Has conducted research on yoga since 2001 and has been a practitioner/instructor of Kundalini Yoga since 1973. His research has evaluated yoga for insomnia, chronic stress, and anxiety-related disorders, and in workplace and public school settings. He works with the International Association of Yoga Therapists as scientific director for the annual Symposium on Yoga Research and as editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Yoga Therapy. He is medical editor of the Harvard Medical School Special Report Introduction to Yoga, and chief editor of the medical textbook The Principles and Practice of Yoga in Health Care. He is interviewed by VICTOR KANNAN of the Heartfulness Institute about the intersection of yoga and well-being.

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Sat Bir Singh Khalsa

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">SAT BIR SINGH KHALSA, Ph.D. has been an instructor of Kundalini Yoga since 1973, and conducted research on yoga since 2001 on insomnia, chronic stress, anxiety-related disorders, and in workplace and public school settings. He works with the International Association of Yoga Therapists as scientific director for the annual Symposium on Yoga Research and as editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Yoga Therapy. He is medical editor of the Harvard Medical School Special Report Introduction to Yoga, and chief editor of the medical textbook The Principles and Practice of Yoga in Health Care. He is interviewed by VICTOR KANNAN of Heartfulness Institute about the intersection of yoga and well-being.</h4>&nbsp;<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/mind_body_connection2_0acf760470.webp" alt="mind-body-connection2.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_mind_body_connection2_0acf760470.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_mind_body_connection2_0acf760470.webp 563w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/mind_body_connection2_0acf760470.webp 563w," sizes="100vw"><h4 style="text-align:justify;">Four aspects of traditional yoga</h4>Q: Thank you for your time this morning Dr. Khalsa. What is yoga to you?SBSK: What I call “traditional yoga” or “historical yoga” is composed of four major elements. First are the Asanas, the physical postures and exercises. Many people practice only Asanas, and that’s fine, but it’s limited. It is only one aspect of yoga.Second is breathing, Pranayama. This is part of a rich tradition that goes back a long way and is still very much alive in modern yoga.&nbsp;Third is physical relaxation, which is technically included in the postures but I think it deserves its own category. There is a specific practice we call the Corpse Pose or Shavasana, which is deep relaxation of the physical body. It has very specific effects that have been demonstrated in yoga studies and also with “progressive relaxation,” a practice used in the West for many decades in the field of psychology. Relaxing the physical body has very clear effects on behavior and mental and emotional functioning. It highlights the connection between the mind and the body.&nbsp;Fourth, meditation (Dhyana) is perhaps the most important component of yoga. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras are mostly about the cognitive aspects of yoga, the meditative component, the focus of attention. My simplest definition of meditation is the relaxed, non-analytical focus of attention. The difference in various meditation styles is simply the target of that focus. All of them involve the engagement of attention, recruiting the attention networks in the brain to focus on a target. When you focus on that target for a period of time, your mind starts to wander. The task in meditation is to bring your focus back to the target of attention. It’s that cyclical bringing of the focus to the target.&nbsp;Physical postures, relaxation, Pranayama, and meditation are therefore the four most important components in yoga in modern practice.&nbsp;Q: In relaxation, there is the physical and the mental-psychological. A Mayo Clinic research paper talks about autogenic relaxation. How does that work?SBSK: Two Western relaxation practices have a long history. One is called autogenic training (Johannes Heinrich Schultz, 1932), a guided imagery practice that works on the physical body to generate a sense of relaxation. The other is called progressive muscle relaxation (Dr. Edmund Jacobson, 1938). They have been used as interventions for a variety of conditions, both physical and mental.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/mind_body_connection3_7a1f8cc578.webp" alt="mind-body-connection3.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_mind_body_connection3_7a1f8cc578.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_mind_body_connection3_7a1f8cc578.webp 563w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/mind_body_connection3_7a1f8cc578.webp 563w," sizes="100vw"></figure><h4 style="text-align:justify;">Mind and body are connected</h4>Q: The mind-body connection is interesting because the mind is not local, non-physical, while the body is physical. The connection of the mind-body is happening in the brain as far as we know. So, how do meditation and progressive relaxation affect brain functioning? I’ve read that even short-term meditation influences the chemical composition of the brain, impacting behavior; and longer-term meditation, e.g. 8 to 13 weeks, produces structural changes to the brain. Can you talk about the connection between mind and brain, and how they work together and are influenced by each other?SBSK: Mind and body are intimately connected. Without the brain there is no mind; you can easily demonstrate that. In modern science, including medical science, the mind and body have been dissociated. This started in the 1800s as the two fields developed – psychology and psychiatry on one hand, and physical medicine on the other. This led to an underlying schism between mind and body in modern medicine.Very often we see that doctors treating physical disorders aren’t interested in what’s going on mentally and emotionally, and those working with psychological or psychiatric conditions are not asking what’s going on in the body and with physical behavior. This is a major flaw, because the mind and body are intimately connected.&nbsp;The spinal cord is an extension of the brain that runs through the body and brings information from the body to the brain. And the brain communicates information back to the body. What influences one influences the other.&nbsp;You see manifestations of both when you have an emotional condition. When you’re upset, you cry. It physical, yet it’s a response to an emotional event. On the other hand, if you burn your finger, you experience a lot of emotional distress. To ignore mind or body at the expense of the other is a weakness and a misunderstanding. We will have more success in treating psychological and psychiatric conditions by incorporating respect for the body, and more success in physical medicine if we respect and understand what’s going on mentally and emotionally with the patient.&nbsp;My focus is on the mind-body connection and what we can measure. In modern medicine, we have very little understanding about self-regulation of the body by the mind, whereas in yoga we learn to control our internal state, both psychological and physical. This construct of self-regulation is a hallmark of yoga and other mind-body practices.&nbsp;Q: Is self-regulation the Pratyahara limb of yoga?SBSK: I don’t think self-regulation is associated with one limb. I view the eight limbs as a guideline to dissect how yoga works on the mind and the body, but I don’t find it that useful. Many people are focused on the Yamas and Niyamas, which are about ethical behavior. They have value, but I think they automatically emerge out of a regular yoga practice over time. They are not necessary to start or to have a yoga experience.Once you engage in one of the four components, you invoke the other three to some degree. The four components (physical exercise, breathing, relaxation, and meditation) are completely enmeshed and interlinked. For example, in slow breathing your autonomic nervous system slows down and there are also immediate effects on the brain and cognitive functioning. Mental relaxation also occurs when you do slow breathing. Similarly, when you meditate, there is a cognitive effect and physical relaxation. Your breathing slows down. So all of these practices are intimately linked together.Q: Your answer is pretty helpful. People can start with any of the yoga practices that attract them and start to benefit from the other components as well.SBSK: It is one of the major advantages of yoga. We all have different personalities and affinities. You can choose to engage in the practices that appeal to you.&nbsp;If you don’t practice, you won’t benefit. Knowing about mind-body medicine alone doesn’t work. You have to engage, and engagement is greater if you enjoy the practices. Yoga works on multiple fronts and that is the reason I originally chose yoga as a contemplative practice.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/mind_body_connection4_d6e65da835.webp" alt="mind-body-connection4.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_mind_body_connection4_d6e65da835.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_mind_body_connection4_d6e65da835.webp 563w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/mind_body_connection4_d6e65da835.webp 563w," sizes="100vw"></figure><h4 style="text-align:justify;">Demystifying yoga</h4>Q: Researchers and academics like you are passionate about demystifying yoga; especially that it is more than postures.SBSK: That’s true. People, get upset with diluted forms of yoga, especially in India. They say, “Oh, the Americans are taking our ancient sacred practices and minimizing them, destroying them by doing things like wine yoga, beer yoga, and goat yoga." I understand that viewpoint, but these limited forms of yoga serve as a gateway. People may start with physical postures alone for fitness, but the postures have a very powerful mind-body effect and people experience other things.&nbsp;The original reasons for trying yoga may be very trivial. Some start because they want to fix their knees or shoulders. Then a month later, after they’ve been practicing regularly and their shoulders are better, they say, “I’m feeling different, and I’m able to manage life more effectively. I’m less stressed and I want more of that, so I’m going across the street to the traditional yoga studio where I can learn more.” Limited yoga can be a gateway to traditional yoga, and that’s good. I would rather people do only Asanas in limited yoga than take pharmaceuticals.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">Yoga and neuroplasticity</h4>Q: Absolutely. There is an axiom that what you did not learn before five you cannot learn after 50. Is there a right age to start? How does it relate to neuroplasticity?&nbsp;SBSK: Well, learning is affected by developmental stage. There are things you learn better when you are younger. Everything you do in life changes brain activity and brain structure. Neuroplasticity and neural activity are changing constantly. If you learn to juggle, you are changing brain activity and structure. If you read more books, you are changing brain activity and structure. Everything is reflected in brain activity and brain structure. If you start smoking three packs of cigarettes a day, the changes will not be positive, obviously.&nbsp;The different components of yoga also change both brain activity and structure. Those changes can occur at any time of life. Perhaps they are more beneficial when you are younger, just like anything else, so there are benefits to doing these practices early.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">Yoga for children</h4>You can start yoga even in infancy. Preschool children can learn the principles of self-regulation, such as how to be aware of their body and mind, how to relax their body and mind. The yoga that is practiced at that age is targeted to their level of interest – animal games, pretending to be a lion or another kind of animal in yoga-like postures; relaxation and teaching the children how to self-regulate. A competent preschool yoga teacher can take a group of children who are bouncing off the walls with energy, and 20 minutes later have them all lying peacefully in Shavasana. It is a miracle. These children learn to self-regulate, learn to be aware of their own <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/the-strategic-meaning-of-health" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">physical activity</a> and mental energy, and calm that at will.<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/mind_body_connection5_34f55bc8e9.webp" alt="mind-body-connection5.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_mind_body_connection5_34f55bc8e9.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_mind_body_connection5_34f55bc8e9.webp 563w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/mind_body_connection5_34f55bc8e9.webp 563w," sizes="100vw"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Being aware of your internal state, both psychological and physical, is intimately linked with self-regulation</h4><hr>Children also experience another fundamental construct, which is mind-body awareness, a term which is now popularized as mindfulness.&nbsp;Being aware of your internal state, both psychological and physical, is intimately linked with self-regulation, because you can’t self-regulate if you’re not aware. These two constructs are perhaps the most important in yoga and mind-body medicine— mind-body awareness and self-regulation of the internal state. They can be taught to children at a very early age. Later on, they can learn more practices, like Pranayama and meditation, and by the time they’re in high school, they can do everything an adult can do.To be continued.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Illustrations by ANANYA PATEL</h4><hr>

The mind-body connection

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">SAT BIR SINGH KHALSA is interviewed by VICTOR KANNAN about research and the applications of yoga in modern life. Dr. Khalsa has been an instructor of Kundalini Yoga since 1973, and has conducted research on yoga since 2001 on insomnia, chronic stress, anxiety-related disorders, and in workplace and public school settings. He is medical editor of the Harvard Medical School Special Report, Introduction to Yoga, and chief editor of the medical textbook, The Principles and Practice of Yoga in Health Care.</h4><h4 style="text-align:justify;">Yoga in schools</h4>Q: Can you tell us how some of the yoga practices help prevent physical and mental problems?SBSK: I’ve been a strong proponent that we need more research on the implementation of yoga in our public schools, because I believe yoga provides fundamental skills children need to learn. The skills of self-regulation and mind-body awareness are preventive. They will prevent both physical and psychological conditions.One of the biggest risk factors for all kinds of medical conditions is chronic stress and emotional disturbance. Self-regulation leads to emotional equanimity. Stress regulation and emotional regulation are absolutely critical in preventing aberrant behaviors as well as aberrant mental states. The degree to which our children and adolescents are experiencing adverse mental health conditions is disturbing. The answer is to teach them what has been called “socio-emotional learning”; the ability to self-regulate and be aware will change their behavior. It will change their mental state and it will change their emotional state. It will change their self-efficacy overall and improve their ability to cope with life.Unfortunately, these skills are not taught in our schools, which are focused on acquiring successful occupations and not on successful health of the mind, emotions, and body. Not training our children to be able to be functional physically, emotionally, and mentally is a weakness of our society. Education should be about learning how to be an effective and functional adult, not just about getting a job.Yoga has the potential to inculcate those skills, and that’s the reason I believe it should be taught in schools. But we need the research to demonstrate that bringing yoga into schools will accomplish that.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/how_yoga_regenerates_us2_60c9942385.webp" alt="how-yoga-regenerates-us2.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_how_yoga_regenerates_us2_60c9942385.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_how_yoga_regenerates_us2_60c9942385.webp 492w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/how_yoga_regenerates_us2_60c9942385.webp 492w," sizes="100vw"></figure>&nbsp;Q: You also mention that policies lag behind research, so we need more research.SBSK: Our society functions and makes decisions based upon research evidence. Now, the problem is that research takes time. There are many forces and influences in opposition to research on topics that we believe are beneficial. One example, which is very dominant in modern society, is cigarette smoking. The research on smoking goes back to the 1940s and 50s. Scientists reported that smoking is associated with bad effects, and then came the evidence that smoking causes cancer. How many decades of research has it taken to create policies and regulations leading to no smoking in restaurants and university campuses? I’m hoping it will not take many decades to come up with policies for yoga and socio-emotional learning in our schools. It’s hard to predict.There is a joke in modern society that science moves forward funeral by funeral. Scientists hold onto old dogma and refuse to be open to new evidence and new ways of thinking. When they die, those who take over are more open and will adopt and implement new policies.We have so many examples. Go back to Galileo and the principle that the Earth revolves around the sun. It took decades to finally win over the opposing force, which was the Church arguing that it was against religious doctrine. That construct died with the people who defended it.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">Yoga is not religion</h4>Q: I’m also wondering about the misunderstanding that yoga is religious.SBSK: There are actually two major misunderstandings, and they are polar opposites. One is that yoga is a religion. There is suggestive evidence that yoga was part of the Indus Valley civilization. We know that yoga evolved out of the culture from that part of northern India. India is predominantly Hindu, so many Hindus practice yoga, but to argue that yoga is a form of Hinduism is incorrect, both historically and philosophically. Although it is linked to other philosophical traditions in India, e.g., the Samkhya philosophy, all of which are related to each other, yoga stands on its own as a form of practical mysticism.The focus of yoga is the experience of the unitive state of consciousness. There has never been a dogma associated with it. That, to me, is what distinguishes religious activity from spiritual activity. Yoga is a practical form of mysticism, a philosophy that argues for the experience of a higher state of consciousness. It’s an experience, not a dogma or belief. &nbsp;That is the distinction between spirituality and religion.In religion, you adopt a set of beliefs and behaviors that make you part of that religion. You align with those beliefs and dogma, and you practice the techniques, ceremonies, and rituals as part of religious behavior.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">The focus of yoga is the experience of the unitive state of consciousness. There has never been a dogma associated with it. That, to me, is what distinguishes religious activity from spiritual activity.&nbsp;</h4><hr>Yoga is a mind-body practice. You do exercise, relaxation, breath regulation, and meditation. Over time, you hope to experience the unitive state of consciousness. In the beginning it may be an experience of simple peace, quietude and tranquility. But many people do experience the deeper unitive state of consciousness, the Samadhi state. If you do the practices, you have the experience, regardless of whether you believe or not. And there are many instances where people start with the belief that yoga is a joke; then they practice and change their minds because of the experience that yoga is real and beneficial. That’s one extreme.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">Yoga in Western mainstream culture</h4>The other extreme is that many people believe yoga is practiced largely by beautiful women in leotards doing acrobatic postures, and that you have to be flexible. This is the result of the media’s portrayal of yoga. In this view, men don’t practice yoga, children don’t practice yoga. If you have a medical condition or limitation, you don’t practice yoga because you’re not fit.If you’re writing a media article, or want to sell a magazine, what are you going to show? An old fat man sitting in meditation? No, you’ll show a beautiful woman in leotards doing an acrobatic posture, because that’s what attracts readers. If you constantly put that kind of image in the media, then the public makes that association. The related conclusion is, “I’m not a young flexible woman, therefore yoga is not for me.”Q: I thought the Happy Buddha was a good counter to that.SBSK: The problem with the Happy Buddha is that you’re going into Buddhism. When you show a meditative posture, it’s associated with Zen and other forms of Buddhism. You’re going to the other extreme of yoga as religion. As a community, we have to disabuse the public of these two extreme notions, which are both false.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/how_yoga_regenerates_us3_5d1bba0555.webp" alt="how-yoga-regenerates-us3.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_how_yoga_regenerates_us3_5d1bba0555.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_how_yoga_regenerates_us3_5d1bba0555.webp 720w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/how_yoga_regenerates_us3_5d1bba0555.webp 720w," sizes="100vw"></figure>&nbsp;Q: I agree. We have a responsibility to promote yoga correctly, if it is to help everyone optimally, focusing on the latest research, from a perspective of promoting sleep and stress management, and preventing depression and addiction.SBSK: We are seeing enormous advances in research on yoga, with studies that show the psychophysiology of individual yoga practices, and also the effects of combining all four aspects of traditional yoga.There are four major outcomes of the basic research on the psychophysiology of yoga:<ul><li style="text-align:justify;">Changes in the physical body.</li></ul>There is increased flexibility, muscular endurance, muscle strength, and respiratory function. It works on the physical body and through the mind-body connection, affecting the emotional cognitive functioning.<ul><li style="text-align:justify;">Self-regulation</li></ul>There is now strong evidence that yoga can self-regulate our internal state. We’re starting to understand the neurophysiology of that self-regulation. The two most important self-regulation skills are stress and emotion regulation. We know that the prefrontal cortex is activated during yoga to calm the limbic system, where stress and emotion are expressed. There is growing evidence to show the ability of yoga to improve self-regulation of emotion and thought processes.<ul><li style="text-align:justify;">Increased mind-body awareness, mindfulness</li></ul>The engagement of the attention networks in meditation consistently over time leads to the skill of self-regulation of thought processes. We become capable of self-regulation of thought processes and come to an understanding of our thought processes. We come to realize that we are not our thought processes. They are not central to who we are, because we can self-regulate them and change our thoughts. This is referred to as metacognition in psychology. Metacognition is consistent with the most powerful and universal form of psychotherapy today, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which is based on self-regulation of thought processes. That component of yoga is powerful.<ul><li style="text-align:justify;">Longer-term yoga practice leads to deeper states of consciousness</li></ul>People experience at both gross and subtle levels a sense of peace, quietude, and tranquility. Over time, it becomes stronger and evolves into a unitive experience, which approaches the state of the universe is one. This brings a deep oneness that leads to a change in life purpose and meaning.That is really what we’re talking about when we use the word “spirituality.” People change. They may change their behaviors. They change their goals in life—there’s a shift from materialistic goals to non-materialistic goals. They become more focused on spiritual goals and less on materialistic aspects of life.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">There is increased flexibility, muscular endurance, muscle strength, and respiratory function. It works on the physical body and through the mind-body connection, affecting the emotional cognitive functioning.&nbsp;</h4><hr>The research is convincing in the fitness component. This research goes back decades. If we give individuals asanas to practice, they become more flexible. We can measure this in inches and centimeters and degrees of motion. Pranayama practice increases respiratory function and the autonomic nervous system.From brain scanning and neuroimaging, molecular biological techniques, and biochemical assays, we are now starting to understand how self-regulation and mind-body awareness develop, what the relationships are in the different regions of the brain, and how this manifests in the brain. This is the most powerful outcome we’ve had from research during the past three to four decades.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/how_yoga_regenerates_us4_4b88fbd3be.webp" alt="how-yoga-regenerates-us4.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_how_yoga_regenerates_us4_4b88fbd3be.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_how_yoga_regenerates_us4_4b88fbd3be.webp 492w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/how_yoga_regenerates_us4_4b88fbd3be.webp 492w," sizes="100vw"></figure>&nbsp;The area where we don’t have so much scientific research is spirituality. Many people have argued yoga is so profound that you can’t possibly study it. I disagree. If you have a spiritual experience, and you can describe it, you can measure it. We have many questionnaires and assays that measure states of consciousness. We also know these states of consciousness are produced by the brain. We know there are networks in the brain that are affected by yoga practice that produce these states.One of the strongest pieces of evidence that it is the brain is the fact that psilocybin can generate unitive states of consciousness. Psilocybin is a drug that affects regions and networks of the brain. A subset of people who have taken psilocybin experience the full and complete unitive state of consciousness, which has the same degree of efficacy and life change that naturally-generated experiences have. We know there are regions and networks that can be activated to generate these states of mind.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">From brain scanning and neuroimaging, molecular biological techniques, and biochemical assays, we are now starting to understand how self-regulation and mind-body awareness develop, what the relationships are in the different regions of the brain, and how this manifests in the brain.&nbsp;</h4><hr>The model of the psychophysiological changes with the four outcomes can automatically apply to any circumstance or behavior. You can address hypertension, diabetes, depression, or anxiety. The two research areas that have had the biggest impact on policy change have been yoga for low back pain and yoga for cancer. We are starting to see strong movement in other areas, for example, yoga for diabetes. India has put an emphasis on the treatment of diabetes because of the epidemic there.In the West, we are seeing yoga in incarcerated populations, and the enormous potential for rehabilitation of criminal behavior. There are many areas where yoga is now used very effectively in mental health and the entire range of human disorders.To be continued.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Illustrations by ANANYA PATEL</h4><hr>

