Navni Work

Explore the Benefits of Sujok therapy
Sujok is the contemporary form of the ancient art of healing that employs various techniques which cure illness and yield good health. Developed by a South Korean scientist Park Jae Woo, Sujok is a drugless traditional form of medicine that helps the body heal itself. When carried out by a clinically experienced practitioner, the benefits of Sujok therapy can work wonders. It works on the principles of body correspondence. ‘Su’ means hand and ‘Jok’ means foot in Korean. In ancient science, it is a widely held view that all organs in the body find an equivalent representation on different points of hands and feet. Stimulation of each of these points results in a positive influence on any place of problem in the body. There was parallelism drawn between the structure, and nature of different parts of the body and the hands, and feet which makes it easier to understand the integrated mechanism of this system of healing. Being a wide spectrum of a range of treatments, Sujok includes acupressure, seed therapy, acupuncture, color therapy, twist therapy, direction therapy, smile meditation, and many other modalities of treatments. Use of any medicines is absent in all of them.
There are a plethora of benefits of Sujok therapy:
 Healing different kinds of mental disorders like phobia, depression, anxiety, addiction, etc
 Treating insomnia and other sleep-related problems.
 Sujok spine healing therapy
 Treating emotional problems like anger, fear, and worries.
 Healing injuries.
 Curing diabetes and kidney stones.
 Controlling obesity and managing bodyweight easily.
 Treating inflammation and other problems like arthritic pain, and gout.


 Curing skin and reproductive problems.
 Relieving certain physical problems such as BP, headache, bronchitis, asthma, gastric acidity, ulcer, constipation, migraine, vertigo, irritable bowel syndrome, and complications due to chemotherapy, menopause, excessive bleeding, and many more.
Sujok is a type of therapy that is wholesome and natural. It makes the lives of patients hassle-free by minimizing their dependency on pills and simultaneously protecting them against many harmful side
effects that come along with taking pills. This therapy also introduces one to a more conscious way of living, for example, In Sujok, the practice of smile meditation aims at striking a balance between body, mind, and soul, raising one’s consciousness and making him or her vibrate on a higher frequency. It is also believed to improve one’s health and quality of life by wiping out stings and pains of any past bad experiences or future happenings and bringing in eternal bliss and pleasure. What makes the benefits of Sujok therapy even more intriguing is that it is a form of Eastern medicine and healing which is more holistic than Western medicine as the former caters to the root cause of the problem, hence eliminating and treating it to the core.
Hence, to conclude, Sujok therapy is the new age solution to all kinds of ailments that people go through in their everyday life. It is that alternate healing method that is simple, easy, and produces effective results. It is safe to say that all the benefits of Sujok therapy combined
with its 100% organic, zero-side effects and self-healing nature, make it extremely trustworthy and special among the other present chemical-based options.


Life Positve is bringing its readers a golden experience, which is not to be missed, a spiritual festval called the ‘Healing in the hills’ happening between the dates 9th to 15th June 2021 in Kumaon valley, situated at the heart of Ramgarh, near Nainital in Utarakhand. This residental retreat will have three workshops taking place, which are - Emotonal Freedom Technique by Dr. Mahalakshmi Rajgopal, Tarot Reading by Ma Gyan Suveera, and Family Constellaton and Transgeneratonal Healing by Hitesh Vashishtha and Shubhangi Vashishtha. It’s an opportunity to be grabbed in the blink of an eye, placed in an environment that makes you feel blissful, rejuvenated, healed, serene and abundant.
Only limited seats are available, confrmed on a frst-come, frst- served basis. So, Seal the deal now!
To reserve click @healing in the hills


Tarot reading simply put is just one form of fortune-telling but it is not just limited to that, rather it is a wide spectrum that explores many other facets of mystcal healing. From a deck of cards, a card is chosen which the reader uses to receive the necessary guidance needed to help solve the life challenges and problems of the seeker. The cards also reveal certain things about one’s present, past, and future life. The reading is very intuitve and personal. The reading of cards is carried out by shufing the cards and then doing a spread. There can be many types of spreads like random-pick-verses spread; traditonal spreads; and also creatng spreads such as; kundali spread; karma spread; chakra spread, etc. The purpose of reading cards is to understand and interpret the hidden meaning behind the symbols of these cards and tapping into the wisdom of each card.
Tarot reading is a centuries-old practce that was used for hermeneutc, magical, mystcal, semiotc, and psychological reasons. There is a divinatory meaning of the cards associated with this practce. Many believe that tarot card reading came from ancient Egypt.
Divinaton cards can heighten one’s intuitve powers, clairvoyance, extrasensory percepton, and spiritual quotent. One can learn all of this and more in a tarot reading workshop. Other learnings include tarot traditon and the fundamental circuits of the cards; destny vs free will; intuiton, and psychic powers; the art of framing questons; elemental projectons; top-up readings; daily sadhana and energy work for efectve and profcient readings. One such brilliant two-day workshop conducted by Ma Gyan Suveera, a mystc healer, is a part of the ‘Healing in the hills’ festval being organized by Life Positve at Ramgarh for its readers. The quality of the reading depends on the experience and the psychic and intuitve powers of the reader. It also depends upon the connecton between the reader and the cards. An intuitve reader knows the language in which the cards speak to him or her.
Traditonally, the rules of tarot reading were kept a secret from people as a protectve measure but today, they are open for anyone to study. Mostly, a deck has a total of 78 cards and they are all diferent. Familiarizing, establishing a relatonship with the cards, and knowing them on a deeper level are a prerequisite to be a reader. The space in which the reading is done ideally must


be sanctfed by burning sage or palo santo, this welcomes positve and good energies that guide the reader towards the seeker’s best interest.
A lot of psychic tarot readers have a spiritual perspectve of things in their work feld. They like to clear out their headspace as well before performing readings by doing meditaton, and maybe some chantng too. The various symbols drawn on the cards mean diferent things for example; the Grim Reaper card has a jungle- like imagery with an atmosphere of plants, other life forms, and buterfies that symbolize change and transformaton.
At its most basic level, tarot reading is the storytelling about the cycles of one’s life. The acts of shufing the deck, picking out cards, and placing them out in order reveal what diferent trials and tribulatons one might face during any given journey. However, the cards don't necessarily represent us in a given reading; they might represent someone else in our lives, or symbolize more general issues. Tarot can be a complex language too, and every reading is diferent; similarly, every reader and the approach that he or she takes to interpret and analyze the way the cards interact are also diferent.
Having an open mind and trustng one’s intuiton brings out a successful reading at both ends of the meetng. There can be mysterious and powerful messages hidden behind the cards, which are fgured out according to a reader’s potental, understanding, and expertse in the feld.
A tarot reading can help one see dimensions of a situaton invisible to their ego.
Using Synchronicity, Tarot taps both the subconscious and the superconscious mind, which are the centers of our psychic abilites. Becoming a good tarot reader may be easy but becoming a gifed reader of Tarot is far more than someone only playing out their innate psychic abilites. Accuracy in the reading along with the appreciaton of the power of the archetypes contained in the images on the cards demands a classical understanding at the reader’s end.
If you are also tempted to learn this art form, click ‘here’ now to register and get more details about our two-day (basic to advanced) Tarot Reading workshop happening in June at the ‘Healing in the hills’ festval, Ramgarh.
(About the author-
Navni Chawla is a correspondent and content writer with Life Positve. She had started with writng a blog and ofen used writng as a means to consult


her deeper self. The process in itself was calming and healing to her. She has also writen a compilaton of poems and wishes to pursue fctonal short storytelling too ahead. Her other passions include cooking, singing, being in front of a camera, and the most adored one being, life itself; leading it from a child’s heart.)


