Khalsa Women’s Training Camp in Canada
S.S. Guru Kirn Kaur Khalsa
S.S. Hari Simran Kaur Khalsa
Espanola NM U.S.A.
Ladies Camp in Vancouver, Canada, now in its sixth year, is a unique experience in intercultural exchange. This year, 40 Canadian women, many of them from East Indian origin, joined together to practice the 3HO/Sikh Dharma lifestyle and share the pains and glories of living as spiritual women.
The camp, situated in a rich, deep redwood forest on the beachhead of the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, is replete with campgrounds, bunk rooms, mess hall, indoor and outdoor class spaces, with stunning views of the vast sea. Here we rose each morning for sadhana meditations, and sadhana Gurdwara and then began this camp’s unique daily "mono" program. Everyone attends every class together all day long. After a hearty breakfast, the first class is Bangara Aerobics, a rousing dance taught by a talented and powerful Punjabi dancer. Gatka sword martial arts training follows for a great workout, and then we all move into the height of the day with a deeply meditative Kundalini Yoga class. Lunches are full of sharing in English and Punjabi - you can hardly hear sometimes over the din of voices! In the afternoon, Sat Nam Rasayan healing technique is the central theme, followed by late afternoon walks on the seashore and rest time. After dinner is always Rehiras (evening prayer) and evening Gurdwara.
After that, we keep going with a variety of evening fun: a Healing Fair, Bangara night, and on and on.....
This unusual opportunity for forty women to spend all day together, moving from activity to activity for five days, builds a bond across cultures that cannot be equaled. Free from the social pressures of traditional culture, we blossomed together and dropped old communication blocks. Together, we sang in Punjabi: Maa Jot, Maa Jot, Maa Atma haa(n)! Maa Sunder haa(n), Beant haa(n), Maa haa(n) Anand, Maa haa(n), Maa haa(n)!! (I am the Light of the Soul! I am beautiful, I am bountiful, I am bliss, I AM, I AM!!) We sang this together to the empowering movements of Celestial Communication with Bibi Bhani Kaur’s tape. A Punjabi lady commented: "We don’t say the phrase ‘I AM!!’ in my language, but it’s about time that we did!" In truth, we all experienced the power of self-affirmation at KWTC this year.
We invite women from all around the world to join KWTC Camps this summer. For more information about all Khalsa Women’s Training Camps, call the 3HO Events hotline toll free at 888-346-2420 in the continental U.S. or 505-753-6341 Ext. 121; email is [email protected].