How yoga regenerates us

Dr. Panda is a leading expert in the field of circadian rhythm research. He is Associate Professor at the Regulatory Lab at the Salk Institute, a Pew Scholar, and a recipient of the Dana Foundation Award in Brain and Immune System Imaging. His book, The Circadian Code: Lose Weight, Supercharge You Energy, and Transform Your Health from Morning to Midnight, is helping people around the world to align their lifestyles with these daily cycles, having a dramatic effect on their health.

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Satchin Panda

<h4>DR. SATCHIN PANDA is a leading expert in the field of circadian rhythm research. He is Associate Professor in the Regulatory Lab at the Salk Institute, a Pew Scholar, and a recipient of the Dana Foundation Award in Brain and Immune System Imaging. His book, The Circadian Code, has helped many people to regain their energy, sleep well and lose weight. Here he is interviewed by UDAY KUMAR on how he developed the ideas in his book, and what inspired his research.</h4><hr>Q: Good morning, sir. It’s very nice to see you. Thank you so much for taking the time. I believe in karmic coincidences, and one day I was thinking that there should be something around the circadian code, not a complex research paper but something simpler for the common person to read and understand, beyond superstition and ritual, which really explains the science. Then I discovered your book, and I was very happy.SP: Thank you.Q: The more I read it, the more I can feel your sincerity in putting the contents across.SP: Yes, it is difficult because being a scientist it’s always hard to simplify and at the same time not to lose the facts.Q: Yes, it’s a very fine line.I wanted to talk to you about your circadian clock app. I’ve personally been using it and it’s a very comprehensive app! It covers a lot of things.But first, can you talk a little more about your childhood, especially time with your grandparents?SP: It’s pretty well described in the book, and as an idea it’s immense. Only in retrospect, after studying <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/the-science-behind-creating-a-daily-meditation-practice" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">circadian rhythms</a>, could I understand the difference between the way my paternal and maternal grandparents lived their lives. My maternal grandfather was working for the Indian Railways in a small town in Odisha so at times he had to do the night shift. He had access to relatively good health care. My paternal grandfather was a farmer, who lived on a farm and didn’t have access to health care because it was a small village in the middle of nowhere. The end stages of their lives were very different. My maternal grandfather, who ate better food and had better access to health care, succumbed to a neurodegenerative disease. He died earlier than my paternal grandfather, who lived in sync with Nature. He didn’t have electricity, he slept well, and he ate a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. I guess the only thing he bought from the market was salt. I can’t remember anything else, not even jaggery.In retrospect it was interesting to see how these two lives played out. I think that also gave me some early insight into the seasonality of plants and flowers, and it brought some curiosity. Most of science talks about how x affects y, but it doesn’t talk about timing. So, I realized that maybe the biology of time would be the next frontier in science. That’s why I decided to work on the biology of time.Q: Beautiful! I love the phrase “biology of time.” I also noticed the way the time with your grandparents nurtured a natural curiosity in you. You talk about this even in your TED talk, for example, your sister telling you that the frog comes up at a certain time. I thought that was just fascinating.SP: Back then, we didn’t have the time displayed everywhere. In those days, perhaps we had one watch in the house. It is interesting that animals and plants keep track of time to fifteen minutes accuracy, or even five minutes accuracy, irrespective of what time they go to bed and wake up in the morning.Q: There is something to be said about the world today. I work in the technology sector and ten years ago I was also involved in some BPO activity and went to India to visit one company. At 2 a.m. all these young people were working like it was like broad daylight, and I was worried for them. I’m more worried now knowing the science. What are they doing to their biological clocks? Can it be reversed? Can we heal? What does science say?<hr><hr>Animals and plants keep track of time&nbsp; to fifteen minutes accuracy, or even&nbsp; five minutes accuracy, irrespective of&nbsp; what time they go to bed and&nbsp; wake up in the morning.<hr><hr>So, we are saying that some of it can be reversed. One can live a healthier life. It’s not irreversible damage. Even if you take the case of a car. I may not have taken good care of my car, but if I start taking good care of it, it will not continue to degrade at the same rate. If I reduce the rate of degradation I will get a few more years out of the car. The same thing happens when taking care of your health. If you think about the modern healthcare system, where we find medication and surgery, underlying all that is one universal principle which stems from the germ theory of disease. Sanitation, vaccination, and antibiotics are the foundation of the modern healthcare system. For example, there is no way a person can successfully go through surgery without sanitation and antibiotics. Similarly, the foundations of day-to-day physical health are also three factors: sleep, nutrition, and physical activity. Whether a person is healthy or sick, if they don’t pay attention to these three things, their system will break down. Conversely, no matter how sick they are, if they pay attention to these three, then the chance of recovery is much better.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/biology_of_time2_694b8e7342.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-06T06:16:24.129Z" alt="Biology of time"><hr>Q: I think that’s where the whole notion of prevention and cure comes into play. Money put into prevention probably goes much further than trying to fix the system.SP: Yes, but we should not make the distinction between prevention and cure because people who are already sick feel that they have missed the train. For example, when somebody gets diabetes, it may never be cured. They learn to manage it. Giving them hope that they can manage it and stay healthier is a very powerful message, because most people will pay attention to their lifestyle only after they get the disease. We should not tell them, “Hey you missed the train because your condition cannot be reversed.” Instead, everything we are talking about actually helps them live life to their full potential, irrespective of what condition they may have.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/biology_of_time3_60b9ffd713.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-06T06:20:33.982Z" alt="biology of time"><hr><hr>The foundations of day-to-day physical health are also three factors: sleep, nutrition, and physical activity. Whether a person is healthy or sick, if they don’t pay attention to these three things, their system will break down. Conversely, no matter how sick they are, if they pay attention to these three, then the chance of recovery is much better.<hr><hr>Q: I love that. It’s a very ennobling message. There’s always an opportunity to get on the train and start from wherever you are, which is what you say a lot in the book – it’s never too late. And to your point about observation, especially when observing plants, there is a line in your book – it was like watching a Broadway show sitting in the front row – and you also describe vanilla farmers. Can you talk a little bit about observing plants and how that triggered your curiosity further as you went along?SP: The plants and animals on the planet have circadian rhythms. That’s how they adapt to cold, warmth, and everything else. For example, if you plant seeds, you’ll notice that the seedlings spread their leaves during the daytime to capture the sun, but at night they close their leaves as if they’re shivering from cold, because they want to reduce the heat loss.Similarly, depending on what time of day pollinators are present, most flowers open their petals at a specific time. When I was working with vanilla, I discovered that it flowers very early in the morning before sunrise, and that’s why the farmers wake up around one or two a.m. and go to the vanilla field to hand-pollinate the flowers before sunrise. Being in tune with the circadian rhythm of the vanilla flowers was breaking the workers’ circadian clocks because they had to wake up early! I observed that a lot of the farmers in the vanilla fields slowly developed an allergic reaction to vanilla. I don’t know whether it’s genetic, because of exposure to a lot of pollen, or due to a combination of their circadian rhythm being broken, being sleep deprived, and exposure to the allergen. That’s why the chance of getting allergies might have increased.It is an interesting observation, but I guess these days we don’t have time for these observations because instead we observe what is trending on Twitter and Facebook. What is interesting is that if you mine the Twitter data, there are very nice circadian, weekly, and annual rhythms. In Google Analytics you can look for these patterns in the searches that people make. You’ll clearly see that the things people think about, worry about, or are curious about have circadian rhythms. As you might imagine, searches for pain medication increase at night. People search for coffee more often in the morning and late afternoon. Studying these data, you start to know the predictive value of rhythms to help us anticipate events as opposed to just being responsive. Anticipation versus response actually increases efficiency by 10% to 20%.Q: Wow!SP: For example, if you are opening a shop in a market and you know that people only come to the market by 9 or 10 a.m., after finishing their morning activities at home, what is the point of opening the shop at 6 a.m.? Also, it’ll be useless to open at 12 noon because you have missed the morning customers. So, rhythms are played out in commerce. Plants turn their photosynthetic mechanism on one or two hours before sunrise. They are opening shop one hour before sunrise so that they can get the first rays of the sun and convert them into energy.Having that circadian clock gives them the advantage of getting maybe 10% to 15% extra photosynthesis. The circadian clock helps the plant kingdom fix 10% more carbon. And imagine, if they didn’t fix that additional 10% we would be dead by now. Then, at the end of the day, photosynthesis winds down one hour before sunset, so they don’t waste any unnecessary energy to keep the photosynthetic system goingQ: Brilliant!SP: It’s all about prediction.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/biology_of_time4_3544274e3e.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-06T06:28:04.522Z" alt="biology-of-time4"><hr>Q: As you rightly said, one of the key things is that rhythm is universal, and if we flow with it, it supports us, whereas if we go against it, there is friction. In Heartfulness, it is recommended that we meditate early in the morning, before dawn, and do the detox cleaning practice in the evening, and a prayer before sleep at night. The timings are based on the circadian importance of getting better returns at certain times of the day for certain activities. Is this also the case with other aspects of lifestyle? For example, is there research on recommended times for students to study? A lot of kids nowadays burn the midnight oil.SP: Sometimes this can be taken out of context. For example, we know that there are better times to exercise, but that’s for elite athletes who want that extra one second advantage. If we say that late afternoon is the best time for exercise, then people who need to exercise may say, “Well, morning may not be the best time to exercise.” So, in the pursuit of perfection, we should not give up what is good now. For sleep, it’s very clear that we should sleep at night. We have excellent sleep when we go to bed at 9 or 10 p.m., whereas we cannot sleep for six to seven hours, even when we try, during the daytime. But that’s very different from exercise, or studying for an exam, because when there is an exam, we have to study. We cannot say, “No, I’m just waiting for my best time!”<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/biology_of_time5_401eab8ad4.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-06T06:30:14.655Z" alt="biology-of-time5"><hr>Q: I’ve used that excuse a few times, but it didn’t work out very well. I like what you are saying, and it is the same with meditation. Even though there is a best time of the day to meditate, it is still better to do it now than wait for that ideal time.<hr>To be continued.<hr><hr><h4>Interview by UDAY KUMAR</h4><hr>

