NBC Health & Fitness Expo, Miami Beach, May 2007

This year, the Florida Collective had an opportunity to give realization at the NBC 6/Telemundo 51 Health & Fitness Expo at the Miami Beach Convention Center on May 19th and 20th. This event was our largest event ever, where almost 900 people received their realization! Yogis from North and South Florida, as well as a yogi from New York joined us. We were around 30 in number, but that still was not enough to accommodate all the seekers. We were giving realization non-stop. Some of us even had to eat lunch around 3 or 4pm, because of the number of seekers inquiring about the meditation. We also had T-shirts made for this event. One lady liked the shirts so much that she wanted to know if she could buy one from us!

It’s always interesting to see where the organizers of these events decide to place our booth. This was our first NBC Expo, and we were situated right in front of one of the stages and adjacent to a food vendor. We were a bit concerned as to how it would work out, being especially close to the stage. But, it always manages to be a success, no matter where we are placed, or what we may think would be the best location for us.


Also, the food vendor next to us was actually giving away free samples of ‘Success Rice’ (that was the name brand). And, as the name suggests, having the food vendor next to us did bring us success. As people were grabbing samples of rice, they automatically turned towards our display board, read it, and realized that they would like to know more about it. The samples of rice were enough to get them sitting down, yet small enough to get them started quickly.

As we became more comfortable with our surroundings, we started grabbing more chairs to accommodate the crowds. We also got some chairs from other vendors who weren’t using them. It was nice to see us extending out to the middle of the walkway. It looked like we were taking over the place! The fact that we were stretching out so much brought us even more people. There were so many seekers interested to know about Sahaja Yoga, that we actually ran out of flyers by the end of the second day! We also got a chance to sing “Jogwa” on stage; this also brought more seekers to our booth.

The music was pretty loud; however, the stage was one of the things that attracted the people, so we got seekers from that aspect. The music also proved that meditating can be simple and easy, and you don’t necessarily need a quiet place in order to feel your inner peace. Many people were amazed that they were able to achieve a sense of peace despite the noise.


We had so many nice stories to share with each other. One story had to do with some of the Miami seekers. As of now, we don’t have a center in Miami, yet a good number of seekers were coming from there and asking about a center closest to them. A few ladies sweetly asked us: “If I start practicing this for some time, I would be willing to find a place in Miami to hold meetings! Can I do that?” I’m sure we will have meetings in Miami soon, as it has been the desire of many yogis and now is the desire of many non-yogis too!

Here are some experiences that a few yogis had during the expo:

“I was amazed at how fresh I felt the whole weekend, despite how busy I was talking to people and giving realization. I had very little sleep the night before, but it didn’t disturb me. At home, if I get such little sleep, even doing a little housework would make me feel so tired. I guess that’s the beauty of doing Mother’s work!”

“During the first afternoon of the fair I got to work on an elderly lady. She was a very cute and dignified looking person. Her eyes were very alert, and she seemed to get into meditation without much effort, despite the many distractions around us. She obviously felt it very well; her Kundalini rose strongly. The next day she returned with her daughter. I recognized the lady from the previous day and went over to her. She greeted me like an old friend, and then asked to be worked on once more.


The first lady I gave realization to on Sunday got it nicely and strongly, a couple of catches washed away relatively easily. She felt it, and said it was just what she had been looking for. I explained to her how I had felt the cool breeze coming out of her fontanel bone area, and how I felt a blockage at her heart at first. She interrupted me and said: ‘Oh, I am not surprised; I had a stroke a couple of years ago.’ I continued telling her that the other blockage I had felt was in the lower abdominal area on the left hand side. Again she interrupted me and said: ‘No wonder, the doctor had found a cyst there, but had decided not to operate as long as it did not bother me!’ I don't usually tell the people coming to get their realization what catches I feel, but with this lady it came up spontaneously, and it seemed to give her a deeper understanding of the amazing potential of Sahaja Yoga.

One family, a husband and wife with a young child, came along. It was easy to convince them to sit down and try it. The lady was hesitant because of the demanding presence of her young child. But the little girl was very cooperative: we gave her a chair right next to her mother; she climbed up on it and just kept watching - for almost five minutes. All three of them got their realization. The child didn't need more than just a check over her head - she was cool!

One man was standing watching with a smile of maybe slight ridicule. He got talked into trying the experience without much explanation beforehand. He sat down, closed his eyes and opened his hands. I worked on him for 5 - 10 minutes. He didn't seem to want to open his eyes at the end. When he did, the expression on his face had changed completely: he looked serene and touched by what he had felt. He asked many questions about Sahaja Yoga and listened attentively. He wanted to know how to connect with this knowledge more permanently.

It was all together a wonderful experience! I met people from Venezuela, Cuba, Argentina, Peru, and Iran and from several states in America.

The last person I got to give realization to at the end of the fair on Sunday was a younger lady. When she came, she was out of breath. She said she was trying for several hours to reach the fair, the stormy weather and other obstacles had kept her away. Our booth was the only one she got to attend. She got her self realization easily and strongly. She relaxed, and said she was grateful for the experience. She said this was all she needed from the fair!”


Jai Shri Mataji