Sustainable Health Management

This has become one of my favourite workshops as it combines two of my passions.  Sustainable in the context of eco-friendliness, financial aspects and the independence from a lot of pre-requisites are normally quite well understood by when we ask “What is sustainable health management?”. While it is all this, I wish to stress a couple other dimensions
1.    Sustainable also means that the practitioner finds it simple and easy to do and sustain the practice; and sustain it with joy, ease and grace.
2.    Assuming that you are in good health at age X, how do you sustain the same level of health, energy and jest for life at the age of X+10, X+20 ... years. In other words, how do you arrest or even reverse the aging process?

This was a half day session opportunity given to me by Dr. Rajagopal and Tineke in the famous 5 day residential workshop” Sustainable Development”. Dr. Rajagopal is the doyen of environmental science education and is associated with this program for a long time.  I was fortunate to be introduced to him by my good friend (late) Bhavana three years ago and a friendship has sprung between us, thanks to his warmth and affection. I got to  know Tineke  better and am amazed at the many things she participates and contributes in.
The first thing that comes to me whenever ‘short workshops’ opportunities arise is “How can compress this topic into such a short time?” But, slowly the challenge and the true meaning of opportunity prevail over this conditioned response.  My interpretation of opportunity is “ I am dealt a set of cards in a game..  I now have an opportunity to play the game, play it with joy and play it well”.
And, that’s what it turned out to be – a game that all of us enjoyed together – a win-win game. I acknowledge the group for their openness and spontaneous participation. Such participation stoked up my enthusiasm and we did have a great workshop (in my opinion). One of the participants in last year’s workshop is now an Aurovilian. I would be delighted to see the participants again and again as Aurovilians or guests or vistors.....
BTW, I left out point 2 mentioned above from the scope of the workshop.
I forgot the camera yet another time. The pictures here are taken by Ajita and I am grateful to her for sharing them.
To know a bit more about Auroville and a lot more about Sustainable Future, please see Ajita's blog

http://the-seeing-eye.blogspot.com/2011/09/sustainable-living.html

Stress Management Workshop at IIITB

This was one of the happiest events in my memory. Back to back workshops in the top two technical institutions in Bangalore (if not the whole of India). As I said earlier, workshops like this are not common in technical institutions. The technical institutions focus a lot more on (modern) science and technology with lots of equations. For me this event coming immediately after the workshop at IISC is a double celebration!
The vent was a challenge for me to compress the various things I wanted to share into the available time.  It was an exciting challenge as such events are trial balloons for my growth as well as in expanding the horizons of this work. I prepared well and what an event it turned out to be!

I really like the class rooms in IIITB. Excellent infrastructure.  I really like to work with young students as well and I was delighted with the participation and questions. I was delighted with the way they were pulling the workshop towards them. They were so engrossed and interested that most of them stayed back even after a concert started. I was particularly happy with the interactions, the interest and inquisitiveness.
I almost forgot to take pictures and just managed two towards the end of the workshop. One of the pictures is not very good but I like to share it as it gives the right-side view of the participants.
I certainly feel confident about compression after this event. But more important is how the students feel. I do hope that you would share in this blog.

Happiness Workshop: MILE Lab, IISc

Technical institutions in India are generally focused on technology. There may be some exceptions and even extraordinary oases that focus on all round development of students and staff. The Medical Intelligence and Language Engineering (MILE) Lab is such an oasis. The mission of the lab is “Create extraordinary technical leaders committed to excellence and contribution beyond technology”. http://mile.ee.iisc.ernet.in/mile/OurMotto.html
 The man behind this mission is Prof. AG Ramakrishna. I have the pleasure and privilege of knowing AGR (as he is fondly called) for more than a decade. He is a living example of excellence and holistic personal development in his own illustrious and eventful life.  To learn more about him, click on http://mile.ee.iisc.ernet.in/agr/index.htm
Earlier, AGR gave me a couple of opportunities to conduct workshops for the MILE team. 26th August 2011 was the lucky day for me to have a third such opportunity. I especially like to work with this team not only because it is well knit, young and enthusiastic team but also because it is privilege for me to share the time and space with team that gas vision, mission and goals that are very inspiring to me. I am thrilled to share tools and techniques for happiness. What more could I ask for than to contribute to the happiness of this team with such a great mission and be contributed to in this process?
There was considerable gap of more than a year from the last workshop to the one on 26th Aug. The team changed a lot- many students passed out and some project staff left to pursue career opportunities of their choice. It was great to meet some of the old friends in the MILE team and make new friends.  I particularly remember Shiva, Suresh and Deepak for their spontaneous participation and enriching the earlier workshops with their contributions. It was pleasure meeting them again. I was delighted to see Archana. She is now working in Chennai and came over to spend the week-end with her family. She decided to be at this full day workshop and i really enjoyed the gift of her presence. Meeting AGR is always a source of joy and inspiration for me and so it was this time.
The vent itself is one that I would remember for a long time. One of the things that I noticed is that people working in teams tend to be cautious in participating and sharing in workshops like this. The participation and sharing form this group is very satisfying and fulfilling to me and it was a great source for my growth. I realize that each event is like a game for me as I feel so intensely alive and focused on the conversations – being in the NOW. It was very fulfilling for me that every one of the MILE team had the courage and commitment to address real issues in their life. That made the event truly successful and useful for one and all.
 However, I was not present enough to take some pictures of this event that was so special for me. I hope to grow to be more present in the next workshop.
Please share how the event was for you and whether you are practicing.

