I recently attended the Art of Living (AOL)’s Yes+ course. YES+ stands for Youth Empowerment and Skills Seminar. I had heard about AOL a long time back when I was in my engineering college. AOL representatives had come to our college and had given a very nice talk. But at that time I had not attended the course because (1) there was a donation involved with it, (2) I thought Yoga and meditation are for old people, and (3) most of my friends had not done it. Now that time has changed and I got to realize my mistake in perceptions, I didn’t miss attending it. This time AOL was conducting sessions very near to my home (as well as our office). At the end of the program, I came out with a rich experience and very useful knowledge.
Yes+ course is designed for the youth (18-30 years). So the program is packed with life-changing thoughts and ideas most applicable for the youth. We had talks on how to make most of life; how to have good relationships; keeping gratitude towards parents; active role in society; and also what kinds of food are the best and why. I liked the scientific manner in which the trainers explained each concept – from why to avoid leather articles, or meat eating, or even tea/coffee. Youth are at very inquisitive stage but the knowledgeable trainers could clearly satisfy all the queries. Along with the talks which were mostly demonstrated with performing some practical exercise or tasks, we learnt many enlightening Yoga techniques. Most of the participants had wonderful experiences with the Yoga session.
The powerful spiritual flow into the content was really amazing. (I am not sharing much of the activities otherwise it may subdue the surprise element in newcomers.) Every day we were given some very interesting home-works. We also had Q&A sessions with the trainers in which we could ask them any doubts in our mind. I also loved the way trainers answered some controversial questions. They were also very much supportive of other Gurus, like Baba Ramdev. It was heartening to realize that the AOL guys practice what they preach. No surprise that when our teacher shared his own life story and his journey to AOL, all of us were touched. On the last day, we also ran through some videos introducing us to the world of Art of Living.
What an enlightening experience it has been. It ran for 6 days – first 4 days for us were in the evenings and then two long sessions ran on the weekends. I found the organization and structure of the training simply brilliant. Given that so many highly qualified and successful guys from top universities are part of AOL, it came as no surprise. Another aspect of the course was that we came to know so many nice individuals (as participants) – who are now good friends.
We were informed that advance Yes+ course is being organized soon in Bangalore. Hope to attend it someday. Till then, I have to maintain and improve on the Yogic path shown by AOL. AOL also conducts many other courses for people of all ages. I highly recommend the AOL courses for each one of us…
With heartfelt thanks to AOL and trainers,
Jai Gurudev!
Rahul
