Workshop 1 was the first of the 3-part WYC workshops designed by the planning team and being implemented by every region. In preparation for the retreat and WYC, the Tucson group went through a study circle of their own a few weeks before the retreat. This helped them feel more comfortable with the subject matter, and really know where they were coming from, before trying to step in and facilitate a workshop. The workshop outline went as follows. Group responses follow the questions.

1) Break up into four groups

a. Come up with qualities and values that you think make up an Ideal Sai Youth. Is this definition a universal or personal definition that varies from person to person? Sharing will occur in the end with the web activity

Responses: Good Role Model, Loving, No Ego, Patience, Leadership, Honesty, Truth, Discipline, Service oriented, Strives for improvement, Respectful, Dutiful, Harmony of Thought Word and Deed, Ceiling on Desires, Enthusiasm/Positive Energy, Focused, Selflessness, Respect for Culture and Tradition, Maturity, Non-Judgmental, Not bound by any one religion, Daily Prayer and Meditation, Grateful/Thankful, Not Wasteful.

A lot of these can be Universal definitions, but they are also very personal in nature depending on where each person is with their sadhana. Personal definitions could feed into a universal definition.

2) Breakout questions for groups

a. Group1: What deters us from the pursuit of being Ideal Sai Youth?

· Ego

· Desire

· Peer pressure

· Laziness

· Environment and the role we play

· Media and movie

· Time management

· Ignorance

· Duty

· Lack of ambition/ Apathy

b. Group2: How does service help combat our ego? Does it have potential to enhance our ego? If so, how can we practice serving with humility?

· Ego = me, Service = me

· Service helps you appreciate what you have

· Service helps put situations in perspective

· Sometimes mistaken to be service to ourselves. You serve not for yourself but to better the society

· Perform service as an end in itself and not as a means to achieve selfish needs

c. Group3: Are we forced to compromise or even silence our spiritual beliefs to gain ‘acceptance’ outside the Sai realm?

· Inner conflicts : should we or should we not?

· God or a spiritual teacher

· We don’t really need to compromise

· Actions speak for who we are

· Like minded people come together

d. Group4: What do we really desire? How can we limit those desires?

· Anything that inflates our ego

· Acceptance from society, friends, family

· Being mentally and emotionally occupied

· Career

· The things we can’t have

· Take the ‘I” out – It’s not me

· Don’t get jaded by society’s pressures

· Live in the present

· With great power comes great responsibilities – Be responsible

· Have confidence and gratitude

3) Share discussion with larger group

4) Write down one area where you find discrepancies in your actions, and the actions of an Ideal Sai Youth. This is anonymous. Place your discrepancy in the basket in front of Swami

The discrepancies were used on Sunday in workshop 3

5) Closing Activity: The web we weave

The first person is given a ball of yarn to hold. From the list of qualities and values you brainstormed in the beginning of part 1, share one value/quality that stood out to you and you wish to work on. Then hold your end of the string and throw the ball of yarn to someone else. When you pass it, say their name as another reminder of who’s who.

Session 2 – Eyeglasses of Love: Led by Mesa YAs

Workshop 2 covered the idea of perception and the thought that we all wear glasses of some sort at any given time. What glasses we wear and how we wear those glasses affects our perception of the world around us. If we wore green glasses everything would appear green. Similarly if we wore the glasses of love, everything would appear beautiful and lovable. The glasses we wear could help or hinder our progress on the path towards becoming Ideal Sai Youth. The workshop outline went as follows. Group responses follow the questions.

1) Look at a range of pictures and think about how it makes you feel. What would you categorize as beautiful and lovable vs. not – individual reflection. Why did you feel one way about an image and a different way about another?

· Society and media

· Circumstances that we associate with the images. E.g., war vs. innocence of a baby

· Personal experiences

· Each picture is a reflection of one’s life. Facts that we know adds to the perception

· The more a photo presents innocence, the more lovable – innocence of character is judged based on personal flaws and lack of innocence

2) What kinds of glasses do we wear in our lives everyday?

· Judgment

· Skeptical

· Compassion for the elderly

· What can I gain?

· Stereotypes

· Survival – needing to fend for myself

· What’s the point?

· Trust

· Optimism

· Frustration

· Seeing the good in everyone

· Past experience

· Positive and negative criticism

· Living in the present

3) How would wearing the lenses of love change our actions?

