Guila was appointed UNESCO Artist for Peace in January 2012, in light of her commitment to promoting and defending human rights through art. She has taught at Sciences Po, Harvard University, Boston and Oxford Universities, University of Geneva, and the St. Petersburg Conservatory, amongst others.

guila-clara-kessous.jpg

Guila Clara Kessous

<h4>
 GUILA CLARA
 KESSOUS
 is a member of Harvard University’s affiliated Institute of Coaching,
 the UNESCO artist for peace, and an art therapist.&nbsp; Here she
 writes about the recent paradigm shifts in leadership and how
 present-day leaders require subtle collective skills rather than being
 super humans.
</h4>

<hr class="vertical-space1" />


 In recent years, we have challenged the narrow vision of a leader as
 someone “strong, knowledgeable, and a great communicator,” someone who
 can leverage their expertise to mobilize and create followership. Behind
 this heroic fantasy leader stands a human being who has spent their life
 accumulating knowledge, without worrying too much about its application
 and, especially, without worrying about relationships. For a
 super-leader, managing relationships is the manager’s prerogative (those
 nice facilitators who spend their time managing ego conflicts). So as
 soon as the leader faces the reality of also being a manager, trouble
 starts.



 Without managerial skills, a leader is not really up to the task. Even
 the most technical management position involves cross-functional
 interactions with other departments, and connections with other teams.



 The key to success in this delicate transition from controlling
 leadership to equitable management is behavioral skills, particularly
 the so-called “subtle” skills.


<h4>
 From Ego to
 Eco
</h4>

The word “subtle” derives from Latin and refers to two notions:

<ol type="1">
 <li>Something difficult to perceive, and</li>
 <li>Finesse and delicacy in realization.</li>
</ol>


 Subtle skills are twofold: if they are difficult to perceive because of
 their intangible nature, they are also highly accurate and incisive for
 those who can apply them.



 Let’s take the example of an executive expert promoted to a managerial
 position. When an organization uses the function of management, it means
 either “management of” or “management over.” Panicked by the new level
 of coercive power they have, the executive often seeks refuge in the
 skills they acquired during their years of study, however, this is not
 what is expected of a leader, who must not only inform which direction
 to take (a GPS can also do that) but also be the direction.



 Here is the subtlety: those who follow will no longer follow the
 information, but will seek to emulate a leader. They will be inclined to
 follow someone who knows how to use emotional intelligence and
 relational management to utilize the power of the collective.



 This is what Professor Otto Scharmer presented in his Theory U at MIT,
 highlighting the five necessary stages of collective intelligence:
 observation, perception, being present, crystallization, and deployment
 to bring about a stage of collective consciousness.



 The subtle skills required by the new manager are to meet the team,
 listen to the directions of the different participants, and understand
 what directional synthesis is proposing about the concerns of the system
 by comparing them with the reality of the market.



 Theory U is based on the success of the collective synthesized by the
 sagacity of an open-minded leader to be completely present to others.
 “New leaders will have to be able to drive attention on change without
 driving too much attention on themselves,” said Ronald Heifetz, director
 of the Harvard University Leadership Education Project. Subtle skills
 invite us to shift from egocentricity to eco-centricity; they reflect a
 greater maturity of leadership compared to a top-down pyramidal system.


<h4>
 New Leadership
 Subtleties: How to Systematize Enthusiasm and
 Embodiment?
</h4>


 The most remarkable subtlety happens when leadership is paired with
 concepts that seem to be at odds with a traditional view: progressive
 leadership, emotional leadership, situational leadership, and benevolent
 leadership. Spiritual leadership is the best example of two juxtaposed
 notions, because any form of spirituality is suspect in the management
 sphere, immediately evoking a religious figure who wants to lead their
 flock like a guru. And for the followers of spirituality, the word
 “leadership” distorts the very essence of a transcendental idea, so much
 so that the implied resonance of profitability is offending.



 Spiritual leadership is an apparent paradox because it brings the
 material and the immaterial together, but there is a genuine craze for
 the term in business nowadays and it can be explained by the need to
 include more subtle criteria among the indicators of managerial success.



 Far from being an incursion of religion into the corporate sphere,
 spiritual leadership explores an “energetic” dimension of governance,
 with the concept of followership no longer subject to a simple
 technocratic hierarchy, but instead to a charismatic figure who embodies
 its messages. First mentioned by Professor Louis Fry at the University
 of Texas, this approach to leadership insists on the importance of
 intrinsic motivation through the leader’s values, attitudes, and
 behavior. It is based on a schematic model in the form of quadrants,
 just like emotional or situational intelligence.


<hr class="vertical-space1" />

<img alt="authentic-leadership2" width="525" class="lazyload has-img-center" style="width: 525px !important"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/authentic_leadership2_f72db6b182.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T08:03:16.075Z" />


<hr class="vertical-space1" />


 As with presencing, the starting point is always a leader’s awareness of
 their relationship with self, which allows them to be fully available to
 build cohesion through three main components: vision, hope and faith in
 the future, and benevolence toward others.



 There is a growing interest in France in spiritual leadership, thanks to
 the debate on enthusiasm and incarnation. Both enthusiasm and
 incarnation imply a transcendental relationship based on a charismatic
 rather than an intellectual energetic presence. Therefore, the subtlety
 is to understand the importance of self-giving in a leader who wishes to
 inspire followership. Self-giving is fundamental to spiritual
 leadership.


<hr class="vertical-space1" />

<hr />

<h4 class="has-text-align-center">
 The subtlety is to
 understand the importance of self-giving in
 a leader who wishes to inspire followership. Self-giving is
 fundamental to spiritual leadership.
</h4>

<hr />

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

<img width="700" alt="authentic-leadership3" class="lazyload has-img-center" style="width: 700px !important;"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/authentic_leadership3_9a79b9173b.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T08:04:03.853Z" />

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

<h4>
 Leadership at
 Heart: Heartificial Intelligence
</h4>


 Self-giving does not mean “forgetting yourself in others.” Today’s
 leaders cannot afford a sacrificial posture that is lost in a kind of
 wild empathy. Instead, it involves a heart-to-heart resonance with
 followers, which allows them to better understand the ecology of their
 system.



 It involves the principles of Social Permaculture and the Symbiotic
 Economy, linking intellect and personal responsibility to the
 collective. As Isabelle Delannoy advocates in
 The Symbiotic Economy, it is based on the symbiosis of human
 intelligence, the power of ecosystems, and tools. The leadership
 challenge is in finding the right balance to regenerate them instead of
 exhausting them; to create a system that works without burning out
 either the leader or the followers. This is also what Gunter Pauli
 advocates when he talks about the
 <a href="https://www.theblueeconomy.org/en/">Blue Economy</a>.



 How to apply this level of subtlety to the very heart of inspiration at
 the corporate level? How to re-consider what we think is at the bottom
 of the ladder in our systemic worldview and, instead, make it the engine
 of a humanistic recycling economy?



 In this sense, the leader and the follower are two sides of the same
 coin in a circular economy. Restoring a person’s pride can have benefits
 for everyone in the system since all are intimately connected. This is
 what we call leadership from the heart: not only human and benevolent
 leadership but also courageous leadership of being oneself in front of
 others, and especially for others.



 Could this subtle Heartificial Intelligence save leadership from the
 dehumanization of Artificial Intelligence, while we wait for leaders to
 have an NFT rating? This is highly possible!


<hr />

<h4 class="has-text-align-center">Illustrations by Мария Гисина</h4>

<hr />

Subtle skills for authentic leadership: heartificial intelligence

<h4>GUILA CLARA KESSOUS, UNESCO Artist for Peace and art therapist, uses drama therapy to help people “let go” of their suffering through a cathartic process. It is a way for people in Rwanda, Bangladesh, Congo, and Afghanistan to find solace. Guila paints the portrait of four people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder who she accompanied to their respective countries. She has also designed a course on “Theatre and Humans Rights” that is taught at Harvard University.</h4><hr><h4>The Prince and the Poor Man</h4>The woman with black eyes has a wonderful way with French words. Intimidated, she clicks her tongue against her teeth and looks up to me. I reassure her and make it clear that I will not ask her to talk, but to express what lies within her, deep within her, to let it out. I know about her story: Martha lives in Ngoma, in Rwanda’s eastern province, near the women’s prison. This mother of five witnessed the slaughter of the Tutsis in 1994. She, too, once sincerely believed she could kill “for the good of humanity,” as the saying went back then on the waves of Mille Collines radio.I suggest we perform the exercise of “The Prince and the Poor Man” that Peter Brook used to teach a person to find “the right posture.” Asking her to portray a noble personality, I see the body of the septuagenarian straightening up and I watch her as she finds a glorious way to hold her head, so typical of faith in oneself and faith in humanity, found only in people who have not lost the beauty of their ingenuity. I try to spur her on, suggesting she tries to walk like a queen, taking care to slowly spread her feet on the ground, heel first and then toes. I notice the effort of her leg. It carries the history and muscles of thighs that were strong enough to drag themselves out of this hell. She looks around her with an air of Banyiginya haughtiness; the Nyiginya clan, who represent the nobility of the Batutsis.I then submit a text to her from Hamlet:… I know not “seems.” ’Tis not alone in my inky cloak, good mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black, Nor windy suspiration of forced breath, No nor the fruitful river in the eye, Nor the dejected haviorof the visage, Together with all forms, moods, shows of grief, That can denote me truly. These indeed seem, For they are actions that a man might play; But I have that within which passeth show, These but the trappings and the suits of woe.Before it even ends, I see her body shrivel up, withdrawing from the bliss of forgetfulness to return to what Peter Brook called “the Poor Man,” the human broken by their condition. She utters each and every one of these words distinctly while facing me. She concludes with a whisper, “Mu-ra-ko-ze,” which is the Kinyarwanda word for thank you, and then she curtsies!<h4>I have no hatred in me</h4>Francesca is repeating the sentence to me. She emphasizes every word and makes sure I’m jotting everything down. “How could I only explain that to my family? Since they’re rejecting me and think this is all my fault. I’m a disgrace to them.” I ask her if she’s willing to work on this feeling of shame with acting. She nods. Francesca was raped in the Congo, as so many other women have been, since rape is a weapon of war in the DRC.When she talks to me, she blinks a lot, just to be absolutely sure that she is still alive. So often have men imposed their will on her that at some point she was not sure of anything anymore. “I felt this predator had no desire, he just wanted to dominate.” Francesca lives in Bunia, the capital city of the Ituri province. She has endured many sexual assaults since she was a little girl, including in school where this kind of punishment is common. I suggest trying a body awakening exercise that will allow her to slowly come back to herself and to possess her sore body again.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/art_therapy_human_suffering2_700x480_e35c0c82ad.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T06:54:35.060Z" alt="art-therapy-human-suffering2"><hr>The “Energetic Shower” exercise involves “stretching one’s arms toward the sky” while imaginary drops “run” from the ceiling by moving one’s fingers and slowly bringing them down to micro-massage the forehead, the eyes, the cheeks, the chin, the back of the neck and then the neck. I watch her as she proceeds meticulously. I can feel the skin untighten on her forehead, the wrinkles fade out. Once the neck area has been reached, it’s time to switch to soft right-hand taps on the left side of the body. She talks to me: “If my daughter saw me doing this, she’d tell me ‘Mom, stop, you’re almost fifty now.’” She pats her left shoulder with her right hand and then the full length of her left arm. Then, the opposite. I can see her body stretch out and ready itself to “embody” a role that will help it healing. Francesca is looking at me, intrigued.I hand a poem to her: So long as the blade has not&nbsp;   Cut off that brain …These lines from Rimbaud make her smile. And I see her surrendering to the role, a sheer force getting hold of her. She now hits me with verse: That white, green and fatty parcel,  Whose steam is never fresh…At the end of the poem, she repeats to me, “He won’t get his hands on that one.”Clearly, he won’t get his hands on that one.as if, for a fleeting moment, she had managed to break free from tragedy.<h4>I would have preferred not to choose</h4>The interpreter is looking at me because he doesn’t know whether he must translate what has just been said. Hossain is a twenty-four-year-old father who doesn’t understand why he should stay with his child since his wife is there to look after him. As the others, he has fled and tries to live here in Cox’s Bazar under this makeshift tent strapped to bamboo pegs.Despite humanitarian aid, the Rohingyas’ situation has not really evolved, and Hossain is nervous. The interpreter resumes his translation: “I would have preferred not to choose. If I had known, I never would have done this. I would not have chosen to get her pregnant. She shouldn’t have kept the child.” I ask the interpreter to tell him that I’m not here to judge him but to offer him a way to explore the emotions he’s experiencing through drama-therapy. “Now is not the time for drama. How is drama going to help me find a solution?” he says, rolling his eyes. He seems exasperated.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/art_therapy_human_suffering3_700x480_1ebb3b3b2c.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T06:55:06.212Z" alt="art-therapy-human-suffering3">I suggest we perform a breathing technique called “the sniper’s breathing.” He listens to me, suddenly showing interest. “Sniper?” he asks. I smile, “Yes, snipers do this to calm down and enter a state of great focus. Try and you’ll see. Close your eyes.” I teach him this deep, abdominal breathing, taking in the air for four seconds, holding your breath for another four, and then breathing out for eight seconds. I see his puny body carrying it out. Then, after three times, I tell him he’s free to open his eyes.He has calmed down; his chest isn’texpanding as much and his eyes have narrowed. “Now, let’s play,” I say. He raises his eyebrow. “You’re going to be your pregnant wife and you’re going to tell me what you think of Hossain.” He laughs and sits immediately, pretending to cover himself with something. “What are you doing?” I ask. He tells me that his wife always wraps herself in a coat to protect her child from the damp atmosphere. This delineation brought by the coat is symbolic, but it will eventually help him realize, while impersonating her, how difficult it is to be a mother. And when the role play ends, he will agree to try to stay by her side.<h4>All the faces in the world</h4>I’m on the phone with Sabba and I ask her if she wants us to start working together using art. In precarious English, she tells me that yes, she does: “I want to become other, different roles, different faces. I’d like to be all the faces in the world today.”She lives in the small town of Charikar where she hasn’t had the opportunity to go to school for over a month now. She listens to the radio fervently because it’s her only way to stay connected with the world and to catch educational broadcasts. I suggest we do a little focusing exercise by describing her radio set. “It is small, rectangular, black.” I encourage her to speak in a louder voice and dare her to be more confident.And she follows up. “The radio set has buttons to choose the frequencies.” I now ask her to insist on some words, which she does willingly. “This radio is BEAUTIFUL, POWERFUL, and MINE.” This last word comes with a bang, and I can hear the pride that emanates from it.I tell her what we will do next: “Now Sabba, try to become this radio set and to speak out about what you’re going through on a daily basis and how you’re here to comfort Sabba.” Silence. Absorption of the information, then an imaginative effort. There’s a dilemma in the mind of this fourteen-year-old girl. I can hear her questioning herself, “How am I supposed to do this, I, who don’t have a professor anymore, to know if I’m following the instructions correctly?” And then she lets go, a breeze of courage ushers in the role play.She’s a symbol of courage and a symbol of hope.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/art_therapy_human_suffering4_700x480_5f564ad18a.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T06:55:54.845Z" alt="art-therapy-human-suffering4">

