FIVE Hours of Daily 'Nurturing the Seed' Focus Sessions – Starting this Ekādaśī!

We began the "Nurturing the Seed" daily focus sessions at the start of this year, and we've completed 155 sessions so far. These sessions have been held at 8 PM India time. For those who couldn't join because the timing was inconvenient, I have great news: instead of a single 30-minute session, I now plan to offer FIVE HOURS of sessions spread throughout the day! This way, there should be a time slot that suits you. (Check out all the times listed below.)

This new program is a trial. If there is no participation in the additional focus sessions during the day, I will consider canceling some or all of them (except for the 8 PM session).

This is format of the program is simple: I begin with a 1-minute timer during which we share our intentions in the chat. After that, I read a devotional quote from one of our ācāryas, start a nature scene with accompanying sounds to play in the background, and set a timer that goes off at various intervals. During these intervals, we focus on whatever pursuit we're trying to cultivate. If you'd like to know more, check out this video I made.

These Nurturing the Seed sessions have been incredibly beneficial for me. After many failed attempts to maintain a regular journaling habit and only partially filling numerous notebooks, I’m proud to say I haven’t missed a single day of writing this year. This program has finally helped me cement this habit.

What practice would you like to nurture daily or on specific days of the week? Here are some ideas:

• Chanting
• Memorizing ślokas
• Reading a book
• Doing art
• Sewing outfits for Ṭhākurajī
• Cleaning your room
• Planning your daily/weekly schedule
• Listening to harikathā
• Working on a project
• Creative writing
• Journaling
• Exercise
• Studying
• Doing ahnik at a fixed time
• Reciting prayers

I'd love to hear what positive habit(s) and practice(s) you'd like to nurture. Feel free to hit reply to this email and let me know.

Below are all the time slots for our focus sessions, along with the Zoom links to join. You can hop in and out of any of the sessions as you like.

If you don't see your time zone below, you can use this time zone calculator. (Note: these are the times as of June. Please keep this in mind if you have daylight saving time changes later on.)

Time Block 1 (30 mins)

Pacific 6:00pm • Central 8:00pm • Eastern 9:00pm • London 2:00am • India 6:30am • Brisbane 11:00am

Time Blocks 2–7 (3 hrs with 30 min intervals)

(Time Block 2)
Pacific 9:00pm • Central 11:00pm • Eastern 12:00am • London 5:00am • India 9:30am • Brisbane 2:00pm

(Time Block 3)
Pacific 9:30pm • Central 11:30pm • Eastern 12:30am • London 5:30am • India 10:00am • Brisbane 2:30pm

(Time Block 4)
Pacific 10:00pm • Central 12:00am • Eastern 1:00am • London 6:00am • India 10:30am • Brisbane 3:00pm

(Time Block 5)
Pacific 10:30pm • Central 12:30am • Eastern 1:30am • London 6:30am • India 11:00am • Brisbane 3:30pm

(Time Block 6)
Pacific 11:00pm • Central 1:00am • Eastern 2:00am • London 7:00am • India 11:30am • Brisbane 4:00pm

(Time Block 7)
Pacific 11:30pm • Central 1:30am • Eastern 2:30am • London 7:30am • India 12:00pm • Brisbane 4:30pm

Time Blocks 8–9 (1 hr with 30 min intervals)

(Time Block 8)
Pacific 4:00am • Central 6:00am • Eastern 7:00am • London 12:00pm • India 4:30pm • Brisbane 9:00pm

(Time Block 9)
Pacific 4:30am • Central 6:30am • Eastern 7:30am • London 12:30pm • India 5:00pm • Brisbane 9:30pm

Time Block 10 (30 mins)

Pacific 7:30am • Central 9:30am • Eastern 10:30am • London 3:30pm • India 8:00pm • Brisbane 12:30am

How to keep up to date with changes in the program

The final time block, 10, listed above is quite fixed. However, the other sessions might be canceled depending on my schedule. For instance, I'll have to cancel Time Blocks 2–7 the day after tomorrow because I'm traveling to Mayapur to pick up a cow for our ashram (I'll share pictures! 🐄✨).

The best way to stay updated on any changes to the program is by subscribing to the Nurturing the Seed Google calendar and joining the WhatsApp group:

(You have to click on the above link from your computer. For some reason, it doesn't work from the phone.)

We also have a Nurturing the Seed community WhatsApp group and Google group where you can set weekly goals/intentions and share your progress toward reaching them. In the Google group, I set my goals for the next two weeks every Ekādaśī. I'll be posting in there tomorrow.

I hope you have a wonderful Pāṇḍava Nirjala Ekādaśī!