The biology of time

Time is the next frontier

<h4>DR. SATCHIN PANDA is a leading expert in the field of circadian rhythm research. He is Associate Professor in the Regulatory Lab at the Salk Institute, a Pew Scholar, and a recipient of the Dana Foundation Award in Brain and Immune System Imaging. His book, The Circadian Code, has helped many people to regain energy, sleep well and lose weight. In part 2 of his discussion with UDAY KUMAR, he speaks about how he developed his ideas, and what inspired his research.</h4><hr><h2>The Biology of Time – Part 2</h2><hr>Q: Regarding the point you mentioned about sleep and sleep discipline, I have an Android phone and although I never knew anything about the blue light filter somehow I would turn it on and it would feel softer on my eyes. Then I came across your research. What triggered this whole curiosity and life changing discovery?DP: For a very long time, animals and humans have reset their brain clocks in response to light. Then there are many blind people who cannot see, cannot even see the headline of the New York Times, but when they travel from one place to another place, they can readjust their clock to the new time zone, just like normal people. But then there are other types of blind people who have lost both their eyes because of surgery or an accident, and they cannot reset their clock. That means there must be a light sensor in the eye, which is not for seeing, but may be essential for sensing.So, that clue was there for almost 50 years, and everybody was trying to figure out where this light sensor is. Then, after the human genome project, it became easier to look for it because we had the information. That’s how we stumbled on the melanopsin photoreceptor. If you remove the melanopsin gene in a mouse, it cannot sense light accurately, and cannot reset its clock. It takes a very long time to reset at scale.Then we figured out that it’s a blue light sensing protein – it senses blue light. That makes sense because during the daytime we have a lot of blue light in sunlight. So, we are designed to sense that blue light and become a lot more alert during the day. At night-time we don’t need blue light because it keeps us alert. Candlelight and firelight don’t have too much blue light. So, we are designed to see more blue light in the daytime and less blue light at night.Unfortunately, nowadays, what has happened is that opticians want us to have a blue light coating, which is actually not the right thing to do. You need blue light during the daytime, whereas you don’t need blue light at night. So, it’s better to have two pairs of glasses. If you don’t get enough blue light during the daytime, you can become depressed. Cell phone tracking data show that we spend more than 87% of our time indoors, and most of our indoor lighting is not good. In my living room, I might have 250 to 300 lux of light, whereas on a cloudy day in New Jersey, outside there will be 10,000 lux. Right now, where you’re sitting, since you’re away from your window, you may be sitting in 200 lux. Out of that, blue light is a small fraction. If you filter out the blue light, then of course you may not get so much eye strain from looking at the screen, but you will not get the upliftment that you get from going outside.The second aspect is that most opticians are selling blue light filtering glasses. But is it filtering enough that is biologically significant? The answer is no. Most blue light blocking glasses that people are buying filter out maybe 5 to 10%. It is like you’re standing outside, and you feel it’s too much sun, and you get a transparent umbrella and hold it. So, in most cases it’s 5%. The glasses that really filter out blue light will look orange. Only orange and other spectra will go through, since blue is filtered out, so we see them as orange or even red. The real blue light filtering glasses are orange, yellow or red.Some people who get migraines will benefit from filtering out blue light when they go out, but they’ll also benefit just from wearing sunglasses, because that will filter out a lot of light, including daylight. At night-time, for people who cannot sleep easily, and cannot control the lighting, the real blue light filtering glasses do help. For example, somebody working in a grocery store, whose shift ends at 10 p.m. or midnight, who comes home completely jazzed up because of the light and cannot asleep, will benefit if they wear the blue light filter glasses for one or two hours before the shift ends. That will help. So, there are specific cases where they’re more effective, while there are many cases where people are just paying for nothing because there is no benefit that is significant.Q: Here are my $20 glasses from Amazon! [chuckles]DP: Maybe you’ll get some placebo effect.Q: Exactly! It’s placebo and now I totally know it!DP: Just look at the glasses, do they actually look slightly yellow or orange? If so, then you know.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/the_biology_of_time_part2_2_89bf3c610e.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-07T06:21:52.593Z" alt="the-biology-of-time-part2-2"><hr><a href="Q:">Q:</a> I think a lot of families will find this advice helpful because, with homeschooling, designing an ergonomic workspace for kids has become more important than for grownups. There’s just so much that they have to do with this new change.The other aspect of your research, which I have started implementing, is time restricted eating. Is it the same as intermittent fasting, or is it different? I like time restricted eating better.DP: In the scientific literature, intermittent fasting is a broad term, because it just means doing something intermittently. It goes back to the research on calorie restriction: When caloric intake in mice is reduced by 20 to 40% then the mice live longer. That led to the idea that we should restrict calories, but then it is not easy to restrict calories every day, so they came up with the idea that we should eat every other day: There is a diet called the “Every Other Day Diet.” And then it was discovered that people who didn’t eat for two days out of seven might get similar benefits, and that people who eat less than 1000 kilocalories for five days in a row every two months also get some benefit.<hr><hr>Some people who get migraines will benefit from filtering out blue light when they go out, but they’ll also benefit just from wearing sunglasses, because that will filter out a lot of light, including daylight.<hr><hr>So, all of these are intermittent not continuous. That’s why they lump them together as intermittent fasting. But the word “fasting” repels people who would benefit, like people who have diabetes. They are told by their physicians that they should not fast, because they may become hypoglycemic. In our clinical study, we tell them that they can simply choose their 10 hours, and they can eat whatever they’re currently eating, then they say, “Yes we can do it.” If we tell them that “You have to fast for 14 or 16 hours,” then psychologically it becomes difficult.Q: Again, the positive reinforcement that you spoke about earlier: What is the message that helps a person take a positive step forward? I love the idea of time restricted eating. What you also showed is that it’s not about how much or what, but it’s the time you eat, the discipline, that makes a lot of difference.It was a Japanese scientist who received the Nobel Prize for autophagy and there was a lot of conversation about the positive benefits of fasting and how it helps with autophagy. So, in the Indian context, there is the idea of Ekadashi. I think our ancients knew the benefits of fasting.DP: In the Indian culture there is weekly fasting, which is similar to intermittent fasting. Two days in a week you fast, and that gives similar benefits. Reducing calories for several hours over a couple of days does give a lot of benefit.Q: Is there any research on the benefits of fasting on emotional stability? I was reading some yogic literature where a person who was irritable was told by his teacher to eat less in the evenings, that it would help him. So, I’m just wondering if scientific research also shows any correlation between emotional poise and restricted eating.DP: Yes, we anecdotally hear that people who have anxiety benefit from this and can avoid a panic attack. And I think in the book I describe how there is a hormone that is passively broken down in the gut that causes panic attacks. So when that hormone is managed, it may no longer cause anxiety.But what is interesting is the history of fasting, I don’t remember where I saw it, perhaps in a documentary, where Dr. Valter Longo talks about fasting. Another interesting thing was done by Russian scientists who were doing some experiments to try to figure out how to improve the health of institutionalized patients with depression and bipolar syndrome. There was a very difficult patient who was bipolar, and one day he said, “I’m not going to eat.” The warden gave up and said, “Okay, if you’re not going to eat, don’t eat. I’m not going to force feed you.” They used to force feed the patients, but instead he decided, “Okay, until he begs for food, we’re not giving it.” So, the patient went without food and just had water for six days or even longer.After that, he came back completely cured and said, “Well, I feel much better! I’m ready to leave as I’m completely normal.” The physician warden, who was a little curious, wondered, “Was it the fasting or did something else happen?” So he tried this experiment on many other patients with emotional problems, and found that fasting actually helped a lot of them, not all. So, in Russia, a lot of the experiments on fasting and health started from emotional health.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/the_biology_of_time_part2_3_783c189fde.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-07T06:22:57.523Z" alt="the-biology-of-time-part2-3"><hr><hr>When we fast, the brain and the rest of our nervous system go through changes because they’re exposed to ketones as an energy source. For mice with certain neurological diseases, like Huntington’s Disease, time restricted eating helps them to sleep better, and their activities are much better. At the same time, for depression and other conditions, bright daylight is still the best antidepressant and it’s plentiful and free.<hr><hr>When we fast, the brain and the rest of our nervous system go through changes because they’re exposed to ketones as an energy source. For mice with certain neurological diseases, like Huntington’s Disease, time restricted eating helps them to sleep better, and their activities are much better. At the same time, for depression and other conditions, bright daylight is still the best antidepressant and it’s plentiful and free. A lot of people don’t go outside enough. Because I wear my light sensing watch I see how much light I am exposed to, and if I don’t make an effort, even in San Diego, California, I don’t get as much as I should. If you think about it, most of the time we are indoors, we have curtains or blinds on the windows, and we are not always sitting next to a window. Then, as soon as we go out of the house, we put on sunglasses and get into the car.So, we are never actually exposed to much daylight. Daylight is very useful in reducing depression and people in Nordic countries know this, so they even pay to sit in a brightly lit room, with 10,000 lux of light, as an antidepressant. At Geneva airport, also, there are light rooms where you can pay to sit.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/the_biology_of_time_part2_4_537ff7362c.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-07T06:24:03.281Z" alt="the-biology-of-time-part2-4"><hr><hr>The foundations of day-to-day physical health are also three factors: sleep, nutrition, and physical activity.<hr><hr>Q: I remember when I first came to the USA, I was in Virginia in the winter. Inside the house, with incandescent light, I would feel almost claustrophobic by evening. I had to step out, take a walk, and sit in the sun. It took me a good two to three years to acclimatize myself to the change in lighting. When we bought our current house we added extra windows. I didn’t realize it when I had it, but when I didn’t have it I knew immediately.Any parting words that you want to share with our readers, especially during Covid times?DP: Sanitation and social distancing will help prevent the virus from getting into our bodies, but to improve resilience we need a good circadian rhythm. Then, even if we get the virus we may not become too sick. For example, among NFL and NBA team players, there is no death for those who tested positive. All these elite athletes have a very strict regimen – how much sleep they get, their exercise regime, and they’re always outside practicing. That’s a clear example of a cohort of nearly 1000 people who had the same rate of infection as the general public, but no one went to hospital.Paying attention to sleep activity, nutrition, and being outside builds up resilience, so that even if you test positive you may not die.This is a direct effect, and there’s also another indirect effect. People with diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure often have a more severe form of Covid, but we also know that time restricted eating can help reduce the severity of these chronic diseases, so indirectly a circadian lifestyle will also reduce the risk of suffering from the virus.Q: Sir, thank you so much for all the great work you are doing.DP: Thank you. Have a nice day.Q: You too! Bye.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/the_biology_of_time_part2_5_eb50737b3b.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-07T06:25:02.863Z" alt="the-biology-of-time-part2-5"><hr><hr><h4>Interview by UDAY KUMAR</h4><hr>

Does light affects our moods?

SATVIK SWAMINATHAN

<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">A PHOTO ESSAY</h4><hr><h4>The Masai Mara National Reserve spreads over 1,200 square kilometers across the southwestern part of Kenya, Africa. In August 2018, SATVIK SWAMINATHAN had the opportunity to visit these sprawling grasslands and get a glimpse of the life that coexists here in all its magnificence.</h4><hr>The first stop was a point from where I could see the rift valley, through which we would pass to reach Masai Mara. The view from the top was spectacular. It filled me with wonder, as I imagined what could be the future changes on the face of the Earth. This bigger picture in the divine scheme of things glaringly demonstrates the insignificance of human life, with its whole spectrum of joys and sorrows. It was a truly humbling feeling.The entrance to the National Reserve is through the Oloolaimutia gate, which is an archway without any boundary wall. The first view of Masai Mara is magnificent, as the real feel of the Savannah grasslands, with endless space and one lone tree here and there standing upright, is quite spectacular. It can only be experienced.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/coexistence2_6fbea71175.jpg" alt="coexistence"><hr>We saw the whole spectrum of wildlife in Africa: herds of elephants and giraffes; groups of wildebeest, deer, buffalos and zebras grazing in the grasslands; gigantic hippos lazing in ponds and waterholes; warthogs, ostriches and mongooses; the carnivorous lions, cheetahs and hyenas; and the scavenger birds also with their share in the Savannah. To see all these animals coexisting in the open, in a single frame, was quite an enthralling experience. I felt like an awestruck time traveler who had just landed in the prehistoric era!The soil in Africa is very fertile, almost dark maroon in color, and this helps the growth of grass, which in turn attracts the wildebeest and zebras to cross the Mara River for greener pastures. Almost a million animals migrate every year to Masai Mara in August, braving the mighty river filled with hungry crocodiles. They then return back to the Serengeti in Tanzania in October. With the abundance of prey, the lions and the other carnivores rule here.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/coexistence3_7127ddf13b.jpg" alt="coexistence"><hr>The natural balance of the ecosystem is admirable: nature always provides the basic necessities in abundance. For every lion there are at least a thousand wildebeest, and for every wildebeest there is exponentially more grass to graze. Unlike human beings, nature doesn’t hoard and save things. Just like a flowing river gathers no moss, the human mind also does not gather impressions when we use only what we need. The moment we build a dam, the water stagnates and moss is formed, very similar to the human mind where the very concept of saving creates impressions.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/coexistence4_be350770fd.jpg" alt="coexistence"><hr>The first time I saw a lion eating an antelope was quite an experience, where I could feel the so-called negative qualities like fear, pain, and violence etc. in their pure form. I came to understand that it is the human mind, with its duality and judgment, which creates good and bad in any feeling or action. Never before had I thought of the concept of fear, pain and violence without a cringing feeling in my heart. But this time it was different.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/coexistence5_9041142ba4.jpg" alt="coexistence"><hr>Experiencing the raw feeling of a lion attacking and killing an antelope has no negativity associated with it, because the lion kills to eat. The most fascinating aspect in all this was that there was no impression formed in me despite the fact that the lion was tearing and ripping into the antelope and eating raw flesh. It was chaotic but natural. Here, everything is in the present and, once the lion has eaten, it does not trouble any other animal.In comparison, when a butcher does the same thing, even though it is in a controlled manner, it stirs up a feeling that forms an impression. It is orderly yet unnatural. It’s because the killing in the butcher shop has more than the thought of just eating for today, but it also has the concept of saving for the future, selling, and all the other man-made layers associated with it. Only we human beings have the concept of saving for the future, which in itself is an unnatural act. So I came to realize that it is not what we do that matters, but the attitude and feeling with which things are done.Morality cannot be taught, it can only be felt.It can never be a generalized rule spanning all people and time. It can be different for different situations, for different people, and at different points of timeMorality is the connection with the innermost feeling of the heart at that particular moment.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/coexistence6_7a1d0769a6.jpg" alt="coexistence"><hr>To perceive the innermost feelings of the heart, we need to dive deep and remove any obstacles. Once we experience and realize that essence which is the same in everything, be it animate or inanimate, then even the question of being moral or not disappears and anything we do is in sync with the Ultimate.<hr>&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article and photography by SATVIK SWAMINATHAN</h4>&nbsp;<hr>

Coexistence

Scilla Elworthy founded the Oxford Research Group in 1982 to develop dialogue with nuclear weapons decision makers, and then set up Peace Direct in 2002 to support local peace-builders in conflict areas. Three times nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded the Niwano Peace Prize in 2003, she advised Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Sir Richard Branson in setting up “The Elders.” She co-founded Rising Women Rising World in 2013, her latest book is The Business Plan for Peace: building a world without war, and her TED talk on nonviolence has been viewed by over 1,400,000 people.