Art therapy for human suffering

Guy is from Montpellier, France. He is a retired psychotherapist and trainer, who retains the youthful spirit to learn through the heart. Under the pseudonym of ‘Papiji l’escoutaire’ he is our storyteller, retelling beautiful tales from different traditions about love, the different shades of love, and the qualities of the heart. This issue has the last of the stories from King Vikram. We can’t wait to see what Papiji will share with us next!

guy-de-montpellier-img.jpg

Guy De Montpellier

Guy Finley is the best-selling author of more than 40 books and audio albums on self-realization. He is the founder and director of Life of Learning Foundation, a non-profit center for Spiritual Development located in southern Oregon where he gives talks four times each week open to the public. For more information visit www.guyfinley.org.

guyfinley.jpg

Guy Finley

Victory over our own lower nature is now or never.We can’t end conflict later. We can’t stop being sad, cruel, angry, scared, or anxious later. Thinking, or hoping, that any destination we have in mind is going to be superior to where we’re presently standing is exactly why we’re still standing in that same place where we have to hope that some tomorrow will be better.Later does not exist in reality.Only to the lower self does the concept of ‘later’ have any merit. This self-created, false concept of time allows it to create yet another ‘you’ in another time when you’ll be wiser, stronger, and generally superior.But your higher nature knows for you to experience the miracle of real inner transformation, to step up to a superior life level, you must no longer think in terms of how you’ll be next time. It understands, as we must, that a change in nature is immediate; it is now, or it won’t be at all.And so it’s imperative to meet each moment of your life with this realization: it’s only what you do right now that is the seed of change. And in the endless beauty and mystery of what is the now, this same seed of change is also the seed of a New Self.Here’s why this is true: If you choose to change right now, then you won’t have to worry about how to be different next time!In fact, choose to change now and your conscious choice for real change in the present moment automatically cancels the need for a better you in a better future. All will be better for you now, which is the only time it really matters!Make it your moment-to-moment practice to stay awake, and to watch for all the opportunities that your own now presents. Keep your efforts personal, practical, and to the point. If your inner work doesn’t transform the whole of your life into a more relaxed, amazing, and uplifting experience, then you’re dreaming, not changing.Your awareness of the power of the present can transform each challenging life moment into a new and true beginning for you. Learning how to use these moments leads to real inner change, which is the same as being in command of your own destiny.From Guy’s 1994 book, Freedom From The Ties That Bind, Llewellyn Publications, USA.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article by GUY FINLEY</h4><hr>

Change is now or never

Guy is an energetic healer who also wrote Transforming Autism about how his family enabled their son to transform from a highly autistic toddler to a happy six-year-old, living a full contented life. He proposes a radical inspiring way to understand autism.He is also a Heartfulness trainer.

Guy-Shahar.jpg

Guy Shahar

<h4>GUY SHAHAR embarked on a career in energy healing with little understanding of what it entailed, after experiencing Dr. Bradley Nelson’s method, The Emotion Code. The results spoke for themselves. After becoming certified as a healer, Guy is now watching with wonder how the method is unfolding and evolving, and how he is growing through the process.</h4>I never gave energy healing any serious consideration until after my first visit to Kanha Shanti Vanam Ashram in 2020.&nbsp; The idea of sitting in a room and being able to heal another person in another town or on another continent seemed interesting but fantastical to me.A few years before that, I’d had a health breakdown following a long difficult situation at work. I was housebound for 3 months, and one of the things I’d been doing was receiving online energy healing with a practitioner. I didn’t really know what it was or how it worked, but I figured it was worth a try.It was during one session after that visit to Kanha that I heard a voice in my own head saying, “You should do this!” I almost dismissed it because energy healing was so far from anything I ever thought I’d do, or would be able to do.<h4>The Emotion Code</h4>But having heard the voice, I couldn’t ignore it. So I half-heartedly looked up the method I’d been receiving, The Emotion Code. It is based on the idea of releasing “trapped emotions” that come up at various points in our lives but are not fully processed. Perhaps it is because we are too overwhelmed or triggered at the time, and instead repress them, so they lodge as excess and disruptive energy in our system, and lead to all sorts of physical and mental issues.I discovered that it was actually a very simple method, and very easy to do, but required an ability that I didn’t think I had – “muscle-testing” to obtain clear yes or no answers from the subconscious mind of the person being treated.The man who created The Emotion Code, Dr. Bradley Nelson, has written a book of the same name which guides people how to do it. It includes a chapter on how to muscle test. I had zero confidence that a written chapter in a book would enable me to learn this important new skill, but I picked up a copy and by the end of the chapter, doing the exercises he suggested, I was surprised to get some reasonably clear answers.So I persisted with learning the method, using it on myself and my family, without any expectation of results. None came until one day when I was suffering from severe back pain and inflammation, and my wife suggested I try The Emotion Code to help. I wasn’t hopeful but had nothing to lose, so I went upstairs and released a number of trapped emotions. By the time I had finished, I was surprised to find that the pain had halved, and it continued to diminish as the day went on. When I told my wife, she took a look at my back and exclaimed that the inflammation had also gone down. That was the first time I genuinely felt there was something in energy healing.I had similar results when working with others in need. People’s pains disappeared in front of my eyes on Zoom calls. People who’d been depressed started smiling with an inner joy they’d not felt for ages. Children’s issues started to be resolved when we worked on them through their parents. Even pets showed dramatic improvement. And each time, it was me who was more surprised than the other person, as if I couldn’t quite believe the results that were happening.&nbsp;I had the good fortune to record&nbsp;<a href="https://youtu.be/HZ8zQVgOuvc">an interview with Dr. Nelson</a> recently, where he said that he shared the same surprise at good results, even after many years of practicing his own system. When asked how his approach brings about changes, he just shrugs and says, “I just work here.”My surprise at the results was a little ironic, however, because I’d been a Heartfulness trainer for nearly 20 years, and I was used to sitting at home giving meditation sessions to people far away, which I had no doubt were effective. But for some reason the idea of working in the same way to bring about more material health benefits hadn’t occurred to me.I was starting to field calls from people who’d been referred to me by friends and family, and I realized I needed to start doing this professionally. So I got certified in The Emotion Code, and then in a vastly expanded version of it known as The Body Code, and then launched a company, <a href="https://heartfulhealing.co.uk">Heartful Healing</a>.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Perhaps it is because we are too overwhelmed or triggered at the time, and instead repress our emotions, so they lodge as excess and disruptive energy in our system, and lead to all sorts of physical and mental issues.</h4><hr><figure class="image image-style-align-center"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/energy_healing2_98cae58348.jpg"></figure><h4>How does energy healing work?</h4>One of the questions I’m often asked is how energy healing actually works, and I’m no closer to having an answer. But having reflected on it, there are now 3 steps I always take at the start of a session:&nbsp;<ol style="list-style-type:decimal;"><li>Connect to a Higher Power Make a deep connection to a higher power, whatever that means to you. Dr. Nelson advocates this. As a Heartfulness practitioner, this is an easy step: I bring my attention to the constant inner presence in the heart that we’re gifted when we meditate with Heartfulness regularly and sincerely. It becomes an ever-present and vital part of our existence. That way, I’m not dependent of my own ultra-limited capabilities.</li><li>Connect with the client I focus my attention on them so that the answers I get from muscle testing reflect their own responses. I do this with as much love and prayerfulness for their well-being as possible.</li><li>Positive intention Together with the client, we set a positive intention for the results of the work. This is really important, as dwelling on problems actually exacerbates them. As the old saying goes, “Where attention goes, energy flows.” I invite them to put their attention on the positive outcome that they want, rather than the current negative situation they don’t.</li></ol><figure class="image image-style-align-center"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/energy_healing3_a799de95aa.jpg"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">I bring my attention to the constant inner presence in the heart that we’re gifted when we meditate with Heartfulness regularly and sincerely.</h4><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/energy_healing4_b0a3ffd2e3.jpg"><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">“Where attention goes, energy flows.”</h4><hr>For example, if they can’t sleep, we don’t focus on “I want to be free of these sleeping problems,” but rather, they picture themselves waking up happy and refreshed in the morning, full of positive energy. They connect with how that will feel, and experience joy and gratitude as if they have it now. If they do this while the work is going on, it is especially powerful. The more they keep this changed perspective through their daily lives, the better.Then the session begins. We identify the imbalances in the person’s system which need to be released, and use a simple technique to release them. But I can’t help feeling that this and other healing methods are a little superfluous, as the essentials of the work are established in those initial 3 steps.&nbsp;Those 3 steps are a sort of prayer for a particular manifestation, and perhaps it is the ultimate destination of any healer to end up in a place where the healing occurs through prayer alone.I’ve started to move in this direction with some more pioneering clients, using a method I call “Accelerated Healing,” which bypasses the need to identify each individual imbalance. It uses the release technique to release or rebalance whatever needs it, to bring the result they want. I find the results to be at least as effective as an established modality. It’s a step in the direction of where I suspect healing will ultimately take me.<figure class="image image-style-align-center"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/energy_healing5_53a3332abf.jpg"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Illustrations by JASMEE MUDGAL</h4><hr><img>

