 25 sessions of 50-60 minutes each, held once or twice a week.
Personal Counselling/ Yoga sessions
Along with group activities, it is also possible that some from the above-mentioned target audience may need personal attention. We have our own team of Counsellors trained for the job. These counsellors, being certified Yoga teachers, would be able to provide the right yogic interventions to the counselees, post the counselling session. A day/s of the week can be fixed, when the counsellor cum yoga teacher can visit the school and help the staff/ student/ parent with counselling or yoga practices, as per the need.
These counselling sessions will be held only for those teachers who have attended the foundation programme.
Ekagrata: (Only for 8th 0r 9th Standard Students)
This is a workshop to make studies enjoyable & more effective. A child joins school basically for the purpose of studies, and the school, too, intends to stay focused on this same objective. As the child grows, it simultaneously encounters numerous situations in life, and these situations may be seen to affect the studying capacity of the child. Hence, either from the point of view of academics or from a general concern, the school must help the student learn to handle these situations effectively.
Techniques to overcome fears & dislikes towards any subject are a unique feature of this workshop. The workshop also helps develop a healthy attitude towards success and apparent ‘failures’, thus helping to reduce the stress related to either. The workshop has an integration of Yoga techniques along with activities and techniques for Group Counselling to overcome individual perceived limitations towards studies.
Blossoming Buds: (For Children Between 8-12 Years Of Age)
Engaging the child early is important towards facilitating a lasting impression on their belief systems, which is paramount to their self-development. We, at Yog Psychology Foundation, work towards cultivating Positive Belief Systems through Yoga and other fun-filled activities for children.
Various attitudes and character traits are important for a child’s overall development. Our programme, BLOSSOMING BUDS, focuses on this concept of self-development by working on strengthening attitudes such as Curiosity, Social Skills, Resilience, Integrity, Resourcefulness, Creativity, and Empathy, to name a few.
These traits, if sown in early childhood, will aid them in achieving their goals and support them in their adult life. Emotional, Physical, and Mental well-being adds a dimension to a SUCCESSFUL ADULT.
The programme will include 25 sessions, in total of 50-60 minutes each. The various positive attitudes mentioned above will be ingrained in the child through games and similar fun-filled activities.
Gallery
Summary
It takes a village to raise a child’ – An African saying
There are infinite impressions that go on to build the personality of a child. A cohesive environment in society works as a catalyst by reducing the need for individual attention on a child.
A school is a modern epitome of the village or a Gurukul that has the potential of providing this cohesive environment and maximally impacting the child’s overall growth.
Yoga, which goes well beyond the asanas and pranayams, has the simultaneous potential to provide a holistic approach towards the physical, mental, and also socio-spiritual growth of every constituent of society.
Educational Institutes are the creators of the foundation blocks of tomorrow, and Yoga Psychology Foundation, through ‘Project Gurukul,’ aims to work as a catalyst in creating this bright future.