Scilla-Elworthy.png

Scilla Elworthy

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">SCILLA ELWORTHY tackles one of the most pressing issues of our time: terrorism. She shares her thoughts on the <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/standing-ground" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">role of women</a> and building peace, which requires courage, determination, compassion and a budget.</h4><hr>&nbsp;The threat that most people fear today is terrorism. Yet current methods for dealing with terrorism simply repeat previous errors that exacerbate the problem. In order to map an effective strategy it is essential to understand how militant fighters think.To respond to terrorism with violence is counter-productive, because violence is what terrorists understand, and they are masters of exploiting our addiction to news of their brutality. According to former Islamic State captive Nicolas Hénin, violence is exactly what his captors want: “They will be heartened by every sign of overreaction, of division, of fear, of racism, of xenophobia; they will be drawn to any examples of ugliness on social media.1“The winner of this war will not be the party that has the newest, the most expensive or the most sophisticated weaponry, but the party that manages to win over the people to its side.”&nbsp;As an example of how people had responded well, he described the recent escalation of the refugee crisis, and corresponding offers from people in Europe to give homes to fleeing Muslims, as “a blow to Isis”.Deeyah Khan is an Emmy award-winning documentary film-maker, whose most recent project, Jihad, involved two years of interviews with and filming former Islamic extremists. She says, “The Islamic State does not want us to open our doors to their refugees. It wants them to be hopeless and desperate. It does not want us to enjoy ourselves with our families and friends in bars and concert halls, stadiums and restaurants. It wants us to huddle in our houses, within our own social groups, and close our doors in fear.”2Philip McKibbin says that we should be wary of allowing our emotions to dictate the ways in which we respond to terrorism. “Terrorists want us to feel shock, outrage, insecurity … A loving response to terrorism would be proactive, rather than reactive. It would see us responding to the causes of terrorism, rather than concerning ourselves disproportionately with terrorist actions.”3The main causes of terrorism are humiliation and revenge. When you do the math, it is a painful fact that “legitimate” states enact much more violence worldwide than non-state terror groups do. This does not excuse terrorist action, but it does explain it.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">Effective strategies</h4>What steps could governments take to defuse international terrorism? It could be to immediately adopt genuinely fair and peaceful processes in their dealings with other peoples. This strategy would deprive terror groups of one of their most compelling justifications for violence.4Nothing should be done which supports the image of the terrorist as a heroic warrior defending the interests of the people. When the media consistently feature terrorists on their front pages, they can see themselves as global celebrities. Other young men then naturally crave such oxygen of publicity, even if it costs them their lives. Leaders need to orchestrate a cohesive and coordinated&nbsp;program to educate media editors. Denying airspace would work far better to minimise the glamour of brutality.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">Do what terrorists fear: unite</h4>In “Rising Women Rising World” we ask ourselves the hardest question, and the one most likely to provoke ridicule: what could be done to bring the young warriors of ISIL into the embrace of compassion, showing them that we need to move beyond the power struggles that have caused such misery for humanity for thousands of years? If we go on as we have done, there may be no earth to dominate.5If we are ridiculed for proposing a compassionate response to terror, we can recall Abraham Lincoln’s response to someone who accused him of taking too conciliatory an approach in dealing with the South. “Madam,” he said, “do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">We need to move beyond the power struggles that have caused such misery for humanity for thousands of years. If we go on as we have done, there may be no earth to dominate.</h4><hr>Love requires us to think of terrorists as people. It encourages us to understand that their actions, however hateful, come from a place of grievance, humiliation and isolation. It asks us to believe that their pain, and the pain that so many other people are feeling in this time of terror, is not insurmountable. That collectively, we are able to overcome it.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">Build bridges: empower local people</h4><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/love_in_a_time_of_hatred_1_img_2b6a57631e.png?updated_at=2023-04-03T06:18:13.153Z" alt="love-in-a-time-of-hatred">The British government knows, from the experience in Northern Ireland, that what finally brought 30 years of terror to an end was not the application of superior force. It was the building of bridges, listening, patient mediation, respect and negotiation. Senator George Mitchell, who played a major part in the eventual Good Friday Agreement, said: “I will listen for as long as it takes”.6Over the past decade, “Peace Direct”7&nbsp;has learned that local people have the power to find their own solutions to conflict, which turn out to be the best way to break recurrent cycles of violence and make peace last. One lesson we have learned from our local partners is the importance of helping people at risk to feel part of their communities, thereby turning away from extremism. While this might seem like a liberal platitude in the face of&nbsp;serious violence, it is in reality hard, dangerous and dedicated work. And&nbsp;it can have remarkable results. For example, an award-winning counter-radicalization&nbsp;project in Pakistan, begun in 2014, has reached almost&nbsp;4,000 “at risk” young people.8&nbsp;<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/love_in_a_time_of_hatred_2_img_34a3f28052.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-03T06:18:53.766Z" alt="love-in-a-time-of-hatred-2-img"><h4 style="text-align:justify;">Women’s voices in dealing with violence</h4>A decade ago, a group of women made a careful analysis of the root causes of political violence, revealing the persistent influence of powerlessness, exclusion, trauma and humiliation. They proposed proven practical steps that could be taken in Iraq, Israel and Palestine, and in our own towns and cities.9<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Women want peace because they give birth to life. We have a natural longing to protect, heal and make whole. We have trained ourselves to listen, knowing that the capacity to give another person our full attention is the fastest and most effective way to resolve conflict.</h4><hr>Ten years later, in this current serious situation,&nbsp;we are not simply arguing for a more sparing use&nbsp;of military force, we are arguing that any armed&nbsp;intervention should be preceded and followed by a&nbsp;much wider range of strategies designed to address&nbsp;both the causes and effects of violence.Women want peace because they give birth to life. We have a natural longing to protect, heal and make whole. We have trained ourselves to listen, knowing that the capacity to give another person our full attention is the fastest and most effective way to resolve conflict.Most of us say we want peace, but we don’t put our skills and our imagination to work on the challenge. Peace building comes low down on the priority list in comparison to war, certainly for spending. We don’t have a budget or a government department for peace, whereas we do have both for war, even if we call it defence.It is perfectly possibly to develop strategies to dissolve terrorism. It requires intention and a budget, plus courage, determination and compassion, from the top down and from the bottom up. This is what human beings are capable of.Resources:<code>1https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/16/isis-bombs-hostagesyria-islamic-state-paris-attacks</code>2Exposure – Jihad: A British Story’ aired on ITV1<code>3https://www.opendemocracy.net/transformation/ philip-mckibbin/hijacked-emotions-fighting-terrorismwith- love&nbsp;</code>4Ibid.<code>5‘Rising Women Rising World’ serves to build&nbsp;a vibrant community of women on all continents&nbsp;who take responsibility for pioneering a&nbsp;possible future. https://www.risingwomenrisingworld.org/envisaging-the-future/</code>6 Personal communication from Dr Mo Mowlam,&nbsp;11 May 2004.7&nbsp;www.peacedirect.org8 www.awaregirls.org&nbsp;9&nbsp;Rifkind &amp; Elworthy, Making Terrorism History, London, Random House, 2006, pp. 60-89.

Love in a time of hatred

<h3 style="text-align:center;">Standing ground: How Women Interrupt Cycles of Violence</h3><h4>DR. SCILLA ELWORTHY discusses women’s role in stopping armed conflict and the grounding that enables speaking and acting for peace, in conversation with ANANYA PATEL.</h4>&nbsp;Ananya Patel: You’ve spent decades working in peacebuilding, and a central theme in your work is the <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/love-in-a-time-of-hatred" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">role of women</a> in stopping armed conflict. Could you speak about your current research and what you see as essential for peacebuilding and governance today?Scilla Elworthy: Well, first of all, it’s a pleasure to be talking to you and to have the chance to really examine why women are so important in peacebuilding worldwide now, because, for one, women are not usually instigators of cycles of violence. They start from a different place, bringing less charged emotional baggage with them. They’re so much more concerned with picking up the wounds of war, the tragedies of war, that this makes them very energized to prevent war. They use their intuition to help parties engaged in war understand what’s needed at the moment and to go a bit deeper than the question of “How many weapons does everybody have?” And we know that the male need for revenge is often triggered by shame and feelings of humiliation, including frequently a failure to protect their families. So, they seek revenge to restore their pride, and, numerically, a balance of women on negotiating teams has been shown to help reach a peace deal that lasts longer. I find this particularly interesting—if you like statistics, the 182 signed peace agreements between 1989 and 2011 revealed that those involving women are thirty-five percent more likely to last at least fifteen years.In practice, I’ve worked in so many different countries where women are the ones who dare to stand up at a certain point and say, “Stop. This is enough.” You have to reexamine the chaos that is being caused by this war and this constant use of threats and weaponry. For example, in Northern Ireland, which is very close to me and where I’ve worked with those who have brought the two parties together to sit down and talk over the years. And secondly, in Liberia, as you know, there’s been a fourteen-year-long civil war until these two wonderful women, the peace activist Leymah Gbowee, for one, stepped in—they united Christian and Muslim women in an interfaith movement called the Women of Liberia Mass Action For Peace. They acted as intermediaries between the then-leader of the big army, Charles Taylor, and the rebel leaders. They even carried out sex strikes to stop the men from fighting. Their efforts laid the foundation for their leader, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, to become the first African female head of state. So, you know, real results come from women’s intervention.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/standing_ground_2_2232d8f354.webp" alt="standing-ground-2.webp"></figure>&nbsp;Here in the United Kingdom in 1981, the Greenham Common women’s peace camp was set up to protest against nuclear cruise missiles being stored in an RAF camp. And I was with 30,000 women joining hands around a military base. We managed to get enough women to circulate the base completely. It was called Embrace the Base. It hit the headlines back in 1983, and the media got inspired and started reporting on the women camping at the missile site, constantly refusing the idea of more missiles being stockpiled. It took them ten years, but they were very persistent, and in 1991, all the missiles had left the base.AP:&nbsp;These are such incredible stories. And the idea of including women in these seems very obvious and natural to me. But I imagine that, even with evidence and public support, this approach often meets resistance in governance. How have you worked to communicate the necessity of women’s inclusion at that level?SE: I was used to the attitudes of our Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs on these issues. And because I was reasonably well qualified, I was allowed into some of the meetings where they discussed strategy. I was in one such meeting in Whitehall, the headquarters of the military and the foreign affairs. It was a room full of, I think, 250 men, and I could count five women in the audience. It came to a point where what was being discussed and planned was so strikingly obvious, excluding women from any role in resolving some of the conflicts they were facing, that I couldn’t bear it; so, I put my hand up, got to my feet, and started to speak about the necessity of including women in conversations and agreements about peace. And the chairman went red in the face, and after I’d said about three sentences, he said, “Sit down, madam, what you have to say is of no interest here.” And I shuddered and sat down for a moment. And then I thought, No, this is not good. So I stood up again and said, “Thank you, Mr. Chairman, but I don’t think this is relevant or helpful to exclude the voice of the female in issues which concern all of us in this country.” He had to let me go on speaking, but my goodness, was I unnerved, and I had to summon up all my courage and my experience of the past: if you allow yourself to be silenced once, and it works, they think they can do it again. And so what we need as women is to draw on the experience of other women and their courage over the centuries, risking their lives, getting burned for it. We have to stand up in their memory and uplift the voices that can no longer be heard.AP:&nbsp;Is the transformation from pain and loss into taking a stand also something you actively work with and teach?SE: It’s a training, and we know that it’s not easy in many situations for women. It’s not acceptable in many cultures for women to stand up and say something about these issues. They can stand up and talk about nursery schools or nursing training, but not about war and the military. So we run training courses where we go through the skills we need to develop to take a stand. Taking a stand is key, and the course training helps develop the inner confidence that is necessary for us as women, as girls, at certain points and anywhere where things are being done and decided about a woman’s place that are deeply wounding and disenabling for women. So, what we teach people is to develop their presence. Now, that may sound odd, but you know that, as a public figure, sometimes you have to develop the habit of breathing deeply. That’s what I do. I breathe and count to ten no matter what’s happening, because unless I’m grounded, I can’t speak clearly. My voice will shake. I will betray my nervousness. Of course, we’re nervous. We haven’t been trained for this our whole lives, as many men have, so we have to develop our courage and the conviction that opening our mouths and speaking our truth, as best we can, is a service to all of humanity, and that it will spread.Since we’ve been training women all over the world to do this, the idea that it’s legitimate for women to stand up and have a clear opinion about what is needed, whether it’s about the army or whether it’s about the way our men are behaving on the front line, or whether it’s about the decisions that are being made in our governing bodies, we have to develop not just the determination, but the dignity to stand up and say, “It is my right and my duty to speak about this.”&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Taking a stand is key, and the course training helps develop the inner confidence that is necessary for us as women, as girls, at certain points and anywhere where things are being done and decided about a woman’s place that are deeply wounding and disenabling for women.</h4><hr>&nbsp;We have people from all over the world taking the course, and we make plenty of space for those who don’t feel they speak perfect English. Why should they? And often they speak in translation, because we want people who wouldn’t normally have access to training to be able to raise their voices on difficult issues, especially embarrassing ones. Sometimes it’s a question about women’s need for privacy during their period. Sometimes it’s about how women need special allowances in the military so that they can look after themselves. It’s all the things that women sort of shudder to say because we’re embarrassed, and we are embarrassed because we’ve been silenced for so long. And so, it does take a bit of training and a bit of courage, and it’s wonderful when you find your voice, isn’t it?AP:&nbsp;For sure. Through The Mighty Heart, you work with women on developing the ability to take a stand. And through my own experience with the Heartfulness Heartful Communication course, I’ve seen how challenging it can be to open up in that way. In your experience, how does this kind of training affect peacebuilding on the ground?SE: Well, I’m just so proud of the women that we work with all over the world, the stories they’ve led—and being able to talk about it is taking a stand. And we suggest that when people feel nervous, they stand up, feel the ground beneath their feet, and feel what generations of women have wanted to say but haven’t been able to say throughout the ages. Now we can say those things without getting killed for them. And this is a powerful legitimization for women, particularly in cultures where women haven’t historically raised their voices. There’s a wonderful example from Kenya. When a lot of violence had erupted in the eastern and western parts of Kenya, a wonderful woman called Dekha Ibrahim Abdi asked 60,000 members of a women’s organization to get on their cell phones and report what they saw. When they reported this information, it enabled the peace builders to plot the hot spots of the violence and the cold spots, so people knew where to run for protection. They developed strategies for each part, with the help of trusted local leaders. In less than six weeks, this led to a complete cessation of violence; they were able to bring this violence to an end by simply informing women on the spot that they could raise their voices, that they wouldn’t get killed for it, and that their voices counted.That kind of female intervention makes me really shiver with pride, because I know what it takes for women to drop their domestic needs and their responsibility to their families and actually get out there and stop the fighting that’s going on.AP:&nbsp;As violence and <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/activism" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">activism</a> increasingly move between physical and digital spaces, have you seen peacebuilding strategies shift in response to new forms of communication and connection?SE: That’s an excellent question, and I don’t feel I have sufficient global information to answer it coherently, but the advent of cell phones has actually changed the experience of women. I don’t have that information, but what I do know is that women’s ability to connect over long distances, to become aware through our websites and other websites of what women are doing not very far away, and being able to get in touch with women there, through the internet, through all the connections that we have now, is incredibly useful. We didn’t have that thirty years ago. Very few of us had cell phones, and we had no networks to call on. Now you can tap into a network of 1,000 women if your organization needs to mobilize quickly. We are far more capable than we have ever been.That capacity exerts real pressure on decision-makers—especially women leaders, who understand the importance of women’s voices being heard. Policymakers respond to volume: a flood of phone calls on a single issue. They also respond to visible, original messaging—such as women sending posters to hang in their offices.It’s a combination of old skills and new ones, and those tools are far more accessible now than they once were.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/standing_ground_3_2328226fe7.webp" alt="standing-ground-3.webp"></figure>&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">That kind of female intervention makes me really shiver with pride, because I know what it takes for women to drop their domestic needs and their responsibility to their families and actually get out there and stop the fighting that’s going on. &nbsp;</h4><hr>&nbsp;AP:&nbsp;What feels most important for you to offer younger activists who are navigating today’s complex and interconnected challenges?There are many things I would want to say to them, but the most important is this: develop your presence. In an argument, we can sense, often intuitively, whether our opponent is nervous, artificially confident, or simply trying to bully. Part of the training I advocate is simple: practice daily planting your feet firmly on the ground. Stand, if you can, and feel the steadiness rising from the earth through your body—to the heart, the mind, and the voice. Even one minute of this, combined with deep breathing, can change how you speak. Breathing slows you down. You gabble less. People can understand you. The great advantage of breathing is that when words come out of our mouth, they are clear, they are strong, and they are rooted in our heart. And that’s where the heart comes in so strongly, because if we’re only talking from the mind, it becomes argumentative, about winning points and all that. In the end, when you talk to people after a conference or a meeting, and you ask them what they remember, they remember when somebody took a big, deep breath and said, “What I need you to know is this.” Then it comes out in two sentences, and that’s what they remember. And so, if you’re in a public meeting, or you need to stand up and say something, it’s always useful to keep it to a couple of sentences, three at the most. You get them very clear in your head, and the shorter, the better. I find that if I deliver a speech that I’ve prepared that’s two or three pages long, it doesn’t go down nearly as well as if I start with six points and I deliver the first two, and then I say, “Tell me what you would most like to hear—in what way can I meet your needs?”&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">The great advantage of breathing is that when words come out of our mouth, they are clear, they are strong, and they are rooted in our heart. And that’s where the heart comes in so strongly, because if we’re only talking from the mind, it becomes argumentative, about winning points and all that.</h4><hr>&nbsp;AP:&nbsp;You’ve described grounding yourself physically—standing, breathing, and feeling the ground beneath you. I know gardening is important to you. How does that connection to the Earth support your work?SE: Thank you for that question, because it’s very close to my heart. I was brought up on a small farm. I learned to love the Earth, and had a very, very domineering father who shouted at me a lot and terrified everybody. And I had to learn to stand my ground. And I realized, standing my ground means standing on the ground. So what I learned to do—particularly if I have to speak somewhere nerve-wracking—is go to a patch of grass. It doesn’t matter where; you don’t need a garden. Go into a park, or wherever you can find some actual earth with grass on it, and stand on it. Really feel that the earth, that ground, is supporting you and wants to have its voice heard through you. And it’s your job to tell the truth as clearly as you can—get it down to a few words. That’s what people will remember. And I always try to drop my voice, because if I’m talking fast and in a higher pitch, it goes in and out of people’s minds, and they can’t really remember anything I said. So, I get my voice to steady itself with my heart and be really in tune with my heart. So, what hopefully comes out of my mouth is as true as I can make it; it’s the truth that I have learned and would like to pass on.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/standing_ground_4_ee1925e774.webp" alt="standing-ground-4.webp"></figure>&nbsp;AP:&nbsp;This has been very inspiring for me, and I know it will resonate with many people my age and beyond who are trying to navigate the complexities we’re all facing. It’s powerful to hear the research and experience behind your work, as well as the practical ways you’ve found to move through these challenges and take action. I’m very grateful to have had this conversation with you. Thank you, Scilla.<a href="scillaelworthy.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">scillaelworthy.com</a> <a href="https://mightyheart.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mightyheart.co.uk</a> <a href="https://www.peacedirect.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">peacedirect.org</a> &nbsp;

Standing Ground

Scott is a pioneer of workplace mindfulness programs and advancing compassion at work. He blends his experience as a Silicon Valley executive with his practice and passion as a wisdom seeker. He is the author of The Full Body Yes.