Energy healing

Chancellor of S-VYASA University, Bengaluru, and President of the Indian Yoga Association, Dr Nagendra has been at the forefront of research into the benefits of Yoga on health and well-being since the 1980s, combining the best of the western scientific approach with the Yogic and Vedic traditions of ancient India. He has received many awards and honors, both in India and on the international stage, including the Global Peace Award from the World Peace Council in 2015 and Padma Shri from the Indian Government in 2016.

nagendra.jpg

H.R. Nagendra

<hr><h4>DR H.R. NAGENDRA, Chancellor of S-VYASA University and President of the Indian Yoga Association, speaks about International Day of Yoga and the impact Yoga is having globally.</h4><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/nagendra_img_0bdc8e2a17.jpg" alt="nagendra_img">Q: Good morning sir. We would like to start with a very personal question. You were a scientist with NASA, and chose to come back to India to dedicate your career to spreading Yoga. What really prompted you to do this?HRN: The search for Reality. When I started doctoral research I asked, “What is the real purpose of the research that we are doing?” We talk about a Doctorate in Philosophy, a PhD, but are we doing philosophy? What is the whole idea? And it all came down to the idea that the search for Reality is the objective of the research being done.Are we really moving towards Reality with all the research that we do? The immediate answer was, “No.” So what was the way out? These were the questions that were being raised among the faculty and students.Then I got in touch with a professor of chemistry who was very well-versed in Sanskrit, the Upanishads etc. Through these interactions, I started getting a new direction from the Upanishads. They tell us that you have to go beyond the physical. What we were doing in science is essentially all about the physical world. And now a time has come where science is moving beyond the physical, to understand&nbsp;the deeper dimensions of this creation. What is prana? What is the mind? Can the mind exist without the brain and the body? What is the intellect? What is the relationship among the mind, the emotions, the intellect and consciousness? Do gods and goddesses exist? Into this field of subtlety and causality, science has started moving, and it was all here in the Upanishads thousands of years back.I found the complete answer to all my questions, the Upanishads attracted me and I entered into this field. I had gone abroad to see what were the best institutions and the directions science was taking, how technologies were moving, and what I wanted to study. After that I came back to India to continue this process. I joined the Vivekananda Kendra in Kanyakumari to train people in this direction. The head of the organization, Eknath ji Ranade, told me, “Now your direction is here, and you have to train youngsters.” That is how I became the director of training, and I stayed there for fourteen years before my current work started here at S-VYASA.Q: So it was the quest for Reality that drove you.HRN:&nbsp;Yes, from mechanical engineering to human engineering.Q: What role do you see Yoga playing, especially in health and education, in the years to come?HRN:&nbsp;Thanks to our Prime Minister, Yoga has now spread all over the world. One single speech by him at the UN Assembly, giving the holistic position of Yoga, not just as a physical exercise or other individual things, but as the science of holistic living, was&nbsp;presented so nicely that it almost hypnotized everyone. 183 countries approved his suggestion that 21 June should become the International Day of Yoga. He was telling me that the most surprising thing was that 45 Islamic countries came forward offering their support. This global support opened up the possibilities for Yoga throughout the world in an unprecedented way. Now the scope has spread everywhere.&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;<hr><h5 style="text-align:center;">I feel that health and education will be very much impacted by Yoga. Swami Vivekananda said that the entire education system has to be remolded.</h5><hr>&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;There are a lot of Yoga institutions in India and abroad, and he wanted to synergize their efforts, as they were all working in isolation. Therefore we formed the Indian Yoga Association, of which I am the President, and here you will find most of the main sansthas of India. This is how the synergy started growing.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/yoga2_img_cf28bb7eca.jpg" alt="yoga2_img">I feel that health and education will be very much impacted by Yoga. Swami Vivekananda said that the entire education system has to be remolded. What is happening today is essentially Britannic education. There should be man-making education and nation-building education and for that Yoga is the right way. Meditation is the right way of doing it. So we must build this dimensionally into our education system.So our Prime Minister said, “It should not be just one day of practice on 21 June by the largest number of people, but it should go into our education system.” So we work with all the main government institutions to integrate Yoga with education at the center. For example, in India the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) is training 1,300,000 teacher educators every year in pre-primary education. Then we have the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), for primary and high school level, and the University Grants Commission (UGC) for higher education. In all these organizations, the committees have welcomed us, and we have gathered a number of Yoga masters to develop a syllabus, a curriculum, which will be compulsory.Initially there was some resistance, and a group of people took it to the courts. But the Supreme Court ruled that Yoga is good for everyone, and has now approved a Yoga syllabus for schools. The Yoga syllabus aims to bring about the total development of the personality, at all levels.The second dimension is the health scenario. Modern medicine deals very effectively with infectious and contagious diseases, but the noncommunicable diseases like arthritis, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, epilepsy, migraine, irritable bowel syndrome and cancer have ruined the possibility of bringing health for all by 2010. So the WHO did not succeed in its endeavor.Why is this so? Because these modern ailments are not really physical. Our knowledge base in the physical may be total, but these diseases result from mental restlessness, emotional disturbance, and deep-rooted psychological conflict. It is a set of lifestyle diseases. So unless you bring about a totality of lifestyle normalization, you will not find the solution. Yoga and AYUSH systems have been doing that over the last 40 years and publishing their findings with wonderful results. It has been put into the framework of modern scientific research.Swami Vivekananda said: combine the best of the East with the best of the West. The best of the West is modern scientific research, and the best of the East is our wisdom way. The two have to be combined. This is how we started our movement and we started publishing papers in the best journals of the world. In 1986 we published the results of a four-and-a-half-year study on the&nbsp;effect of Yoga on bronchial asthma, and all of a sudden there was acceptance worldwide that Yoga could be used to treat asthma.<hr><hr><h5 style="text-align:center;">And now a time has come where science is moving beyond the physical, to understand the deeper dimensions of this creation. What is prana? What is the mind? Can the mind exist without the brain and the body? What is the intellect? What is the relationship among the mind, the emotions, the intellect and consciousness?</h5><hr><hr>Then we brought out a book, Yoga for Common Ailments. So for 18 different ailments, how do you bring Yoga in its full perspective? When that book came out it was published simultaneously in London, Sydney and New York. Then it was translated into many languages and became a bestseller. Now it has become a sort of textbook. Now we have produced almost 500 publications like this. Comparing all the institutions, no one else has been able to do this amount of research. In the field of Yoga worldwide, our contribution is probably between 50% and 70% of the total. That is why we call this organization Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana or S-VYASA, as it is a research organization.Q: How well is the age-old tradition of Yoga being received by the modern scientific community ?HRN:&nbsp;Earlier there was a lot of resistance, because people&nbsp;thought Yoga is Hinduism,&nbsp;Yoga does not have a base, and&nbsp;Yoga is some sort of physical exercise, and they started distorting all sorts of physical&nbsp;exercise into Yoga and bringing in animals as well,&nbsp;with dog yoga, cat yoga and what not.So there has been a great need for revamping and bringing the essential language of Yoga to the world at large. And that is what our Prime Minister did in such a big way. So three years back, on International Day of Yoga, 21 June, around 1,800,000 people practiced this common protocol in India, and throughout the world people practiced in almost 130 countries. Last year in India we had around 2,800,000 practicing and this year our target is 4,000,000. And we hope that all countries will participate.Our Minister of External Affairs has been very bold in following up to promote Yoga Day abroad. We want to share our tradition.<hr><hr><h5 style="text-align:center;">Swami Vivekananda said: combine the best of the East with the best of the West.</h5><hr><hr>Q: Can you speak more about the impact of Yoga on non-communicable diseases, like diabetes, cancer etc.? Can Yoga offer a solution ?HRN:&nbsp;What we did was to develop collaborations with the topmost institutions in the world, so that acceptability is easy. First of all with the Royal Free Hospital in London we worked on diabetes in the 1980s. Then at the Middlesborough General Hospital in the UK we worked on arthritis. After this, at the University of California, San Francisco, we worked on pre-diabetes and HIV. Then in Los Angeles we worked on irritable bowel syndrome. The biggest center for cancer research is the MD Anderson Cancer Center, so there we have our work on cancer, especially breast cancer.In this way we spread our wings throughout and went to the best research institutions in the world to establish the efficacy of Yoga as an adjunct to conventional medicine. This is how Yoga was&nbsp;brought into the health field, particularly in cities. We have also been doing the same in India, with all the institutions here. In all the hospitals we have our Yoga teams supporting patients and doing research. Recently we wanted to bring this work into the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). So I gave a talk and they said they were very fascinated and would start working with us. Fortunately there was some space available in their tower, so they gave us around 4,000 square feet to establish an advanced center for integrative medical research. When we started, all the departments came with so much enthusiasm, so now there are 24 research projects going on there. In the next two to three years, AIIMS will produce a lot of research findings in this field. It will be a wonderful result.&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;<hr><h5 style="text-align:center;">That’s the beauty of Yoga. If you are a computer engineer, it helps you to become more effective as a computer engineer, because while doing Yoga you will reduce your stress.</h5><hr><hr>AIIMS is the topmost research institute in the country, with the best brains, the best equipment, the best infrastructure, and the largest number of patients. When I asked them, “Are you producing papers in the best journals? How many papers have you published in good international journals?” they said, “None.” So I told them, “This is what you have to do.” Recently we have started publishing papers in the top journals, and now they are all inspired. So the entire thing has to be brought with modern scientific research because everywhere people want evidence.&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/yoga3_img_74ddb078c0.jpg" alt="yoga3_img">&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;Diabetes is reaching epidemic proportions in India now; China is number one and India is number two. But we are racing to go beyond China, and the expectation is that by 2024 we will become number one in the world. Can we prevent that? We were very keen to find a way. So I said: let the government join hands with Yoga institutions and bring about a positive change, and we took up a project about two years back where we screened around 250,000 people in six cities all over the country and gave them three months of Yoga. Their medication started coming down, sugar levels were getting normalized, and there were wonderful results. Based on this study, we are going to take the Yoga module that we have developed as a national program. The Minister for Health and Family Welfare announced that this program would be taken up nationally.Now he wants us to focus on cancer control, which he has given as a mandate for this year. It is called the integrative cancer project, and it is much bigger. We will be doing this in 125 districts, scanning 20,000,000 people. So we are seeking the help of all the different Yoga institutions because we have to scale up. We need the entire country to benefit from what we have found here in a small way. Once we do that, it will be a direction to the whole world on how Yoga is useful for health. There is a holistic vision to see that it brings about the delivery of a proper health care system. We should be very efficient and give immediate relief to people, with no side effects and, most important, cost effectively.Q: I was reading somewhere, sir, that Yoga practitioners don’t need proof; it is only for the external world that we need to provide the impact analysis to convince them.HRN:&nbsp;Many people think that way. Yoga and the Vedas are thousands of years old, whereas a western allopathic medical center may only be 400 years old. That is one way of thinking. But we also have to update our tradition, and to go on updating according to the times. There are things that were relevant 5,000 years back, 1,000 years back, 300 years back, which may not be so relevant today. Our requirements will be quite different. So we have to tailor our approach to the requirements of modern society, with the types of modules and other things we offer. This is what we are trying to do.Research is very necessary, and once we show the results of the research the whole world is going to accept. Otherwise, many people will not accept. For example, now Yoga has been accepted, meditation has been accepted, but Ayurveda and Homeopathy are not yet accepted. So when we start integrative centers in different parts of the world, people have no problem with Yoga but some still do with Ayurveda. So we have started doing a lot of research in Ayurveda and other systems also, to see that they also come to the forefront. That is the dimension today.Q: One last question, sir. Do you have any message for the younger generation ?HRN:&nbsp;To youngsters I would say that Yoga has a message for all. I invite them on International Day of Yoga to take up the simple module offered and practice it. Once they do the practice they will start growing very nicely in their own respective field. That’s the beauty of Yoga. If you are a computer engineer, it helps you to become more effective as a computer engineer, because while doing Yoga you will reduce your stress. So all the IT companies have started using Yoga to help their employees relax. Like that, Yoga has its application in all fields. So the youth of today are welcome to start doing the practice by participating in International Yoga Day. Start doing the practice for yourself, and it will bring about changes. It will bring about real transformation.&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Interviewed by PRASANNA KRISHNA</h4><hr>