Family Constellaton and Transgeneratonal Healing is a modality of healing based on soothing the emotonal trauma and stress which is passed on from one generaton to the next in a family tree. The need of having this healing system arises from the unresolved issues running in the family, those of our ancestors relatng to their guilt, fear, anger, anxiety, or any pain inficted upon or by them due to injustce, sudden losses, uprootng of life, war, a major sickness, an unfortunate incident or accident, etc. Through the healing process, we can identfy and resolve those issues. Subsequently, all blockages arising out of them are also cleared and the course of free-fowing life force gushes out health, happiness, and prosperity in our life.
The transgeneratonal wounds also tell the story of how the family soul journeys over centuries in the realm of collectve consciousness and leaves its imprints on our present personal experience of life. A lot of pain and trauma may not belong to us at all, in fact, is not ours to carry; hence it needs to be mindfully worked on and healed. This also brings forth the concept of family constellatons, which refers to the family karmic pool that connects dots to the unknown deeper infuences which direct our thoughts, behaviors, and emotonal experiences. It is a spiritual tool that exposes one to a healing space of unveiling and coming face-to- face with all the hidden dynamics, disorders, unconscious complex loyaltes in a family system that might have been calling out to our atenton, to be heard and seen.
In a family constellaton workshop, fve to seven generatonal constellatons are picked intuitvely by the facilitators, which are followed by group processes, individual processes, and guided meditatons and visualizatons to heal generatonal paterns. Life positve is bringing its readers a similar two-day Family constellaton and Transgeneratonal Healing workshop facilitated by Hitesh Vashishtha and Shubhangi Vashishtha as a part of its ‘Healing in the hills’ festval being held at Ramgarh.
And to be able to respond metculously to the invisible threads of stress that linger from family generatons, it is suggested to know your family stories well as it enhances emotonal health. According to neuroscience, there is an implicit


memory system that saves our experiences of the past in the form of images, feelings, and sensatons. Your inner child carries vivid impressions of the emotons gone through and they are returned in adult life at diferent developmental stages of your children. The more children are familiar with their family history, the higher is their self-esteem, emotonal resilience, and happiness quotent.
There are several ceremonies practced in diferent traditonal cultures to honor the ancestral roots and recognize the lives of those who have lived before us, along with their achievements and struggles. These rituals and traditons create healed communites and individuals who are free from the fates of their ancestors. Any approach of transgeneratonal healing leads to the release of past stored traumas and an increased experience of belonging in the world.
Another road taken to transgeneratonal healing is the one of meditaton which involves visualizing all your ancestors lined behind you and your children and children’s children in the front, imagining that you are a healing, compassionate and transformatve connectng link between them. Praying, doing mudras, and chantng can also protect one’s lineage from sufering.
If you are also contemplatng having a fate free from the patern shared in your family tree and willing to experience deep and rich healing tapping into your roots, visit ‘click here’ to register and know more about the Family constellaton and transgeneratonal healing workshop being conducted at ‘Healing in the hills’ festval, Ramgarh.
(About the author-
Navni Chawla is a correspondent and content writer with Life Positve. She had started with writng a blog and ofen used writng as a means to consult her deeper self. The process in itself was calming and healing to her. She has also writen a compilaton of poems and wishes to pursue fctonal short storytelling too ahead. Her other passions include cooking, singing, being in front of a camera, and the most adored one being, life itself; leading it from a child’s heart.)




The Emotonal freedom technique (EFT) is a healing tool used to relieve physical pain and emotonal distress. Also known as tapping work or psychological acupressure, EFT is an energy balancing therapy of the body.
The human body has an intricately woven network of mind, energy, and consciousness. Any disharmony among the channels of this network disrupts the free fow of pranic energy or life force, which further results in developing negatve emotons, stress, blockages, anxiety, depression, chronic pain, and weight gain too. EFT is a therapeutc method that uses the inner intelligence of the body to heal itself by harnessing its miraculous powers present within. Our body carries meridian points or energy hot spots, which on being tapped restore the fow of energy in them.
Developed by Gary Craig, this modality of healing uses the technique of tapping points, mainly on the head and the face which stmulates the meridian points corresponding to various organs, which are the control centers of diferent body functons.
The healer focuses on the issue being faced by an individual who seeks help and says a few positve afrmatons while tapping on the main energy meridians of the body. The results are ofen spectacular and lead to the restoraton of positve feelings and a sense of well-being. EFT has been found efectve in treatng war veterans and actve military personnel sufering from post-traumatc stress disorder (PTSD). In 2013, researchers studied the impact of EFT tapping on veterans with PTSD against those receiving standard care. Within a month, partcipants receiving EFT coaching sessions had signifcantly reduced their psychological stress. Besides, more than half of the EFT test group no longer ft the criteria for PTSD.
Aware of so many benefts of EFT, Life Positve is organizing a one-day EFT workshop as a part of the ‘Healing in the hills’ festval at Ramgarh led by Dr. Mahalakshmi Rajgopal. How wonderful would it be to heal in the lap of nature and mystcal mountains! EFT works on similar principles as Mindfulness, it draws your atenton to the body and breathing thus, distractng you from the pain and


the mental issues. It is also called a 5-step anxiety relief program, with the steps described as follows:
1. Identfying the issue: This involves bringing a partcular issue or fear into focus which results in positve outcomes
2. Testng the inital Intensity: This step is to set a benchmark level of intensity afer the issue is realized in a person. The scale of intensity is rated from 0 to 10, 10 being the worst. It helps to measure the physical discomfort or emotonal pain carried from the focal problem.
3. The setup: This involves setng an intenton before tapping actually begins, which has two aspects-
 Acknowledging the problematc areas
 Acceptng one’s issues completely
So, one is made to say a common setup phrase, which is “Even though I have (this fear or problem), I deeply and completely accept myself.” One can alter this statement to ft their need, but it must address one’s own problem.
4. EFT tapping sequence: Then a methodic tapping is performed on nine meridian points, which are located on the following areas of the upper body:
 Eyebrow
 Side of the eye
 Under the eye
 Under the nose
 Chin
 Beginning of the collarbone
 Under the arm
These points are tapped in the above ascending order seven tmes each, while simultaneously repeatng one’s afrmatve setup phrase three tmes.


5. Testng the fnal Intensity: At the end of the process, the level of intensity of the issue is again measured on a scale of 0-10. It is also compared with the inital intensity of the issue. It is advised to repeat the process tll zero intensity is achieved.
If you are intrigued to try out the ETF program and experience its magical efects for yourself, visit here ‘link- Healing in the hills’ to know more about the details of this event.
(About the author-
Navni Chawla is a correspondent and content writer with Life Positve. She had started with writng a blog and ofen used writng as a means to consult her deeper self. The process in itself was calming and healing to her. She has also writen a compilaton of poems and wishes to pursue fctonal short storytelling too ahead. Her other passions include cooking, singing, being in front of a camera and the most adored one being, life itself; leading it from a child’s heart.)


Transgeneratonal Healing
Transgeneratonal Healing is a modality of healing based on soothing the emotonal trauma and stress which is passed on from one generaton to the next in a family tree. The need of having this healing system arises from the unresolved issues running in the family, those of our ancestors relatng to their guilt, fear, anger, anxiety, or any pain inficted upon or by them due to injustce, sudden losses, uprootng of life, war, a major sickness, an unfortunate incident or accident, etc. Through the healing process, we can identfy and resolve those issues. Subsequently, all blockages arising out of them are also cleared and the course of free-fowing life force gushes out health, happiness, and prosperity in our life.
The transgeneratonal wounds also tell the story of how the family soul journeys over centuries in the realm of collectve consciousness and leaves its imprints on our present personal experience of life. A lot of pain and trauma may not belong to us at all, in fact, is not ours to carry; hence it needs to be mindfully worked on and healed. This also brings forth the concept of family constellatons, which refers to the family karmic pool that connects dots to the unknown deeper infuences which direct our thoughts, behaviors, and emotonal experiences. It is a spiritual tool that exposes one to a healing space of unveiling and coming face-to- face with all the hidden dynamics, disorders, unconscious complex loyaltes in a family system that might have been calling out to our atenton, to be heard and seen.
And to be able to respond metculously to the invisible threads of stress that linger from family generatons, it is suggested to know your family stories well as it enhances emotonal health. According to neuroscience, there is an implicit memory system that saves our experiences of the past in the form of images, feelings, and sensatons. Your inner child carries vivid impressions of the emotons gone through and they are returned in adult life at diferent developmental stages of your children. The more children are familiar with their family history, the higher is their self-esteem, emotonal resilience, and happiness quotent.


There are several ceremonies practced in diferent traditonal cultures to honor the ancestral roots and recognize the lives of those who have lived before us, along with their achievements and struggles. These rituals and traditons create healed communites and individuals who are free from the fates of their ancestors. Any approach of transgeneratonal healing leads to the release of past stored traumas and an increased experience of belonging in the world.
Another road taken to transgeneratonal healing is the one of meditaton which involves visualizing all your ancestors lined behind you and your children and children’s children in the front, imagining that you are a healing, compassionate and transformatve connectng link between them. Praying, doing mudras, and chantng can also protect one’s lineage from sufering.
-Navni Chawla


