We were in Wales this weekend at one of the World United Colleges (Atlantic College) doing Sahaja Yoga Meditation workshops, participating in the interfaith conference and performing music as the last act of a big entertainment night on Saturday. It was like a mini-world youth congress.

The weekend was really amazing. The school is located on the south coast of Wales about an hour from Cardiff. We arrived thursday evening from London and were hosted adjoining students dorms. Its august and the time of year when the older students are engaged only in their services to the community - some such as life boats, mountain rescue, sea rescue, the farm and more. We arrived to take part in the interfaith conference along with representatives from every other faith from around the world. Workshops were being conducted all weekend long for the students to become exposed to and ours was for Sahaja Yoga meditation. There were quite a few of us who had arrived from the age of 17 to 25. Our main challenge we had been working towards was in performing our diverse cultural music as the last act on Saturday night and we had been working hard.

The meditation sessions went extremely well. The students had deep experiences and the same meditation was on offer to them by Jan and Asbjorn who were dorm parents throughout the year. Many students were known to attend especially during exam periods.

I also particularly enjoyed the opening conference where I was introduced to ideas of religions and beliefs coming from both orthodoxy and orthopraxis where the first is extremely concerned with the original traditions and sometimes rituals of a belief and the second is more concerned with the practice of belief than traditions or rituals. I am no expert, but this differentiation was something new to me. Sahaja Yoga meditation is definitely based in the actual practice, although it is informed by morals and qualities that are true to ones self. The experience and practice is where the benefits exist rather than any formal knowledge.

I also had some strong experiences meeting with a woman who represented interfaith in the Welsh General Assembly (government) who then brought her son the next morning. Saturday evening was amazing with the students performing first and then representative speakers doing music, drama, dance and much more (Baha'i, Christian, Jain, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and many more). We came on with a guitar, dholak (drum), harmonium, flute and our voices filling the old hall inside the main Castle structure of the school. Our music was in Sanskrit, English, Hindi, Marathi and Urdu and before we new it everyone was up dancing and vibing together. The funniest part was when Fabian (UK), Neelam (Poland) and Sarah (Belgium) got up on the stage and started doing Bhangra Indian moves which everyone picked up straight away. It was really cool and lots of fun.

So thats the main gist. I really enjoyed it and would love to come see more of Wales and do events like this. All the time we're asked for CDs of our music or if we can be booked for further performances, but we're simply good friends from around the world who get together and practice good live music and meditate together.


What can I say about the school?
The school reminds me in many ways of school in Dharmshala and Hogwarts. The Castle is beautiful, the coastline, the atmosphere. Its a sheltered atmosphere. The management and staff are extremely capable. It has so much to give, and yet its still western. The kids are about 17-18 .. they are close bunch (just like in Dharmshala, India) .. although they are selected from around the world you can recognize that a lot of them come from very well off western families.

The IB board is serious, and you can tell they have to work hard at it. the school provides a lot of additional curriculum which I feel is really good for them (such as the interfaith conference that we went to and religious studies). I'll get to community service a little later. As I said the kids are a close bunch. There are 300 students and they make very close friends, which in our world is a really good thing that you'll need when you leave school and enter the world outside. If you go to Atlantic College you can pretty much get scholarship based entry to any of the top Universities in the US, UK and elsewhere. the reason is there is a lot available to them, especially one guy (some billionaire) who has such a scholarship fund setup for all of them. The friends and connections made at this age will go far in the future as we integrate with society at all levels.

So thats all looking a little to the future, what about the actual experience of Atlantic College.
There are dorm environments, you share rooms, you have responsibilities, you have a real community atmosphere with the dorm parents (like Asbjorn and Janet). The curriculum is full, but the opportunities are top class in that you have sailing, life guards, mountain climbing, first aid, farm duties and much more I don't know of. What I do know is that all of these count as community services that the School provides to the local region, so for example the life-saving is an actual responsibility taken on by the kids 365 days of the year for the local coast-line, no matter the weather. There is also a well established theater and arts school, with access to film authoring, music equipment, sound, lights, theater. Like Dharmshala the kids are pretty clued up as to how the school performs .. they have an opinion that the principle is very elitest. It was good to see that at least the kids I was talking to were speaking down of that, not wanting the school to necessarily be pushed along that track. They performed before us as well .. some real talent.

Above all, their really nice kids, and real potential for good connections and good friends.
Yet still it reminds me of what young kids have to go through .. participating on a full on course of academia, trying to figure out the world a bit, making friends, emotional stuff, some frustrations, getting through it (on top I hope) .. but sometimes lacking in real depth. And even so .. the student body is diverse. I was talking to western european kids, but they have students from everyone. When I sat down with muslim kids from Malaysia and Iran .. I came up against some walls, but then I was trying to learn about some religious and God related impressions .. what was going on with them. Yes .. religion is a big part of the school .. interfaith and respect for everyone. I'm not sure they felt I could understand or relate to their depth and connection they felt with God. They were surprised I even believed in God to begin with. I am amazed that God can be so shunned in western modernized nations, and where the connection is so otherwise entirely devotional towards God. Having lived in India for many years, it is definitely something so deep and very special.

I hope that all young children can get opportunities in schools like this one – to be given the chance to exceed in everything. Dharmshala, at least when I was there made that much possible. When I came back it was sad to see how so many people just didn't try for the best. they were satisfied to fall by the way side .. come on .. we need to get in there. We need young people who are strong, who are encouraged at every turn, supported, and given the chance for everything.