Yoga

Heartfulness_Logo_new.png

Han Van Den Heuvel

<hr><h3 style="text-align:center;">A PHOTO ESSAY</h3><hr><h4>HAN VAN DEN HEUVEL is an avid naturalist and photographer, and here he shares with us his love of the local native birds.</h4><hr>Ever since my retirement in 2016, I have been able to spend more time in nature doing what I enjoy – taking photos of birds and bees. I am very lucky to live in a house that borders on Allenby Park Reserve in the northern beaches district of Sydney. The variety of birds visiting our backyard is enormous. I sit on the back veranda with my camera and wait for the birds to come by. Believe me, it is not as easy as it looks to get a good picture!Planting natives like grevilleas in our backyard attracts birds like the Rainbow Lorikeet and the Red Wattlebird. Even at night I get visits from the nocturnal Tawny Frogmouth.Allenby Park is home to a flock of about 30 Sulphur-crested Cockatoos. They fly graciously through the park and make a lot of noise. Walking through the reserve, I come across the Eastern Yellow Robin, the Eastern Spinebill, and the Variegated Fairy-wren. I have also taken photos in the Pilliga Nature Reserve about 300 kilometers north of Sydney, and at Dee Why beach not far from our home.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Birds_of_Northern_Sydney_Eastern_Yellow_Robin_ebcde668b3.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T12:35:26.143Z" alt="Eastern Yellow Robin">/p&gt;<h5 style="text-align:center;">Eastern Yellow Robin</h5><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Birds_of_Northern_Sydney_Eastern_Spinebil_7f5243476f.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T12:35:26.393Z" alt="Eastern Spinebil">/p&gt;<h5 style="text-align:center;">Eastern Spinebill</h5><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Birds_of_Northern_Sydney_Sulphur_crested_cookatoo_2e64ec2c1e.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T12:38:43.130Z" alt="Sulphur-crested-cookatoo"><h5 style="text-align:center;">Sulphur-crested Cockatoo</h5><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Birds_of_Northern_Sydney_Laughing_Kookaburra_28cf2f143a.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T12:38:44.537Z" alt="Laughing Kookaburra"><h5 style="text-align:center;">Laughing Kookaburra</h5><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Birds_of_Northern_Sydney_Rainbow_Lorikeet_8c9b4866d3.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T12:38:44.487Z" alt="Rainbow Lorikeet"><h5 style="text-align:center;">Rainbow Lorikeet</h5><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Birds_of_Northern_Sydney_Australian_Magpie_0cac3bc876.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T12:38:44.554Z" alt="Australian Magpie"><h5 style="text-align:center;">Australian Magpie</h5><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Birds_of_Northern_Sydney_Baby_Butcher_Bird_fd540456bb.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T12:35:26.284Z" alt="Baby Butcher Bird">&gt;<h5 style="text-align:center;">Baby Butcher Bird</h5><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Birds_of_Northern_Sydney_Wattlebird_ec71cf9f77.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T12:38:44.579Z" alt="Wattlebird"><h5 style="text-align:center;">Wattlebird</h5><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Birds_of_Northern_Sydney_Royal_Spoonbill_fb3498cfe4.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T12:38:44.140Z" alt="Royal Spoonbill"><h5 style="text-align:center;">Royal Spoonbill</h5><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Birds_of_Northern_Sydney_Laughing_Kookaburra_closeup_198582e616.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T12:38:44.115Z" alt="Laughing Kookaburra closeup"><h5 style="text-align:center;">Laughing Kookaburra close-up</h5><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Birds_of_Northern_Sydney_Seagull_b1289b2aa9.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T12:38:44.278Z" alt="Seagull"><h5 style="text-align:center;">Seagull</h5><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Birds_of_Northern_Sydney_Variegated_Fairy_wren_db55346e14.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T12:38:44.373Z" alt="Variegated Fairy-wren"><h5 style="text-align:center;">Variegated Fairywren</h5><hr><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">A Photo Essay by HAN VAN DEN HEUVEL</h4><hr>

The birds of northern Sydney, Australia

Hari Venkatesan

<hr><h4>HARI VENKATESAN takes the approach of self-compassion towards self-improvement and managing emotions. Here he shares some tips from his own experience.</h4><hr>The pace of life has greatly increased with the advent of smartphones and wireless high-speed internet. Along with the convenience that these means bring, they also bring heightened expectations in terms of efficiency. We are expected to respond to messages and mails within hours, and sometimes even minutes. As human beings get used to this fast pace of life, it is all too easy to make mistakes.There is an ancient Chinese saying that says, “Hold on just a little and the winds and waves die down; take one step back and you are no longer in a corner.” In this age of 3-in-1 coffee, fast food, and instant messaging, one virtue that we are fast losing is patience: patience in the face of trials and tribulations, and patience in the face of our own emotions.Let us take the latter first. For example, you receive an unreasonable email about work, or someone makes a snide remark about you. You are compelled from inside to hit back instantly, and the matter quickly escalates. It is precisely at the moment when you are in the grip of emotions such as anger, rage, disappointment, frustration, and really feel justified to react sharply. Let a night pass and see how you feel about the whole thing the next morning. Very often, you will thank yourself for not having been too quick to react, and might actually see things differently. This might not seem possible at times, but even then, it would be well to make it a rule to never speak or act until the heart is calm. Heartfulness Meditation makes this possible naturally by making us aware even before we are about to act on impulse and presenting us with a choice to alter course.Just like an arrow speeds forth, words spoken cannot be recalled. As for those sent out in retort and reaction, chances are that they will do no more than challenge the ego of the receiver. The result cannot be anything other than two egos clashing and trying to prove the other wrong. When this happens, even if we see some point in the arguments the other makes, our egos will simply not permit us to admit it, making the conversation wholly useless. Especially when it comes to close relationships, awkward as it may be, it is much better to cut such a conversation short politely and let a night pass, with the promise to revisit it again. Once the grip of emotions is loosened, we will be in a much better state to forgive and understand. <a href="https://heartfulness.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Heartfulness Cleaning</a> helps enormously in pressing that inner reset button that makes this possible.When we feel depressed, frustrated, or disappointed about things, it is equally necessary to remember that if there is anything permanent in the universe it is change. This also means that whatever we face is equally destined to change. It is important not to give into the feeling of despondency, and focus our energies instead on what we can do. A lot of the time, problems are enormously magnified because of the amount of attention we give them.Is it not be better to focus energies on what we can do rather than wasting time on thinking about possible outcomes or mentally struggling with resentment and frustration? It is precisely these that tire us and enhance the struggle.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/sleep_over_it3_bb3ad59a14.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-06T04:53:56.619Z"><hr>&nbsp;In place of this tiring struggle of the mind, a much more positive vibratory input would be prayer. This does not refer to a formalized religious ritual, but to an appeal to the wisdom of the higher Self within to bring forth a wider vision of things. Since we have done our best, all we need to do is await the result. If there is more to be done, we can go ahead, but just remember to remove the struggle from the heart. It is this struggle that attenuates focus, weakens efforts, and tires us. The state where we simply focus on doing our best, and let things fall where they do, comes naturally as a result of prayer-meditation.As for how to be sure you did your best, accept that all you did yesterday was the best you could do yesterday. If there are a few hours remaining today, see what you can do to address the problems you face. But once the day is over, consider that you did your best today.Whenever you really feel like hitting back, reacting, or you feel like the world around you is going dark with little hope or relief in sight, sleep over it. You will not feel the same tomorrow.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/sleep_over_it2_607070d911.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-06T04:55:52.536Z"><hr>&nbsp;&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article by HARI VENKATESAN</h4>&nbsp;<hr>

Sleep over it

Harpreet Bhan

<h4>HARPREET BHAN experiments with some simple plays on words in order to explore the profound meaning that words can sometimes offer us.</h4><hr>The veil is lifting and all that is evil or vile in me is being expunged. As I am refined, transformed by the live transmission pouring into me, I finally begin to live.<hr>The above sentence has an interesting word play. The words “evil,” “veil,” “vile,” “live (rhyming with alive)” and “live (rhyming with give)” are all various constructs of the same four letters – e, l, i, and v.Just like these words, we are born with the same ingredients, the same alphabet letters. Yet we live different lives and create very different destinies, which can range from evil or vile to coming a-live and living life to its fullest potential. Just as a small difference in the arrangement of letters can change the meaning of a word completely, so the smallest of choices can lead to a series of consequences that completely alter the course of our lives.Drilling deeper into this word play, it is interesting to note that while we can find words that start with e, l, and v, there are none that start with i. And none of the words end with i. Isn’t it truly meaningful that nothing can start or end with i? There is clear inspiration for the i to find its right place within something bigger than itself, and place itself in a way that makes the whole more significant, powerful, and consequential. The final destination has no place for anything that starts or ends in i.Reflecting on other word plays, it is fascinating to see how something apparently small can have such a large impact on the entire meaning of a word. For example, in Sanskrit, Brahm means Reality, while Bhram means illusion, which is diametrically opposed to reality. Similarly, Brahman refers to someone who is realized, who has reached the ultimate destination, whereas Bhraman describes someone who is wandering. Just a small change in the order makes a monumental change to the meaning.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/word_play_1_b17034a813.jpg" alt=""><hr>Let me share one final reflection on the prefix “de.” Generally, we assume that adding “de” to a word will somehow reduce it. For example, value becomes devalue, and construct becomes deconstruct. In a strange way, an extremity of evil is “the evil” or “d’evil” or indeed devil. Then again, if you look more closely, there is a wonderful positivity that “de” can bring to certain words. “Vote” indicates we have a choice amongst several options, whereas “devote” is normally used to describe worship or something similar. Another way to look at “devote” is when it alludes to a “willing choiceless-ness” – an affirmation of “I choose not to vote. I choose to do so most willingly and joyously, as I remain de-voted to my beloved.” The choice is simply not ours anymore. Try this with another word “serve.” Deserve can be interpreted as “de-serve,” indicating a state of mind when we don’t even know we are serving, thus becomes deserving.<hr>

Word plays

Based in Dubai, Harpreet Kalra works in marketing and planning in the TV entertainment industry in the Middle East. For a while he has been interested in understanding the cognitive patterns of the human mind, and the science of meditation in achieving inner balance and harmony.

harpreet-kalra-img.jpg

Harpreet Kalra

<h4>HARPREET KALRA discusses the issue of victimization in the workplace, and his experience of what to do about it. How much responsibility are we willing to take to change these patterns?</h4><hr>It had been two months since I joined MCS Enterprises in their Strategy &amp; Planning department. I prepared the first draft of a financial model and submitted it to my boss Linda for her review. After a few hours, Linda called me to her room. “Did I ask you to make these assumptions?” she screamed. “No,” I said softly. “You are not at a level where you can make assumptions on your own,” scoffed Linda, walking out of the room.Conversations like these were a regular affair for me: in corporate jargon, business as usual.Micromanaging me, not giving me the creative liberty to think, unclear directions on how to go about a work task, harsh criticism, pretty much summed up my relationship with my boss at MCS.“When do I leave this job?” “Should I resign straightaway?” “Do I have the money to pay my mortgage?” were some of the thoughts that flooded my mind as I drudged back towards my desk.There are demanding bosses, there are difficult bosses, there are collaborative bosses, there are easy bosses, and then there are psychopaths. Research suggests that one in every five corporate bosses is a psychopath. I knew I was dealing with one at MCS.<hr>In some situations, I am the victim. In some situations, I am the one victimizing others. This is the reason I am suffering. The very same tendencies in Linda that hurt me are the ones present within me, although with different intensity.<hr>I believed most of my previous bosses were good, though they had a few traits that were unacceptable to me. After dealing with Linda, I indeed realized the goodness of my previous bosses. I would have gladly accepted all their unacceptable traits if I had had a chance.I was in pain, and slowly my underlying thought pattern started to shift towards self pity: “Why me?” “I am being targeted,” “I am being victimized.” In a short span of time, I was habitually wearing the victim hat. SO I BELIEVED!It had been a few months since I had started practicing meditation. One day, after my morning meditation, as I sat in a quiet contemplative mood, an inner voice within me echoed: “Every victim identity is a perpetrator of crime given the change in circumstances.” I could not fully comprehend my inner voice, so I wrote it in my daily diary and signed off. …&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;<h4>Read the complete article in Volume 2, Issue 1 &nbsp;</h4><h4><a href="//www.heartfulnessmagazine.com/subscribe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SUBSCRIBE &amp; DOWNLOAD</a></h4>&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article by HARPREET KALRA</h4><hr>

Am I the victim or am I the one victimizing?

