Brahmachari Gautam Chaitanya facilitated an Adelaide Ladies Retreat on 7 March 2009 (9am - 5pm) at The Monastery, Glen Osmond. Twenty ladies attended the program. The atmosphere was calm and peaceful, which helped us focus on the important issue of “Work Life Balance “.

The day started with prayers and short meditation followed by an insightful talk by Br. Gautamji on how balancing life is about balancing oneself. He initially provided a clear and succinct description of how life is a balancing act between the subjects (Vasanas – Body, Mind and Soul) and the objects (Emotions and Thoughts). He described how life is made up of a series of events and experiences. Events can be common, but each person’s experience of the event is different. He explained that life is a balancing act of what one “wants to do” and what one “has to do” and that we need to change our perception so that what we “have to do” is what we “want to do”. To change our perception, we need to be reminded that what we do is a consequence of the choices that we have made in the past and that these choices are in line with our ultimate goal/purpose in life. If we forget the ultimate purpose, the choices we make become meaningless. Therefore we need to understand that what we do today is what we have chosen to do. Once this is understood, we achieve a sense of empowerment. We also need to understand the there are three levels of choices –

1. What actions do we want to do and at what time?
2. How much do we want to do?
3. What is our attitude towards the actions?

Br. Gautamji emphasised that we must learn to introduce regular “downtime” into our everyday lives. In this “downtime”, we must choose not to get involved in the family, work or social activities, and instead use this time for introspection or to study scriptures/literature (Sadhana – time for retrospection). We must also take time to vent out our emotions. Some ways to do this is to maintain a journal, create a hobby or indulge in other recreational activities.

Br. Gautamji’s talk was followed by a group discussion on what we think our role in the family is, what duties come with these roles and how these duties benefit/disadvantage others. After a mid-morning break, we were introduced to a beautiful dance form called Dandiya by Sonali Patil. This form of dance originates in Gujarat and is usually performed every night of the Navratri festival. It involves dancing in circles, in clockwise or anticlockwise direction, and rhythmical striking of decorated sticks. The dancers strike the sticks with their partners to the rhythm of the music. All participants got a chance to try out this dance. Br Gautamji then suggested that each of us individually spend the next hour on reflecting on a set of questions in relation to things in life that we value the most, reasons that we go to work, hobbies/activities that we would love to pursue and consider what steps we are going to take to pursue these.

After lunch, Br Gautamji talked about the different roles of women in today’s world and how the roles of men and women are overlapping, and gave us tips on how to deal with this using effective communication. He discussed the challenging role of a mother and gave us tips on how to communicate with children in a favourable way. In his discussions, Br Gautamji used numerous examples relevant to modern life that enabled us to easily relate to situations in our own lives. The day ended with a relaxing but invigorating yoga session followed by concluding prayers and Arati.