The healing power of the breath
There are innumerable ways in which our body, mind, and spirit are connected. Breath is the most palpable form of the body and is also the basis of all life. Breath work, deep breathing, and practces like Pranayama are seen to hugely impact and improve a person’s mental health. There is a direct link between our breath and emotons. Every emotonal experience in the body fnds its equivalent rhythm in breath. All these facts support and establish the healing power of the breath. There is a Sanskrit proverb that says, “For breath is life; if you breathe well you will live longer on earth.” Ancient yogic breathing techniques regulate breath, our vital life force energy, and give one a holistc-healing experience on one’s overall well-being. And so, these must be practced as a part of our routne. Although, it is best to frst learn them under a certfed or a well- experienced trainer. Essentally, any kind of breath work oxygenates the body so much, thus enhancing the general functoning of all the important processes occurring in various parts of the body.
Breath increases one’s inner strength by a large magnitude and that is the reason that so many athletes, sports players, swimmers, dancers, singers, actors, actors, yogis, etc. pay so much atenton to the process of correct breathing and also elongatng their breath through many methods.
Now, is there something actually known as ‘Correct breathing’? And the answer is ‘Yes’!
Diaphragmatc breathing or belly breathing is known to be the most accurate and also very efcient way of breathing. It means fully engaging the stomach, abdominal muscles, and diaphragm when breathing by the


contracton of or actvely pulling the diaphragm down with each inhalaton of breath. This helps our lungs to expand and fll them with more air (oxygen), making each breath slow, smooth, and long. Diaphragmatc breathing is also a very conscious way to breathe as opposed to chest breathing which is unconscious and is what we normally do. Also, it is short and shallow.
Also, why is it important to breathe correctly?
The answer is because every system of the body relies on oxygen; from cogniton to digeston, efectve breathing is required for optmal body functoning, as also mentoned above.
The benefts of doing diaphragmatc breathing are:
1. It gives greater clarity of mind
2. It helps one sleep beter and deeper
3. It digests our food more efciently
4. It improves our immunity response to all kinds of infectons
5. It is strongly believed to reduce stress levels
6. It strengthens our diaphragm muscle and abdominal muscles
7. It slows the breathing rate
8. It lowers the heart rate and blood pressure thus, increasing cardiovascular health of an individual


9. 10.
11.
12.
It promotes relaxaton
It helps to reduce mental issues like anxiety, anger management issues, phobias, etc.
It leads to a general sense of pleasantness in the body and the atainment of autonomic balance
It also elongates the breath, making it smoother, more rhythmic and even, relaxed, and non-jerky
Now, one can change their usual non-diaphragmatc way of breathing and train oneself to breathe more deeply and consciously at all tmes. This can be done by actvely practcing diaphragmatc breathing, even if it is for few minutes, every day. One can follow these instructons given below to practce basic diaphragmatc breathing and also to practcally experience the healing power of the breath:
 Before going to sleep and waking up, place your right hand on your upper abdomen, with the litle fnger directly above the navel and other fngers spread so that the thumb is almost touching the chest.
 Place your lef hand on the upper chest and the litle fnger between the two breasts
 As you breathe, concentrate on the air moving down into the upper abdomen (as if your stomach is flling with breath)
 The right hand should rise with the inhalaton and fall with the outward exhalaton; the lef hand should not move very much
 You should feel a slight moton in the lower porton of the chest cavity, but the upper porton must remain really stll.


 Within a few moments, you will become more rested and very quiet. Do not try to force the breath. Allow the breath to be gentle and efortless.
 Notce how easy it is to breathe deeply and easily, without any efort.
 While these above steps can be done in standard positons like sitng straight on the edge of a chair or on the foor on a folded blanket placed beneath the sitng bones, it can also be done while lying down
 On a fat surface, one can also try to practce diaphragmatc breathing by reclining and facing towards the ground
 Fold both the arms and cross them over each other, the head should be gently rested on one arm/hand
 The chest must be lifed not touching the ground, and the abdomen should touch the ground
 The legs should be spread wide open with toes pointng outwards
 One must notce the rhythmic rise and fall of the stomach while
breathing
While one may not achieve breathing diaphragmatcally at all tmes overnight or at once but slowly and gradually, with a litle day-to-day practce of it can help one develop and incorporate it into their habitual breathing patern.
Below is a list of some helpful breathing exercises or techniques which explain the true age-old art of breathing and the healing power of the breath:


 Bhastrika Pranayama or bellows breathing
 Kapalbhat Pranayama or skull shining breathing
 Bhramri Pranayama or bee breathing
 Anulom vilom/ Nadi Shodhana or alternate nostril breathing
 Ujjayi Pranayama aka victorious breath
 Practce of Yogic Asanas or postures with mindful, slow and deep breathing
It is recommended for one to go into the detailed and deep study of each of these practces through Yoga, meditaton courses, and other training sessions under the supervision of a master. In today’s tme of fast pacing and stressful world, one can come across so many schools and teachers teaching such breathing exercises. One great school of Yoga is The Himalayan Yoga Traditon at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama, Rishikesh. It teaches the authentc, systematc, detailed, scientfc, very deep, and wide study of Yoga, meditaton, and self-healing. It has a lineage of some great sages and masters like Swami Rama and Swami Veda Bharat.
According to the teachings of The Himalayan Yoga Traditon, a yogic breathing patern suitable for meditaton will have a slow rate, large tdal volume, longer exhalaton than inhalaton, smoother, the primary use of the diaphragm and lower external intercostal muscles and be nasal.
An individual’s metabolism will generally determine the amount of air sucked in per minute (minute ventlaton) which is required during normal breathing. This can be achieved either by fast shallow breaths or longer deeper breaths. In yoga, longer deeper breaths are preferred with a longer


exhalaton than inhalaton. This appears to decrease the degree of sympathetc actvaton by some amount (i.e. the fight or fght response) and as the relaxaton response proceeds, the metabolism itself usually slows down allowing the minute ventlaton to decrease. Furthermore, slower and deeper breaths appear to be more efcient in terms of gas exchange even though the mechanical energy required to achieve this form of breathing is ofen greater. Diaphragmatc breathing has alternatve and oversimplifed names like thoracic breathing or abdominal breathing.
Finally, Breath is no less than a miracle. Its many positve efects reafrms that the healing power of the breath is so legit.
Here are some quick benefts pointed out below, ofered by breath:
 Deep breathing causes something known as Pranic healing, which is developing an energy bio-system or treatment by balancing, harmonizing, and transforming the body’s energy processes, by the use of Prana, the Sanskrit equivalent of life’s vital force or breath
 Deep breathing has a pacifying and calming efect on the mind
 Breath is a connectng link between the body and the consciousness and if used properly, it can help one achieve higher states of the mind
 Breathing well and fully promotes excellent health and immunity
 Breathing properly balances one’s hormonal and emotonal response to all kinds of stresses


 Greater oxygenaton of blood in the nerve capillaries in the brain through constant breath work leads to purifcaton and refnement of mental and emotonal responses to any external situaton
 Greater oxygenaton of blood in our body, in general, helps release more toxins from the body thus, cleaning the body
 Deep breathing has a strongly positve impact on depression and anxiety
 Breathing acts as an anchor for us to stay in this moment and it avoids the racing of mind in the past and future
 Breathing slowly and deeply can even free one of their pain and sufering as it can heal emotonal wounds by creatng a space between the identfcaton with the mind and the real self
 It nourishes our soul
 It helps one see things clearly and also just as they are
 It deepens one’s connecton between them and their highest self
 On the outside, it energizes a person, also boostng their enthusiasm towards life and all its components thus, enhancing one’s capacity to work and be productve
 It gives one a happier, more meaningful, and joyful percepton of things in life
 It can help one fnd some great ideas, realizatons, epiphanies, and Eureka or Aha moments in those deep-long sighs
 It also speeds up the process of fnding good and precise solutons to difcult tasks and problems at hand
 It makes it easier for anyone to go within and meditate


 It gives one tme and space to re-consider wisely, introspect, contemplate, and ponder over one’s choices and also their subsequent consequences, related to important life decisions.
Breath is like a ‘Gentle Super Power ‘available to us at all tmes; It has a healing nature for sure but is also like a protectng shield if paid atenton to as it carries some deep intelligence and insightul seeds of thoughtulness and awareness while opening us to the potent vitality of the NOW.
A simple remembrance to bring one’s atenton to the breath, tme and again, does so much of self-work for you and saves you of unnecessary tme and energy drainage, worry and trouble.
Thank you for reading, signing of with a litle reminder for you to take a deep, cleansing, & conscious breath and slowly exhale it out A
About the author-
Navni Chawla is a correspondent and content writer with Life Positve. She had started with writng a blog and ofen used writng as a means to consult her deeper self. The process in itself was calming and healing to her. She has also writen a compilaton of poems and wishes to pursue fctonal storytelling ahead. Her other passions include cooking, singing, being in front of the camera, and the most adored one being, life itself; leading it from a child’s heart. Being a yoga practtoner herself and also a certfed level-1 Yoga teacher from SRSG, Rishikesh, She has included some technical informaton in this artcle from the source HYT- TTP’s (Himalayan Yoga Traditon- Teacher Training Program) study handouts manual, which was used in her level-1 retreat workshop.




