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.

Wellbeing Workshop at Life Education Center

This is the first time I have conducted a program for the whole school. It is also the first program in which all participants were women and girls.

The Life Education Centre (LEC) is an Auroville outreach school, providing an on-going program for vocational training for semi-educated girls between the ages of 14-21 from Indian villages. I am grateful to Harini, who has been running LEC over a decade, for giving me an opportunity to offer a Wellbeing workshop at LEC. The school is very charming and the ambience is serne, exuding aspiration and sincerity. Martha, the Founder of LEC, lives in Canada. She was in Auroville this week and it was wonderful to have her participation.

What touched me and inspired me in LEC is the oneness between the teachers and the students. They are more like a family rather than an educational institution. The sessions were very well received and I am hopeful that the workshop would positively impact the wellbeing of the participants. I am particularly happy that LEC is considering practicing Pranayama everyday as a group.

Jolly Jan and Fabulous Feb 2011

I am slipping into an unconscious state about the blog. The postings are drifting farther and farther apart and I am not mindful about the insidious damage. Thanks to a friend, I woke up and would syn up on this.


The New Year eve was very special as my elder daughter and her husband were visiting on the eve. The year started with a bang – Personal Growth lab part 1 at IIM, Indore form 4th Jan. Thanks to Prof. Ganesh and Prof. Srinivas, I could also offer a 7 session Wellbeing workshop to the Faculty, Staff and their families.

I got back to Bangalore for a quiet Pongal and reached my base station of Auroville to offer my core program of Wellbeing at Sri Aurobindo World Center for Human Unity (SAWCHU).

Feb was one of the most fulfilling months for me as I offered a record 8 programs in this month – the highest in any month after I started on this path. I can only list them now, as describing them would be like some sort of an essay. I did the part 2 of Personal Growth Lab for the Post Graduate Program as well as a follow up for the Well Being. Then I hopped over to Bombay where a close friend of mine and his wife (who attended a two pram of Being Well at Auroville) arranged two workshops at his residence. The first was” Stress Management” which was attended mostly by expatriates and the other is “Boost your Productivity”. Then I went back to Indore for part 3 of Personal Growth Lab for the Post Graduate Program and also had the opportunity to do a session for senior Defense Service Officers. Then, I returned to Bangalore for a two day “Stress Management Workshop” for GMR and onward to Auroville for the seven session Well Being workshop. This workshop coincided with the week-long Celebrations of Mother’s Birthday and Auroville Birthday. During this week, Auroville air is full of goodwill and the atmosphere is festive. This made this event very special for me. I enjoyed the event that very much and am very grateful to offer the opportunity of offering it.

Sweet November and Dream December

I have not posted anything in my blog for the last two months – two months that appear to have passed by very fast, very interesting and memorable. Whatever I write now may be more like a news paper report rather and may be inadequate to capture the magic. None the less, let me do the best I can to capture the bullet points

Fist let me talk about the passion and new found purpose of my life. The number of participants in the Personal Growth programs crossed3,000! The vents included many ‘firsts’ and I am listing them below

1 Stress Management workshop at IIITB. This is the second event and IIITB and I am celebrating the connection and the opportunity to work with Gen next.

2 Two Well Being workshops at SAWCHU, Auroville, the foundation program of my work.

3 The first half-day Stress Management workshop at Verite Hall, Auroville

4 “Managing Yourself as an Energy Field” program at Pondicherry Engineering College for more than 400 students – more than double of the earliest largest event!

5 A (new) short program on the practice of Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga at CIS Library , Auroville

6 The first program to serving Defence Officers at INS Valsura, Jamnagar.

7 The first two day comprehensive stress management program at GMR Infrastructure, Bangalore.

This was also a period of great progress in the ICITI project of Auroville. The Governing Board of Auroville Foundation approved the project and the International Advisory Committee of Auroville has endorsed the project. We also got the first seed funding from Europe!

I am aware of the tremendous growth with so many new programs, presentations and interaction with the Governing Board and International Advisory Board. I also faced a major challenge on the health front in the form of a severe sore throat and cough. My nose started bleeding during the landing of a flight from Jamnagar and I went to a doctor after a long, long time. I was advised by the ENT specialist total rest for the vocal chords (apart from other things). I facilitated the two day workshop for GMR two days later – thanks to the power of intention and self healing (which is a way of harnessing the power of intention). I am creating the intention of “my ENT system is in excellent, robust health and helps me to facilitate more and more personal growth programs with ease, grace and joy”

Personally also, this was a wonderful period -started with a visit to the Golden Temple near Vellore along with my wife and my younger daughter’s mother-in-law. The temple is an amazing architectural wonder that is so well maintained and well administered that I experienced serenity by just being in the premises. We went on to Auroville to celebrate Diwali. My trip to Jamnagar was very nostalgic and I am impressed and inspired with what I saw and experienced. Jamnagar is now unbelievably different –a bustling, vibrant and budding city. We also a had a wonderful get together with the batch mates of Navy – Techno70- at Bangalore.

To cap it all, my elder daughter and her husband came down from Seattle and we had magical time with them.

I am grateful and happy.