<h4>HARPREET KALRA explores what is beyond judgement.</h4><hr>In mathematical calculus, the act of integration is done by reversing the act of differentiation. If we apply the same principle to ‘one world, one humanity’, then it is easier to integrate humanity by not differentiating. So, how can we avoid differentiating ourselves from others?Isn’t judging someone the greatest act of differentiation? Judging instantly sets us apart from the other person. Ten minutes into a conversation with a new person and we are done with the person. Either consciously or unconsciously, we have labeled and objectified the person. But does judgement alone lead to differentiation, or do we do something more to set ourselves apart?When we judge, our frame of reference is never absolute, it is comparative. “He is intelligent” is in comparison to myself or to someone else. The reason we judge others is to evaluate where we stand in comparison to the person we are judging. Then, based on our judgment, we act; rather we react. If we perceive ourselves to be superior we discard the other person. If we perceive ourselves to be inferior we try to impress the&nbsp;other person. On most occasions this is how we act. At the heart of judging lies our latent desire to establish a sense of superiority over others.<hr><h5 style="text-align:center;">The reason we&nbsp;judge others is to evaluate&nbsp;where we stand in comparison to&nbsp;the person we are&nbsp;judging.</h5><hr>So the question is: ‘Why would we stop judging?’ After all, isn’t the perception of being superior a reality in our minds? It gives our ego a boost, and even more, a sense of survival. The ego loves to do it. So why would it behave in any other way? Perhaps if it could be convinced that there is no merit in judging, because this judgment-based differentiated reality in our head is all an illusion.Someone who is good at soccer thinks he is superior to others until he has to play with Lionel Messi! Someone who has a flourishing business thinks he is superior to others because of the wealth he has amassed until he compares himself with Bill Gates.In any comparison and external benchmark, be it wealth, beauty, intelligence or wit, we will probably fall short compared to someone, but often we choose to look only at those who are not as good as us. We are happy being a big frog in a small pond, and herein lies a great danger.When we fall short in comparison with someone else, automatically, without any effort on our part, we feel inferior. We become either aggressive or defensive, either oppressive or a victim, either sad or happy. And this gives rise to perhaps the greatest bane of our life – the dual nature of our mind.<hr><h5>We can only achieve human integration if each one of us feels oneness with others. How will we feel this oneness if we are still stuck in prejudice and duality?</h5><hr>With time and repeat exposure, our tendency to judge strengthens and solidifies. Like a wound up coil or a keyed toy, the mind goes into an auto mode of judging, and starts operating on its own. Lo! We are stuck in duality. On so many occasions, we judge without wanting to judge. It is beyond our control.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/the_art_of_not_judging_img2_c1794667e9.jpg?updated_at=2023-03-31T06:55:11.792Z" alt="the-art-of-not-judging">So what is the harm in living in duality?The harm is that duality is divorced from reality, and only reality can perceive reality. We can only achieve human integration if each one of us feels oneness with others. How will we feel this oneness if we are still stuck in prejudice and duality?Fundamentally, we all are from the same source, and hence all the same. Even in our outer problems and aspirations we are the same – behavior of our spouse, children’s future, health, attitude of the boss at work, business expansion, investment returns, spiritual pursuits etc. Our desire for a comfortable and happy life is generally the fulcrum of everything about our lives.<hr><h5 style="text-align:center;">All judgements are rooted in past experience – either our own experience or that of others, from which we learn.</h5><hr>So if we want to move towards human integration, what do we need to do? Stop judging! In fact, doesn’t change in any sphere of our life only involve the washing away of just one or two dominant tendencies of the mind?How do we do that? By fully directing the mind into something that is not conditioned by time. After all, all judgements are rooted in past experience – either our own experience or that of others, from which we learn.It is the heart that is the most qualified candidate for our attention. If we are true connoisseurs of beauty, only the heart is worth looking at. Connected to the Ultimate Being, the magnificence of its splendor shines through in whatever form it takes – a loving heart, a joyful heart, a courageous heart, a soft heart or an angry heart. Everything about it is real. Even if it is a jealous heart, the jealousy is real; there is nothing false about it. No hypocrisy. The heart is always right.<hr><h5 style="text-align:center;">Article by HARPREET KALRA</h5><hr>

The Art of Not Judging

<h5>HARPREET KALRA had the job opportunity of a lifetime, but turned it down because his heart said no.</h5>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
The job offer looked promising – an established brand, a healthy pay packet, a great
 role profile, and the location base of my favourite city, Mumbai. I should have grabbed the job straight away. It
 was a golden opportunity, and opportunities should not go begging, I was told. Yet, I was dillydallying in my
 decision. So, what was stopping me from taking up the job, against all odds of a favourable rationale premise?
I was feeling very deeply to say no. Something within me wanted to let go of this
 opportunity; inner guidance, the heart’s voice, a sixth sense, a gut feeling, whatever you want to call it. I prefer
 to call it intuition, my heart’s voice.
My father always says, “When in doubt, refer to the heart.&nbsp; The heart is always right.” For a change, I paid
 heed to my father’s words and refused the job offer. Three months down the line, in a hostile takeover by a
 competitor, all the company staff was laid off. Backing my intuition had paid off.
I believe that intuition can see what the mind cannot see. This is because the mind’s
 vision is myopic, as it is conditioned by space and time. Also, the mind relies on the five senses, which have their
 own limitations. For example, as human beings we can hear only those sounds that fall in a particular audio range,
 which the ears can catch. If the sound is outside that range it is inaudible to our ears. It does not mean, however,
 that the sound does not exist.
<hr>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">Something&nbsp; within me wanted to let go of this opportunity; 
 inner guidance, the heart’s voice, a sixth sense, 
 a gut feeling, whatever you want to call it. 
 I prefer to call it intuition, 
 my heart’s voice.</h4>
<hr>
On the other hand, the heart can see through and through. Connected to the infinite
 Being, it is the seat of Divinity. Neither conditioned by time nor by space, it can see things from a higher ground.
 The magnificence of the heart’s splendour shines through in whatever form it takes.
So, if intuitive decision-making can help us, the question is, “How can we develop
 intuition?” I believe, through practice. By trusting the heart and listening to it more and more. When we are having
 a conversation with someone, the more attentively the person listens to us, the happier we are to continue
 conversing with him. Isn’t it? Similarly, if we are willing to listen to the heart, the heart will be more than
 happy to speak to us. This has been my experience.
Here comes the challenge. Often, however, the heart is not able to be heard, as we have
 been overpowered by the monkey mind, jumping from one branch of thought to another. It just doesn’t stop. It is in
 overdrive mode. We have become so addicted to the mental chattering and noise that the voice of inner silence scares
 us.
So, how can we increase the capability to listen to the heart? I believe, by clearing up
 the mess in the head; washing away the clutter of the mind. How to do that? Through meditation. For thousands of
 years, meditation has been one of the most effective techniques to help us regulate our minds. No wonder,
 increasingly, worldwide, meditation is helping people find inner joy, balance and everlasting change in their lives.

<hr>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">Article by HARPREET KALRA</h4>
<hr>

Are We Intuitive Enough?

<h4>HARPREET KALRA discusses the issue of victimization in the workplace, and his experience of what to do about it. How much responsibility are we willing to take to change these patterns?</h4>It had been two months since I joined MCS Enterprises in their Strategy &amp; Planning department. I prepared the first draft of a financial model and submitted it to my boss Linda for her review. After a few hours, Linda called me to her room. “Did I ask you to make these assumptions?” she screamed. “No,” I said softly. “You are not at a level where you can make assumptions on your own,” scoffed Linda, walking out of the room.Conversations like these were a regular affair for me: in corporate jargon, business as usual.Micromanaging me, not giving me the creative liberty to think, unclear directions on how to go about a work task, harsh criticism, pretty much summed up my relationship with my boss at MCS.“When do I leave this job?” “Should I resign straightaway?” “Do I have the money to pay my mortgage?” were some of the thoughts that flooded my mind as I drudged back towards my desk.There are demanding bosses, there are difficult bosses, there are collaborative bosses, there are easy bosses, and then there are psychopaths. Research suggests that one in every five corporate bosses is a psychopath. I knew I was dealing with one at MCS.I believed most of my previous bosses were good, though they had a few traits that were unacceptable to me. After dealing with Linda, I indeed realized the goodness of my previous bosses. I would have gladly accepted all their unacceptable traits if I had had a chance.I was in pain, and slowly my underlying thought pattern started to shift towards self pity: “Why me?” “I am being targeted,” “I am being victimized.” In a short span of time, I was habitually wearing the victim hat. SO I BELIEVED!It had been a few months since I had started practicing meditation. One day, after my morning meditation, as I sat in a quiet contemplative mood, an inner voice within me echoed: “Every victim identity is a perpetrator of crime given the change in circumstances.” I could not fully comprehend my inner voice. I wrote it in my daily diary and signed off.&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">In some situations, I am the victim.&nbsp; In some situations, I am the one victimizing others.&nbsp; This is the reason I am suffering.&nbsp; The very same tendencies in Linda that hurt me are the ones&nbsp; present within me, although with different intensity.</h4><hr>I had a business visit to Paris lined up to meet our new research agency team, so as soon as I reached the office, I went to meet Priya, who was our office manager. Priya took care of the administrative work of MCS and the logistics of the MCS staff. “Have my tickets to Paris not been booked yet?” I asked sternly, my tone admonishing Priya for not having done her work. “I am trying to get the best fares. Give me some time. I should be able to get your bookings done by tomorrow,” said a somber Priya. “Really?” I said sarcastically, with a dismissive look as I barged towards my desk.In the evening, as I drove home, the office conversation with Priya that morning played out in my mind – the somber tone of Priya and the disappointed look on her face. Just the way my tone and look was when I was with Linda. Soon, the essence of my inner voice from the morning seeped within.In some situations, I am the victim. In some situations, I am the one victimizing others. This is the reason I am suffering. The very same tendencies in Linda that hurt me are the ones present within me, although with different intensity. In fact, the trait of Linda that pinched me the most was the trait most strongly present within me.That morning, I could not comprehend my inner voice. Perhaps I did not want to comprehend it. After all, I had an ego, and how could my ego without resistance cherish the idea of believing that it was laced with the very same behavioral traits and tendencies it loathed in others?When we feel for others, when we sympathize with others, we would like to believe it is out of genuine compassion. Is it indeed compassion? Or is it the ego veiled under a garb?What happens when things improve at the victim’s end? The body language and behavior of the victim changes. The person becomes confident, assertive and happy. And this changes our perception of the other person.Earlier, we had labeled the person a victim. Now we label the same person as someone with a lot of attitude, who is high and mighty. Worse, we become absolutely intolerant of even his slightest off-the-track demeanor.The moment the ego realizes that the other person is no longer going through pain, the ego no longer identifies with the other person. Why?Because now it is no longer on the same plane as the other person. Which plane? The plane of pain. As unfortunate as it is, the above behavior is seen in our most intimate relationships. Hence, relationships rooted in sympathy suffer a painful ordeal.As I became aware of this harsh reality, it was a matter of time before it’s acceptance seeped into my system. That acceptance though has worked very well for my overall well-being. It has substantially reduced my behavior of swinging like a pendulum, swinging between the emotional extremes of affection – harshness, sympathy – criticism, sadness – joy, etc.A sense of balance and calmness has seeped in, although it is not yet the permanent state of being I would like to have.The awareness and acceptance which subsequently led to balance and calmness has not come without effort. Much of the effort has been directed towards being aware of my thoughts, my emotions, my behavior - when I am alone with myself, and when I am with others.In this pursuit of change and happiness, my strongest ally has been meditation. How has meditation helped? By untying the knots I have been tying for so long. What knots? The knots of ‘I am’ and ‘I am not’ reflected against the backdrop of ‘he/she is’ and ‘he /she is not’.I am smart, I am not a CEO yet, my child is not obedient, my spouse does not listen to me, my boss is not supportive, Mumbai is bad, I deserve a better job.The list can, perhaps, fathom the entire Universe.Why could I not untie these knots on my own without meditation?First, I did not want to untie them. These knots defined me, rather, I defined myself through these knots. Untying them meant I had to let go of a part of me, a part of who I believed I was.Second, and more important, to untie the knots,I should have known in the first place that these were knots. How to untie them was secondary. To me, these knots were so internal to my system that I believed it was normal to live with them.With meditation, as the hyperactivity of the mind quietened, a clearer view of my relationships emerged, with people, with work, with health, with success. The knots started becoming apparent, paving the way for understanding how I behave, more importantly, why I behave the way I do.The knot of victim identification discussed here is one of many knots.