THE GIFT OF FEAR/ IT’S ALL ABOUT PERSPECTIVE
Today we are living in tmes of uncertainty and fear of a considerable magnitude, courtesy of Covid-19 and its variants. We no longer feel that we have total control over life, not that we ever had it. But we are realizing it all the more, now. The anxiety around the virus ultmately zeroes down to the fear of death. Most of us escape or are just sweetly oblivious to the fact that we are going to die one day. The ongoing pandemic has reminded us of both our insignifcance and mortality, at the same tme. With so many people losing their fght with covid-19 and succumbing to death all over the world has clearly shown man of the very litle power he holds over his external circumstance. This awareness that sooner or later death is going to fall upon us also makes us a beter version of ourselves; no wonder today we see a wave of compassion, empathy, and more altruistc attudes rising among the masses.
However, how people choose to react to the present situaton (for everyone) depends a great deal on their perspectve. There is a set of people who don’t care about the virus at all and believe to keep living like before, which is a very ignorant way of being. And then there is another set of people living in constant anxiety about it, which is not very helpful either. These are both extreme schools of thought. What we need is a middle path; a more balanced approach. Living with more awareness, taking proper precautons, and following the guidelines put forth by health professionals and the government of our country are some basic things we should all be doing, instead of killing ourselves over this mad fear. Living in a constant state of misery and an internal batle going on all the tme, about our survival can never be a long-term mindset that can keep us sane.
The shif that needs to be made is from not seeing this fear of virus as an enemy to seeing it as a friend that has come to protect us. Behind the veil, the fear sometmes actually carries a huge amount of inner intelligence, the potental of self-knowledge and self-awareness. As a coping mechanism of fear, it is advised to take it out on a date, and sit down with it as it can only be resolved by understanding it, and rather making it a tool to go inside before we act outside.


This not only calms down an individual but also prepares him beter for any unforeseen scenario.
Without turning away from the truth of many people’s lives which is the great losses they sufered during this tme such as their jobs, businesses, homes, and even loved ones; one can stll keep their stance of remaining relaxed, frst, to be able to deal with it all. We should not forget that in the past too, we have survived many mass illnesses like dengue; plague, etc. We were also able to overcome and emerge out of them as a stronger and medically beter-equipped country. Hence, the soluton that we are seeking is in striking an inner balance/equilibrium and in understanding the situaton as a whole.
There might not be many people who will disagree with the fact that the fear of the virus has reminded us of our forgoten mortality, raised our physical and emotonal resilience, and also our collectve consciousness as a species. Today, somewhere we all understand how closely we are connected within an intricate ecosystem, that our every tny or large acton impacts not just us but the entre chain of living beings and the surroundings we live in. How can we not learn our much-needed lesson of mindfulness, at least now? Is it possible to deny that our consumerist and capitalist society which is obsessed with global brands is now actually looking for a purpose behind every buy, and bargain? No.
We are measuring the efects of mass consumpton such as a plethora of waste generated; polluton generated, animals negatvely afected, and the other aspects of the overall climate, and environmental change taking place around the world. This hopefully will lead us towards minimalism and creatng an eco-friendly community. Isn’t that some good news?
Quite underrated, but keeping a positve attude amidst all the frenzy going on will only help us. Indulging in fearful and worrisome thoughts will only kill us and make us sufer. Whereas a mindful and relaxed individual will remember to wear his mask, sanitze himself well, and take all precautons, while also carrying out his normal day; a panicky person might just be lost and even forget to follow these basics, harming himself and people around him.


At the same tme, no one is promotng being naïve and ignorant of the very real situaton of a pandemic occurring in the world. What is being suggested is to only shif the approach we are taking to subdue its power over us, and the shif has to be made internally, from a negatve to an optmistc and a hopeful perspectve. With the qualites such as harmony, an attude of prayer, feeling of one-ness, a spirit of togetherness, rearing a collectve survival instnct, and raised consciousness, we already have half our batle won. The rest of it lies with the healing power of tme, increased awareness of everyone to act while taking all proper precautons, and advancement being made in medical sciences and technology.
What is asked of us is to trust the reason nature has brought this upon us, to make us realize that we all can do beter than we already were and that we could slow down, become a litle less selfsh, and think about others including our dear nature.
The best gif this fear gave all of us is the platorm, the tme, and the resources to go within, to truly connect within, and fully accept the present circumstances as they are. Acceptance, which is a trait of the heart, actually leads to transformaton. This shif in collectve consciousness is pushing us towards growth and expansion, spiritual evoluton, fresher-newer perspectves, and also leading us to the tmes of a new era, or a new yug; full of simplicity, positvity, courage, self-awareness, and perseverance. Connectng to the divinity within exposes us to that magnifcent power of our source and being, which was long forgoten, from which we can draw all the energy required to face these unprecedented tmes.
When we let go of that branch we are tghtly holding onto, to fow freely with the river of life then we are assured that we will be taken care of. And when we ofer ourselves to the divine in total surrender and lead from prayer; the highest form of worship, we automatcally start to see the current movement of tme as a period of transiton to a new and beautful world.


Benefts of mindfulness meditaton, Explained!
A small Parable
To impart the lesson of mindfulness to his disciples, the Buddha told a litle story. Once there lived two acrobats who shared a teacher and student relatonship and were also partners in performing street shows to earn enough to eat. One day the teacher tells her student that they both should watch each other during the act to maintain the intense focus and balance; this shall prevent any accident and they will also make enough money to eat. But the litle girl was wise, she answered, “Dear master, I think it would be beter for each of us to watch our own self. To look afer oneself also means to look afer both of us. That way, I am sure we will avoid any accidents and will surely bring ourselves enough earnings to eat.” Now here, watching oneself or looking afer oneself symbolizes mindfulness. This story illustrates that taking care of oneself (which represents being mindful) is the most important thing one can do to take care of others. In a spiritual sense, once we are nurturing our own body and mind through mindfulness, we are naturally more atuned to giving warmth, positvity, and loving-kindness to those around us. It also fulflls our intrinsic need to help others and add value into their lives.
Mindfulness as a concept along with its benefts
Mind is a mult-dimensional and many-layered entty in itself. The complexity of our brain allows us to process tons of informaton, sometmes all at once, making it restless, scatered, distracted, all over the place, and pulled in many directons. But when it is talked to, tamed, and trained through certain practces, the monkey nature of mind begins to change and it starts to learn ‘the art of sitng stll.’
Mindfulness is that master practce which fosters stllness within an individual. Although, it is an expansive term but essentally it means being aware of oneself and the fabric of all life at multple levels. Mindfulness is also a type of meditaton that encourages one to indulge intensely in the process of witnessing one’s


breathing, sensatons, and feelings in the body, whilst remaining objectve and colourless which is taking the seat of an observer and looking at things from afar, a space of no judgment or interpretaton of whatever is the object of mind at that moment. The benefts of mindfulness meditaton are countless. Some of them are:
 It can make one a master of their own mind
 It increases the quotent of compassion and empathy in one’s being
 It makes one understand and relate to other human beings beter. But frst, it makes one learn about one’s own habit paterns and grooves of personality.
Fun-facts:
Early Buddhist texts say that it can help end sufering. Modern claims of the benefts of mindfulness meditaton are more clinical. A Harvard health publicaton says that mindfulness meditaton eases anxiety and mental stress. Another publicaton, Psychology Today says that it helps in curing depression.
Several other benefts of mindfulness meditaton include:
      
Headache relief
Lowering of blood pressure Corrected hormonal balance
Reduced chronic pain
Improved sleep
Alleviated gastrointestnal difcultes
An enhanced overall well-being being- both physical and mental.


How to practce Mindfulness
Now coming to how can one actually practce mindfulness meditaton, let’s frst understand its originaton by tracing its roots. Around 500 BC, the Buddha systematcally developed a meditaton technique called the Satpathana meditaton, which is the traditonal form of mindfulness meditaton. The sole purpose of this technique is ‘to pay atenton.’ Satpathana simply means ‘to keep one’s atenton inside.’
Drawing awareness to one’s breathing anchors the mind in the present moment forbidding it from wandering between the past and the future. Breath, which is the innermost palpable form to feel one’s body and also that which connects it to the mind, is a very powerful tool helping one achieve mindfulness faster. Deep breathing slows down the unnecessary mental actvity, thus restrictng the tme- travel-like movement of the mind in the grooves of fears and regrets and fnally bringing it home, i.e. back to the now.
Mindfulness meditaton is a way to practce the skill of being aware of one’s body and mind at all tmes; it’s just like one thing is a process in itself, while the same thing also being the end goal of that process. Slowly and gradually, this practce leads one to start paying atenton to the simple things that otherwise go completely unnotced like the sky, the air, the trees, chirping of birds etcetera. These things are ever-present but are hidden behind the mind’s self-indulgent fallacy of its self-created busy-ness, which most of the tmes is nothing but a cobweb of insignifcant thoughts and a trap, that one lays for himself or herself. Mindfulness is like that broom that cleans up all the cobwebs.
And so, whatever we do throughout the day must be done with mindfulness while looking around, eatng, drinking, walking, standing, sitng, chewing, tastng, and even when obeying the calls of nature.
“Every emotion is connected with the breath. If you change the breath, change the rhythm, you can change the emotion.” – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar


