Dear Readers

Welcome to the March 2005 issue of the email newsletter.

This month:

• SSEHV to Benefit Mental Health Centre Clients
  
• Values Alive Event in Wembley

  

• New Silent Sitting CD Now Available
• Good Values Club Children Perform in Public
  
• Training Update
• Story: The Happy Fiddler
  by Tessa Hillman, from a story told by an Irish nun
  

If you have any feedback about this newsletter, or if you'd like to share your experiences of SSEHV, please write to us.

Kind Regards,
The Newsletter Team

Unsubscribe information

SSEHV to Benefit Mental Health Centre Clients

Prabha Govindji will be running a series of SSEHV relaxation and silent sitting exercises for adults at a mental health drop-in centre in Leicester. The sessions will take place weekly over six to eight weeks beginning in April. This follows similar successful programmes run by Michele White at a women's refuge for victims of domestic violence in Leicester in 2003-4.

Top

Values Alive Event in Wembley

Around 90 children are this week attending a five-day Values Alive Event in Wembley, North West London, which runs from 26th-30th March. The event, which has been organised by Joyce Power, is being staged with the help of a team of volunteers including professional teachers as well as people from other walks of life. Activities include SSEHV classes, and values based art, games, singing, sports, yoga, Choi Kwang Do (martial art), assemblies and silent sitting. Each day the activities are focused on a different value.

The event is taking place in a primary school in North Wembley and the children attending are all from the school, apart from one or two whose parents are volunteering at the event.

The head teacher of the school, who has been in attendance for part of the time, commented on the second day that many of the most challenging children in the school were present and that he could see they were already calmer and more focused. One child remarked at the end of his first day that it was the best day of his life and several children have said they wished the event was longer than five days. Parents have also expressed their gratitude for the experience their children are having.

Assembly with group singing takes place twice a day

Children play values-based sports and team-building games

Most classes start with silent sitting to help children calm down and prepare to learn

Values-based activities are contained in a workbook which children can take home at the end of the week

Top

New Silent Sitting CD Now Available

A new CD containing five separate relaxation and silent sitting exercises is now available to buy from the British Institute of Sathya Sai Education, priced at £7. If you would like to purchase a copy or copies, please email SathyaSaiEHV@dial.pipex.com stating the details of your order, and where you need the CD(s) to be posted to.

Top

Good Values Club Children Perform in Public

March has been a busy month for children from the Good Values Club in Leicester. On Friday 11th, ten children aged between nine and eleven performed a series of multicultural dances to an audience of around a thousand people at the Walkers Stadium, the home of Leicester City Football Club. The event was part of a celebration to mark International Womens Day, and was attended by the Rt. Hon. Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and MP for Leicester West.

The following week, six children danced in the foyer of the Haymarket Theatre on two consecutive evenings as part of a two-day event called Divine, which was billed as "a spectacular celebration of the faiths of Leicester". The children were accompanied by six Good Values Club 'trainee volunteers' - older children who have been attending the club for some time and have now undertaken SSEHV teacher training in order to help run the club and look after the younger children. The trainee volunteers introduced the younger children's performance and staffed an information stall. "They also really enjoyed themselves," said Dipak Fakey, who runs the Good Values Club. "They loved telling people about the Club and about SSEHV."

Several hundred people watched the dances, which were very well received. The manager of the theatre was very pleased and has promised to invite the children back again in future.

Around 150 children now attend the Good Values Club, which takes place in Leicester on Saturday mornings.

Top

Training Update

Here is the feedback from one participant at a recent Parenting Workshop:

"My objective of attending this course was to enhance my parenting skills and for my personal development, and I feel that the course has enabled me to achieve both these objectives completely. In addition, it has raised my awareness and equipped me with various positive techniques that can be applied when dealing with my children and husband. I particularly enjoyed the silent sitting exercises, as they bring you into an amazing peaceful state. I would definitely recommend this course to my colleagues, as you gain so much insight into parenting and building positive relationships. Thanks."

All SSEHV courses are free to attend, although a photocopying deposit of £10 may be required at registration. Details of all our training courses, together with contact information and dates can be found on our website at www.ssehv.org.uk, in the Training section.

Forthcoming SSEHV courses are:

SSEHV Parenting Workshop, Croydon, Surrey
16th April 2005
30th April
7th May
14th May
Sessions run from 9.00am - 4.00pm
For further information or to reserve a place, please contact Bina Valsan (0208 688 4598)

SSEHV Foundation Course, Croydon, Surrey
21st May 2005
28th May
4th June
11th June
18th June
25th June
2nd July
Sessions run from 9am-4pm (apart from Session 1 which is from 8am-3pm).
For further information or to reserve a place, please contact Bina Valsan (0208 688 4598)

SSEHV Intenstive Parenting Workshop, Shrewsbury, Shropshire
24th-28th July 2005
For further information or to reserve a place, please contact Margaret Harris (01743 873650)

SSEHV Foundation Course, Shrewsbury, Shropshire
7th-12th August 2005
For further information or to reserve a place, please contact Margaret Harris (01743 873650)

SSEHV Intensive Foundation Course, Pinner, Middlesex
Saturday 6th August 2005
7th August
8th August
9th August
10th August
11th August
13th or 14th Aug - optional final session
For more information or to reserve a place, please contact Pamela Nash (01784 244494)

If there is no course scheduled in your area but you would like there to be one, we can arrange one as long as there are a minimum of ten people who would like to attend. Please contact Pamela Nash for more information.

