by Life Positive

THE WAY REIKI CHANGED MY LIFE

Before I attended the first-degree course in reiki, life was just a series of problems with varying degrees of complexity. Sometimes a problem went beyond the cope of intellect, generating a lot of helpless rage and anxiety.

Today, however, life is an endless stream of opportunities, just waiting to be utilized. The time that was earlier wasted looking for solutions in life is now invested in exploiting the opportunities of life. It is only my perception that has become much deeper. And this is what I have gained through reiki (cosmic life force).

The intellect is now no longer used to seek solutions outside. It looks inward for answers because, as I have realized, problems lie deep within. The quality of my relationship with people has improved immensely in an incredibly short time.

Manoj Soral, Mumbai, India

LEARNING TO SMELL WITH THE HELP OF YOGA

I seemed to have been born with a malfunctioning nose. Allopathic medicine had no cure for my disease and I was advised to live with this problem since, in all probability it was hereditary.

At the age of 18, I developed an interest in yoga. While I was learning various asanas (yoga exercises), my yoga teacher told me that she could helped me with my problem of smell. She then taught me jal neti. I had to sit in vajrasana (a yogic exercise) and run lukewarm, salty water through the nostrils. I found this pretty tough in the beginning, but it became easier when my nasal passage opened with a few days.

I practiced jal neti for 40 days without a break. I also did breathing exercises every morning. During the second week, I felt a marked change. I started getting a whiff of a perfume or a dish being prepared in the kitchen. Over time, this improved still further.

Then I became somewhat lackadaisical in my attitude toward this great cure. Today, I confess, I do not even know where I have kept my jal neti pot. But the effect remains, and every time I smell something great, I silently thank my yoga teacher.

Rita Kapur, Dallhousi, India

TACKLING UPSETS

I was involved in philosophy circles in college where the Gita was an important text. But Erahard Seminar Training (E.S.T.) brought philosophy down to the experiential level. Then came the Forum, which was primarily concerned with the nature of being.

The Forum teaches us that our past is never complete. We are constantly moving between memories and the present. An incomplete past limits us. For example, one might have had some problem with one's parents. The Forum teaches you to face it and talk it over, if possible.

Also, I learned to be calm and peaceful. The Forum taught me how to deal with what they call 'upsets'. We are all prone to upsets when something unexpected crosses our path, like a taxman turning up. The important thing is how long do you stay with an upset? Now the average time I spend on an upset is just thirty seconds.

When something adverse happens, there is no point thinking why it had to happen to me. The point is to be effective and challenging. "Life is fired at you point blank," as the founder (of E.S.T.), Werner Erahard, says. The Forum makes you ask "Are you at the cause of things or at the consequence of things?"

Ranjan Chopra, New Delhi, India

FLOWING ALONG WITH THE GANGES

I retired last year, after 34 years of government service. I raised two children, bought a car. I should have been happy with my achievements, but I wasn't. I went to Gangotri (the source of the Ganges in the Himalayas) to seek peace. This became the turning point of my life. I attended meditation sessions conducted by Zen master Sri Wasan. I glimpsed peace through a unique exercise in which we close our eyes and visualize snow falling on the Himalayas. Then the snow melts and becomes a stream, rapidly flowing downhill. It becomes a mighty river flowing through cities and jungles and merges with the sea. The sea evaporates into clouds, which sail in the sky and fall over the Himalayas as snow. This is visualized again and again. Visualization of water is very tranquillising. Then in the ecstasy of meditation, one realizes true self and finds inner peace and joy. Sri Wasan never quoted scriptures. He never talked about good or evil. My heart is filled with gratitude for him.

R.K.Puri, Chandigarh, India

THE POWER OF INTUITION

In 1985, as the headmistress of 600 primary school children, I noticed that a number of them could not copy notes from the blackboard correctly and fast enough. I studied their notebooks and in a flash knew that they had a specific learning disability.

I was slow to label this condition as a dysfunction, for fear of frightening the parents. But I found that my insights matched with the research findings of the British Dyslexia Association. I visited centers and clinics abroad and established links with them, to get up-dates. This cemented my decision to set up my own institute for child development. Among the programs we organized were teacher training, quiz contests and specialized programs for exceptionally gifted children.

I am happy that I had followed my intuition. Albert Einstein, a dyslexic himself, knew the power of the right brain, when he said: "The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it intuition or what you will, and the solution comes to you and you don't know how or why".

Loretta D'Silva, Mumbai, India