HARRIET is a New York City Climate Hero. She is a sought after speaker, recognized as an influencer and connector in the climate movement, and in 2019 was a featured speaker at the Global Engagement Summit at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. Harriet is the Executive Director of ClimateMama, an online community in over 110 countries. As a leader and mentor with The Climate Reality Project, Harriet chairs the NYC Metro Chapter and was the recipient of the Climate Reality 2017 Green Ring Award. Harriet is also profiled in former US Vice President Al Gore’s 2017 book: An Inconvenient Sequel, Truth to Power.

Harriet’s book, Talking to Your Kids About Climate Change, Turning Angst to Action, was released in the spring of 2020. She teaches World Sustainability and Climate Change and Society at Ramapo College in New Jersey.

Harriet-Shugarman.jpg

Harriet Shugarman

<h4>HARRIET SHUGARMAN&nbsp;was interviewed by PURNIMA RAMAKRISHNAN from the Heartfulness Institute in 2020, the same year she was selected as a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.humanimpactsinstitute.org/nycheroes">New York City Climate Hero</a>.&nbsp;She is a sought after speaker, an influencer and connector in the climate movement, and in 2019 was a featured speaker at the&nbsp;<a href="https://unausa.org/events/global-engagement-summit/">Global Engagement Summit</a>&nbsp;at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. Harriet is the Executive Director of&nbsp;ClimateMama, an online community in over 110 countries. As a leader and mentor with The Climate Reality Project, Harriet chairs the NYC Metro Chapter and was the recipient of the Climate Reality 2017 Green Ring Award. Harriet is also profiled in former US Vice President Al Gore’s 2017 book: An Inconvenient Sequel, Truth to Power.</h4><h4>Harriet’s book,&nbsp;Talking to Your Kids About Climate Change, Turning Angst to Action,&nbsp;was released in the spring of 2020. She teaches World Sustainability and Climate Change and Society at Ramapo College in New Jersey.</h4><hr>Q: Welcome Harriet.HS: Thank you for having me here.Q: Tell me a little about how you got to write this book.HS: It’s been in my head for a long time, and for many years it seemed far away from me. In the early 1990s I worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The IMF was on the preparatory committee for the Earth Climate Summit that took place in 1992 in Brazil, so I worked on that committee. At the conference, we had heads of state and government from around the world, and the importance of the reality of the climate crisis was recognized, but it still seemed far away. Scientists were warning us of the urgency, but for me personally it seemed to be taking place perhaps “over there.” I didn’t even think about where “over there” was. It seemed that it was many generations away.Climate models weren’t as exact as they are now. Our understanding of where we were with our Earth was not clear. She was crying out then, and she was telling us that we were doing things to her that were causing her to change, but we weren’t listening.In 2007, I trained with the Climate Reality Project and former Vice President Al Gore, after his film An Inconvenient Sequel, Truth to Power came out. He founded an organization to help others, which is called the Climate Reality Project. It is an international organization that raises awareness of the climate crisis in our local communities. After the training, I recognized how personal this was to me and my two small children, to their future. I was meeting parents and people in the broader community who didn’t understand the urgency. Within two years, I had founded ClimateMama and we were one of the first organizations to specifically educate parents about the climate crisis, how to talk about it, and how to learn from each other about it.All of a sudden, it feels like the world is listening – the corporate world, the international community, where I live here in New York, and across the country. Youth are being invited to the table and they are being heard. Parents are asking, “What do I say to my kids? They are asking me about the climate crisis, and I don’t have the words, and I don’t have the understanding.” So, it is the right time for this book to come out, and I partnered with New Society Publishers, who really walked the walk on sustainability, from how they print and the materials they use, being a corporation that is run by the people who own it. I am pleased to be working with them and to have my book come out this past spring, even during this strange time on our planet. So, thank you for asking and that is the story.Q: Congratulations on the release of your book!How can we come to terms with the grief which we feel when we understand the reality of the climate crisis? How can we give hope to our children and hope to ourselves first? How do we come to terms with all these emotions?HS: Our natural instinct is something called motivated avoidance and cognitive dissonance, where we separate ourselves from the reality of what is happening and the grief. It can be dire, but once our eyes are open – and I think that’s a critical part of being able to talk to our kids – we can understand what’s happening and what we need to do. This is the premise of ClimateMama.There are three principles:1. Tell the truth2. Actions speak louder than words, and3. Do not be afraid.They are hard to come to terms with, but they shouldn’t be. We can be honest with ourselves and with our children, and when it comes to grief, specifically, we should feel sad. What our species has done is tragic. It is awe-inspiring in certain ways, that a singular species has put all other species at the brink of extinction, because that is how serious the crisis is. And it isn’t something that will ever be fixed in our lifetime, but hopefully we get to a place where the climate crisis becomes chronic, something our planet can live with. Also, be resolute that we are moving forward, and through our actions and how we advise our children, we will be able to face the future without fear.&nbsp; &nbsp;<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Global_warming2_d5b2d0058f.png?updated_at=2023-04-06T07:46:56.692Z" alt="Global-warming2"><hr>Q:&nbsp; What is active hope and how do we build upon it?HS: We can find ways to be hopeful, but with the climate crisis, it’s hope in a vacuum. It sits there. Active hope comes through taking action, whether talking about climate crisis, showing our children by example at home, having a plan, community action, talking to elected officials, or planting gardens. By doing things that are active, we will build hope, and active hope is a practice. It is similar to Tai-Chi. It requires physical and mental work – our thoughts and our practical acts to move it forward. It isn’t easy. Once you put it into practice, and show your children how to do it, it’s something to hold on to, to move us forward.Q: What would you do to help children tap into their passions, and how can this actively lead us to find solutions for climate change?HS: The climate emergency that we are living in is all encompassing now. Had we addressed it in 1992 when we had the first summit, with the urgency required at that point, we would be in a different place now. We didn’t. We can’t go back there. We need to go forward.The opportunities that arise aren’t the #1, #2, #3 things that we can do that will solve it or make it better. There are an infinite number of things that need to happen. In motivating, inspiring, and empowering our children, whatever drives their passion through the lens of the climate crisis will help. Are they an artist? Do they want to be a farmer? Are they fascinated with the science of growing seeds? Encourage what it is that is moving them forward. Help them see that we need artists, we need musicians, we need farmers, we need engineers, we need teachers, we need philosophers.2020 is a time of transition in so many ways and from different angles. How we move forward after lockdown is important. It seems like it will never end. It will end, but the climate crisis will not. It is here, so we need our children to feel empowered to be part of that solution. Whatever their passion, there is a way that it can help us move forward through this climate emergency.Q: I read from your book that you give recommendations grade-wise. I was wondering if you would like to share a few recommendations for kindergartners, preschoolers, and toddlers. How are we going to inspire them to help the world doing their passion?HS: I think regardless of age, we begin with the premise of telling the truth, because they know when we are not telling the truth. Our children are truth seekers, and they speak the truth. They do not see the veil in between. So, answer them directly when they ask questions, be true to your emotions. If you are sad about something, share it with them. You don’t need to go into detail about the reasons, but if you are sad or anxious, they feel it anyway. Making it a part of your conversation with them is important.Being in nature with children, showing them the wonder of nature and how amazing and special it is, whether you are digging in the dirt, planting a garden, or going for a walk in a park or down a city street – those are awe-inspiring moments for children. Those are important things that help them to love nature. That love of nature, the importance of nature, of our natural wealth, and the wonders of our planet, are important.Scientists tell us that we are in the sixth mass extinction, which we have put in motion. If we don’t know what’s disappearing, we won’t know when it has gone. The web of lies is beginning to unravel. How will we know if its missing if we don’t develop love for it and value its importance?Where I live, some of the children think that their food comes from the grocery store. They don’t understand the chain of how it grew from the Earth. Exposing our children to that from a very young age, is very, very important.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Global_warming5_7bd1611dfe.png?updated_at=2023-04-06T07:48:01.201Z" alt="Global_warming5"><hr>Q: What would you recommend for middle schoolers?HS: When middle schoolers were younger, they were excited to be with you and do things with you. As they get older, they feel an authority growing in themselves. So, I think it’s important to again go with honesty. There are so many people all around the world addressing the climate crisis. Show them other children who are working on solutions, and videos of young people taking action in their communities. Even if they are too young to vote, or too young to act, showing them that other young people are taking action is very powerful.Listen to their opinions. They have strong opinions and they often have new ideas we haven’t thought of.One thing I talked about in the book is developing a climate plan for your family. When you have your family meetings, sitting around together, decide what is your plan – both from an emergency perspective and a solutions perspective. Where I live in the United States, there have been some terrible fires of late. If you live in a fire zone, does your school have a plan? Let your children know that you are doing things too. Our children want to learn more. We are not teaching them about the science and the intersectionality of the climate crisis. Are you talking to their teachers? What is being taught in their school? Show them that you are taking action. They may pretend that they are not watching you, but they are seeing what you are doing.Involving them in family solutions, supporting what they are doing, and acknowledging their feelings is very important.Q: It was very insightful when you said to involve them in our discussions. It gives them a very important sense of belonging and decision making. What would be your recommendation for high school kids?HS: I have found in many of the high schoolers and beyond I speak to that they feel the weight of the crisis is being put on their shoulders to solve. Remind them that this is an intergenerational issue, which is something that everyone must work on. Let’s help them share their stories by listening to them.Some of our children want to be out front and center. &nbsp;High schoolers in particular lead marches, lead activities and climate strikes, and we support them, but that might not be all of our children. Some of them are just coming to understand – as maybe we are – the realities of the crisis. Recommend where they can search for information that is factual, studies that have been peer-reviewed, if they are interested in science. Give them some ideas because maybe they don’t want to listen to their parents only. Show them where they can find more information on how to take action and on the science.Q: With the Covid-19 pandemic, a lot has changed in the world. Involvement from children is not as straightforward as it was earlier. So is there something you would like to share which could help families handle the climate crisis in relation to the current public health crisis?HS: It’s such an important question and I am so glad that you asked it.In the world right now, we are all experiencing this global pandemic, this health emergency. In my book, I share a moment in time when the world came together in 1968 when the first Apollo mission went out into space, and it was the first time that we as humans on the planet saw Earth as this pale blue dot rising above the surface and we were mesmerized by it, the world over. There have been a few moments pre-Covid, where we all would come together as a community and witness something, that inspired us to take further action. In a strange way, Covid has given us lessons for addressing the climate crisis. We have supported first responders by making meals, by making masks. We have done really hard things for the community, for our grandparents, for the people around us. And we can continue to do hard things. We can remind our children that they lived through it.Prior to Covid, I would get asked all the time, “What are the three things we can do?” We need to be in involved in the democratic process, because we are seeing how Covid is threatening. We have to make sure that the people who are in positions of power do everything they can. We were doing harm before; we need to lessen the harm to our planet. Finally, we need to plant seeds, both literally and figuratively, of the active hope we can create.Q: As you said, climate reality is not just a stand-alone thing, and processing and handling emotions is a big part of the whole conversation. What can we do with our kids regarding their feelings, and how this can affect climate change, the future? How can we harness their feelings in a more positive and constructive way?HS: The climate crisis is there. It’s not in isolation. It is connected to social and racial injustice, to global health issues, to all of the Sustainable Development Goals that were set in 2015, when the world community came together and said, “How are we going to alleviate poverty, how are we going to ensure education for all?”Health is one of those Sustainable Development Goals, as is climate crisis. They are all so closely connected. As we said earlier, children can be involved when we help them see and lead with their passions, lead with what they feel strongly about, and inspire them to move through their emotions, recognize them, feel them, and be allowed to feel grief and sadness. Then they will express their real emotions, positive feelings, and positive ways to be able to move forward, knowing that it’s not a linear path.With regards to the climate crisis, we are on a train, and we are heading toward the cliff, but we don’t have to go over. If we come together, if we harness the emotions, if we stay actively positive, we can slow things down. That is what science tells us. 1992 was a different place to now, and things have progressed much faster than scientists thought they would. We need to be jumping in wherever and however we can. Processing emotions, so that we can take the next stage of action, is something we can help our children do.&nbsp;Q: Often, &nbsp;the origin of these problems is our thoughts. What do you think about thought pollution?HS: Personally, working many years on the climate crisis and understanding the reasons behind why things are happening, there are a lot of data to show that 90 companies are responsible for the majority of the greenhouse gas emissions, and we have known that for decades. Many of them are in the fossil fuel industry. If they know what is causing the problem, why are they doing it? Its greed. It’s about corporate profits, it’s about sustaining an unsustainable way forward. Those thoughts are not the ideas that drive success. And this concept of GDP, of constant growth, is like cancer. Constant growth is what cancer is: It isn’t healthy. It isn’t healthy for our bodies, it isn’t healthy for our planet, and we are seeing that.It is critical to tell the truth, speak to the truth, and cut away all the thought pollution. I am hearing from politicians and others that we have to make a decision – is it the environment or the economy? Well, there will be no money on a dead planet, no growth, no economy, no personal wealth or family wealth. I am not saying we don’t need that, but if we don’t take care of the planet, remove those kinds of thoughts, recognize the interconnectedness, and work toward that, we have no hope. It’s important to recognize that thought pollution is part of physical pollution as well in a very visceral way.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Global_warming4b_f20dd67ca0.png?updated_at=2023-04-06T07:48:51.202Z" alt="Global_warming4b"><hr>Q: Do you have any closing thoughts?HS: Thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to have this conversation with you. There is no one path. We need to use our emotions, we need to use every ability we have to move forward and help our children. I am grateful to you all at the Heartfulness Institute to help guide us as well along this lifelong journey. Thank you very much.Q: Thank you so much Harriet.Watch the webinar at <a href="https://youtu.be/tqx_blDVH50">https://youtu.be/tqx_blDVH50</a><hr><hr><h4>Interviewed by PURNIMA RAMAKRISHNAN</h4><hr>

