Meeting Notes

link to recording Passcode: f$9$d0^T

In this meeting we focused mostly on the registration form and the routes. We had some really good feedback and now the form is almost completed! Here’s the link to the registration form.

Besides the registration form we discussed:

• Once we have finalized the registration form, we will send it out using various communication channels to the collectives! We are working on writing a nice invitation at the moment and making a video for the tour!
• We can most likely do program in England if we arrive a few days before Shri Adi Shakti Puja! This is being discussed at the moment.
• Bulgarian and Danish yogis are very keen to join the tour! For Bulgarians, They will speak with Romanian Yogis to see what is possible. If things work out, they can join the Czech-Austria route at Hungary around 17th of July! As for Denmark, There most likely can be a route starting in Denmark that goes to Hamburg and then join the rest of the Belgium-Switzerland route. These new additions are currently work-in-progress.

In this meeting we focused on the route that starts in Finland and ends in Germany. Besides the logistics and details of programs, accommodation, etc. we decided that we will add one extra day to Poland and push Berlin one day later. This change added an extra day to the route.

We also will look for car rentals in Poland since it can be rather cheap and Yogis have previously had good experience with these car rentals.

The main goal of this meeting was to better align on how we want to approach the seekers. The conclusion was:

• Possibly the most important thing when it comes to marketing is to create events and situations that have good vibrations! Sahaj events are not normal events and vibrations that Yogis bring really do play a big part in attracting the seekers!
• We will try to plan as many different types of programs as possible. Seekers come from all walks of life. Some might be attracted to art and music, some might be attracted to meditation etc. We will try our best to do a variety of programs to capture as many seekers as possible.
• Since we will have many different types of programs, we will also have many different types of advertising. Depending on the region and the program type. We should still try and create materials for seekers that express our message of unification through spirituality. We can see if we can use these materials for advertising, for followup or during programs.

link to recording Passcode: ikNy7z^g

This was a big meeting with almost all representatives there! We had the single goal of clarifying the routes and dates. I dare say we managed!

The result of discussions is reflected in the routes page.

Besides the routes, some general questions came up which I’ll try to briefly explain here:

• Regarding the length of the tour, I personally prefer 3 weeks however sometimes that is not possible and dates spill over a bit. For many working professionals it is difficult to take 3 weeks of leave. Besides, longer tours tend to be more expensive and harder to manage. To balance things out a bit, we usually give people the option to join a part of the tour. In practice, this can be executed a few different ways. For example, you could allow yogis to join half the tour and pay half the amount. Or you could allow them to come at least for a week, meaning that Yogis can decide when and where to join. You could even put a daily price for the tour and allow Yogis to come for just a few days! The more flexibility we give to Yogis, the more Yogis can join, but it makes the organizing work harder. Also having people constantly rotating doesn’t help with creating a group dynamic. We have to consider all of these things and come up with a solution that works for this project.
• Regarding transport, we will mostly rely on cars. Some touring Yogis will bring their own car to the tour, sometimes we can get cars from local Yogis and of course sometimes we have to rent cars. We will try to use Yogis’ cars as much as possible to avoid dealing with car rental companies. But realistically we will most likely end up renting a few cars. We can also use public transport to fill the gaps. For example, if 2 or 3 people don’t have a seat for just a day, they can potentially take a train or a bus to the next city.
• Regarding the number of attendees, I personally would cap it at max 30 people. This means that realistically at any given time, there will be around 20 to 30 touring Yogis. If we see that a route is expensive or there is just not enough programs to require 30 people, we could consider reducing the limit. We could also go the other way and increase the limit but have to keep in mind that all touring Yogis need something meaningful to do. Also more people sometimes (but not always) makes the tour more expensive.
• Regarding the programs, touring Yogis can usually do any type of program. It is up to the local Yogis to see what program makes the most sense for them. For example, in your city, do you want to do a music program? A good old normal public program? Realization in the park? Or school? Etc. The end goal is to give realization and if possible, talk about Sahaja Yoga and point seekers to the local programs and local Yogis. Which is also why it’s important to do the tour in areas where follow-up programs are possible. As discussed in the marketing meeting, we will not create dedicated social media outlets and websites for the seekers. We will use whatever resources that local Yogis have and if needed, we will help them build up their local resources. We will try to make some content and re-use as much as possible but in the end, the advertising materials must make sense for the local programs. We will NOT have a centralized marketing approach simply because the project is too big! The approach of having the same marketing content for the whole tour works when there is a central theme for the seekers (i.e. inner peace, yoga, being in the moment etc.). For this project, coming up with a single theme is neither practical nor necessary.

link to recording Passcode: .Phzezc8

This was the first meeting where we talked specifically about marketing the tour - both to yogis and seekers.