The artul and therapeutc Japanese tea ceremony: A
testmony of mindfulness and meditaton
One such beautful example of practcing in everyday life is Cha-noyu, the Japanese tea ceremony. It is like a form of Zen , which is based on
the concept of celebratng the beauty of the feetng moment and impermanence of most experiences. This tea gathering practce is infused with a spiritual character.
The breakdown of the process followed while performing the Chanoyu ritual is explained as below:
1. The holy Tea-hut:
Traditonally, it was done in a small tea hut which is precisely dedicated to the enjoyment of tea; this is also true since meditatng at the same spot over and over again charges it with lots of positve energy and makes the practce even deeper the next tme. Before one enters a tea hut, it is advised to leave all the thoughts of the outside world behind the doorstep, and come inside absolutely clean. It is also advised to remember that this tme is only dedicated to oneself and the experience of having tea, nothing else in that moment maters as if the world has ceased to exist. Clearing one’s mind of all thoughts is a prerequisite to this ceremony so that one is not thinking about any bothering thoughts or the things to be taken care of during the day and this is done even before the tea leaves are picked and the tea ketle is boiled.
2. The aesthetcs and mannerisms of Chanoyu:
The purpose of hostng Chanoyu is to appreciate all the elements in the space-setng of the ceremony along with their fne and delicate intricacies
mindfulness
meditaton


like the beautful ceramic tea ware with hand-picked seasonal motfs on it, the graceful kimonos especially the one that the tea master wears(who hosts the gathering), a partcular foral incense that is chosen, the placement of tatami mats for seatng, and other metculous preparatons like calligraphy on scrolls, fower arrangement, and the very artsy Japanese sweets called Wagashi is served which are meant to be fnished before the tea is served. Every movement is performed very slowly and with an intenton (which is to pay atenton), from the preparaton of the tea to fnally drinking it. During the ceremony, all the unnecessary chatng and gossiping of everyday life is discouraged so that there is complete quietness, so much so that even the sound of water simmering in the ketle can be heard by everyone. They only talk exchanged among the partcipants is that of admiraton for all the present elements of the ceremony and their deep efortul detailing.
3. The fnal Tea- drinking:
Now when the tea is served, it is suggested to take one’s own sweet tme to look at it, appreciate it, to acknowledge the tme and efort that went into bringing this tea gathering together as well as the steps the tea took to get to you. Also, it must not be forgoten to be grateful to your own hard work for allowing yourself to be where you are now, enjoying this cup of tea. And when one takes the frst sip of the tea, he or she is urged to be mindful of the subtle aromas, tastes, and all that the tea has to ofer. Embracing all the thoughts and feelings arising at that moment and then letng them go, one must come back to appreciatng the heavenly sips of the tea, as if it is the only one you get.
Today this ceremony is spread far in the east and is a key component of their culture. It mirrors, proves, and establishes the nobility of the practce of Mindfulness in our everyday life.
Final word


The other mighty benefts of mindfulness meditaton are achieving:
 Extraordinary one-pointedness and focus
 Sharp precision of percepton
 Synchrony with oneself, others, and the environment
 Ability to see things in broader perspectve
 Farsightedness or vision
 Sense of purpose behind our motves and actons, and also behind those of others.
It also shapes our personality by instlling Virtues and Strength of character in our behavious and at the same tme making us gentler in our responses towards others.
Simply saying, mindfulness meditaton is making friends with the mind and also with the scary emotons that it sometmes poses to us. It is the process of mildly untying the knots of the mind. Under its long-term practce, the following changes (although small, but powerful) starts to happen for us:
So, Instead of trying to ‘fx’ the knots,
1. We become more mindful
2. We slow down
3. We become silent
4. We allow all that noise and incessant chater in our mind to setle
5. And fnally, we start to observe
All these steps teach us to be gentle and patent with ourselves. It also makes us more capable of choosing what would be beter, not just for ourselves but also for others and the greater (collectve) good of all beings.


In a larger scheme of things, the benefts of mindfulness meditaton expand the heart’s capacity to make the right choices, which can also be kind at the same tme as it eliminates the need of ‘having’ to choose one over the other.
About the author-
Navni Chawla is a correspondent and content writer with Life Positve. She had started with writng a blog and ofen used writng as a means to consult her deeper self. The process in itself was calming and healing to her. She has also writen a compilaton of poems and wishes to pursue fctonal storytelling ahead. Her other passions include cooking, singing, being in front of the camera, and the most adored one being, life itself; leading it from a child’s heart.


MANDALA
Raise your sattvic quotient
10
LifePositive | JUNE 2021
In this fast-paced world, we are always looking for quick fixes for everything, even
if it is healing a sickness. Hence, we run towards Western medicine
and forget the ancient wisdom of ayurveda that our country is blessed with.
Dr. Suneet Aurora is an
ayurveda specialist for 25
years with expertise in gastro and
immunity disorders, cancers, and chronic diseases. He also teaches ayurveda to young graduates in the Guru-Shishya parampara (guru- disciple tradition). He is a counselor as well with a post-graduate training in psychotherapy and psychology.
A play of elements and energy, ayurveda is a holistic science that is closely knitted into the philosophical and spiritual fabric of India. Vaidya Suneet mentions a lost traditional treatment modality called the Satvavajaya that finds reference in our classical Sanskrit texts. Calling it the ayurvedic equivalent of psychotherapy, he has revived Satvavajaya and often employs it at his clinic to treat patients. Under this modality of healing, one’s satva quotient is raised to heal and eliminate all negative psychological blockages that trigger a constant release of stress hormones into the body making its tissues inflammatory and acidic, thus causing many auto-immune disorders, cancers, obesity, and other degenerative diseases.
Dr. Suneet Aurora: propounder of Satvavajaya
In short, our body’s immunity is directly proportional to the
amount of satva we nurture.
Satvavajaya uses many beneficial ayurvedic herbs along with a lifestyle shift, to elevate one’s
negative outlook towards life to a positive one. Making a person a lot more balanced, serene, energetic, and dynamic, Satvavajaya promises an experience of life that is much more expanded, luminous, creative, and aligned with nature. Even the face of a person with raised satva glows differently and exudes good energy. It can also be seen in their eyes, words, mannerisms,
and in fact, in their entire being.
Vaidya Suneet has developed his unique method of amalgamating the neuroscience aspect of modern psychotherapy with the elements and Doshas in ayurveda along with some curated meditations which when applied work on the many layers of mind and body thus, attaining wholesome quantum healing, as observed in his client pool. A simple nutritious diet, healthy lifestyle, mindfulness, virtuous actions, pure relationships, compassion, and Maitri (loving-kindness) towards everyone, all help in increasing the satva.
Contact: Sampoorna Kayakalp Ayurveda Clinic and Panchkarma Centre
Ph.: +91 161 5028269; Mobile: +91 9216220077; website: www.kayakalp.org


Remembering Dadi Janki
On April 12, 2021, at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Conference Hall in New Delhi, the vice president of our country released a postage stamp in memory of Rajyogini Dadi Janki, the former chief of the Brahma Kumaris. The event was live on air and was also streamed online. Along with the Honourable Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President of India, this event also witnessed the presence of the Honourable Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister of Law and Justice, Electronics and IT and Communications, Shri D R Kaarthikeyan, Former Director, CBI, and other dignitaries. Through this ceremony, the government of India reverently extended this honour to Dadiji and celebrated her legacy and her life of service.
In the keynote speech, BK sister Asha said that Dadi Janki was a tireless server who always believed that the attitude of seva (selfless service) strengthens anyone who does it. Dadi Janki didn’t know English or any other foreign language, yet she spoke the language of the heart, humanity, and spiritual love. The questions “Who am I? To whom do I belong? What should I do?” were Dadi’s favourite ones, and she urged everyone she met to ask themselves the same. She has always succeeded in
drawing one’s attention to the Divine.
Shri D R Kaarthikeyan, who has had real close encounters with Dadi Janki for more than 30 years, also shared some really awe-inspiring experiences, one of them being an instance when he
Dadi Janaki was known to have a perpetually undisturbed mind
got a call from Dadiji, when she was in Mount Abu. She expressed her compassionate concern for him upon hearing the sad news of his wife’s sudden demise and said in her comforting voice, “Brother, she has not gone anywhere. We met in my morning meditation. She is with the angels and sends you a message. Even though you are a little broken, you must continue with your life as you have so much to do for the world. She was on her further journey as well.”
He described Dadi Janki’s personality as calm, kind, wise, simple, accessible, and very hospitable. A medical study in Texas showed that Dadi Janki had the most stable mind in the world as her mental state remained completely undisturbed even while performing complicated mental exercises. Also, the EEG examination of her brain wave pattern continuously displayed delta waves while she was cooking, eating, giving lectures, talking, doing arithmetic calculations, or sleeping. Her dedicated commitment to the practice of Raja Yoga meditation was the answer to her holiness. He summed up the 10 secrets of Dadi Janki who empowered thousands of women around the world:
• Sense of purpose
• Inner connection
• Spiritual discipline
• Control over thoughts • Selfless service
• Simplistic living
• Healthy vegetarian diet • Travelling light
• Finding time to laugh • Seamless compassion
Mandala 11