Let’s talk about climate change

hazrat_inayat_khan.webp

Hazrat Inayat Khan

Heartfulness practitioners

<hr class="vertical-space1">
<div class="row">
 <div class="col-md-4"><img decoding="async"
 class="lazyload has-img-center" 
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/q1_2e47a30f8e.jpg" alt="3-questions-on-happiness" >
 
 <h4 style="text-align: center;">What brings you happiness in life?</h4>
 </div>
 <div class="col-md-4"> <img decoding="async"
 class="lazyload has-img-center" 
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/q2_4475b4698e.jpg" alt="3-questions-on-happiness" >
 
 <h4 style="text-align: center;">What takes away happiness?</h4>
 </div>
 <div class="col-md-4">
 <img decoding="async"
 class="lazyload has-img-center" 
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/q3_c61a336fdc.jpg" alt="3-questions-on-happiness" >
 
 <h4 style="text-align: center;">Do you feel joy in giving or receiving? Why?</h4>
 </div>
</div>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<hr>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<h5><img decoding="async"
 class="img-float-left has-img-center-in-mobile"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Pubali_Siddharth_ceb7d0d006.jpg" alt="3-questions-on-happiness" >PUBALI
 SIDDHARTH 
 Musician, illustrator and teacher 
 Hyderabad, India
</h5>
Recognizing the inner connection with all life fills me with wonder; tapping into this
 space of oneness, within and around, brings me joy. It may be as simple as observing nature from my balcony: a
 bougainvillea blooming amidst thorns, a moneyplant creating roots to crawl its way up a wall, a tree spreading its
 roots deep before spreading its branches wide, birds singing their songs, clouds floating unmindful of the world
 beneath them, and crimsonhued skies. Each of them exudes a sense of joy and contentment that comes from being in
 tune with what they truly are.
When I stay in touch with who I truly am, I feel a deep sense of joy within. It may be
 as simple as having a heartful conversation with someone, a nourishing meditation, 3questions ON HAPPINESS
 connecting with young hearts in a classroom, reading a book that speaks to my heart, or expressing my inner
 inspirations through words, pictures, art or music.
The moment thoughts start revolving around myself, this inner connection is instantly
 affected and I am dissociated from oneness. The ego then shows up in all its faces – anger, fear, confusion, lack of
 confidence, feeling closed, worthless, victimized – the list goes on and on. At that moment, the way I bring back
 joy is to shift focus back towards my heart and remind myself to practice acceptance and gratitude. It is not easy
 most of the time, but is a work in progress. A quick cleaning of my mental space almost always helps me. And
 sometimes a good book, a melodious song or an inspiring talk are enough to bring back perspective.
Do I feel joy in giving or receiving? In one way both; neither in another. It is based
 on perspective. The truest joy I feel in receiving something is during meditation. The unbounded inflow of
 Transmission brings love and joy; nothing matches that feeling. And the truest joy I feel in giving is also during
 meditation; the process of submitting the heart is a beautifully negating experience.
A flower doesn’t know it is exuding fragrance; it must not know. So I try to focus on
 staying open and allowing whatever I receive to flow through my heart. That is what brings me utmost joy.
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<hr>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<h5><img decoding="async"
 class="img-float-left has-img-center-in-mobile"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Suzanne_Richards_63239770a4.jpg" alt="3-questions-on-happiness" >SUZANNE
 RICHARDS 
 Retired teacher 
 Dunedin, New Zealand
</h5>
Often the most joy comes from the little things in life: happy times with family and
 friends, the laughter of a small child, witnessing an act of kindness, and puppies tumbling over each other in play.
 The perfection of nature shown in its myriad ways also brings joy: the countryside covered in newly-fallen snow with
 that hush snow brings to the world, a fragrant flower opening to the sun, the drowsy hum of bees in a summer garden,
 and the trickling sound of a mountain stream. I find that joy is greatest when my heart is open and filled with
 gratitude and love. Then my heart really sings.
Those acts or feelings which close us down are the ones that banish joy in a second.
 Negativity, harsh words, unkindness, envy, prejudice, mean-spiritedness, fear, discontent, resentment and revenge
 are just a few.
Some feelings open us up and others close us down. The ones that close us down close us
 off from the part of ourselves that would enable us to get more enjoyment from life, and also close us off from
 others. At worst we feel isolated and alone.
Joy can be found in both giving and receiving, particularly if the feeling behind the
 giving is heartfelt. But I have noticed that there is perhaps more joy in giving. I think this is because it moves
 us away from focusing on ‘me’ and ‘mine’, and opens us up to others.
I particularly remember an annual event in my childhood. My siblings and I would go into
 a big shop in town with our few pennies of pocket money and buy Christmas gifts for our parents and grandparents. It
 took us forever because each present had to be just right and each item was chosen so carefully, and of course we
 were limited in what we could choose by our budgets. Then there was the joy of wrapping them in secret (all fingers
 and thumbs and giggles and laughter), so they would be a surprise on the day.
Like joy, generosity comes from an open heart. On those occasions all our hearts sang
 with joy.
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<hr>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<h5><img decoding="async"
 class="img-float-left has-img-center-in-mobile"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Anand_Thiyagarajan_1404421c47.jpg" alt="3-questions-on-happiness" >ANAND
 THIYAGARAJAN 
 Business analyst 
 Hyderabad, India
</h5>
When there is a disturbance within, the one thing which soothes me is to go out and
 spend time looking at the birds and trees, sitting down under a tree. Automatically I see the condition changing
 within. It gives me a feeling of contentment and happiness.
Joy is different: it’s a condition that prevails or emanates from inside. To be in a
 state of joy, I need to be connected with my own self internally, and that brings me joy no matter what is happening
 outside in the world around me.
Also when I see people around who are happy and joyful, I feel joy. We have a helper who
 always greets us with a smile. That smile is not superficial; it comes from within. When I see her, it gives me so
 much joy. Her husband is no more, and there are so many other things going on in her life, but in spite of all that
 she comes with a big smile. When I see such contentment in an individual, I feel very, very joyful.
When we are not connected within, when there are expectations, there is no joy. Joy is
 forgiveness, selflessness and unconditional.
Do I feel joy in giving or receiving? Both! The moment I feel I’m giving something,
 there is no meaning to it. The importance of giving goes. When I receive something I feel very grateful, because I
 experience what I am receiving. When I give someone what I like the most and see the joy or happiness on their face,
 I feel content and joyful.
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<hr>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<h5><img decoding="async"
 class="img-float-left has-img-center-in-mobile"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Teresa_Valentine_ce5edaa4ca.jpg" alt="3-questions-on-happiness" >TERESA
 VALENTINE 
 Academic editor 
 Atlanta, USA
</h5>
What brings joy? Community, cooperation, unity. When people come together for something
 they love – something they share and believe in. When hands and minds are creating, eyes are alight, hearts are
 open. When something that must be Love permeates everything. And engagement – work, learning, helping or just
 enjoying – is important, because joy is not passive. It emanates from the collective hearts, flows through each
 individual and again back to imbue the whole, bringing with it the best that each individual can offer. So, it is
 about working and sharing together from the heart. I can experience peace and serenity on my own, but joy, for me,
 comes from community.
What takes joy away? Isolation, judgment, comparison – on my part. I worry that I’ve
 failed at x, or I wish I could do y, or I hope that z will happen. All things that have to do with me versus life,
 fate, the world. Things that create a sense of separateness, and along with it worry and other forms of fear. When I
 feel this condition, I tend to react to life as if it’s something that is happening to me, not something I am part
 of. And I realize that what I need to get past it is completely internal. It may take some time apart, some
 reflection or cleaning away of negativity, but I have to reconnect with that unitive place within my own heart, and
 the sense of separateness leaves.
It’s easy for me to feel joy in giving; I’m trying to learn the joy of receiving. In
 fact, I became aware of this mystery recently, when several people helped me with a project that was important to
 me. They gave so freely of their time and talents that I felt I couldn’t repay them adequately. I found myself,
 though grateful, also uneasy – and I wondered at it. Because I know in my heart that, as the Buddhist teaching goes,
 ‘There is no giver and no receiver.’ So, what was resisting in me? I pondered it and felt it was my ego; it saw the
 equation of giver and receiver as separate and, ideally, even. But when I looked into my heart, I could see that in
 love we are united and in balance.
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<hr>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<h5><img decoding="async"
 class="img-float-left has-img-center-in-mobile"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Judith_Polston_aeddd0dc09.jpg" alt="3-questions-on-happiness" >JUDITH
 POLSTON 
 Therapeutic bodyworker, reflexologist &amp; polarity therapist 
 Langley, B.C., Canada
</h5>
As I age, whenever I see a sweet baby or observe animals – dogs, cows, horses etc. – it
 immediately fills me with joy and my heart feels lighter. Being with my lovely amazing daughter and listening to her
 life stories brings happiness. I actually feel joy from food by eating a healthy vegan diet. On the spiritual side,
 when I see another human being grow and change it fills me with joy for them and their success.
I’m just discovering joy, so really it is a new aspect. I’ve felt peace, profound
 spiritual conditions, but joy eluded me. I’ve not missed it; I just never knew exactly what it felt like. Joy is not
 ‘taken away’ by anything. It’s more allowing it to happen and appreciating it as we become simpler and in tune with
 our own Nature.
When I give to another, regardless if the action is big or small, by supporting another
 person it can bring unexpected joy. This in some ways actually seems stupid to me, as giving to another is a very
 natural thing to do!