Top

STORY

The Happy Fiddler
By Tessa Hillman, from a story told by an Irish nun

There was a time in Ireland when many people were starving. It was the time of the potato famine. The very old and the very young were worst affected. Many died. Large numbers of young people who were still strong and healthy enough decided to leave the country. Thousands fled to America.

There is a story that goes back several generations in my family. They hailed from Ireland and several of them emigrated to America. One, who would have been my great, great, great uncle, was a fine singer and musician. He had no trouble at all making a new life himself, for wherever there were the Irish, there was singing and dancing, and without a musician there could be none. What the Irish like best is traditional music of quality. A tin whistle may suffice if there is nothing else, but when a violin appears and is well played, ah, then you have an evening to remember!

My uncle, they say, was given free board and lodging wherever he went. He was welcomed with open arms. When he took out his penny whistle, there were smiles all round. When he revealed his violin, there was rejoicing.

Now, this ancient uncle, who was called Patrick, used to wonder about life. He noticed how music made people happy and dancing made them even happier. He noticed that beer seemed to make them happy, and then after a while and more beer they would become angry, sometimes violent, or just sad and morose, missing the old county.

Patrick used to encourage people to dance because as he would say, "If they're dancing, they're not drinking and they'll be feeling happy in the morning." For sure a man who dances too much usually feels very happy the next day, but a man who drinks too much always feels bad the next day.

Uncle saw it as his duty to try to make people happy. In fact, he had the nickname 'Happy Paddy'. He used to try to live up to his name. As he got older, Paddy found he could not dance as he did when he was a young man. This did not prevent him from playing his fiddle for others to dance to however. People used to come up to him and ask his advice about life. He was always smiling, always jovial; perhaps they thought he had the answer to the meaning of life. All his wrinkles curled upwards. His mouth, even at rest, seemed to be half smiling, and his eyes always twinkled at the world.

One day a young man approached my uncle. He looked rather sad. "Can I ask you a question, sir?" he asked.

"Ask away, young lad! It'll cost you nothing, and if you don't like my answer you can throw it away, can you not?"

"I've been watching you for several weeks playing your violin, smiling away there in the corner. What makes you so happy all the time?"

"Well," replied the old man. "If the truth be known, I am not always happy. When I do have a problem, I know that if I sit quietly and think about it just a little, then play my fiddle, or perhaps listen to someone else's music, the answer seems to come to me. This is how I tackle my problems. I don't let them grow and grow inside my head, while I rush about doing things to forget them. I deal with them immediately by sitting quietly. I imagine that there is a part of me that is much bigger and much wiser than this 'little me'. I feel that I can hand over my problems to that bigger part of myself. I don't know what that part is, I just know that when I do that the problem seems to solve itself. The answer comes to me, or the problem goes away and doesn't trouble me anymore. Sometimes it's just a matter of looking at the problem in a different way. I'd recommend that to you, young man. I can see several furrows on your brow. Try asking for help and sitting quietly. Mind you, I do have a warning. You mustn't do too much time doing this. Ten minutes a day would be quite enough for someone such as you. More than that and you'll start to go over and over your problem, and that never solves anything. After ten minutes, go and do something else, something active. Will you have a go and tell me how you get on?

The young man smiled for the first time. "Thanks, old timer. I might just do that."

Several weeks later the young man reappeared. Paddy was curious. He noticed the unhappy frown had disappeared. "Well, hello, young fellow. And who is this you bring to introduce to me?"

"This is my wife, Elsa. We came to thank you for your advice. I did sit quietly and my soul said, 'Send for Elsa. You're sad because you miss her. Marry her and start your tailoring business.' Well, I just knew I had to do it, so I did. I've come to offer you a new suit, if you'd like one."

"That's extremely civil of you, young sir," replied Paddy. "I could do with a new suit for weddings and funerals, you know. It doesn't do for the fiddler to be too untidy, now does it? And I wish you happiness and joy in your new life together. Remember to teach Elsa to ask for help too, then I'm sure the two of you will always be happy."

Questions

1. What shall we name this story?
2. What was the reason for large numbers of healthy young people fleeing to America?
3. How did the Irish entertain themselves?
Why did Patrick encourage people to dance?
4. Why was Patrick such a happy person?
5. What was Patrick's advice to the young man about his problem?
6. How did the young man later show his gratitude?
7. How did you feel when you heard the story?
8. Did it remind you of anything in your own life?

Top

Unsubscribe
This newsletter is sent once a month to subscribers. If you prefer not to receive further newsletters then please send a blank email with the word 'unsubscribe' in the subject box to: leave-ssehv-newsletter@list.sathyasaiehv.org.uk

To subscribe, click here.

Top