BANYAN TREE
TEACHING STORY
THE INERTIA OF MIND OR THE MANTRA TO MOVE
Once there lived a cowardly man who was very fearful of making any decisions. He lived his life on autopilot and always chose only what was readily available. This gave him a life full of misery, sorrow, failure, and poverty. He saw absolutely no way to overcome it. So he approached the wise village priest to seek some answers and told him his life story. The priest, on hearing everything, said, “Courage is not always doing something big and dramatic all at once. Courage begins with taking small steps, one at a time. It starts with taking action. You have not yet overcome the inertia and laziness of your mind, which always poses hurdles in front of you and keeps you from taking up challenges in life that might have brought you real progress and humongous personal development. Get over your mental sloth, and you will be just fine. A sluggish mind can’t think or act out of stagnancy. Do what you are supposed to do. Take action. Make it your mantra to MOVE, even physically, as then the mind too will follow and comply with the body, especially when you feel stuck somewhere.”
The man followed this valuable advice given to him by the priest, and within the first six months of applying it daily in his practice, he could see tremendous growth in almost all aspects of his life. He was finally full of happiness and gratitude towards everyone and everything.
THIS, I KNOW
SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
• In life, every moment is an act of letting go.
• Whenever you get so confused analysing your own feelings, just drop it.
• Grace dawns when we are devoted, calm, centred, and when our consciousness is like a flower.
• Having an attitude of gratefulness for all that we have received in life resolves karma.
• When you face different situations in Life, the peace and stability you have depend upon the amount of faith you have.
• Passion for transformation and dispassion for momentary pleasure can make you a strong and sincere person.
• Don’t be stuck with words; your worries are words, your ideas are words, but wisdom is beyond the words.
• The best form of worship is to be happy, to be grateful.
• There is freedom when you realise that you are just a witness to all that is happening.
64 LifePositive | MAY 2021


INSPIRATION
SILENCE
A day of Silence
Can be a pilgrimage in itself.
A day of Silence
Can help you listen
To the Soul play
In marvellous lute and drum.
Is not most talking
A crazed defence of a crumbling fort?
I thought we came here
To surrender in Silence,
To yield to Light and Happiness, To dance within
In celebration of love's victory!
—Hafiz
Translation from I Heard God Laughing by Daniel Ladinsky
ONE-MINUTE WISDOM
STILLNESS WITHIN
A man would always bring questions and
problems to his guru and the latter would advise him to stay silent and go within to find solutions. The man never understood this. His guru tried to explain to him about the nature of mind by drawing an example: “The storm- churned sea is silent and still, twenty feet below the surface. So also is the mind. To achieve equanimity and wisdom in life, dive into your mind. Be still. All that you need to know will reveal itself to you.” The man goes back home with clarity and peace.
QUOTE
“You can either be a host to God or a hostage to your ego.”
—Dr Wayne Dyer, PhD
JUST FOR LAUGHS
QUICK PICK
Once an author and parenting coach is asked what he would like to say about all his work over the years. He answers, “I have eight children. Before I had eight children, I had eight theories on how to raise children, and now I have eight children and no theories about how to raise children.” He also shares about his eleven-year-old daughter who always complained about his fathering skills. He was so fed up with listening to her complaints all the time, that one day, he told her, “Listen, if you don’t like the kind of father I am then you shouldn’t be blaming me but asking yourself why in the world you would pick me to be your father.” His daughter rolled her eyes back and said, “You are telling me that I actually picked you to be my father!” and he answered, “Yes, in the subtle world, our consciousness actually chooses who our parents are going to be before we show up in the world of form. When you are making important decisions like that, you should be really careful.” She responds, “Well, then I must have been in a hurry.”
Banyan Tree
65


Sri Vidya Mahayaga
Ancient Indians were known to believe in the efficacy of yagyas (fire sacrifices) to invoke the blessings of gods and change the energy composition of a particular space. Knowers of this science have decided to take recourse to this practice to balance the negativity which is currently engulfing this world.
Shakthiveda Wellness Mission, a charitable trust founded by Rishidev Narendraji in 2006 in Bengaluru, is currently performing a Sri Vidya Mahayaga for 2880 hours under the leadership of Matha Dr Sripriya, the prime disciple of Narendraji, affectionately called ‘Amma’ by devotees. The yagya commenced at 4 a.m. on August 17, 2021, and will continuously be performed till 4 a.m. on December 21, 2021.
In addition to performing mahayagas that go on for a long period unceasingly, for the upliftment of humanity, the mission also conducts research on energy aspects related to the human body, cosmic and subtle energies, and their effect on individuals to provide spiritual solutions to the miseries of the people. Rishidev Narendraji, who is a graduate in mechanical engineering,
is the purest and most uncontaminated element of life left on this planet. Shakthiveda fire rituals are simplified, and anyone can perform them irrespective of caste, creed, or religion. These fire rituals bring inner purification, environmental purification, happiness, and harmony with nature. In mahayagas, a number of medicinal herbs are used as oblation material, and through their continuous usage for a long period, the environment and nature are cleansed. Since we are part of nature, it helps in the wellbeing of mankind and other elements of nature. Positive changes in the environment have scientifically been recorded during Shakthiveda Bhaishajya Mahayagams, each of 81 hours duration.
Srividya Mahayaga, which is currently in progress, is being performed for health, wealth, family harmony, interpersonal relations, and spiritual empowerment of the people, giving them the strength they need in these difficult pandemic times.
People contribute to them by donating ghee, wood and herbs. At Shakthiveda, one can avail a free photo analysis by sharing their name and photo at 9900198585. The root cause of their suffering and the associated solution
will be explained.
Website: https://www. shakthiveda.com/
Phone: +91 74837
53687 (Tamil, Kannada & English), +91 86605 17237 (Malayalam &
English)
Email: swmission2007@
gmail.com Matha Dr Sripriya
and his prime disciple, Matha Dr Sripriya, are involved in research activities related to energy aspects for over three decades and have given
a number of wellness measures for spiritual empowerment, health,
wealth, knowledge, and interpersonal relationship
aspects to the seekers.
Rishidev Narendraji, discovered that the human energy field comprises 56 intelligent cosmic energy components. As per Shakthiveda,
fire
10 LifePositive | OCTOBER 2021


MANDALA
Unnati: Giving wings to women
10
LifePositive | MAY 2021
Kavita Malhotra is a woman of extraordinary resilience and commitment. A spiritual healer and a counsellor,
she started her journey
of self-healing and inner
work 22 years ago. Kavita
is devoted to the mission
of creating healthy,
balanced, and happy homes
by improving the physical,
psychological, and emotional
well-being of women. Kavita’s
baby enterprise, Unatti, came into
being when she realised the need to contribute to making the world a better place. It started with her conducting personal growth sessions for the staff at her husband’s office. Most of them were women, working for their survival and struggling in their relationships. This led to her dream to help women enjoy a quality life.
Unatti conducts one-on-one online personalised sessions that are specially cut out to suit the exact circumstance of a person and which help them resolve their inner conflicts. She likes to keep her work simple and easy by eschewing the sense of doership and believing that God is working through her. This helps her stay true to the work—humble and in surrender—and also works best in the interest of her clients who seek value for money when they invest in the workshops conducted by Unatti.
Kavita Malhotra is no less than a wonder woman who empowers others to realise their true worth
Her core work lies in strengthening the relationship of women with their own selves so that they can feel empowered, happy, free, and fulfilled within first, before they attend to the needs of other people. Women, inherently being huge multitaskers, juggle different roles. From managing heavily loaded household duties and their careers to taking care of their families, they do it all. Giving credence to the saying “You cannot pour from an empty cup,” Kavita teaches these women how to keep their cups full by intuitively leading them on. She employs healing tools like journaling, EFT, switch words, meditation, etc., which help them drop the negative and unwanted layers of their personality and crystallise their higher
purpose and meaning in life.
She has helped many women realise their heart’s calling. A butterfly effect has resulted in most of her inspired students contributing in many different ways to uplift society as a whole. Calling herself a learner first and then a teacher, she is still acquiring new skills every day. She is also pursuing writing a book on self-growth.
Contact: [email protected]