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Scott Shute

<h4>SCOTT SHUTE is a pioneer of creating workplace mindfulness programs and advancing the discussion around compassion at work. He blends his experience as a Silicon Valley executive with his lifelong practice and passion as a wisdom seeker and teacher. In his recent role at LinkedIn, Scott was the Head of Mindfulness and Compassion programs, and he is the author of the highly acclaimed book, The Full Body Yes. Here, he is interviewed by EMILIE MOGENSEN.</h4><hr>Q: I am super happy that Scott has kindly agreed to talk to me about conscious business and entrepreneurship. It means a lot to me in my journey as an entrepreneur and as a student at the <a href="https://innermba.soundstrue.com/">Inner MBA program</a>, where Scott is a faculty lead. His work on how to implement ancient wisdom traditions in modern work life is really cutting edge.In his book, Scott explains how we can learn from each other’s stories. His story really resonates with me, especially the fact he started his spiritual search at a very early age, and later in life became an entrepreneur with an achiever mindset.I take a few deep breaths, like he taught us in one of the programs. I can do this.Hi Scott!(The fact Scott starts by thanking me for the work I do in the world makes me grateful, because I have met a humble and kind man.)I am curious how a young boy in “super rural Kansas” became inclined to seek within.SS: Yes, I grew up in rural Kansas, which is the exact middle of America. I am the youngest of five children and went to a traditional little country church. I always felt I had a deep love for the Divine, but I didn’t really understand or resonate with our religion.When I was ten or eleven, I started asking lots of questions to my parents and pastor, and I didn’t like the answers I was getting, so I started searching for something different. I knew and believed there was something different. One of my brothers had been touring America, and when he came back to run the farm with my dad he kept disappearing for long weekends. Nobody knew what was happening. Finally, my sisters and I pinned him down and he shared that he had found a different path. He was going to spiritual retreats, and when he shared some of the teachings and belief systems from those retreats, I started weeping.It was a feeling of connection – a sort of knowing when I am in tune with something powerful. I knew I had come home after lifetimes of being separated, like two parts of a magnet that knew the other side was out there and finally they were together. It has been a big part of my life ever since.My parents were concerned and thought we had joined a cult. For some people, anything that is not their traditional religion is a cult. But over time they realized we are good people, regardless of what we believe. My mom, especially, has seen the growth and impact it has had on me and in what I do in the world.Q: Is it the same spiritual practice that you do now?SS: Yes, it is. I tend not to give the name of it, because I am out in the working world and I don’t want spirituality to get in the way of what I do at work. But I am also happy to share more about it when people reach out and are interested.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/mindful_vulnerability2_700x459_1847f65728.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-09T04:50:12.016Z" alt="mindful_vulnerability2"><hr>Q: Can you share what you do in your spiritual practice? Do you meditate?SS: It looks like meditation, but I don’t call it meditation. I call it a spiritual exercise and the purpose is to get in touch with the deepest part of myself. In my worldview, that is soul. I believe that I am soul, that is my true identity, and I have a personality called Scott. The body, the mind, the emotions are the things the soul uses to get around. When I operate from the perspective of soul, then things go better. I have deeper insights, more understanding, and I can be more in tune with life.So, there are several different practices: there is singing the word “HU,” which has been used in different traditions throughout history, and there are visualizations. If I am trying to manifest something, I do a lot of inner work, like the poet Rumi talks about spending as much time in the invisible world as in the visible world. We are creating with our thoughts, so if we want to be more conscious about what we create, it requires constant inner work. That’s some of what I am doing.Q: I am curious to hear more about your entrepreneur side. I’m not the right person to discuss the corporate stuff, as I don’t have much experience, but I have a lot as an entrepreneur. Can you say something about your inner drive as an entrepreneur?SS: Less than two months ago, I left LinkedIn. My vision is to change work from the inside out, and I mean that in the biggest way as 3.5 billion of us are in the workplace. My mission is to mainstream mindfulness and operationalize compassion. I’m trying to be of service. I was an entrepreneur earlier in life, when I created a start-up to help coaches get more business. Back then, I was trying to do good things, but I was also trying to make a living, whereas now I have the benefit of having done well in life, finances are less critical, so I’m really following spirit and what really wants to manifest.Each one of us has a unique set of skills that only we have. I am the only one in the world who is the world expert in “being me.” So, I’m trying to follow the path of bringing consciousness and the business world together, because there are very few of us who have my background with both things. I am trying to let the drive be less “change the work from within,” and more “follow my own heart and soul.”I think that soul is creative by nature. How does soul use personality, like all the skills we’ve developed? It can be as a teacher, a caregiver, a guitarist, or a barista. In my case it’s being a businessperson. How do I use those skills for the greatest and highest good?Funnily enough, the finances flow much more easily when I am focused on that rather than on the finances.<hr><hr><h4>I’m trying to follow the path of bringing consciousness&nbsp; and the business world together, because there are very few of us who have my background with both things.&nbsp; I am trying to let the drive be less “change the work from within,” and more “follow my own heart and soul.”</h4><hr><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/mindful_vulnerability3_700x459_02b60f078e.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-09T04:52:21.542Z" alt="mindful_vulnerability3"><hr>Q: Spiritual entrepreneurship, how does that resonate? It sounds like you’re moving your ego to the background and surrendering to what has to happen?SS: There is a Japanese concept called Ikigai, which is the intersection of four circles: What you’re good at, what you love to do, what you can get paid for, and what the world needs. In building a career, the most satisfying is when you are in the middle of this circle.Had I just become a spiritual bohemian when I was twenty-two, instead of going into the world of business, I probably would have done some good things, but my impact would be limited as I would not have credibility. I created a skillset in my career to make a living, then tried to get closer and closer to what I am good at and what I like. Then, I think, the fourth one has more meaning to us as we get older: What does the world need?So now I try to live with this question in mind: How do I operate from the perspective of soul, and how do I make it practical and survive in this world?Q: To fit in where the world needs you – is that something you feel?SS: Yes, I absolutely feel it as being in the center point. We sometimes talk about our genius zone, where we are our best.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/mindful_vulnerability4_700x459_44fdf617d5.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-09T04:54:06.701Z" alt="mindful_vulnerability4"><hr>Q: Is it about working from that original place within, closest to the center?SS: When I talk about becoming more aware as soul, it’s the same as, “What is the truth about me?” and getting closer and closer to that truth of why I am here.Q: In many ways, being a person who seeks within can seem like a contradiction to being a busy businessperson or an entrepreneur. I felt this myself at times. Can you put some words to this meeting of these two aspects of yourself, as it somehow seems to be the essence of your soul purpose? How can an achiever let go and let everything unfold as it has to unfold?SS: I think it’s one of the hardest things, and I struggled with it for a very long time. How to be an achiever and be at ease? It makes me think of two stories from the spiritual traditions.The first story is of a teacher and a student. Some sort of baptism is taking place, and the teacher takes the student and dunks his head underwater. The student struggles and, just before he expires, the teacher lifts his head up and the student gets to breathe again. Then the teacher says, “When you want God or truth as much as you wanted air, then you will find it.”The second story goes: When you finally let go of searching for truth or God, you will find it.I was thinking: How can these two stories exist in the same universe? How does this work? I have an understanding of it now. We have this deep inner striving, and it shows up in our human form as a striving to survive. Our human bodies are built to survive, to make money, to make a family, and all that stuff, and we want to be successful in the world. That’s very important, but at some point we have to let go of the results. There is a very powerful and necessary striving,and then there is the letting go.In the early part of our lives and careers, we become really good at certain things, and our focus tends to be on them. But at some point, hopefully we look up and go, “Is there not more to this?” And when we finally say, “Yes, there is more to this, and I want to be of service,” it’s all our skills which allow us to be of service in the world.We have this inherent desire to exercise a skillset, to use what we know. And then we have soul, that wants to create in the world. And then there is the letting go of the result, which is a fine line of development. How do I do both things and live on the razor’s edge, in the middle of these two forces? That’s the beauty of life right there.Q: That’s very difficult!SS: It’s extraordinarily difficult! It’s a continual practice and the road gets narrower the further you go.Q: I have heard you say that we are moving from a me paradigm to a we paradigm. Can you put some words on how that influences entrepreneurship in the future?SS: Sure. Let’s think of it as spiritual development. We spend our lives thinking about “Me, me, me, my own survival, my own success, my own needs.” At some point we wake up and go, “There is more to this.” For me it was a natural process – I got married, I became a leader, and it became obvious that I would not be successful unless “we” are successful. This often happens naturally as we get older, I think, this we-orientation. It becomes the path towards our own freedom, when we learn to give. And I don’t think giving is selfless, as giving includes ourselves. This is when we start to orient to the whole versus just us, and we are then able to do so much more. Research bears this out at every level – at the individual level, the team level, and the company level, in terms of success.If you’re having a discussion with your partner, you might bully your way into having your own way, and it might work a few times. But if you continue to do this over and over again, in the long run, you won’t have a partner. In the long run, being selfish means you end up with less. If you think of serving the whole, you get it your way sometimes and sometimes not, but both people are happy and end up with more.It works in the same way in an organization, with customers and colleagues. If I have a deep awareness of my customers and wish the best for them, I will develop great service and products for them. The third part of compassion is the courage to take action. Sometimes I need to do what is right for my customers, and maybe it’s not great for me in the short term, but over the long term, if I balance the needs of my employees, my customers, and my shareholders, then long term I will be more successful. And the research bears this out; companies who operate this way are fourteen times more profitable. So, if you say you don’t have time for compassion in your organization, I say you don’t have time not to do this.Said in a really crass way, if you wanna build a successful company, if you wanna make more money, then you must work for the whole.<hr><hr><h4>It becomes the path towards our own freedom,&nbsp; when we learn to give. And I don’t think giving is selfless,&nbsp; as giving includes ourselves.</h4><hr><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/mindful_vulnerability5_700x459_492aa431ed.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-09T04:55:27.013Z" alt="mindful_vulnerability5"><hr>Q: So, do you think more and more companies and entrepreneurs will start working from their soul and not their ego?SS: I hope so! All the wisdom teachings go back thousands of years. There is this beautiful quote in the book Atomic Habits by James Clear: “Our lives do not rise to the level of our goals, they fall to the level of our systems.” This was said by the Roman philosopher Gaius Acilius, 2,200 years ago. My point is, this wisdom has always been there, but we haven’t followed it. It seems to be the same in every lifetime; it’s the same with our kids, we can teach them something, but unless they go through it themselves, they don’t learn it.So, my prediction is that it will probably be the same for the rest of eternity [laughter]. And still, I have hope!<hr>To be continued.<a href="https://www.scottshute.com/">https://www.scottshute.com/&nbsp;</a><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottshute/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottshute/</a><hr><hr><h4>Illustrations by ANANYA PATEL</h4><hr>

Mindful vulnerability

<h4>SCOTT SHUTE is a pioneer in creating workplace mindfulness programs and advancing the discussion around compassion at work. He is at the intersection of the workplace and ancient wisdom traditions, blending his experience as a Silicon Valley executive with his lifelong practice and passion as a wisdom seeker and teacher. In his recent role at LinkedIn, Scott was the Head of Mindfulness and Compassion programs. He is the author of the highly acclaimed book, The Full Body Yes: Change Your Work and Your World from the Inside Out.&nbsp;</h4><h4>In part 2 of this interview with EMILIE MOGENSEN, he explores vulnerability as a leadership quality, the value of an expanding consciousness, and wisdom practices at work.</h4><hr>Q: So, have we not learned anything collectively? Have we not pushed it to the extent of how far the ego can go?SS: Of course. I think we rise in consciousness, but the challenges are always there. There is still war and destruction, even though we know better. There are still places where terrible things happen, and there are places where beautiful things happen: consciousness, beauty and love happen. I choose to spend my time where the beauty happens, and change the world from the inside out, and if the rest of the world changes, fine. I focus on me.Q: So, I am getting a little personal. I noticed you used the word “vulnerability”a few times in your lectures. At the same time, I sensed a very interesting energy in my own being. I felt it as very vulnerable, which seemed really authentic coming from you. I felt very mesmerized and able to maintain my focus on your messages, despite being a rather impatient, typical entrepreneur. It was very intriguing how you use this quality to come forward with your messages. Is vulnerability a quality we need to be more curious about in the future?SS: Absolutely! First of all, as humans, we are programmed to mirror vulnerability. In other words, if I share vulnerability, people around will do the same – that is how we are wired. There is very interesting research on this.Regarding vulnerability as a leadership quality, we want to follow leaders who feel real. We want to follow leaders we can identify with. So, if a leader is perfect, steely, and never shows any weakness, they are distant from us, whereas, when we can see ourselves in our leaders, we are much more likely to follow them. I think that is a superpower and works for followership.It also serves us as leaders to build strength, because we tend to protect ourselves against harm. But what happens when we share with people who we really are? It sets us free.When we share our weakness and get over ourselves there is some growth that happens. We can’t be harmed, as we have already shared our weakness. Just like I said about desire versus letting go: when we let go of ourselves, we get more in return.Q: Do you think the main purpose of our work and business endeavors can be to expand consciousness?SS: Yes. I think everything in life is about expanding consciousness, and work can be as good as going to a monastery! Of course, I must focus on my organization to succeed when I am at work; but tucked away in my mind, I know it’s to develop myself.The most important work we can do is to develop our own consciousness. Because then, whatever we do, we are going to be so much more effective, we will be so much more!<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Vulnerable_leaders2_700x458_fa0363c2fc.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-10T07:34:09.098Z" alt="Vulnerable_leaders2"><hr>Q: How would it impact the world if everyone worked with expansion of consciousness as our approach, secondary to whatever we do?SS: Imagine what that would do to the world! It would absolutely benefit the whole if everyone worked for the “we”instead of the “me.”Q: I was touched in one of your lectures, when you said that we use the word “compassion” because we are too shy to call it love. We can even take it a step further – we are way too intimidated to call it Divinity. Can you speak a little bit about that? Is there place for Divinity in modern work life and business endeavors?SS: I think Divinity is everything. Nothing is not a part of the Divine. It’s the language and how we talk about it that we must focus on. My job is to operationalize compassion – how do you develop products and sell them compassionately. That makes sense to everyone. But deep inside, when I talk about compassion, I’m really talking about love. And when I talk about love, I’m really talking about the Divine. So, I am consciously thinking about how to operationalize the Divine at work.We are probably not ready yet to use this language, because some people get confused and think it’s about religion. I’m not talking about religion at all. It’s the last thing I’m talking about.<hr><hr><h4>If I practice wishing others the mindset of kindness and having the courage to take action, then I am living this divine principle of compassion. Work becomes the living expression of my Divinity in the world.</h4><hr><hr>Q: That’s why I’m pushing a bit here. I’m very curious about whether these ancient wisdom practices can be translated and operationalized into modern work life, without losing a bit of their deep transformative potential?SS: I think there are two different things. First, is the path to enlightenment through work? Not exactly, but you can consciously have your path to enlightenment using work as a context. To get enlightened, I don’t need to go and meditate full time under a tree or join a monastery. I can be an executive, or a frontline worker, or a barista, and still have the same spiritual experiences. The context is just as valid.If I pick a religion, let’s say Christianity, I can follow the ethos of one of the key principles, “Treat others as you would want to be treated.” If I practice that at work – wishing others that mindset of kindness and having the courage to take action – then I am living this divine principle of compassion. Work becomes the living expression of my Divinity in the world.If I join a monastery and become enlightened, who cares? Whereas, if I practice these principles among thousands of people at work, then I make a real difference.Q: Yes, you have. Thank you for that, Scott.Can you give some tips to anyone wanting to bring contemplative practices or meditation to their workspace?SS: I have a few tips and playbooks but first, if you’re coming from a spiritual perspective you need to leave some stuff at the door. No gurus, no religion, none of that. The stuff you do at work needs to be secular. You can do a lot within that zone – breathing practices and meditation – but most importantly, you need to use the language of the environment you are in.What do people need? If they just need a break from their mind, to feel some peace, that’s great! Give them that. Second, just start. I started at LinkedIn in a conference room, and there was one guy present. The following week there were three, then five, and it grew organically from there.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Vulnerable_leaders3_f7b9d70527.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-10T07:35:19.866Z" alt="Vulnerable_leaders3"><hr>A good thing to do at work is a 30-day challenge – people like to compete, so they join a challenge. Then treat it as a business, once you know who your friends are and you have the top of the funnel. Meet people where they are. We found that when we did a 30-day challenge, we had 1500 people sign up for it. Then we started email marketing and it kept growing and growing. We used the same principles as we use when growing a business. We built a community at work.Why do we do this? We do it to raise consciousness. We do it to serve the employees, because when employees get out of their minds a little bit, it’s goodness all around.Q: Is the world ripe for bringing wisdom practices to workspaces now?SS: Yes, this is absolutely the right time for us to have this conversation!Q: Thank you, Scott.<hr><hr><h4>Illustrations by ANANYA PATEL</h4><hr><hr>

Vulnerable leaders

Senthil is an engineering management professional in the telecommunication and semiconductor domains with five US patents to his credit.&nbsp;He has been a Heartfulness practitioner for 25 years and is a Heartfulness trainer. His interests include yogic psychology, high performance teams using Adizes frameworks, photography and trekking.