Well Being Workshop

Well, after a long time, I am posting a blog soon after the event is completed. I realized the internal dialogue that has been preventing for doing.

What my inner dialogue is saying is “How many people see this? You have only 8 followers after nearly two years of blogging. It is not very smart to put in so much effort with such small returns.” What I realize is that my original goal of writing the blog as my self-expression and my won growth has been lost. I am amazed at the ways that the conditioning takes me over. I am happy and delighted that I am reconnected with my real purpose of writing the blog, which is connected to my passion to share personal growth.
This is the 41st Well Being Workshop I conducted. The opportunity for my personal growth in each workshop is to relate to it as a ‘new’ workshop, which it is. This is a basic practice that allows for relating to the NOW and living life in the present. I find it useful in generating each day as a ‘new’ day, which it is. This moment is new.  It is also helping me in relationships and all aspects of my work. Actually, it is a practice of mindfulness and love.
This is the first time I conducted it in the Pavilion of Tibetan culture, thanks to Kalsang. What a space it is! Excellent cross ventilation, beautiful greenery all around, the musical sound of water flowing in the fountain, the presence of Mother, Sri Aurobindo and HH  Dalai Lama, the wooden flooring and immaculate maintenance.... A part of this space is used for meditation – a better perspective is that it is a space for meditation. I was delighted that one of the earlier participants came along his son and daughter-in-law and also brought also a friend from Madurai. The daughter-in-law is expecting to have a baby soon. This was very inspiring for me and when she said that the baby likes the classes, I had an experience that I have no words to describe.
I invite people who have attended earlier workshops to join for the last two sessions and invite them to share their experience. I feel so satisfied and fulfilled when I hear about the better health they are enjoying. I am blessed to be the conduit for them to connect with the ancient practices of Yoga, Pranayama and Wellness.
Here are some pictures of the extraordinary event.

Workshops for PGP Students of IIMI

Earlier, I was teaching a course called Personal Growth Lab(PGL) to the students of 2 year Post Graduate program. Thanks to the initiative of Prof. Ramana, we are now experimenting with workshops. I facilitated two workshops of 10 sessions each - Good health and Wellbeing; Stress Management

Good Health & Wellbeing
This is based on Wellbeing workshop. I was not sure how many students would be interested in this workshop as it is scheduled at 6:30AM. This is closer to the bed time of many of the students  rather than wake up time.  I am very happy that a large number of students enrolled for this workshop despite the challenge of waking up early in the morning.  I turned to Yoga and other good health practices when my health was bad. It is inspiring to see the commitment to good health in the people who are young and enjoying reasonable health. I am fortunate to have the privilege of sharing what has been so beneficial to me. I enjoyed conducting the sessions and very much appreciate the participation and positive energy in the workshop.

Stress Management
This is based on the many workshops I conducted for corporates. I had a very ambitious plan to cover a lot of aspects that I normally do in workshops of  longer duration.  I was not sure whether the young students would be interested in topics beyond basic stress management. I was pleasantly surprised by not only the interest but the participation, openness and interaction. It was a very joyous experience for me and I am very happy and grateful for the opportunity of working with this group – so much so that I felt sad in the last session.
I think the idea of a class representative is a good one. Panda and Fiaz  helped me in many ways and such connections are very precious for me – making young friends. Tribhuvan was the only one to be in both the workshops. In fact, he did stress management purely out of interest without actually enrolling for the course and became another young friend. It was also very heartening for me that Prof. Omkar attended most of the sessions and Prof. Srinivas attended 4 sessions. It seems to me that we are making progress in the IIM campus!
The workshops were easier from my point of view as we concentrate on one topic at a time. However, by focusing on one aspect, the workshops fragment the holistic perspective that was the cornerstone of  PGL. One challenge I faced was to set question papers for the test – first of its kind.
7th July is a day I won’t forget easily. It was the first time ever that I was late for a class.  When Prof. Srnivas called me at 6:35AM for the 6:30 session, I was sleeping! I was confused and ran for the session and started it at 6:45 I had to use every technique that I have ever learned to be present and conduct the session. I would say that I passed the test in my own evaluation.
Visiting IIMI is something I like very much. A beautiful and vibrant campus that I enjoy to be in, meet old friends, meet new people and make new friends. I look forward to my next visit. The campus and the view are especially beautiful, with fresh green carpets grown by the monsoon. I feel blessed to be here and have had the opportunity to offer the workshops to young, enthusiastic students.