Sole searching
Calling herself a foot reader by karma, Preeti Chadha is a holistic wellness expert, a motivational speaker, and a spiritual healer. Foot reading is studying the texture and structure of both sides of the feet: the toes (each toe has a significant meaning), nails, lines, arch, colour, mounts, and also certain imbalances or symbols which can tell about one’s emotions and personality. It is an age-old science that can be traced back to 5000 years. Preeti believes to have received the gift of being able to read people’s feet as a blessing from Maa Kali. She says that the feet are the storehouse of one’s karmas.
Preeti stresses the need for taking care of one’s feet by keeping them clean, beautiful, and covered to attract good luck and energise oneself. She explains, “Since our body has a magnetic field of its own and feet are its energy centre, they can pick 3000 times more negative energy
than our thoughts; so they must be protected well. The feet can be the most neglected part of
the body. Any kind of pain, discomfort, discolouration,
cracks, infections, or wounds should be
taken as seriously as a headache. Often ignored,
these may be signs of a disease slowly settling inside the body. Even an injury suffered by a toe or the ankle can be an important message to take cognizance of.”
She was pained to see the negligence of people towards their feet, which turned her into an entrepreneur. She runs her company called Iremia Oils, under which she makes organic foot balms and oils with healing properties. These products are energised by mantra chanting played while making them.
Always intrigued by people’s feet, Preeti has walked most of her life with her eyes glued to the ground. Since foot reading is a very rare subject, Preeti has learned everything about it on the job, by the practice of analysing many feet. When her readings turned out to be accurate, it encouraged her further on this path.
Containing reserved spots for deities and planets, feet are holy and significant. They carry 12-14 energies that are not even present on the
palms and forehead, which makes foot reading a rather exclusive method to make predictions. Foot reading, when combined with astrology, is very efficient in revealing with certainty and clarity many things in life. Preeti, who emphasises the importance of mindful living, is also coming up with a book
on foot reading soon.
Contact: 9818276411 [email protected]
Preeti Chadha believes that one should equally take care of their feet to invite luck and prosperity in their life
Mandala 11


