Wellness Retreat 15-17 December 09

This is the first `Wellness’ retreat offered by one. The idea was to combine `Wellbeing’ with Emotional freedom and Letting Go of the Past to create an event focused on Wellness. The event was organized in the Integral Learning Centre of Verite. I love this venue; its beauty and simplicity appeal to me and it is a very quiet place – ideal for a gathering intent on inner work.

I am very happy that Shirley participated in this retreat. At 79, she is the oldest person in any of the full day (or more) programs I facilitated. She has a special place in my heart – in February 2008, she opened up a new path in my spiritual journey by asking me to read the draft of her book ‘White Heart’. I am celebrating the first copy of this book with a beautiful cover came out during this retreat. It is a privilege to have Shirley’s presence and participation in the workshop and I feel amazed and inspired by her enthusiastic and energetic participation. I am grateful to each and every one of the participants for the opportunity of offering this retreat.

I have an insight in facilitating this event. Wellness is not only natural but it is the birthright of all living beings- the experience of being whole, complete and perfect. And gateway to ONENESS. I am inspired by a world of Wellness leading to Oneness.

Compassionate Communication Workshop for WAN at CISCO

This was an event with many ‘first-ever’. First Compassionate Communication workshop in a Company and I used a lap top for the first time to facilitate a program. It was also the first ‘all women event’, for the core group of Women’s Action Network (WAN) at CISCO. WAN’s vision is “to contribute to the strategic effort to enhance Cisco's success in attracting, developing and retaining talented women employees”. When I heard that part form professional initiatives, WAN also has started many community initiatives such as girls in technology, adopting charities focused on education, I felt very enthused and happy because my needs for inspiration and meaning have been met.
I was very excited about this workshop rights from the word go. At the same time I felt apprehensive, mostly about the short time and my need to make the program useful for the participants. I was trying to condense the workshop into 5 hours and in reality we had less that 4 and a half hours. I felt extremely pleased that we could establish the basic concepts and bring clarity to the purpose of NVC and how it can be applied to all aspects of life. I feel gratitude to the participants for their cooperation and active participation in accomplishing this goal within the precious time available. My need to share and spread NVC consciousness has been fully met.  I also mourn the lack of time to do more exercises/ease for more discussions and sharing to deepen NVC consciousness.
The synchronicity behind this event is quite amazing to me. I met Tracy in Auroville in a workshop facilitated by Tewa and Jivan. Radhika attended one of the workshops in Bangalore facilitated by me and she told me that Tracy shared about NVC and she was inspired to attend the workshop. Radhika coordinated this event and made it happen in collaboration with Vidhya and Priyanaka. I really enjoyed meeting Radhika after a long time and reconnecting with her.
I am grateful to Radhika, Vidhya, Priyanka and Tracy and the core team of WAN for the opportunity to plant NVC seeds. I can visualize these seeds germinating, growing, blooming and bearing fruits not only within WAN and CISCO but also spreading to the many communities outside through the outreach initiatives. What a gift this event is for me in my mission to spread awareness in individuals, communities, organizations and societies.

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.

Relaxation and Meditation at Chengalpattu

Well, it happened. The event in Chengalpattu was arranged by Sri Prabhakar Rao, whom I and Syamala met on the way to Chennai in October. It almost did not happen due to the severe depression in the Bay of Bengal. But when Mr.Prabhakara Rao understood that apart from Syamala and Varadharajan, six more from Arulzazhi Education Institution of Auroville are also participating in the even, he decided to risk it.
From the moment I got into the taxi at 6:45 am, there was a spirit of celebration and the mood was festive. It was like a picnic, with 8 people and Arvind, the 12 years old son of Dhanalakshmi. We had breakfast at one of those old, charming South Indian eateries, called Ganesh Bhavan in Achrapakkam. Syamala has been a patron of this restaurant since she came to Auroville in 1968. It has black granite tables, well lit space and the aromas of idly, chutney and sambar welcome you. It is now run by Iyer, Jr and they mean to feed you here. They plunk a plantain leaf in front of you and serve food like they do in South Indian marriages; till you say ‘no’. I enjoyed the authentic idlis, the accompaniments and South Indian coffee.
The weather was beastly with rain beating down incessantly but it added to the scenic beauty; especially as we approached Madhurantakam. It was captivatingly beautiful and you can have a sense of it from the pictures.

