DRAMATHERAPY WORKSHOP IN RISHIKESH, INDIA

During the Month of May, I had the pleasure of conducting four Dramatherapy workshops with a group of teenagers and young adults in an Ashram(monastery) in Rishikesh, India. The group was from a home for children, The NAZ Fondation (India) Trust, based in New Delhi. The NAZ Foundation (India) Trust aims to support those who are living with HIV positive.
The participants had come to Rishikesh to stay in the monastery for a week, mainly to attend the series of  Dramatherapy workshops. While they were at the Ashram, other outings and activities were also organized and other volunteers were also invited to contribute to the activities, to make it even more interesting for the participants.

The participants of the workshop  varied between ages 13 to 23 years old.
The topic covered in the workshop were
i) Masks
ii) Mythology and Drama
iii) The Hero’s Journey
iv) Emotions and Healthy Boundaries.

Generally, the participants were very responsive in the workshops. At the beginning, a couple of participants who were reluctant to participate on the first day, mainly due to the of lack of understanding of the English language. One of those two participants was also said to be extremely shy with strangers. However, on the third session, both these participants were fully participating and enjoying the workshop.

There were a lot of laughter and reflection during the workshop. During one of the workshop sessions I had managed to convince the head of the monastery, Swamiji  Chaitanya Abhishek, to help co-facilitate the workshop by telling part of a story from a Hindu Mythology. He is an excellent story teller! Complete with perfect voice intonation,  wonderful facial expressions and body language as he told the story! Both the participants and I were thrilled to have him be a part of the dramatherapy workshop!

I am so glad to have had this opportunity to work with these teens, who despite their extreme life challenge, were very pleasant to work with. I was informed that many of them have been with NAZ since they were babies. I applaud the founder of NAZ and to those who have taken care and  raised them, as they have now become fine young people.

It was a true pleasure to have spent time with them and work with them.

I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to Swami Abhishek Chaitanya and the residing members at his Ashram for their help in organizing the Dramatherapy  workshops and The NAZ Foundation for the opportunity to work with these teenagers and young adults..


These are some  of the feedback of the teenagers after the Dramatherapy workshops, which was printed in the NAZ  report of the participants' experience of their time at Rishikesh:

"Vanitha was so grounded and folksy (informal & unpretentious)  and full of knowledge and peace. Her sessions always ended with lots of positivity. Her drama therapy sessions were very interesting and useful. Kids were made to forget themselves; to perform plays, dance according to emotions, to make stories on their fear, to draw their strengths, to write their emotions and activities in which kids brought their hidden sides out. Kids were taught to deal with their negative emotions and to refill themselves again with positivity."

These are some of the feedback from the teens who participated

‘ I enjoyed these sessions with Didi (sister) ’ 

‘ I loved the Drama therapy ‘ 

‘ I learned a lot in these sessions ’   

 To find out more about NAZ, check out this link.

http://nazindia.org/

***P.S. The pictures I share here is blurred and the names of the participants who have given the feedback above has been omitted here to protect their identity.