· Makes us think of people as an emotional bank account

· Would reach out more to people, without expectations or discrimination

· See more reality and have more compassion

· Makes me feel more peaceful, and less negative

· Helps me think of actions, as being from god – detachment from emotions

· Bad words are only sound waves; bad images are only light waves. It lies in your perception

After the two activities above, the facilitators read the story of the king and his green glasses, and Jesus and the dog. The female YAs were then asked to turn away from the male YAs and face the wall. While they did this, the male YAs went into another room and then came out and asked the women to turn back around and face them. Three figures covered in sheets sat on the ground. The women were asked to guess who was under each sheet. Almost every one of the women’s guesses turned out to be wrong! This activity really showed the group how we cannot always judge based on the little we see and we should discard the glasses of judgment. The facilitators asked YAs to take on a challenge and leave at least one of their many glasses behind when they left the retreat.

Session 3 – Creating a ‘Toolkit’: Led by Regional YA Reps

We had worked on our definition for Ideal Sai Youth, challenged the glasses we wear and surrendered our personal discrepancies. It was finally time to put thought into action and find tools to help us work on our discrepancies and continue on the path towards being Ideal Sai Youth. The reps deviated a little from the original workshop outline, and instead of using case studies as recommended, decided to use the discrepancies we had shared the previous day as our basis for creating a regional toolkit. The group was divided into two and the discrepancies were distributed evenly. YAs were asked to do one special thing: To put aside any higher philosophical thoughts and readings they have been exposed to and come down to the everyday basics for the moment. The goal was to find everyday objects that you couldn’t help but notice. This way, there was a constant reminder through daily objects. A reminder of our discrepancies, and tools to help us with our own personal sadhanas. Here’s what Region 9 came up with:

DISCREPANCY	TOOLS
Inability to limit desire to party	Watch – don’t waste time Alarm – Use it to limit the amount of time with a desire Tupperware – Each time you go to a party, you take a little bit out. Setting a limit like you do when you reheat food
Family takes up too much time	Book Chapter – every chapter has all the characters who have set situations and a set amount of time in that chapter.
Judgment	Cell phone Ringer – setting the same for everyone, vs. individual ringers for people
Fear of being put in the spotlight. Fear of failure	Flashlight – The light is always on you. Turn it sideways and show the way Candle – Think that instead of the light being on you, you are there to spread the light to others
Unity of Thought, Word and Deed	Prism – Focus on the 3 colored lights. When they go through they come out as white light Puzzle Pieces – Every piece must fit to make a nice picture Car/Bike Wheels – every wheel has to move at the same speed for the vehicle to move Ying Yang Pendant Ying Yang fondue at the Melting Pot (local restaurant) – When you mix the white and dark chocolate it tastes a lot better. Just like unified thoughts, words and deeds Shoelaces – You have to bring the 2 ends together to tie them into one
Lack of Discipline	Hairbrush/Toothbrush – An action that is practiced and requires discipline. A task you do everyday in a certain order
Ceiling on Desires. Not being content with what I have	Markers – Putting the cap on before giving it to a child limits how much they get on their hands. Remember to put the cap on! Vibhuti – In the end it all ends as ash Garbage Disposal – Gets rid of the negative/trash Calendar – Wait 7 days and reassess if you need something Cookie Jar – You can only take one cookie out at a time. If not, your hand gets stuck
Expectations	Rubber band – Pull it enough and it breaks
Moving from Ego to Awareness	TiVo – Stop, breathe and come back to it
Fear of not being accepted by others and hence not being honest	Bunch of keys – every key is designed to fit a certain lock. If you try it in the wrong lock it won’t work. Every person is meant to be in a certain place at a certain time. If you don’t belong there, don’t try too hard. Find the right lock! Mirror – look at what you reflect and is that really what you want to show
Distraction/Lack of Focus	Binoculars – need to focus to see clearly Microscope – same Photo of Swami - meditating
Judging from past experiences	Blank slate – start fresh Yearbook Notebook – tear out a page after you’ve written about the past

Other Tools: We reversed the process and tried to associate teachings with everyday objects around us. The objective was to see Swami in everyday objects and to realize that there are tools all around.

Computer	It’s all Maya! The WWW is all virtual. Hit ESC or CTRL-ALT-DEL to come back to reality
Electrical Outlet	The source of electricity cannot be seen, but we believe it’s there. Just like Swami and his omnipresence