Stress Management at Locuz Networks, Hyderabad

Another event in Hyderabad, the popular Stress Management workshop. Stress appears to be pervasive and I am grateful to the opportunity to offer ways and means of dealing with stress. The Telangana Bandh (strike) was not very helpful. I do wish those who want their goals to be known more widely would find other ways to express them than disrupting public transportation system, schooling and commerce, causing an enormous amount of hardship to many people. I feel irritated and sad as my need for respecting the choice of other people and their convenience is not met.
Based on Swaitha’s inputs, I agreed to do a two hour workshop. My experience is that two hours is inadequate and I feel disappointed that I could not convey all that I would have liked to. I am celebrating the event, but also mourn the shortage of time.
I am grateful to Mr. Uttam Majumdar and Ms. Sawitha for the opportunity to share stress management with a group who were keen on managing  stress in their lives. It was also wonderful to meet the top management team consisting of Mr. Vijay and Mr. Durga part from Mr. Uttam to discuss ICITI project

Stress Management Workshop at NIC, Hyderabad

This event has many, many first-ever: Hyderabad, Government Organization, Video conference with many other locations, my niece, her husband and their son present –spanning three generations of my family!
I enjoyed every bit of it. The imposing building, the well laid out interiors, the pleasant ambiance and some great infrastructure to link the 24 districts of Andhra Pradesh using video conference. The workshop, in my experience, went very well and I am celebrating the wonderful energy I sensed in the participants not only in Hyderabad, but also those linked via video conference. It is a very delightful experience to conduct a guided mediation over video conference! The questions were very, very interesting and challenging. I am grateful to Dr. Prakasa Rao for making this event happen and Sri BV Sarma, DDG & SIO for the opportunity and all those present for their participation. I am excited about the request for a full day workshop and I keenly look forward to more such opportunities.

Program at Sri Aurobindo Relics Center, Chennai

This event was made possible by Syamala, my Auroville Akka (elder sister). In 1969, she was chosen by the Mother to work at Auroville. One of her current projects is Arulvazhi Education Center. This is the centenary year of Sri Aurobindo’s arrival in Puducherry. To celebrate the centenary year, Syamala started an initiative, under the aegis of Arulvazhi, to reach out to places in Tamil Nadu and offer some events. I fondly think of this as ‘Taking Auroville outside Auroville’.

We stopped on the way at Chengalpat, a quaint town about 60 km short of Chennai. You turn off the highway at a beautiful lake and go on a road with a reserved forest on your right to get to the town. We went to the residence of Mr. Prabhakararao, who gives a lot of his time and energy to run the Sri Aurobindo Center in Chengalpattu. They call their home ‘The Mother’s Home’. I enjoyed the hospitality and the tasty, nutritious lunch. I felt a lot of love and affection from both Mr and Mrs Rao and they invited me to facilitate a Deep Relaxation and Meditation workshop at Chengalpattu. We need to work out the date and venue. He told that he expects more than 40 people to participate. However, when I communicated my need to have people who can follow spoken English, the estimate came down to 15!


We reached the Center around 4pm on 10th October and I felt very happy to meet Bhavatarini Amma again. I had the fortune of facilitating a two day Well Being workshop at a School in Ginge, where Ms. Uma (Amma’s daughter) is the Principal. When I recall that three generations of Amma’s family participated in that event, I relive my exultance and inspiration! That evening, in that special space of the Center, I enjoyed offering a meditation session for Amma and her daughter, daughter-in-law and grandchildren.


The topic of the event was Stress Management. It was the first time that I was doing a workshop in a Center like this and for a gathering of devotees. It was a unique opportunity for my own Personal Growth (I would like to post another blog on this rather than squeezing it in here). I have been following a strategy to move away from any interaction where translation is needed and leave it inconclusive. When this happened again in this event, I made a choice to create value for all on the point raised (as translated to me). I am not happy with the result. However, I am celebrating my own victory over my conditioning and actually trying out an unfamiliar and riskier option. I need clarity on this for myself.


Pandy, one of the participants, came all the way from Bangalore to attend this event traveling by overnight bus both ways. I felt very enchanted as my need for inspiration has been met. In the break, he connected with me and recalled that he attended my Landmark seminar series in 2000! I am grateful for this reconnection and actually experiencing ‘It is a small world’.

A delightful experience at IIIT, Bangalore

As far as I can recall, the last time I was at IIITB was in 2006 when Prof. Das asked me give a talk on ‘Voice over Wireless’ in a Conference on Wireless Technologies. On 1st October 2009, I was again in this beautiful campus to conduct a workshop on “Stress Management’. It was a pleasure meeting old friends like Prof. Sadagopan and Mr. Murugan and making new friends like Prof. Chandrashekar. In Prof. Sadagopan’s room, I met Dr. (Raja) KRV Subramanian, who incubated Radix Learning in IIITB. I was very pleasantly surprised when Raja said ‘you were my Seminar Leader in Landmark’ and went on to talk about how the seminar made a difference in his life. I cherish the moment as I experienced a deep sense of fulfillment and satisfaction. Reconnecting with Raja was an unexpected bonus!
The workshop began with an introduction by Prof. Sadagopan. I was very touched by the way he introduced me, in his inimitable, informal style. I felt at home and the students started listening to me with interest right from the word ‘go’. When I recall the keen participation and response of the students, I feel delighted as my need to share and make a difference was more than met! In my experience, this was one of the best ever events I facilitated and I am grateful to the students of IIIT for their active listening and participation. I look forward to more such opportunities!
I have no doubts that I found the purpose of my life. For, I felt what Deepak Chopra must have meant when he said “Everyone has a purpose in life…. a unique gift or special talent to give to others. And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of our own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals.”