While words like 'work', 'growth', 'productivity' etc. have become a part of the universal dialect, the space that they emerge from remains largely uncharted. The inner life of a human being is often stamped as an 'abstract' or ‘spiritual’ pursuit, which makes it less accessible to a large number of people.

All outer actions of an individual can be traced back to a certain thought, that emerged from a certain emotion, that was held in a certain state of mind. These usually remain a part of one’s subconscious mind unless there is an intentional effort to understand their impact on one’s life through different sense making processes within us. This deep exploration opens a window between one’s inner and outer world that paves way for an undivided life, and consequently, an undivided world.

We, at Youth Alliance, launched The Ecology Self in May 2020 as an online self immersion program to respond to the growing need of exploring our inner self as the outer world came to a standstill in the wake of a global pandemic.

During the program we engage with ourselves through,

• Reflecting on experiences and phases of life that have shaped us
• Acknowledging and holding space for the spectrum of our emotions
• Aiming to understand ourselves through curiosity rather than judgement
• Understanding relationships of self with systems like- family, community, environment, etc.
• Practising learning in the company of peers
• Envisioning and dreaming of the lives we hope to lead

Journey so far
The first two editions that took place in June and October 2020, respectively happened as open community programs inviting about 40 participants from across the country to have a deep virtual experience over a span of 3 weeks. The third and fourth editions, however, happened in May and November 2021 in collaboration with Drishti Human Resource Centre, an organisation that supports the journeys of change makers across the country. Together, we wanted to create a self awareness program for a group of adolescents and young adults from rural areas of Maharashtra and Gujarat.

With Hindi as the primary medium of engagement, these editions became a confluence of Youth Alliance with several grassroot organizations supported by Drishti Human Resource Centre like Maher, Govardhan Eco Village, Helpers of the Handicapped, Malvi Education and Charitable Trust and Sanskriti Samvardhan Mandal who have been working with these adolescents.
You can know more about each edition in detail in the program reports below.

Connect with us
Moving forward, we would like to offer The Ecology of Self to adolescents and young people across the country as a collaborative experience with other organisations. Connect with us if you know of or are associated with organisations working with adolescents and young people and wish to cultivate a deep experience which :

Read a reflection written in Hindi by our team member, Shashank - स्व और समाज निर्माण का कार्य

He writes, "प्रेम संघ की नींव है। हमारे लिए दूसरे को पूर्ण रूप से सुन पाना इसलिए कठिन होता है - क्यूँकि हमें खुद पर आत्म-विश्वास नहीं होता। हमें डर होता है, कि दूसरे के विचारो को जगह देते देते कहीं हमारे विचारों के लिए जगह ना बची तो? हम दूसरे को तो द्रष्टा भाव प्रदान करें, पर कहीं हम इस प्रयास में - ग़ायब ना हो जाएँ।"

Participant Testimonials