On arrival,  I was pleasantly surprised with the warm welcome and the gathering of more than 35 people ready for the event. The festive spirit was very much palpable. It was a pleasure to watch  the devotees of Mother in Chengalpattu do the arrangements for seating, sound etc with such enthusiasm.
The event itself was nothing less than magical best. I enjoyed it and feel immensely satisfied and fulfilled. It was a gathering of immense richness: people from all walks of life and ages, from the youngest Vijayakumar, 12 to the eldest – about 80. I am grateful for the time, attention, participation and the questions from the gathering and it is a gift for me to share this day with this gathering. What an event! 9 of us going from Auroville to ‘take Auroville outside Auroivlle’ and on a rainy Sunday, more than 40 devotees of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother congregating to participate in an ‘Adventure of consciousness’. It is indeed a great celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Sri Aurobindo’s arrival in Tamil Nadu. I am grateful to Syamala for creating this event inside of those celebrations. I have no words to convey how my heart is full to be part of this expansion of awareness and consciousness. A memory to cherish, experience to revel in, a ‘boon to keep within’.
We briefly visited the small but extremely well organized, center of Sri Aurobindo and I experienced peace and serenity in that wonderful space!

Well Being Workshop at SAWCHU, Auroville

This workshop is the foundation of my work and I offer it in the inspiring building of SAWCHU in the serene campus of Bharat Nivas, surrounded by the glorious nature, to the orchestra of birds singing. On the first day and the fourth day, it was raining so heavily and Auroville was so waterlogged that it is a miracle that we held the sessions at all: It is more than a miracle that we held the session on time. I ma grateful to the participants for making it happen.

Four of the participants from Being Well workshop attended this workshop too: Dominic, Mathias and one of the partner pairs, Joan and Emily. I feel very happy when I see participants from the earlier workshops come to another workshop because it reinforces my need to spread this work and my need for sharing and making a difference. I am grateful that Laila and Varadharajan were present for some of the sessions. There was also a young lady from Cuba – first time ever, not only in my workshop but also, the first Cuban I ever met! Human Unity is already manifesting in Auroville. Where else would you have people of 45 nationalities living together, inspired by the Auroville Charter.
This is also the first time that I hold a full day workshop during the Well Being workshop. I went to “Chengalpattu on Sunday for an event that was so full of inspiration and celebration! What an unforgettable 10 days, starting with the two days workshop at Savitri Bhavan on 7th of November.

Being Well Retreat at Savitri Bhavan

Being Well Retreat is the program I enjoy most and Savitri Bhavan is the ultimate venue! This combination makes this retreat very, very special for me and I always look forward to it with heightened sense of excitement and anticipation.  It was no different this time; the excitement and anticipation were further heightened. I enjoyed that.
It was raining quite hard on both the days of the workshop. What better place to be than Savitri Bhavan, doing a two day retreat? The rain added a background music that had its own random rhythm with light effects. The weather and the space were just magical and made the event extraordinary.
I prefer to start this workshop with emotional freedom as it helps to deal with the inevitable emotions that come up while dealing with the baggage of the past. We start each session with a meditation and much of the retreat gets done through guided mediations. The creative visualization part has a lot of fun!
Tomas , who attended a Being Well retreat last year and a Well being workshop recently, was again in this retreat. I felt very happy to see him. One of the very interesting things about this retreat was that there were three pairs of ?partners?. I felt very happy to see people in intimate relationships in the retreat as the joint participation creates a new kind of energy. A very special aspect for me was the participation of Smt. & Sri madhavi Rao. They are devotees of the Mother and have been in the Ashram since 1973. Sri Madhava Rao is a very erudite scholarly person with awe-inspiring knowledge of Mother and Sri Aurobindo?s works as well the ancient scriptures. What a gift to have their participation! They stayed in Atithi Griha guest house to attend the retreat and it gave me an opportunity to talk to them in the evenings.
What can I say about the retreat itself? It was two days of joy and a journey shared by the entire group. At the end of the two days, my heart was full with joy and gratitude for the opportunity of sharing the time and space.
To know more about Savitri Bhavan, please click on http://www.auroville.org/education/edu_centres/savitribhavan_main.htm