3 questions on happiness

<hr class="vertical-space1">

<div class="row">
 <div class="col-md-4"><img decoding="async" class="lazyload has-img-center"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/q1_2e47a30f8e.jpg" alt="on-neuroscience" >
 
 <h4 style="text-align: center;">What do you feel is the relevance of science in the field of spirituality and
 Yoga?</h4>
 </div>
 <div class="col-md-4"> <img decoding="async" class="lazyload has-img-center"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/q2_4475b4698e.jpg" alt="on-neuroscience" >
 
 <h4 style="text-align: center;">What fascinates you about neuroscience’s understanding of meditation?</h4>
 </div>
 <div class="col-md-4">
 <img decoding="async" class="lazyload has-img-center"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/q3_c61a336fdc.jpg" alt="on-neuroscience" >
 
 <h4 style="text-align: center;">How are the discoveries of neuroscience changing our perception of
 consciousness?</h4>
 </div>
</div>

<hr class="vertical-space1">



<hr>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<h4><img decoding="async" class="lazyload img-float-left has-img-center-in-mobile"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Ruby_Carmen_519d489bde.jpg" alt="on-neuroscience" >RUBY CARMEN 
 Psychologist and social worker 
 London, UK</h4>
In ancient times, science, spirituality and Yoga were often treated as one, and science
 was viewed in a more holistic sense that included spiritual aspects as well as the mundane. More recently, you could
 say that there is a reunion of science and spirituality, as both can compliment one another with different
 perspectives, illuminating our vision of the world across multiple spectrums.
One of the most fascinating aspects of the growth of neuroscience is its investigation
 of internal phenomena, such as meditation. As a meditator and meditation trainer with a background in psychology, I
 am intrigued to know about the different areas of the brain that are activated or de-activated during meditation.
 Indeed, longitudinal studies in neuroscience offer possibilities of examining changes within the structures of the
 brain over time. This is providing evidence that correlates to the personal experience of meditators.
The journal, The Neuroscience of Consciousness, is devoted to the study of
 consciousness, which traditionally fell within the realm of philosophy before a distinction emerged between
 philosophy and psychology. The development of neuroscience enables another perspective on our understanding of
 consciousness. It provides an alternative means of exploring consciousness, including possibilities of ‘locating’ it
 within the human system. The renewed appreciation that exists for the study of consciousness goes beyond a
 ‘reductionist’ view of the mind to take into account the richness of our internal worlds.

 https://academic.oup.com/nc
 https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180322125028.htm

<hr>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<h4><img decoding="async" class="lazyload img-float-left has-img-center-in-mobile"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Jim_Otis_1ee65c9d7b.jpg" alt="on-neuroscience" >JIM OTIS 
 Certified Functional Neurologist 
 Oakland, California, USA</h4>
I think science and spirituality are relevant to each other. Right now what is
 increasingly important in society is that we’re going through a really big transformation on our planet. As our
 official intelligence is growing and growing and growing, spirituality and neuroscience need to embrace each other;
 they need to enhance each other. And there’s no bigger example of this than the development of a direct Brain-
 Computer Interface (BCI). That will be happening sometime within the next 15 years – that’s the prediction – where
 we just think a thought and that’s our interface with the cloud or computer, rather than speaking through Siri or
 typing through a keypad. That’s going to change human experience on this planet in a really big way and demand a lot
 of spiritual wisdom to ground this thing.
What fascinates me about neuroscience’s understanding of meditation? Everything! Number
 one, as we develop a neuroscientific understanding of what happens in the brain in meditation, that will and does
 have practical implications. There will be ways to enhance the quality of our life as we can identify the brain
 states associated with different forms of experience, meditation included.
The discoveries of neuroscience are changing our perception of consciousness. Number
 one, consciousness shifts states all the time. We are waking, sleeping, meditating, in Samadhi, absorption; there
 are all different kinds of manifestations or presentations of consciousness. And neuroscience is pretty good at
 understanding the neurological signatures of different states of consciousness. So if there’s an astronaut out in
 space and we’re measuring the brain signals only, we know when they’re awake, when they’re dreaming, when they’re
 sleeping, when they’re meditating, and what kind of meditation they’re doing. So that’s just fascinating and it does
 have practical implications.
I think of spirituality as seeing the big context – helping to give meaning to life. In
 every experience there are two poles: the context and the content, the big picture and the small picture, the
 details. Spirituality helps gives the big picture, and that’s a function of the right side of our brain. The right
 side of our brain is context-providing – the big context, the emotional, the body language. The left side of the
 brain is more content-oriented – the verbal meaning of the language. Artificial Intelligence is developing in a way
 that gives us so much more capability: if I want to find out what the weather is like in Jakarta at this moment, I
 can find out what the temperature is, the wind velocity; I can speak into a computer and order a 3D printer to print
 a cup.
We’re developing a huge capability that needs to be contextualized. So when we do that
 brain-computer interface, there will be a huge data stream that will be available to us. We have to slow it down and
 contextualize in order to make meaning and sense of it. That meaning and sense needs to in turn guide the big data
 stream, that AI, which we can now harness.
https://braintime.com/story/
<hr>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<h4><img decoding="async" class="lazyload img-float-left has-img-center-in-mobile"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Krishnamurthy_cab7ae4ebb.jpg" alt="on-neuroscience" >DR KRISHNAMURTHY J 
 Global Community Health Specialist 
 Bangalore, India</h4>
Today, we know quite a lot about the effects of meditation on the brain and behavior. Of
 course, there are methodological and conceptual limitations in meditation research and we may not be able to study
 all changes as objectively as we would like to, but the progress made in the last few decades in uncovering neural
 correlates of meditation is worthy of appreciation.
Functional MRI scans among long term meditators have revealed structural changes
 (neuroplasticity) in the prefrontal cortex and anterior insula, the brain regions associated with improved
 attention, interoception and sensory processing. Changes include thickening of the somatosensory cortex associated
 with heightened self-awareness, and the shrinking of the amygdala associated with fear and anxiety.
Electroencephalogram (EEG) studies, which analyze electric activity of brains, have
 revealed heightened theta and alpha pattern among meditators, reflecting calmer and more relaxed states.
Studying neural correlates of consciousness is gaining a lot of momentum today. By
 default, our minds are in a restless state, not accustomed to living in the present, and this is akin to a state of
 unhappiness. This state is reflected by the activation of a neural network that deals with self-referential
 processing, known as the default mode network (DMN). Studies have revealed that in experienced meditators, the main
 modes of DMN are actually deactivated indicating reduced restlessness. In long term practitioners, this change has
 become permanent.
Several theoretical frameworks are postulated to study consciousness. I personally find
 the ‘Global neuronal workspace framework’ very fascinating, which tries to explain the conscious and unconscious
 processing of information. It also relates to long distance connectivity between workspaces. Yes, these are still
 theoretical at the moment, but I feel science has made a bold attempt to begin exploring these aspects that were
 once regarded as mystical and subjective. There is some initial learning from neurophysiological, anatomical, and
 brain-imaging data to support a major role of the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, and the areas that connect
 to them, in creating the postulated brainscale workspace. The future of consciousness-related research will only be
 even more exciting!
<hr>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<h4><img decoding="async" class="lazyload img-float-left has-img-center-in-mobile"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Hester_O_Connor_7e31d83b43.jpg" alt="on-neuroscience" >DR HESTER O CONNOR 
 Clinical Psychologist 
 Wicklow, Ireland</h4>
We can change our brains!
I love hearing about the capacity of the brain to change. The idea of neuroplasticity,
 our inbuilt capacity to form new neural connections in our brains, gives me hope that it is possible with repeated
 practice to form new habits. Why do most of us find it incredibly difficult to keep up with our own good intentions?
 The concept in neuroscience of neuroplasticity helps to answer this question.
Neuroplasticity means the brain can and does change throughout our lives. The brain is a
 dynamic interconnected power grid with billions of connections that light up every time we think, feel or do
 something. If we think of these pathways like an oak tree with billions of interconnecting roots, then it is not
 difficult to understand that when we want to form new habits it is going to take time to weaken the old ones.
An example is deciding after a big meal that you are going to start walking every day.
 The next morning it is raining and you reassure yourself that you will start the next day. It takes a lot more than
 good intentions to form a new habit. The encouraging thing about neuroplasticity is that it means that because we
 have plastic brains we can learn new habits, and with a lot of practice we can reach our goal.
Two things are critical here: One, in order to change an old habit we need to practice
 the new one hundreds of times for the neural connections to become ‘automatic’ and hard wired. Two, we need to have
 a lot of compassion for our failed efforts knowing that we are doing our best and we are willing to keep trying.
 Berating ourselves will serve to reinforce existing pathways because that is what most of us have always done when
 we try to learn a new habit. Learning to meditate is no different. It is better to sit for ten minutes every day
 than for an hour once a week. The ten minutes will really help the new neural pathways to get firmly established.
 Along the way we need to be kind to ourselves. In the words of Samuel Beckett, “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

<hr>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<h4><img decoding="async" class="lazyload img-float-left has-img-center-in-mobile"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Vasco_Gaspar_c146d40d64.jpg" alt="on-neuroscience" >VASCO GASPAR 
 Mindfulness Corporate Trainer 
 Lisbon, Portugal</h4>
More and more I believe that science is finding out through the objective 3rd person
 perspective what yogis and practitioners of spirituality have know for millennia from the 1st and 2nd person
 perspectives. Unifying these three perspectives allows a more integrative view of the whole, leading to a better
 understanding of yoga and spirituality. And since science serves as the 21st century’s religion for many people, to
 have scientific studies proving spiritual claims gives trust to some people to try these practices.
What fascinates me the most about neuroscience is what is yet to be discovered.
 Phenomena like neuroplasticity, showing that parts of the brain change according to the type of meditation we do, is
 very inspiring. It gives confidence that meditation is not just something to believe but something that changes us
 at the core level of our being.
One of the main discoveries is that mind and consciousness are not limited to the brain.
 That is a very narrow view, I believe. The more scientists ‘dig’ into the brain and the activities of neurons to
 understand and explain consciousness, the more they realize that they don’t find it there. It is much more complex
 than that, and I believe that fields like Yoga bring complementary views that give us a better understanding of the
 whole picture.
<hr>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<h4><img decoding="async" class="lazyload img-float-left has-img-center-in-mobile"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Natwar_Sharma_1e7ab4e141.jpg" alt="on-neuroscience" >DR NATWAR SHARMA 
 Pediatric Intensivist 
 Chennai, India</h4>
Science takes an evidence-based approach and needs explanations for everything. It
 requires formulae, objective tools, machines and equipment to gauge anything, while spirituality is largely
 subjective. Can you measure the calmness or peace felt during meditation in absolute terms? We can only explain the
 relative effect or difference in our states of mind.
Although today we have several psychological and mental scales, like the stress scale,
 and equipment like EEG and MRI to assess what difference we feel with the practice of Yoga and meditation, science
 has not developed enough to measure the effects of meditation completely. For example, if a person today were to go
 back 200 years in time, he would wonder why people are struggling with small things. If a person from 200 years ago
 travels to today’s time, she would be wonderstruck at the advancements! She is likely to look at a plane flying in
 the sky and exclaim, “Is that a new species of bird?” Similarly may be science backing spirituality, which we have
 not discovered yet. Ultimately, at any point in time it’s difficult to explain everything scientifically, because
 science is also evolving.
As a doctor I am trained to look for evidence, so the empirical approach of neuroscience
 is what interests me. There is enough research to show how meditation helps with health, not only in the mind but
 also it reduces cortisol levels and heart rate variability, thereby reducing the occurrence of cardiovascular
 disease, strokes, stress, hypertension and even diabetes. It is found to improve sleep, mental cognition functions,
 focus and memory. I have been meditating for 24 years now and absolutely enjoy the experience, so much so that as
 part of my PhD I am conducting a study to see the effect of meditation on the body, mind, heart and aura of a
 person.
In my own work I have found that when people see and understand things objectively, it
 boosts them to move forward. Their awareness or consciousness expands with the changes they perceive over time. Here
 we are talking about individual consciousness, but if things have to change at a global level there has to be some
 groundbreaking discovery that can produce a shift in the consciousness of human beings collectively. Neuroscience
 also shows the potential of meditation to affect people on a large scale and bring about a change in our global
 consciousness.
<hr>

Home› Contributors