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Senthil Viswanathan

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">SENTHIL KUMAR VISWANATHAN shares his experience of meditating with Transmission, and how much easier it is to dive deeper into the spiritual journey because of this very beautiful energy.</h4>&nbsp;I have been meditating with Transmission for 25 years, and I would like to use an analogy to illustrate the difference between meditation with and without Transmission.We are all used to listening to music on airplanes while on a flight. There is a lot of background noise where the music is hardly audible using the regular headphones. One solution to this is to use a noise cancelling headphone. The noise cancelling headphone when switched on, makes the music very clear and audible even with a lot of background humming noise of the aeroplane. How does this really happen? The noise cancelling mechanism uses vibrations that are phase inverted (opposing to the noise), which nullifies the background noise. This makes the music so crystal clear that we are able to hear even the slightest and subtle sounds in the music, though there is a lot of noise all around us.Similarly, what really happens when we <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/meditate-listen" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">meditate</a> with Transmission? Transmission is a subtle transformative energy and it seems to create a field, just like the noise cancelling headphones, where the noise of the mind seems to be nullified in some sense, creating a field enabling us to really feel the subtle happenings beneath the noise. This Transmission is the vibratory energy coming from a living Guide that creates the field where the settling of the activities of the mind seems to occur with relative ease.Meditation without Transmission is like listening to music using regular headphones—there is a lot of background noise. Even though the music is playing, the subtle sounds are overpowered and eclipsed by the background noise. Though we are able to hear something, it is not as good as listening using the noise cancelling headphones. Though we are able to meditate to some extent, it is relatively not as deep and absorbed as meditating with Transmission.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/transmission2_3e79e3600c.webp" alt="transmission2.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_transmission2_3e79e3600c.webp 138w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/small_transmission2_3e79e3600c.webp 444w," sizes="100vw"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Transmission is the subtle vibratory energy that creates the field where meditation becomes easy.</h4><hr>Transmission is the subtle vibratory energy that creates the field where meditation becomes easy. But, it is important to be alert in order to feel the subtlety when the clutter of the mind is eased, otherwise it is easy to miss it or even slip into sleep. Similarly, while meditating, the alertness and <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/lack-of-awareness" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">awareness</a> is required to feel, observe and witness what lies beneath the noise and clutter of the mind. This is when Viveka or the mind’s faculty of discrimination is heightened if one is alert enough. Using this heightened and expanding Viveka, one can now see what lies beneath – like that of a still pond. Now, what do we do with such a mind that is alert, aware and absorbed? By carrying this state of heightened absorption through the day, we are able to perform our tasks much better and effectively with a higher sense of discrimination and awareness.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Illustrations by ANANYA PATEL</h4><hr>

Transmission: The field that makes it possible

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">SENTHIL VISWANATHAN explores the concept of zero, from both computing and spiritual perspectives. Through this, he uncovers the very origins and base of our existence as human beings, and also why this hidden part of ourselves is eclipsed by whatever manifests from it. He highlights the importance of the attitudes of insignificance and humility in our personalities if we are to glimpse the nothingness at the center of our being.</h4>In the world of computers, the basic representation of information uses the binary system. In the binary system, there are just two states of information—presence (one) or absence (zero) of a bit of information.Any number can be represented by a combination of these data of ones and zeroes. The operations permitted on this binary system of data—addition, multiplication, division, negation etc.—permit both the representations of complex data as well as computation, thereby enabling it to become both the storehouse of information and the logic that transforms and uses it.This Zero or Nothingness is contained in every number (zero added to any number is the same number). Similarly in a graph, the center of the graph is denoted by the coordinates 0, 0. Every other coordinate is anchored in reference to this center, and is contained within it.In computer science, this binary representation is used to represent every bit of information, perform mathematical operations using the same binary logic, and transform information from one dimension to the other—like representing sound as a series of zeros and ones and bringing it back as music by doing the inverse. All this is possible by the base representation of just two states—presence and absence of just ONE bit.The core of the computer is an oscillator which generates this series of alternate ones and zeroes, or as a sinusoidal wave. This crystal oscillator is the lifeline and heartbeat of the computer. Everything else is derived from this base; however, it is easily forgotten and eclipsed by the creations and representations which are derived from it.In the book, Truth Eternal, the Heartfulness Guide, Lalaji states the following:“The Vedas are liable to be questioned because the real mantra, shruti, or udgeet, is OM. In them are found “becoming-ness,” the quality of being counted, and the sentiments of the hearts of human beings. That is why there appears some difference whenever they are caught in words. For example, one and the same integer or unit assumes different forms of sums under the principles of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The whole sum, in spite of inversions and seeming contradiction, is an integer or unit only, and has the form of integers alone—in just the same way as water assumes various forms on passing through various channels as a fountain, well, tank, river, or canal. Nevertheless, it remains the same water.”&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/power_of_zero2_d279a15e06.webp" alt="power-of-zero2.webp"></figure>&nbsp;On the topic of <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/a-touch-of-heaven" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">spirituality</a>, he states:“Where there is only one thing, there is no motivation of idea. Nor is there any opportunity for discrimination, addition, or subtraction, multiplication, or division. Where is knowledge, where is action and where is bliss when there is only one? When there are two, then only is a third state produced by their combination, as also discrimination between this and that, you and me. The knot is in the middle, and at one end there is one head and at the other end there is another. Mind is the middle knot, at one end of which there is the higher self of consciousness and at the other end there is the lower state of inertness or unconsciousness. The mind, taking the shadow and influence of both, becomes a knot of consciousness and inertness, and is compelled to think and understand.”&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/power_of_zero3_2a292822f4.webp" alt="power-of-zero3.webp"></figure>&nbsp;The above two quotes are akin to the binary system in computers enabling us to represent and compute everything, thereby creating the digital world.It seems to me that the subtle and physical bodies are caused and manifested by the causal body.Consciousness (Chit) and the functions that play out in the field of <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/evolution-of-consciousness-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Consciousness</a>—including Mind (Manas), Intellect (Buddhi), and Ego (Ahankara)—originated out of a base, but they easily eclipse the base from which they manifested and get caught in the web of their own creation.Our journey seems to be to become aware of this base, which is the root of all existence, which animates us from inside out, and to be in tune with the base and be the best manifestation possible of it. It is almost like the leading edge of a perennially moving wave. It is an energy point which keeps moving up and down as a series of points. When we look back it is a wave, but it is also a point which is in continuous and rhythmic motion.My <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/the-dualities-of-existence" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">spiritual Guide</a>, a fellow human being who is anchored to the base through his own negation and attitudes of insignificance and humility, makes me aware of the possibility of such an existence, and reminds me of what it is that animates me from inside out. Being in sync with such an individual, I realize the possibility to resonate with the same frequency and manifest similar qualities.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Our journey seems to be to become aware of this base, which is the root of all existence, which animates us from inside out, and to be in tune with the base and be the best manifestation possible of it.</h4><hr>&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/power_of_zero4_1c9fed6125.webp" alt="power-of-zero4.webp"></figure>&nbsp;

The power of zero

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">SENTHIL VISWANATHAN reflects upon keeping the human engine running in top condition.</h4>Let us consider the workings of a piston engine—the piston moving in a cylinder harnesses the energy provided by the mixture of fuel and air. The engine comes alive when the initial spark is ignited and is combined with the fuel-air mixture. This initial spark is the infusion of life into the engine. The energy released by the combustion caused by the initial spark is then harnessed and transferred to the crankshaft, which then powers everything else. After the vehicle is set in motion and sufficient momentum is attained, the engine continues to draw in the fuel and air mixture as long as they are available, provided the vehicle is not turned off. The engine’s energy is then transferred through gears and a transmission to power the various other parts of the vehicle. This includes setting the wheel in motion or powering an alternator, which then produces electricity to power the car audio system, etc.Likewise, in the human system, it seems that the heart is the engine that is set into motion when the initial spark of life descends into it. Once set in motion, it harnesses the vibrational energy of life, powering the entire existence from within. The <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/a-users-guide-to-living-part-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">life-giving force</a> of the heart draws its energy from the “fuel-air mixture” of food and breath, powering the physical existence, which then becomes the foundation for the mind and intellect to blossom. The saying, sarvam annam, translated to “everything is food,” is seen in action in our human body. The life-giving force of the heart serves as the food or energy for both the physical and subtle bodies, each having a spiraling effect on the other. The way this energy is utilized depends on the mind, which seems to control the physical self (akin to the vehicle’s steering wheel, accelerator, and brakes), influenced by the gunas, the three qualities of nature, buddhi, intellect, and the heart’s qualities, which are then manifested as what one thinks and does.This life-giving force also enables the essential property of embryonic stem cells in the umbilical cord to become any type of cell in the body, which can be used to regenerate or repair diseased tissue and organs.In a vehicle, what is visible is only the external manifestation of the energy, such as a wheel moving or the stereo system working. The engine is completely eclipsed and covered by layers of gears, transmission, and crankshaft. Similarly, what powers our existence inside out, starting from the life-giving force in the heart, is eclipsed by the internal organs, the external physical self, the mind, and the intellect. Hence, we miss out on what animates us from the inside out and fuels this entire being.To keep the engine running in top condition, the friction between the parts must be minimal, with no energy wasted. Additionally, the deposit of soot must be removed periodically to maintain the engine’s optimal performance and keep it in pristine condition.Similarly, the soot covering the heart must be cleaned up so that the vibrations received in the heart are transformed and utilized without any loss, contamination, or additions. The soot of human existence is due to the residue or impressions of our day-to-day actions (karma), our gunas, and our subsequent likes and dislikes influenced by our ego.To keep the machine running efficiently, the Transmission loss must be minimal. As a human being, the energy that animates my existence, both inside and out, must also be regulated and balanced so that it is utilized for the right pursuits. All of this is possible when the mind is regulated, so that it is in tune and guided by <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/the-intrinsic-goodness-of-the-heart" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the heart</a>, in turn driving the physical existence in a balanced manner.<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/engine_existence2_073d4de13a.webp" alt="engine-existence2.webp"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">As a human being, the energy that animates my existence, both inside and out, must also be regulated and balanced, so that it is utilized for the right pursuits. All of this is possible when the mind is regulated, so that it is in tune and guided by the heart, in turn driving the physical existence in a balanced manner.</h4><hr>

The Engine of our Existence

Serge Nicolai was born in France of Corsican heritage. As a teenager he started reading about philosophy and experimented with different paths of self-development. He started meditation in earnest at the age of 21 with the help of an Indian master of Raja Yoga. After finishing his MA in linguistics, he moved to India and has since worked in international schools in South India as a modern language teacher. He continues to practise Raja Yoga and reads widely on religions, philosophy and psychology. He is married with two children and lives in Chennai.

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Serge Nicolai

What is maturity? How does it manifest in an individual, or in a nation? This is my take on it.Maturity is to live from the heart, which is the deeper part of ourselves, rather than living from the head, which is the superficial part of our mind.Instead of just reacting to fears and desires, mature individuals, or a mature society, act out of their deeper core.How does this show? The life of the heart is mainly expressed in<h3><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/maturity_img2_f7d3f59436.jpg?updated_at=2023-03-29T12:47:29.531Z" alt="Maturity"></h3>In societies with long spiritual traditions, you will find the majority of people directing their LOVE towards others, at the very least to their families, and their WILL towards themselves, to perfect themselves.In younger societies, I find the majority of people turning their WILL towards the others, or the world, while directing their LOVE towards themselves, in the pursuit of comfort and self-aggrandisement.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">The mature person sacrifices so that others may live; the immature person enjoys life at the expense of everyone else.</h4><hr>In a nutshell, the mature person sacrifices so that others may live; the immature person enjoys life at the expense of everyone else.I am not saying the latter is bad. Only that the person is just a child, with a long way to go on the road to express inner nobility.<hr>Article by SERGE NICOLAI<hr>

Maturity

<h4 style="text-align:center;">SERGE NICOLAI explores beauty and its source, the beauty unfolding within.</h4>Who is not after beauty? What is real beauty? And why are we looking for it?Beauty gives pleasure to our senses, be it a beautiful landscape, a beautiful face, a beautiful artifact, or a beautiful piece of music. One may argue that as a community or a civilization frees itself from the struggle to cater to its basic needs of food, clothing and shelter, there is more effort and resources given to fulfilling this search for beauty.A poet said, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” But is it? Experience shows us that the possession of one thing never satisfies us and, as soon as we get it, we embark upon the next pursuit, ad infinitum. So what are we really after?I would say that we are attracted to beauty because it reminds us of a lost harmony, of a subtle balance of forms. We would not recognize it outside if it were not already imprinted in us.We are really looking for our own lost beauty, a beauty not of this world, a light that alone makes everything resplendent.When we find it, whether in a child, a sage, or a pure person, we stand in awe. Something from another dimension beckons us. For a moment we are transported out of this mundane existence. And that is what we are looking for in this pursuit.Alas, this self-forgetfulness doesn’t last and we are back where we were. What is the solution?The only way is to turn our pursuit inwards, turn our efforts to our own making, so that we cultivate inner beauty. As this grows, our dependence for outer beauty will diminish.Finally, sages say that a time comes when the beauty unfolding inside is an unceasing wonder, making one forget everything else.That, this mystery, is what we are all really yearning for.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article by SERGE NICOLAI</h4><hr>

The quest for beauty

An international speaker, author, and spiritual teacher since 2000, Shai Tubali is one of Europe’s leading experts and innovators in the field of the chakras and the subtle system. Currently based in Berlin, he tours and guides seminars and retreats in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, Croatia, Spain, and Greece. Formerly the head of the Berlin holistic center Chiro-Yoga, he has now established the new international center Human Greatness. Shai has published 23 books in English, German and Hebrew, in spiritual non-fiction, prose and poetry. His latest book is Unlocking The 7 Secret Powers of the Heart.

