With overflowing joy in our hearts, the Dallas/Fort Worth collective is pleased to announce the opening of a permanent Sahaja Yoga center on April 23, 2005. After almost ten years of holding public programs in public libraries, recreation centers, community colleges, universities and corporations - by Shri Mataji's Grace we now have a place we can call our own.
The center is located in a shopping plaza in Carrollton, a suburb that is centrally located in the metroplex. It is easily accessible being less than a mile away from one of the main highways in DFW, and is also within 20-25 minutes driving distance from most local yogis. It is comprised of a large hall, an office room, a breakroom/kitchen, as well as an attached restroom - totaling approximately 1500 sqft. The main hall can accomodate about 100 people sitting on the floor, or a smaller number sitting on chairs.
 The way everything worked out was a miracle from beginning till end, guided by the loving hand of the Divine. With help and guidance from Los Angeles, this place was the first one we found on the web. Pictures we subsequently took on location showed vibrations in that suite even before we decided to take it. We were able to find very good deals on everything we needed, starting with the 65" TV that miraculously fit through the door. One of the Sahaja Yogis in our collective generously donated a large set of beautiful chairs that we could use for our programs. And above all the collective enthusiasm, generous contributions and hard work of everyone in our growing collective of 38 yogis made this dream we had in our hearts for two years come true, by the compassionate blessings of our Divine Mother.
Benefitting from the previous, groundbreaking experience of the LA center and all the advice and support we received from the LA yogis and VND officers, to whom we are eternally grateful, we were able to speed up the whole process considerably and cut down the acquiring and setup to a third of the duration. And thus, after putting paint brushes and buckets, ladders and vacuum cleaners to rest, the grand opening day finally arrived.
The Friday night before, we had a small puja to inaugurate the place within our collective and ask for Shri Mataji's blessings. On the following Saturday morning, approximately 30 seekers arrived to fill the chairs and spaces on the floor, and receive the greatest gift of all. After the program, joyful hearts and smiling faces of seekers and yogis mixed as we worked on the new people, had refreshments and chatted away.
 The second opening program followed on Thursday, April 28, for the Spanish speaking community, which was attended by 15 very eager seekers. Our Spanish speaking Yoginis were helped to work on the new people by several English speaking Yogis armed with nothing but smiles, vibrations, and hidden joy in their hearts. Soon, to accomodate the inflow of new people, our programs will be divided between rotating beginners, intermediate and advanced (Yogis) meetings, as we plan to have all collective activities, including pujas, at the center. We also plan to start a program for teenagers, as we already have a good number of teenagers coming to the programs who have started to interact well with our local teenage Yogis.
There are still several projects to be done, such as a "channel letters" sign on our front, as required by our landlord (a requirement we will happily comply with, to help us achieve greater visibility), or figuring out how to best take advantage of a nearby nature park, complete with a lake and what looks like a "footsoak deck", which might be suitable for our regional seminars previously held in state parks. But as we are still "taking it in" and becoming used to this new blessing given to us by the Divine, we are continuing to realize how many things work out spontaneously, orchestrated by a Loving Hand.
 We have also received tremendous encouragement from other centers in the country who gave us the feeling that this new blessing of having a permanent center is something that is "in the air", in the collective desire and attention, perhaps the tip of a wave that will sweep, on a mass scale, many of our yet-unknown brothers and sisters into the ocean of Amrut flowing from Shri Mataji's Lotus Feet. We can only thank Her for Her infinite blessings, and we can only hope and pray to be good instruments who will use in the best way this great opportunity given to us by Her Divine Grace.
Jai Shri Mataji !
The DFW collective
Related Links:
Sahaja Yoga in DFW
Sahaja Yoga in Austin |