Many of my appliances, including my lap top, broke down in November and December. Louis Hay says “appliances don’t break down when you are in good space”. I have no doubt that I was in great space these last two months. May be I am in some sort of transition or transformation in some other levels. I let it go.

I am grateful and happy and look forward to 2011.

Managing yourself as an energy field at PEC

This is the third event for me at Pondicherry Engineering College and what an event that was! This is the first time that I facilitated an event with an estimated 400+ participants. I was excited but also apprehensive. Yes, I was scared. The introduction by Prof. Prithviraj helped quite a bit by providing me with a friendly emotional connection and that bit of time and space to allow myself to be with my feelings and recuperate.

Once I started communicating, it was easy; thanks to the very open participation of these young students of first year engineering degree course. I liked their responses and the questions were very interesting and stimulating for me. I was thrilled with the feedback I got from the participants at the end of the session.
One question was ‘Would animals and plants respond to the primordial sounds like we do?’. I did not know the answer at that time, but a little research indicates that the answer is ‘yes’. I could have guessed it based on the fact that animals and plants preceded us in evolution and all beings have common origins and are localized energy field in the Universal Energy Field. I am grateful for the questions.
I did not like the extra sounds made by a couple of students at the end of chanting ‘aa uu mm’ for the first time. I would have very much liked to communicate with them in consonance with my principles – but used the mode that I know produces results quickly. I justified this use by telling myself  ‘I don’t have the time to …..’. I know this is a justification and feel sad that I did not conduct myself in accordance with my inner light.  I do hope to learn from this experience and put the inner light above the expediency of the moment.
I am grateful to Prof. Rajendran for organizing the event and look forward to more such opportunities. What a gift it would be to interact with this group over the next 4 years and participate and contribute in their personal growth!
I am gartfeul to Prof. Prithviraj and Prof. Anandanatarajan and the participants.
I thank Prof. Rajendran for the pictures. My (new) camera packed up and you see pictures that include me (something different form the pics I normally take to include in my blog)

Integral Development Lab at Himalayas for IIM, Indore

The genesis was in phone call to Prof. Rvaichandran when I was on my Himalayan Sojourn in May-Jun. He saw a potential program for the students and it materialized   with the efforts of Prof. Ramana, Dushyant, Sarvesh and Arnav. Prof. Srnivas joined at the last minute and made a big difference. Before I go to the event, I express my gratitude to each and every one of them.
We called it ‘Integral development Lab’ as it offered scope for holistic development at all levels: body, mind and soul. The programs included
Yoga asanas, pranayama, deep relaxation, meditation
Trekking to Land’s end view, night trek to Tiffin Top, scaling the 8000’ high Niana peak and a 16 kilometre trek to Kanchee Dham via Snow view
Adventure activities including rock climbing, boldering, scrambling, rappelling and river crossing
Basics of stress management and emotional freedom
Principles of sustainable wellness - dietary principles for well being, self healing
Campfire and cultural program
Opportunities to work in groups and teams to improve bonds and team dynamics
The location is none other than Nainital, a Jewel in the Himalayan foot hills. We stayed in the serene Van Nivas Ashram, perched on a hillock, with a lovely view. The pristine glory of this place in the lush verdure of the Himalayas offered a unique opportunity to connect with the nature and enjoy the beauty of this very exotic and exalted region of Kumaon.
The event itself was very extraordinary, made so by the participation of the students. It is a first of its kind event in India and may be the world as well!  The richness of the activities, programs and participative events made it a truly interactive and experential program where each participant integrates what is best needed by him or her into their life. The energy was amazing and I now feel a young 35 (nines complement of my chronological age). In the company of this very energetic, enthusiastic group both Prof. Srinivas and I participated in all events! It filled me with a sense of exhilaration and joy. The love and affection I received from this group will remain etched in my memory forever.
We are grateful to Tara Di, Nalin Ji, Jayanto and his team for generously providing Van Niwas premises and facilities for IDL and helping us in every way. The adventure activities were conducted with excellent infrastructure, highly professional guidance, care and support.
I am grateful for the opportunity of facilitating this event and feel privileged to be part of it.
BECAUSE THE STUDENTS ARE, IDL IS.

Added on 20/11/2010

Please see the following links
for articles published by the participants/ IIMI
http://www.coolavenues.com/b-schools/b-school-events/iim-indore-students-learn-stress-relieving-techniques-lap-himalayas

http://www.mbauniverse.com/article.php?id=3843

Emotional Freedom Workshop at Freescale Semiconductors

This is also a second event for me. It was about a year ago that I conducted “Stress Management Workshop” at Freescale Semiconductors. It was very well received and we have been talking about a second workshop for about 6 months or more. Finally, it happened on the 5th of October 2010, thanks to Vivek.
While I missed my friend Sanjeev, I was pleasantly surprised that the team at Freescale is almost intact. I am also very happy that Freescale appears to be going from strength to strength under the leadership of Vivek, who is also an old friend. I felt at home right throughout the workshop and it was a very heartening experience for me to be with the Freescale team. I felt very encouraged by the participation and the very interesting questions. We had a very pleasant lunch together – it was great idea of Veena to order Pizzas and have lunch at the venue.
I am very happy and satisfied with workshop and look forward to more opportunities to be at Frescale.