CLOSE ENCOUNTER
Of faith, hope, and courage
18 LifePositive | SEPTEMBER 2021


Navni Chawla talks to Indira Ahluwalia about her book and her turbulent life, which she has managed with great equanimity and a sense of purpose and gratitude
F ast Forward to Hope is the brave story of a very brave woman, Indira Ahluwalia. This book is a testament to a woman’s courage, hope,
determination, and love. The reader is sure to take away the contagious spirit of the author and her fiery desire to live life and live it well and fully. Indira Ahluwalia is an ordinary woman living a normal life with a loving family, friends, and work until cancer strikes her, which later becomes severe and visceral. In her book, she intricately describes the minute details of her journey while treating cancer. Her writing makes the readers travel with her through the meandering pathways of her life and empathise with her situations. They feel as if they are with her on every page. We find how a lovely family and a close-knit circuit of friends provide Indira with a concrete support system.
Another important anchor and internal source of strength is her faith in the greater good of every life situation and her will to live and heal completely. What makes the reader feel for Indira is life throwing one difficult challenge after another at her—from cancer metastasising dangerously in her body, the discomfort of chemotherapy, the trauma of losing hair, and a bilateral mastectomy, to a difficult and painful separation from her then husband. But her determination to fight against all odds makes her highly proactive. Her preparing herself mentally for a medical procedure, reciting mantras on her prayer beads, doing constant positive self-talk, praying incessantly to Waheguruji, her willingness to cure herself of the illness, and battling other personal challenges is exemplary.
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When the crises of health, marriage, and income came together, my little children gave me unwavering purpose. I also trusted Waheguru. He gave me the responsibility of being a mother, and I was sure He would give me the capacity to fulfil my duty too.
Her commitment to living with grace and dignity makes her a woman of steel, in fact, a superwoman who not only survives the tough times but also emerges a winner and the author of this beautiful book.
She is the perfect example of how loss and hardships have the potential to make one wiser, more resilient, empathetic, compassionate, proactive, loving, and connected to the Divine intimately. That is exactly what Indira’s life stands for. Her book gently proclaims that living in surrender to the supreme power can emancipate one from their sufferings and agonies, and take them towards the fountain of joy and light.
Q. How would you describe your relationship with God throughout your journey? Was it the most revered one of all?
My relationship with Waheguru has been a constant in my life. As I say in Fast Forward
to Hope, Waheguru has been my “invisible friend” from the time I was a child. Spirituality became a safe space for me a long time ago. Over the years, it is in the quiet of spirituality that I have tried to hear my deepest fears and greatest desires, and where I have asked and been given so much.
I have been very lucky. My father Jayant Singh Kalotra epitomised living life with faith. He wore his turban naturally and his faith intrinsically. My mother Amrit Kalotra incorporates truth and seva (selfless service) in her life. Our family has had a prayer room wherever we have lived, and we start and end our day with prayer. This has resulted in an almost palpable presence of goodness and faith in our day-to-day lives.
Q. Somewhere in the book, you mention ‘Chardi Kala,’ which is a Punjabi term for the mental state of eternal optimism and joy.
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Was it easy to be in that state most of the time? And how?
Challenges are the norm, and fear and doubt our natural reactions to them. If anything, I have learned to accept (not fight) fear and create greater space for hope. Chardi Kala is a powerful state of mind, and even if it is aspirational, it is still compelling. For me, it is the acceptance and trust in the will of Waheguru as much as a way of life which believes that He will carry me through. It is also about personal responsibility. I have to do my part. I can choose hope over fear, especially when fear can feel overwhelming.
Q. Life threw at you a barrage of challenges, one after the other, and sometimes all at once. It can be very overwhelming for anyone. Where did you draw your strength from? Was it inside or outside?
Strength flows from having a goal, desire, an aspiration, and obligation. You have to have a reason to want to fight the challenges, and to overcome them. The reason has to be so compelling that not achieving it is not a choice. The goal has to fuel you and drive you even when you are weary and feel alone. You have to have the will and the discipline to continue to fight consistently till you get to the other side. You can’t want something and not work towards it. You have to put in the work. There is no other way.
Was it easy? Is it easy? No. But is the alternative any better? When the crises of health, marriage, and income came together, my little children gave me unwavering purpose. I also trusted Waheguru. He gave me the responsibility of being a mother, and I was sure He would give me the capacity to fulfil my duty too. My parents, brother, and sister-in-law stood with me unconditionally. Friends and colleagues supported me with prayer and love. Random
strangers gave me hope in the most unexpected ways. I was lucky. I had support. The fight, however, had to start within me. It started with faith and was carried on by the love of good people.
Q. Your book reminds us of how we would write our diary entries. We loved the fine details and nuances of your emotional palette during your tumultuous life journey. Was it a conscious choice to maintain a diary to be later converted into a book?
I started with a blank sheet of paper and with the prayer that the spirit should guide me and help me tell my truth. I hadn’t maintained a diary, and so the only way to write this book was to relive the experiences I had undergone while penning them down.
All that you need to know about Indira’s book ‘Fast-forward to Hope’
Fast Forward to Hope
Choosing to Build the Power of Self
About the Book
Most people see a stage IV cancer diagnosis as the end of their story, but not author Indira Kaur Ahluwalia. For her, that was ju the beginning.
Fast Forward to Hope: Choosing to Build the Power of Self recounts Indira's journey from fear to hope as she struggled to face various challenges, particularly related to her advanced breast cancer diagnosis. Bolstered by her strength of fighting cancer, she fully discovered her true capacity and reconsidered life choices to create the reality she desired. This book is an homage to the journey of life. It is a tribute to the struggle of finding one's own power, and cultivating life's trajectory.
Beyond walking with her as she shares her story, you'll find insights and strategies she learned along the way that can be applied to your struggles whether they be medical diagnoses or other stumbling blocks life puts in your path. Whatever the odds, you can choose to find the courage to build on the smallest shred of hope to live life on your own terms. Fast Forward to Hope is for anyone ready to look at their challenges in a new light.
KEY TOPICS questions
- Fear and Hope
- Vulnerability and Strength
- Confronting Death and Facing Life
- Accepting Support from
Others and Self-Reliance
- Control and Power
- What would you say to someone who is newly diagnosed with cancer? - What made you write this book? Who should read this book?
- What guidance would you give medical professionals
in dealing with patients?
- How do you manage when you are feel alone? - How do you find your own power
st
About the Author: Indira Kaur Ahluwalia
Indira Kaur Ahluwalia is an activist & entrepreneur turned advisor, coach, & now an author. She's worked in federal government contracting, particularly international development, to build equity, accountability, and sustainability.
As Indira fulfilled her life's passions and professional obligations, she was diagnosed with stage IV advanced breast cancer with bone metastasis at age 38. Her fight, and the lessons she learned, led her to write Fast Forward to Hope: Choosing to Build the Power of Self - a memoir to enable others to face and walk beyond their own issues.
A single mother to her teenage children, Indira loves the sound of children's laughter, her mother's cooking, and sitting on the beach watching the sun rise.
advance praise
“In this moving book, Indira Ahluwalia describes the struggles of life with cancer. But instead of dwelling on its miseries, she focuses on the lessons and the hope that she was able to draw from her own experience. From embracing vulnerability to finding support both from others and within yourself, Fast Forward to Hope holds lessons in strength and self-belief relevant to us all”
Shashi Tharoor, author of 22 fiction and non-fiction books, and prominent Indian diplomat and politician
The passion and insight written by the author not only transcends surviving and living with cancer, but all obstacles one confronts in life. I will keep a copy of this book in my patient library as well as my personal library. Wonderful read, wonderful message, must read for all.
Maria Theodoulou, MD, New York Oncology Hematology; formerly Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Indira Ahluwalia's story of surviving and thriving in the wake of a life-altering diagnosis is both uplifting and thought provoking. As a doctor, I know the wonders of science and medicine, but her story shows how the human spirit and one's faith play a significant role in the treatment plan thus proving that science and faith can coexist peacefully.
Karen Maser, MD, Obstetrician & Gynecologist
I first met Indira just after her diagnosis of breast cancer. Her PET scan demonstrated extensive, widespread metastatic disease. I gave her hope as I do all patients and shared that there are “many bottles on the shelf” that could be used to treat her. This is her story and her efforts towards creating hope for others.
Rodney Butch, MD, former Section Head CT and PET Imaging, Fairfax Radiology
I feel honored to experience Indira's story through her eyes. Her writing is captivating, honest, and real. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is battling or has battled cancer, but also to those who enjoy inspirational narratives about strong women overcoming adversity and beating the odds.
Nicki Avena, author of Neither Created Nor Destroyed
Fast Forward to Hope has value for both those within the cancer ecosystem and those far removed from it. Indira Ahluwalia masterfully explores both the human and spiritual aspects of living to create the fullest expression of the self from her own unique vantage point. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of reading this book.
Paige Snider, Public Health Communicator
Ordering Information
Fast Forward to Hope is available worldwide on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other book stores.
contact Information
1-571-426-1296 [email protected] www.fastforwardtohope.com
/watch?v=0BsczvNyuEE /indirakaur.ahluwalia /indira-ahluwalia @indirakaura
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I love the concept of love—of giving love, sharing love, receiving love, of seeing love at play. Love is joy. Love is unconditional. Love is in the shape of the moon. Love is a magnificent tree standing proud through decades. Love is a soft breeze.
I wrote the last part of the book, ‘the whys,’ first. I knew I had learned a lot subconsciously, and so I started by creating a list of what I could immediately recall as lessons. ‘Khalsa cells,’ ‘Amrit,’ ‘The decision,’ and going to the wedding right after the biopsy were stories that came to my mind right away, and as I wrote, they became the ‘lessons.’ I felt I had to write the ‘whys’ first. I knew that I had something of relevance to share from my journey of living through challenges.
Q. At the end of many chapters, there is mention of a lesson learnt. How would you sum up your entire journey into one major lesson learnt?
You have power even if you don’t have control, but you have to choose to exercise it. And yes, you can.
Q. How has your approach towards life, people, and circumstances changed after the experiences you have had?
I have understood the significance of hope. Hope enables reality.
I have created a more meaningful and balanced relationship with faith: it is not about what I want, it’s learning to trust the flow of life.
I have evidence of my belief that people are good.
I have become (more) fearless to be me.
Q. Did you use any formative tools like meditation, etc. to help you sail through the difficult times?
I hold my japa mala (prayer beads) very dear. Just holding it gives me comfort.
Like my father, I start and end my day with Ardas. I have tried to learn Gurumukhi (the script of the Punjabi language) on and off many times to be able to read the Guru Granth Sahib, but I am not well versed in our Sikh
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scriptures. So instead, I just talk to Waheguru. The prayers I do—Japji Sahib and Ardas— carry me.
Meditation and energy healing have helped me heal myself, fight my demons, and make friends with my weaknesses to build my strength. Acupuncture has helped ease my body. I love food too much to even pretend to try to work on nutrition even though I should! A core group of friends who have stood by me night and day through all of it have given me unconditional support.
The hugs from my children have uplifted me every time. My breathing just eases, and I get tremendous energy from their love.
Q. Any intrinsic habit or quality of yours that you’d like to share that probably made those very tough situations a tad bit easy?
When life itself felt uncertain in the early days of being diagnosed with Stage IV advanced breast cancer with widespread bone metastasis, my unwavering belief that Waheguruji would allow me to and help me raise my children gave me strength. If there was a habit, it was faith.
Q. How would you describe love? And self- love? And also the layering and deepening of it during your strong fight against cancer?
I love the concept of love—of giving love, sharing love, receiving love, of seeing love at play. Love is joy. Love is unconditional. Love is in the shape of the moon. Love is a magnificent tree standing proud through decades. Love is a soft breeze. Love is how you throw your arm out to protect the person sitting next to you when the driver suddenly applies the brakes. Love is in a look. Love is a son dancing with his mother. Love is hands intertwined, as a couple of many years walk slowly together.
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It is so much easier to give love to another person than to treat yourself with the same care and respect. Self-love is hard-fought, and it has to be learned. Ultimately, it is inordinately liberating when you accept yourself as who you are rather than who you want to be or think you should be.
In writing Fast Forward to Hope, I squarely focussed my love on people and my faith that sustained me, and gave my appreciation to the science that enabled my well-being. I didn’t really comprehend or accept my own role and effort in this fight to survive till just a few days before the publication of the book.
I had been struggling to create the subtitle for the book, and I had been playing with the iterations of ‘gratitude’ and ‘optimism’ as much as ideas like ‘journey from fear to hope through cancer.’ All the options were in keeping with the themes I had written about in the book. However, none of them felt right. Slowly, after many discussions, I started hearing and accepting that it had something to do with my current level of stabilisation. And the subtitle evolved naturally from there: Choosing to Build the Power of Self.
Q. How would you describe your life now, post getting cancer, having lived with it, even now recovering from it, and all other parallel
battles you were dealing with alongside? How do you see or look at challenges now?
I am grateful. I know how fortunate I am. And I remain fallible as I continue to take much for granted.
I remain in treatment for cancer. I get IV treatment every three weeks and am very closely monitored through multiple scans every four months. I recognise the privilege that I have.
I am living the life I wanted as a mother even as I am still trying to figure out how to be a good mother to children who are growing up too fast.
I enjoy my work. I am fortunate to do work that is deeply meaningful for me: advising on building equity and inclusion, strengthening authentic and strategic leadership, advising mission-driven organisations on growth, and building purposeful survivorship and stronger patient care.
I am living my life with purpose—in truth, with gratitude. Certainly, challenges haven’t taken a respite. So I keep walking, one foot at a time, one day at a time, doing my part as best I can, knowing there is much I must do before I can rest.
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LEAD STORY
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A SIMPLE MIND
Being able to think straight, clear, and simple thoughts can have a profoundly transformational impact on our lives, says Navni Chawla. This article delves deep into the process of cleaning up the mind of unwanted thought patterns which hinder our growth and happiness.
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Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity. —Charles Mingus
Recalling a blurry incident from my early college days in 2013, I was in conversation with the head of the Mass Media Department at St. Xavier’s college, Mumbai. I wanted to change my course from Life Sciences to BMM (Bachelor of Mass Media), and when she asked me the reason, I said that I wanted to do something more creative. She asked me, “What, according to you, is creativity?” and before I could answer, she herself said, “It is the ability to convey an idea in the simplest way you can. ‘Simple’ is creative.”
The answer struck me. Even though simple, I felt that the statement was profound in its expression. Until now, I had associated creativity with the ability to think complex thoughts and structures. I had marvelled at the intricate patterns and layouts created by artists of high calibre and aspired to be able to emulate them one day.
The statement stayed with me and became a mantra of sorts for me, whenever I wanted to
be creative in any endeavour of mine. I realised that to be able to achieve this level of expertise, I needed to be able to think simply. And that it was not an easy task.
I observed that the mind is one of the most complex entities humans have at their disposal. Mired by confusions, options, passions, needs, conditionings, desires, and prejudices, it rarely sees things for what they are and knows what it actually wants. If not reined in or disciplined, it could run haywire, submerge itself in negative and self-defeating thoughts, and be the cause of an all-round failure and a downward spiral in life.
We all wish to have a life which is simple and uncomplicated. We want to find simple solutions to complex problems. We want life to work for us and not against us. But what most people do not realise is that for this to happen, our mind needs to be clean, clear, and simple. A complex mind often wanders in the estuaries of existential crisis. It is lost and sees no purpose in anything. Poet David
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