An interesting quarter – April, May & June of 2011

 Health, Harmony and Happiness Workshops
These are based on my insight that the key to good health is on-line management of the energy field. So, I experimented by combining the Well Being Workshop with some parts of the Being Well Workshop and tried it out as a 4daya workshop at Auroville, Savitri Bhavan . It was very well received by the participants and it encouraged me to offer it again in May.




I faciliatetd a variation of this course at IIM, Indore for Defence Service Officers as a workshop of three full days. This was a very special event as it was an opportunity to connect with my extended family roots in Defence Services.









Even more special (for me) was the Health and Harmony Workshop I offered at Hyderabad for my college mates. This happened with the initiative if my dear friend DSR Raju and was organized by him and M. Subbarao, another dear friend of the 60’s in college. It was wonderful to meet friends form the college days and share the principles of health and harmony.  I am grateful to DSR Raju, M. Subbarao and all those who came over to the workshop.  K Venkateswarlu  (like DSR) is a dear friend from 1963 onwards and it was great that he could attend the workshop. I am blessed to share tools and techniques that could be beneficial to my friends who are so dear to me.
I see “Health, Harmony and Happiness” as the direction I would like to develop myself and my work.

Follow Up Sessions
This was also the period in which I have done three follow up sessions – two at IIM and one at LEC. This is an important aspect of the work – a follow up sessions are having a major positive impact in improving the practice of the tools and techniques i.e. in actually producing beneficial results.

Individual Coaching
A major opportunity for my growth during this period was two requests for individual coaching. It was challenging to manage the time and experiment with individual coaching - first attempts for me. I am glad that I took up the challenge and managed my commitments. It was enormously fulfilling and very satisfying in the end and I learned many important differences between workshop mode and individual coaching.  It is a privilege to coach anyone individually as it creates a connection of immense quality.

Stress Management
I conducted a two day stress management workshop at GMR. This workshop has now matured into a very well rounded event that I like very much and is benefitting  the participants.

ICITI
This period was also significant for the progress in the ICITI project. I met a number of important people in Delhi and feel hopeful at the end of it. I am grateful for the opportunity to give  a talk at Indian Institute of Science on ICITI.

The blog
This post is more like a quarterly report rather than a blog intended for self expression and my personal growth. I am recommitting myself to update the blog after very event.

Health & Harmony

I have been offering various workshops on Pranayama, Wellbeing, Being Well, Freedom from physical and emotional stress…. During the summer of 2010, I conducted week-long retreats in the Kumaon region of the Himalayas, in which I combined many aspects of the earlier workshops. I had an insight that it all points to how you manage your energy field. I tried this out in a few short workshops and was ready to offer an integrated version - Managing your energy field for good health and harmony.

I experimented with a new format for the timings. This is 4 day workshop and we do Pranayama in the mornings form 7AM to 8AM. Then everyone gets a chance to do whatever they want to and reassemble after lunch form 2PM to 6:30PM. My intention was to make this workshop is an opportunity to explore, experience and internalize some holistic practices and processes for better health and inner harmony. My sense is that the intention has materialized and the workshop was very well received by the participants. I think the format also helped people to handle their other commitments.
Personally, it helped me to learn a lot – given the diversity in the culture and background of the participants. I also covered a variety of topics, practices and tools. That made the dimensions of the workshop very expansive. The discussions, questions and interactions were very lively and highly enlightening. I enjoyed it immensely and am more than satisfied with the outcomes. I hope to make this as one of my main offerings in Auroville. May be, I will increase the duration to 5 days and make the afternoon sessions a bit shorter. I look forward to folding in my leanings and make the second workshop more beneficial.

I am grateful for the wonderful space and help provided by the team of Savitri Bhavan. This is a very special venue for me and it was pleasure and privilege to offer the workshop here.