The most important topic that got discussed was how to approach the seekers. Should we have a unified front for the seekers under the same banner or not? Considering that we are passing through many countries and can potentially have many types of programs (from normal public programs to music programs, to school programs etc.), we decided that it makes the most sense to use the existing sahaj resources of each collective instead of creating new outlets. What this means is that we will not create social media accounts or websites for seekers to promote the tour and programs. Instead, we will use the existing websites and social media platforms that local yogis have and promote the programs via those. This has the immediate benefit of bringing traffic to existing Sahaj portals. Also less effort for us and efforts will not be wasted after the tour is finished! We will still have to create various online and print advertising materials so nothing changes there… These materials have to be made in a way that makes sense for the region and type of program. If we can re-use a lot of designs and wordings, great! If not, we have to do something a bit more customized.

• Durga will try make a video for the tour so that we can show in Diwali Puja weekend!
• Padmini will contact Cabella regarding our stay. It is likely that touring Yogis will stay a few days after Sahasrara Puja in Cabella and come a a few days before Guru Puja. So we need to ask permission for this.
• I will talk to UK people about the same topic… Coming earlier to Blossoms farm and leaving a few days after Shri Adi Shakti Puja.
• A few updates to be done on the yogis website to make the participating countries more visible/explicit
• Padmini can look into putting together the first drafts of a registration form
• Durga can support with online advertising of the programs

link to recording Passcode: k?0eJCZ6

This was the first meeting where we went a bit deeper into logistics of Portugal specifically.

• We mostly focused on Lisbon and areas were we can do programs. There are few leads to follow but generally speaking, we need to look into venues and parks or open spaces where we can do program. Jardim da Estrela was a park candidate and nearby Casa do Jardim da Estrela could potentially be rented for a program
• Programs in parks and open spaces are good because we don’t need to pay much (or at all). In venues, we have to pay for venue and advertisement but we do have people for longer and can work on them more. Look for smaller venues! Maybe up to 50 people. Open space programs and street realization can also be used for promoting the programs in the halls. It is perfectly fine to, for example, do a program in a park on a Sunday morning and Sunday evening go to hall and do another small program.
• Other possibilities for doing programs are work places (meditation for stress reduction for example), schools, universities, etc. Realistically speaking, only local yogis can look into these and see if any opportunities come up
• As for accommodation, we do have to book something in Lisbon and/or Porto. Things would be simpler if we could somehow make a base camp between the two big cities in Leiria for example. But it seems just a bit too far…
• It seems like Sahaja Yoga Portugal does not have a website … If the local yogis think this is useful, we could make one and hand it over to locals! We should also try to translate https://wemeditate.com/ to Portuguese for seekers!

This was the first meeting after announcing the tour in Cabella! So there were many updates.

• The date for Sahasrara Puja is going to be 1st, 2nd and 3rd of May which means that we will most likely start on 6th of May from Cabella.
• Since Guru Purnima next year is on 26/07, most likely Guru Puja will be before that and will be the end of the tour.
• The presentation of the tour in Cabella was well received however it would’ve been nicer to have more time. Generally speaking we need to ramp up our communications with the local Yogis.
• As part of the communication with Yogis, we need to make this yogi’s website a bit more colorful and nicer to look at.
• We had lots of discussions with the Portugal Yogis about programs, transport, and general practical matters. So it’s safe to say that Portugal is progressing well! With the starting of the tour set, we know that we will be in Lisbon around 27th of May. The first leg of the tour will conclude in Lisbon by the end of May. Second leg of the tour will start in Lisbon from beginning of June and for approximately a week we will do programs in Portugal. This highly depends on how many places we can visit there and how many programs we can arrange. So there is a chance that we will stay longer or shorter. We have now a dedicated WhatsApp group for Portugal so that others are not spammed. Lastly, it is possible to collaborate with Sopori in Lisbon and maybe even Madrid! We are looking in this opportunity.
• We will have a single registration form and there Yogis can choose which route they want to join.
• In terms of Yogis joining the tour, we should consider the amount flexibility that want to give to Yogis and how we want to communicate this. We could allow people to join and leave the tour on a daily basis but this makes organizing very difficult. Perhaps setting 2 weeks as the minimum duration of joining the tour makes sense. But we should communicate this clearly and mention that we can be flexible. We should pay attention to this in the registration form.
• We should try our best to keep out of dramas and politics of local collectives. We should keep in mind that we are just a band of Yogis going form place to place, giving realization, enjoying our brothers and sisters and going deeper together!
• As things are now, it is most important to bring local collectives on board and start fixing the routes.