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Shai Tubali

&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;<h4 style="text-align:justify;">SHAI TUBALI helps us understand the value of keeping the heart open, vulnerable and willing to experience whatever challenges life gives us, without becoming defensive and closing the heart.</h4>&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;Your mind cannot tell the difference between “vulnerable” and “breakable.” It thinks it is obvious that if you are vulnerable you are also breakable. Since this sounds logical enough, your mind chooses the strategy of remaining invulnerable as much as possible.Of course, your mind only wants to protect you, as its main role is to keep you safe in a world full of dangers. It registers moments when you were vulnerable and, as a result, became deeply disappointed, rejected, betrayed, or abandoned. This left you not just with an unbearable pain but also with a profound sense of weakness.We are all afraid of being weak. It is a survival instinct: we must not show that we are powerless and defenseless in a hostile and overpowering environment. To conceal this weakness, we put on armor, a thick layer of protection with which we defend our vulnerable heart. This is why we become hard and sometimes react quickly to insults or criticism with anger, hatred, and vengefulness, and harbor grudges.Your mind strives to become so strong and impenetrable that you will never be harmed or feel pain. To achieve this impregnable condition, it surrounds the heart with a protective wall. This wall is not just a metaphor – you could easily sense it in your chest as a thick layer separating you from the environment and protecting your fragile true being. This wall is not necessarily such a bad idea. If you have no coping mechanism for intense emotions and profound disappointments, it is perhaps wise to keep a thick protective layer around your heart. However, in light of our knowledge of the powers of the heart, we should reexamine this strategy: Does it really work? Do we actually feel safer when our hearts are closed?<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/myth_fragile_heart2_46e9a1ecd2.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-10T06:38:13.695Z" alt="the-myth-of-the-fragile-heart"><hr>A quick, honest look at our life experience tells us, of course, that this strategy does not work very well. The more we feel threatened and in need of defending and protecting ourselves, the more intensely and deeply we feel our own fragility. In the end, the effort to become invulnerable makes us more vulnerable. The great irony is that the more we contract our heart, the more we feel it needs additional and even more sophisticated layers of protection, with the result that, slowly but surely, we stop feeling pain but scarcely feel anything else. We become cautious and numb, hurting little but also loving little.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">The secret power of the open heart</h4>Your wise heart offers a different strategy. With this secret power, you can finally remove the wall: vulnerability is your key to indestructibility. The heart’s wisdom confidently defies the effectiveness of the wall. Historically, walls have never really worked, and this is also true for your internal wall. From the point of view of the heart, it is clear that what we believe makes us stronger actually makes us weaker. And what we believe makes us weaker actually makes us stronger.The mind’s strategy is based on resistance. It refuses to open up because it wants to avoid potential disappointments. It strives with all its might to minimize the pain of betrayal and rejection, pushing people away as a result and keeping a clear distance, since people are able to upset our mind-body system by failing to be there for us.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/myth_fragile_heart3_26081046ac.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-10T06:39:01.768Z" alt="the-myth-of-the-fragile-heart"><hr>The heart’s strategy is based on love. It continues to trust and open up even if this could lead to painful experiences. It agrees to pain, because it knows that it is better to feel pain than to feel nothing. That is because it knows the secret that, as long as it remains open, even if it bleeds a little it will not be weakened. In fact, it gets stronger with each opening up, despite the disappointment and hurt.In reality, it is your mind’s resistance to pain that makes these past experiences so painful, imprinting upon you dark and trenchant conclusions about life and people. When you closed your heart in response to the pain, it took hold of you. Opening up to breathe into it and to contain it completely in fact has the effect of melting it away, leaving the heart refreshed and intact.This is the excellent “contain and include” heartpractice: when there is no resistance and you choose instead to open up even more widely, you become greater than the situation. Contained within your heart, the situation fades away without leaving an unforgettable impression.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">Use disappointments as opportunities</h4>Generally speaking, the heart is in one of the following three different kinds of conditions:MOSTLY CLOSED:&nbsp;This is when the mind decides that we’ve had enough disappointments and betrayals for one lifetime, and so even with those with whom we are close we make sure our heart remains essentially invulnerable and untouched.HALF OPEN:&nbsp;This is when we open and close our heart, depending on circumstances. We open it up with certain people in a safe environment, but even then only when they are kind to us. The opening is conditional on circumstances and, therefore, is fluctuating.ESSENTIALLY OPEN:&nbsp;This is not only a condition, but also a statement of being. An essentially open heart never closes the door of trust, faith, and communication, despite all disappointments and betrayals.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/myth_fragile_heart4_54dbcc850b.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-10T06:39:48.460Z" alt="the-myth-of-the-fragile-heart"><hr>The state of being half open is the most common – the heart only opens when the situation is clearly safe. It is the mind that allows us to be vulnerable only when there are good reasons to trust. However, this dependency keeps us weaker; it means that our heart opens and closes in response to each and every stimulation, however negligible. This is a fragile heart, constantly searching for signs of approval and recognition and needing to fear any change of circumstances.For the half-open heart, deep emotions such as love and tenderness are too delicate and can only be expressed in a wholly supportive and nurturing environment. The half-open heart is based on what is probably the greatest myth surrounding the heart – that since it is fragile, it requires a safe environment and cannot handle a difficult or hostile world. When the heart encounters intense situations, it withdraws behind the wall, leaving the mind on the front line to fight and negotiate.The heart’s secret power tells us something completely different: Love and compassion are not tender but rather invincible powers of our being that channel tremendous cosmic waves. They do not need a secure environment to be revealed; they can be expressed proudly and openly even in the most strident and noisy marketplace and in the face of strong opposing forces.Try this exercise the next time someone offends you or when the next hurt inevitably strikes:Remain with an open heart. You will feel an impulse to contract your heart, but make the decision not to do so, instead retaining the flow of openness and tenderness, and see what happens as a result.<img class="image_resized" style="width:409px !important;" src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/myth_fragile_heart5_5fcedc394a.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-10T06:40:36.818Z" alt="the-myth-of-the-fragile-heart">With&nbsp;your heart exposed, work with the unconscious expectation that has caused you pain – that people should never be disappointing. The reality is that not only will people disappoint you every now and then, but this plays a crucial role in your own heart’s development. Translate your disappointment into the thought that obviously this person should have offended me, and keep the heart open and flowing. Open your chest fully to the event. Agree to the pain. Direct love toward the person who caused you pain. You will soon discover that this pain flows through you and is transformed into a greater power of love.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">The paradox of indestructibility</h4>Your heart does not need protection, it is your best protection. Living life with an open heart is not just less damaging than having to defend it, it is, ironically, the very state in which nothing and no one can hurt you. As the heart lets go of expectations and remains wide open, agreeing to feel unconditionally, a point will come when it no longer feels pain but only love.Since that pain was caused by your own expectations, you will grow confident enough to keep your heart as an open door that never closes, and which constantly allows the natural flow of goodness and compassion from within your heart.Here we return to the difference between vulnerable and breakable. Vulnerability means fearlessly keeping the door to your heart open. A tender heart that does not try to protect itself and remains open to experience, accepting, loving, and forgiving under all circumstances, is an unbreakable heart. There is nothing that it cannot envelop and contain, no power that it cannot melt away, since it agrees to receive whatever penetrates it. What enemy could defeat such a heart? Even the most powerful assailant becomes helpless, as it tries with all its might to attack, hurt, and ruin. The love of such a heart keeps it unharmed.We can only suffer hurt as long as fear lives within our hearts. Aggression and destruction feed on our fear, but they lose all their power in the face of love. Together, love and the heart’s openness form the most formidable power in the world – a power that only increases when we love at those times when it makes no sense to open up at all. We fear being hurt, but what can happen if we are willing to get hurt and commit ourselves to love, even in such circumstances?Many people consider the life of Jesus a perfect example of the heroism of the heart: the way he lived in this harsh world like the most delicate flower – wide open, exposed, and loving. Do we think that those who crucified him defeated him? No, we know that the heart of Jesus could never be crucified, only his body. You cannot crucify a heart whose last words are “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”<hr>An adapted excerpt from the author’s latest book, Unlocking the 7 Secret Powers of the Heart, available at https://shaitubali.com/en/webshop/unlocking-the-7secret-powers-of-the-heart-a-practical-guide-to-livingin-trust-and-love/. Reprinted with permission.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article by SHAI TUBALI Illustrations by ANANYA PATEL</h4><hr>

The myth of the fragile heart

Shantanu Mandal has a background in fashion design and fine arts. During his time as a reporter for La Croix in Paris, he played a key role in helping create the UN Youth Manifesto, and since then has been a key member of the Youth Forum at the UN Convention on Combating Desertification in 2019, a mentor in the Climate Ambassadors Program, and involved in area of “Major Growth for Children and Youth.”  He is based at Mount Abu in India, the spiritual headquarters of the Brahma Kumaris, and has practiced Raja Yoga for 20 years. Shantanu is a facilitator, mediator, and bridge between different communities, helping collaboration and providing a space where they can co-create.

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Shantanu Mandal

<h4>SHANTANU MANDAL has a background in fashion design and fine arts. During his time as a reporter for La Croix in Paris, he played a key role in helping create the UN Youth Manifesto, and since then has been a key member of the Youth Forum at the UN Convention on Combating Desertification in 2019, a mentor in the Climate Ambassadors Program, and involved in area of “Major Growth for Children and Youth.” &nbsp;He is based at Mount Abu in India, the spiritual headquarters of the Brahma Kumaris, and has practiced Raja Yoga for 20 years. Shantanu is a facilitator, mediator, and bridge between different communities, helping collaboration and providing a space where they can co-create.</h4><hr>Any action that we want to happen at a bigger level starts from a single and a very humble individual origin. Something cannot be done “outside” if it is not embraced inside. For example, if Mahatma Gandhi wasn’t free inside, he could not have helped free his country. If Nelson Mandela wasn’t free inside while sitting in prison, he could not have visualised a free country. So, when I wanted to do something for the environment, I started believing in the things I was doing.The first thing that motivated me was changing my lifestyle. I became minimalistic, not purchasing anything unless and until it was necessary. I changed my diet to become vegan. These little things built good energy inside me, so I started volunteering. That is how I have approached personal responsibility.For big businesses, every stakeholder has their share of responsibility as an individual, then they take on responsibilities as part of the organization that extend to the dynamics of the group – are they aligned to the well-being of Mother Nature? Every stakeholder, whether an individual, a group, or a big company, has a role to play in climate action.Some companies have a massive potential in shaping future society. They could start now, with the simple idea of promoting “flourishing.” Flourishing is different from progress. The word progress conveys a linear aspect of earning and earning, whereas the concept of flourishing, regeneration, is when everybody inside the team is progressing and flourishing, and nature and the environment are also flourishing. The problem right now is that even when the individual, the group, and the organization progress, Mother Nature is not progressing. Instead, it is being depleted.A flourishing way of dealing or trading is when we also focus on the health of nature and the surroundings, because that’s our resource center. My computer, my jacket, and everything else has come from Mother Nature, and if I understand that beautiful connection, I will think holistically; I will consider every aspect of that connection. Every small or big stakeholder can do that.It is something that comes naturally within faith-based communities. They look at development projects in a very holistic way – no aspect is left out. Even if the process is slow, it is substantial and powerful. Everybody flourishes, everybody’s good wishes are there, everybody’s good energy is there.At an individual level, it can start from a very simply approach – look to make a healthy life. Thinking about the planet and other people can be a bit overwhelming, but having a very healthy lifestyle only requires four things:<ol><li>A healthy, nourishing diet.</li><li>Proper rest so the body can function.</li><li>Good mobility, exercise, and fitness.</li><li>A positive attitude.</li></ol>These four keep us healthy, and you can start with any one of them.Is there something in your diet you can do without? Why are you attached to it? Do you need it for health? Can you manage without it? The answers to these questions will lead you to a more natural, eco-friendly diet. That’s what happens if you keep asking the right questions.Looking at mobility and exercise, if you can’t spend a lot, walk to the market or local shop, instead of using a car or public transport. It will make a difference. I have been living in the UK for the past three months and whenever I can I walk. My colleagues don’t always understand it, but I walk as my exercise. The concept must come from a lifestyle practice.Living non-violently and holistically in nature is not an add-on activity. Even if you can’t change your food, rest, and exercise, start with positive thinking. For instance, when you have gratitude for the things around you, it creates a bond with Mother Nature and the environment, and you will cause less harm. You will be eco-friendly in your choices. This will come very naturally, and you won’t have to work for it.<hr><hr><h4>When you have gratitude for the things around you,&nbsp; it creates a bond with Mother Nature and&nbsp; the environment, and you will cause less harm.&nbsp;</h4><hr><hr>So, start with any of these four aspects. The easiest one to adopt is a positive attitude, an attitude of gratitude for everything. It is free of cost and it will light up your heart; everything will start radiating from there. You will feel like eating non-violent food, walking in nature, and it will become natural for you. I know because it happened to me. It starts with a gentle inner commitment, because if it is not gentle it is not sustainable.Going forward, my hopes for the future revolve around flourishing, love, friendship, and security: love for myself, love for each other, and love for the actions of others. I can openly appreciate what others do and show my love for what they’re doing. That includes love for Mother Nature, and for the Divine.My hopes for the longer term also focus on strong friendships, strong collaborations, strong networks. Having all these, we will have a life full of protection, safety, and security, whether it’s emotional, financial, or physical. &nbsp;Strong friendships help us feel safe, and when we are safe and secure we can focus on what needs to be done right now. An anxious mind cannot act in the right direction, whereas a safe and secure mind will act appropriately and look at the needs of the time.To do that, we need to become friends of ourselves, and find a very strong friend, like the Divine, Mother Nature, or anyone in whom we have great confidence. When we communicate within that friendship, we create a safe space where working becomes very easy.<hr><hr><h4>To do that, we need to become friends of ourselves,&nbsp; and find a very strong friend, like the Divine, Mother Nature,&nbsp; or anyone in whom we have great confidence.&nbsp; When we communicate within that friendship,&nbsp; we create a safe space where working becomes very easy.&nbsp;</h4><hr><hr>It requires actions, not just romantic words and thoughts – actions of friendship. I cannot just sit here and think, “Maybe it would be nice if that person and I were friends.” We must come together, speak, call, or WhatsApp. Some action is needed to feel safe, and some action is needed to help everything flourish.<hr>

Start with small beginnings

Shanthi Venkat is a Heartfulness Meditation trainer, a certified Tai Chi instructor, and a retired physical therapist based in the United States. She balances her love of the sciences and healthcare with her creative passion for cooking, baking, and gardening.

