Chinmaya Yuvakendra (CHYK) Ann Arbor, under the guidance of Chinmaya Mission Ann Arbor, hosted a CHYK retreat entitled Can You Hear Me Now? from October 30 – November 1, 2015. Discourses and discussions for the 40 participants were uniquely led by : Sharada Kumarji, Vivek Guptaji, and Gina Singhji. This retreat focused on approaching communication and dialogue from an Advaita Vedantic perspective. Additionally, the topics of gender, identity, and allyhood were broached in the discussions and activities to allow the participants to think about these interactive topics in a Vedantic setting.
This retreat was the second in a series of CHYK retreats about gender; the first being the Developing Our Inner Devika retreat held in Washington D.C. in the summer of 2014. The first retreat was developed to allow women in CHYK to discuss gender and identity in a Vedantic setting. This year’s retreat was created to bridge the gap between the genders and hold discussions about ‘becoming better allies’ to develop support within the Indian American/ Hindu community.
This CHYK retreat offered some split-gender activities in the beginning of the retreat to allow for free discussion of gender issues among seekers with similar experiences. There were also discourses from Sharada Kumarji, Vivek Guptaji, and Gina Singhji, multiple discussion and Q&A sessions, and a few recreational activities. Specifically, the participants engaged in an art activity to explore their own identity using their own facial profile and a writing activity that encouraged reflection on the topics covered during the retreat. At the end of the writing activity, each participant shared a short piece they had written with the entire group. Since that weekend was also the holiday Halloween, there was an activity that allowed the participants to dress-up and celebrate Halloween.
Overall, the retreat was very successful. CHYK Ann Arbor is very grateful to the Sharada Kumarji, Vivek Guptaji, and Gina Singhji and to Chinmaya Mission for providing this opportunity to grow and serve.