This was not a single meeting but in fact many meetings that took place over a few days…

• The routes are slowly taking shape and becoming more clear!
  • For the first half of the tour, we will go from Sahasrara Puja to Shri Adi Shakti Puja via France, Spain, Portugal, and Andorra. So nothing new here.
  • For the second half, we will most likely have multiple serial and parallel routes. One route will go from England to Frankfurt, then continue from Frankfurt to Cabella for Guru Puja. In parallel, possibly there will be routes from Finland or Estonia that will meet either in Cabella or Frankfurt.
  • The tour will start in Cabella with Sahasrara Puja and end in Cabella with Guru Puja!
• Most Yogis won’t be able to join the whole tour so we need to provide the flexiblity to the Yogis so that they can join/leave when it is possible for them. This makes the planning and logistics a little more complicated but it is fairly common in all Sahaj tour that I’ve been involved in.
• In Germany, we can possibly use Marburg (near Frakfurt) as a “base” and stay there a few days. From there we can do day trips to nearby cities for programs. This makes it more reasonable to have Frakfurt/Marburg as a breakpoint.
• In Andorra, around the time that the tour will come, there is going to be a multi cultural festival which we can use! To take advantage of this we need to prepare some materials for seekers and put in an application. Local Yogis can help us here.
• Some progress has been made on the tour’s presentation for Cabella
• As for the seeker-facing theme of the tour, we could potentially re-use the “in the moment” theme. We used that theme for Austria tours in the past years and the message seems to be fairly relevant to people. As a starting point, we can revive the old tour’s website and get feedback from the Yogis.
• The Spanish Yogis also seem to be very keen for the tour and hopefully will soon get in touch directly!
• Mila will talk to the Italian Yogis regarding the start of the tour (since we will most likely have a stop in Italy)
• Eero can talk to Finnish and Estonian Yogis about a Nordic/Baltic route
• We still need to talk to French Yogis I think…

Due to my amazing internet, I missed parts of the meeting…

• This time had a slightly more diverse group of yogis in the call!
• We started by going through the first route (Milan to Lisbon) and talked about possible places where we can visit in Spain and south of France.
• We moved on to various practical aspects such as car rental, financial support etc. We didn’t go deep into these topics and mostly just skimmed through them.
• This time we spent a bit more time on the post Adi Shakti routes. It was clear that this part still needs more work and attention! Potentially we will have multiple parallel routes and end with Guru Puja.
• One of the first milestones will be presenting the tour to Shri Mataji and the collective. This could be done at the Navaratri Puja in Cabella. For this we need some preparation:
  • A decent idea of routes and dates
  • Local yogis should to some extent be on-board with the project
  • Have at least a presentation
  • A website with possibly a registration form
• In the coming days we can create work groups that focus on different aspects of the tour. For example, design/marketing/presentation, routes etc. One idea was to create separate groups for pre and post Shri Adi Shakti Puja routes so that Yogis can focus on their specific region. Figuring out the post Shri Adi Shakti Puja route is probably one of the most important things that we need to do in the next 2 weeks.

• We started the meeting by going through a round of introductions. Most yogis were from Portugal so we decided to see what the tour means for them.
• We got a bit of a history of Sahaja Yoga in Portugal and what the current situation is. Takeaways are:
  • Sahaja Yoga has been around in Portugal since 1980.
  • It is difficult to establish a collective because Yogis often leave Portugal after some time.
  • Tourists can get realization which is nice but they don’t stay in the country either.
  • Lisbon, Leiria and Porto are places were we can do program.
  • It gets really hot in summer and to get locals, it’s best to have a tour in May or early June.
• Lisbon to Porto is traveling north and can nicely lead to visiting northern cities in Spain and later going to France and England but makes it hard to go to places like Madrid and Barcelona. To resolve this and make transport simpler, the idea came up to hire a bus from Milan and drive from Italy to Lisbon via southern France and central Spain. And then from Lisbon up north and eventually to England for Shri Adi Shakti Puja. Since there will be around 6 weeks between the two Pujas, we can nicely break into two legs of the tour. One leg from Milan to Lisbon and another from Lisbon to London. Lisbon can be the breakpoint where Yogis can rest and recover and leave/join the tour.
• For the plan to work, we need the cooperation of Spanish yogis who were not present on the call however we did manage to contact them and hopefully will be able to talk to them soon.
• With the bus in England, we will have 4-5 weeks until the next Puja in Cabella (Guru Puja) and so can drive down in Europe and continue the tour. This section was more hazy and will need more work to get clearer.
• After Guru Puja in Cabella, there was another idea to go up from Cabella to Helsinki and end the tour there. I feel like this also needs more polishing.