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Shanthi Venkat

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">SHANTHI VENKAT is a physical therapist based in the United States. Here, she details how a deeply personal experience as a caregiver pushed her to reflect on the stigma around aging and her own professional work, and the easy steps we can take to prepare ourselves for growing older.</h4>&nbsp;My husband and I have been in the healthcare industry for over three decades; he provides home visit physical therapy services for the geriatric population and I work with the Veterans’ Affairs clinic, where I treat elderly veterans of war, and young veterans returning from recent tours. Because of the nature of our work and our adaptation to the ever-changing landscape of geriatric healthcare, both of us developed what we believed to be a thick skin to caretaking.That thick skin has been tested and recreated over the last seven years, after my husband decided to move his parents, in their eighties, from India to the US, so we could care for their growing medical concerns. Neither of us had any apprehension about this caretaker role, until his parents actually moved in.The months and years following their arrival have been an eyeopener for us. Much changed quickly: the energy in the house shifted as our lives revolved around their needs, wants, emotions, and illnesses. Prior to their arrival, we were empty nesters planning for our retirement, but the immensity of their health issues postponed those plans indefinitely.We were also inching closer to our 60s. Little aches and pains magnified in intensity, and no matter how preemptive we were in managing them, we were not rebounding quite as quickly. Neither of us will ever regret the choice we made to bring my in-laws here; at the same time, caretaker burnout is very real. Whether we were willing to accept it or not, we were also aging.What is aging? It is a degenerative process that we undergo physically, mentally, and emotionally. The changes do not happen in any certain pattern or proportion. But each change does affect the others. When our physical health is not good, our mental and emotional well-being are compromised, which in turn leads to even poorer physical health. We get trapped into a hamster wheel of sickness, one giant unending cycle.&nbsp;Aging is hard. It can feel like all the control and independence built over several decades is gone in the blink of an eye. Many elderly people must make the emotional adjustment of returning to an almost childlike state, in which they constantly have to ask for help for even the simplest of tasks. It can be lonely, embarrassing, frightening, and often completely unfair.Aging is also a challenge for caretakers. I have wondered what has made the circumstances with my in-laws so challenging, when over the past three decades, my husband and I have helped so many elderly people rehabilitate themselves to live healthy, independent lives.&nbsp;The challenge, I have realized, is the emotional attachment we have with family members. Even when we know it is coming, it is hard to watch a parent grow older. It is hard for the role of parent and child to reverse. And it is hard to care for ourselves when our energy is going toward taking care of someone else, especially loved ones.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">What is aging? It is a degenerative process that we undergo physically, mentally, and emotionally.</h4><hr>Because of my work, I understand that aging is a taboo topic, one that we are hesitant to learn about, because it is frightening to think about getting older. We teach young people how to become adults. We teach them how to be financially independent, to save for retirement, to pay bills, to buy a house, to build a family. But we don’t teach them how to age. We do not successfully educate people on how to care for the inevitable: an aging body.At work I watch young veterans struggle after being discharged from service: Their bodies and minds have physically and psychologically aged significantly because of the impact of war, and they are left feeling hopeless as they try to navigate life under different circumstances.So I encourage you to apply these five simple steps to keep your bodies and minds healthy and strong, and preempt the effects of aging:<h4>1. &nbsp;Exercise regularly&nbsp;</h4>Even something as simple as a walk around your neighborhood can do wonders. I spend an hour each day walking on the treadmill or doing strength-training exercises.<img class="image_resized" style="width:38.88%;" src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Aging_Gracefully2_ac6efaca60.webp" alt="Aging-Gracefully2.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_Aging_Gracefully2_ac6efaca60.jpg 166w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_Aging_Gracefully2_ac6efaca60.webp 250w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Aging_Gracefully2_ac6efaca60.webp 250w," sizes="100vw"><h4>2. Find a consistent hobby&nbsp;</h4>It keeps your mind sharp and engaged. My husband and I have green thumbs and spend a lot of time in our garden.<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:36.93%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Aging_Gracefully6_35bbf06b80.webp" alt="Aging-Gracefully6.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_Aging_Gracefully6_35bbf06b80.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_Aging_Gracefully6_35bbf06b80.webp 250w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Aging_Gracefully6_35bbf06b80.webp 250w," sizes="100vw"></figure><h4>3. Spend time with friends&nbsp;</h4>Every demographic is impacted by loneliness. Keep your personal connections strong. I make a point to pick up the phone and call my friends a few times a week, or drop by a friend’s home even just for an hour.<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:38.56%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Aging_Gracefully3_b7c8c19bf5.webp" alt="Aging-Gracefully3.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_Aging_Gracefully3_b7c8c19bf5.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_Aging_Gracefully3_b7c8c19bf5.webp 250w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Aging_Gracefully3_b7c8c19bf5.webp 250w," sizes="100vw"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Even when we know it is coming, it is hard to watch a parent grow older. It is hard for the role of parent and child to reverse.</h4><hr><h4>4. Engage in mind-body activity&nbsp;</h4>Meditation, yoga, and other contemplative activities can create a fit mind and body. In addition to my meditation practice, I became a certified tai chi instructor a few years ago, which has been another successful way of keeping me connected to myself.<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:38.41%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Aging_Gracefully4_608c60cf24.webp" alt="Aging-Gracefully4.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_Aging_Gracefully4_608c60cf24.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_Aging_Gracefully4_608c60cf24.webp 250w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Aging_Gracefully4_608c60cf24.webp 250w," sizes="100vw"></figure><h4>5. Take time for yourself&nbsp;</h4>Alone time is necessary to keep yourself sharp and healthy.&nbsp; &nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:38.87%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Aging_Gracefully5_a1b916e083.webp" alt="Aging-Gracefully5.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_Aging_Gracefully5_a1b916e083.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_Aging_Gracefully5_a1b916e083.webp 250w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Aging_Gracefully5_a1b916e083.webp 250w," sizes="100vw"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">We must do a better job of taking care of our aging family and friends; especially in the last leg of life, people need support and love.</h4><hr>These steps may seem like common sense, but knowing what we can do to stay strong and healthy can help to make the process of aging more manageable. When that education is coupled with compassion, acceptance, and patience, aging can be graceful. We must do a better job of taking care of our aging family and friends; especially in the last leg of life, people need support and love.The last seven years challenged the way I thought of myself as a caregiver. More than anything, it challenged my own perception of aging, and the ways I was taking care of myself. After all, I want to age gracefully too.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Illustrations by JASMEE MUDGAL</h4><hr>

Aging gracefully

Sharat is a Software Architect and Heartfulness trainer based in Bangalore. He currently serves as a Director of Heartfulness Institute and of Ripples of Change Foundation, an NGO. Recreationally, he enjoys badminton and DIY home improvement projects.

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Sharat Hegde

<h3 style="text-align:center;">DEVELOPING PEACE INSIDE OUT</h3><h4>DR. RANJANI IYER, SYLVIE BERTI-ROSSI, and SHARAT HEGDE from the Peacefulness Movement explore the need for peace with globalization and increasingly rich diversity across the world.&nbsp;</h4>&nbsp;According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “diversity” is defined as “the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc.” We see diversity as a huge strength in developing creative and critical thinking to promote excellence, efficiency, and overall well-being. This applies to corporates, educational institutions, and other organizations that work collaboratively to utilize diverse perspectives to increase engagement and robust interactions.&nbsp;With diversity comes the need for conflict management due to differences in perspectives, knowledge, and points of view. One of the ways to embrace diversity is to “TAP into <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/the-secret-of-life-keep-moving" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Peacefulness</a>” and learn to maintain an attitude of mutual respect, open-mindedness, willingness to listen, and collaborative working in peace.&nbsp;TAP into Peacefulness can build skills to connect within and with each other. By becoming peaceful, by being peace, we radiate peace and become peaceful ambassadors. Here is how to do it:<h4 style="text-align:justify;">1. Take a moment to pause:&nbsp;</h4>Research suggests that the practice of pause helps in creating the space to relate emotions and activates the parasympathetic nervous system to induce the feeling of calmness.&nbsp;<a href="https://hbr.org/2015/02/5-ways-to-become-more-self-aware">Self-awareness</a> lies at the root of strong character, giving us the ability to lead with a sense of purpose, authenticity, openness, and trust.&nbsp;You can use a daily check-in to create self-awareness and develop an inner connection to understand your&nbsp;<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DNjq_k9BPlW6bh9v2Dg6w5RabuHkbJ0S/view?usp=sharing">feelings and emotions</a>, use the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mindful.org/the-power-of-pause/">power of pause practice</a> to schedule a one to two minute break in between your busy schedule, or even take an unscheduled short break to avoid mental fatigue. A calm and reflective mind leads to correct thinking and right understanding, that will help you be more efficient, avoid stress and be at peace.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/TAP_into_Peacefulness2_dfe40483c4.jpg"></figure><h4 style="text-align:justify;">2. Adopt the attitude, be one with yourself:&nbsp;</h4>A positive mindset promotes creativity, empathy, connection, and resilience to overcome difficulties more quickly. Working toward a positive attitude and an attitude to excel, you will connect with self and others by expressing&nbsp;<a href="https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_gratitude_changes_you_and_your_brain">gratitude</a>, heartful&nbsp;<a href="https://6fb734da-c7da-4a3e-97f2-70aba86275fd.filesusr.com/ugd/d7a5fa_63ec707c66824868971e763876c18021.pdf">affirmations</a>, setting short-term and long-term goals, working towards them, and creating a community that offers a sense of belonging. Finding time to reflect, relax, and rejuvenate opens up space for reflective thinking as well as prioritizes self-care.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lybrate.com/topic/heartfulness-meditation-how-it-is-beneficial/2d8cb243d75765dce2379d82fddaf777">Heartfulness practices</a> take us on an inner journey, and that journey starts in the heart as we develop the 5 Cs of Contentment, Calm, Compassion, Courage, and Clarity, which are the foundation of our mental, emotional, and social intelligence.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">3. Practice peace, your way:&nbsp;</h4>A variety of resources and intentional ways to practice peace can be utilized to connect with the heart and think peaceful thoughts that can promote peace from the inside out.&nbsp;Peace is our true nature and, when we connect with peace within ourselves, we radiate it to others and to our environment.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.peacefulness.org/">Peaceful Intentions</a> will give you time to center and ground yourself, connect to your heart, and finally choose an intention. Silently repeat the words of the intention, and go slowly enough that you can both imagine and feel its true meaning. Let it spread to everything and everyone around you.<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Hand_ebebb9124c.webp"></figure>Everyone can benefit by learning ways to tap into peace, as it promotes interconnectedness and inclusion that help us to handle conflicts and collaborate in a more empathetic and effective way. In this complex world, as new perspectives are developed, they can provide better opportunities for innovation, creativity, and problem-solving.

TAP into Peacefulness  

Shelly Burgess is a longtime Heartfulness practitioner and a Heartfulness trainer. She has taught physics for the past twenty-four years at a suburban Midwestern high school where she serves as chair of the science department. She’s a wife and the mother to two very active teenagers. When free time exists, she likes to read, bike, and hike.

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Shelly Burgess

<h4>SHELLY BURGESS is a high school physics teacher and a meditation trainer. Here, she tells her story about losing sight of her purpose in the midst of the Covid pandemic, and how positive intention renewed her focus and allowed her to accept the last year through a lens of self-compassion, grace, and optimism.&nbsp;</h4><hr>We’ve all had challenges since the pandemic began. Some challenges have certainly been greater than others, but we’ve all had our share of struggles and pain. An effective meditation practice can help us immensely with such life stressors. I know this, of course. I’ve been practicing Heartfulness for thirty years, so of course I was primed to ride out pandemic turbulence with a good measure of serenity and grace … except that I did a terrible job of meditating for over a year.It’s embarrassing, but I am admitting this for a reason. Let’s first rewind, so I can tell you why my terrible job of meditating led me to one of the most important revelations of my life.Allow me to introduce myself. I am a mother of two active teens, a wife, and a daughter. Like many women, I work hard at home to make life nice for my loved ones. I also teach advanced high school physics to teens with serious college aspirations. In a normal school year, I run myself ragged trying to give my children their best start in life and care for my family, while also striving to provide a world-class education to the hundred or so students who count on me at school. My responsibilities are pretty demanding, but my Heartfulness practice keeps me balanced, and I also enjoy sharing meditation with others as a trainer. I’m busy, but it works.Enter 2020, which was a period of upheaval. I make no suggestion that my pain has been anywhere near what others have suffered, but as the pandemic began I struggled. My children switched to online learning while I switched to online teaching. In one room, I led my classes through Zoom, and during breaks I checked on my kids and tried to keep them as motivated and happy as possible. So began the daily cycle. In order to give my own kids my all, while providing a superior education to my students, I was working longer and longer hours. While transitioning a lab course to a digital format, encouraging my suffering students, and holding my family together, I had less and less steam to keep myself running. Slowly my meditation practice began to erode. When I sat in the evenings to meditate, it felt like I had nothing left to set my meditation in motion because I had let myself become so run down.When my alarm went off in the morning so I could meditate before work, I couldn’t get up. I needed sleep. As the school year went on, and my workload and my family’s needs compounded, I slept fewer and fewer hours and had less and less to give. My meditation practice became a skin-and-bones version of its former self, but I had so much to do to serve others, what choice did I have, right?Three weeks before the school year ended, I was concerned that I couldn’t make it. I felt as if a panic attack was lurking around every corner, but I pushed. By this time, I felt that my spiritual condition was really run down, a shadow of its former state. This added to my anxiety. I love meditation. I love what it does for me. Now, not only had I not used it to get through the school year, but I felt like I had slid backward. My heart no longer felt like a glowing sanctuary. It felt like a racing heartbeat. It was distressing. Had I damaged myself physically? Yes, definitely. My body had lots of ways of telling me. Had I damaged myself spiritually? This was a real worry.<hr><hr><h5>I raise my children and serve my family with love&nbsp; in line with my spiritual goal.&nbsp; I serve my students with care in line with my spiritual goal.&nbsp; I serve the hearts of those I encounter,&nbsp; and in doing so, my own heart grows in purity.</h5><hr><hr>Heartfulness offers us <a href="https://www.heartfulnessmagazine.com/a-users-guide-to-living-part-1/">ten universal principles</a> to help navigate life’s challenges in an ennobling way. The third principle suggests that we set a goal of the highest spiritual attainment. In a normal year, I think about this all the time. It helps me frame everything I do within that higher purpose. I raise my children and serve my family with love in line with my spiritual goal. I serve my students with care in line with my spiritual goal. I serve the hearts of those I encounter, and in doing so, my own heart grows in purity. At least, that’s the way it is in a normal year.This year? It took until May to realize that I had been serving the wrong master, so to speak. My goals had become mundane: “I have to write multiple versions of this test to make it fairer, in case kids try to cheat.” “I have to come up with a way for students to run this experiment at home using household tools, and then create an online format for them to post their data.” “I have to hang out with my kids while they do their homework so they feel supported.” “I have to cook dinner and do laundry!”<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/rediscovering_my_purpose2_8a3e3e2799.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-06T12:21:45.659Z" alt="rediscovering-my-purpose2"><hr><hr><h5>When I serve others in tune with my spiritual goal,&nbsp; I do a better job – I am more loving and more balanced.&nbsp; The self-care that comes with my meditation&nbsp; practice allows me to be better in all my roles,&nbsp; and better to myself.</h5><hr><hr>Ah … the pressing immediacy of meeting responsibilities. I had allowed this to become my goal.I didn’t even see it coming.By not attending well enough to my heart, by not balancing my mind regularly enough through d meditation, by letting myself become so mentally exhausted that I got sidetracked from my goal, I “served the wrong master.” For a year. And where it led me was not good at all. I could barely even tap into that glowing goodness that was formerly an ever-present reservoir in my heart.Well, the story would have had a terrible ending if I had stopped there and given up! And who wants a lousy ending to a story? So now comes the good stuff!First, I dived back into my daily practice, along with lots and lots of positive suggestions. The good news: I can tell I’m rebounding. The bad news: I still have a way to go. The bottom line: There’s always hope.Second, I’m proof that Heartfulness works, because when I let my practice and my goal slip, I saw the dark side of losing sight of them.And that leads to my huge revelation: Third, serve the right master, remember my goal. When I do this, everything else falls into balance. Losing sight of it led me down a dark path. Returning my focus has offered me a way back.Does that mean I should not serve my family and my students? Not at all. In fact, when I serve them in tune with my spiritual goal, I do a better job – I am more loving and more balanced. The self-care that comes with my meditation practice allows me to be better in all my roles, and better to myself.One last little gem popped into my memory as I re-established my practice. A doozy of a positive suggestion came to me, and it has made a huge difference. Decades ago, a Heartfulness meditator known as sister Kasturi said something to someone, and eventually it reached my ears many years later. She told this person that we can do spiritual work in the past. In other words, if we make suggestions in the present, we can reset our past selves. Wild, right?So I sat down and tried it. I made the mental suggestion in May that all along, throughout the school year, I had been serving everyone heartfully, in tune with my goal. The amazing thing was that as I made this positive suggestion I could feel pieces of the past year shifting back into balance, like a mixed-up puzzle where the pieces assemble themselves. I was resetting my goal for my past self. I felt it working. So cool. So wonderful. So grateful.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/rediscovering_my_purpose3_74b7a897c4.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-06T12:23:10.956Z" alt=""><hr><hr><h5>The main point is that I realized I don’t want to&nbsp; ever give myself wounds again. I love my practice.&nbsp; It keeps me balanced and takes me to my goal.</h5><hr><hr>What is the moral of this story? Let’s be clear that I do not believe there’s a “get out of jail free” card if I just redouble my efforts and make positive suggestions from the present to my past self. This is not the lesson, although I am grateful that I’ve found what I needed to heal my wounds. The main point is that I realized I don’t want to ever give myself wounds again. I love my practice. It keeps me balanced and takes me to my goal. Like Dorothy says at the end of The Wizard of Oz, “I’m not going to leave here ever, ever again.” I’m lucky to have this nice moral to my story, because it could have been much worse. I have pretty good grounds for feeling optimistic, and I’m grateful to be home.<hr><hr><h4>Illustrations by ANANYA PATEL</h4><hr>

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