A meeting of minds
October 2017
By Shivi Verma and B Senthil Nathan
The third Life Positive Expo held in Coimbatore this year was a healthy mix of learning, healing and growing, say Shivi Verma and B Senthil Nathan Even though I am used to attending Life Positive expos, the third consecutive expo held in Coimbatore this year was special for me. It was my first expo as the editor of Life Positive. For the first time I was supposed to play a role which was so far being performed to the hilt by former editor-in-chief Suma Varughese. I was apprehensive, because readers are used to seeing her as the face of the magazine at the expos. Secondly, certain changes within the organisation too had made things a little challenging. Our events manager had resigned in the middle and it took us time to get hold of things and get them flowing. A few other able helping hands on whom I was counting, too couldn’t make it to the event. Our team was getting smaller. But a tiny voice within me was saying, “Shivi you can pull it off. Don’t worry.” Three of us, director Mr V Venkat, I, and manager circulation, Dharamveer Singh, flew down to Coimbatore a day before the event and got down to work. Several loopholes were plugged and by the next day we were ready to receive our guests. Thankfully a dear friend of Suma Varughese, Mr B Senthil Nathan, had agreed to come from Bangalore and extend his kind support to us. I will forever be grateful to him for his magnanimity. Cultured and articulate, he played the role of emcee to perfection and hosted the event wonderfully well. A strange calmness entered me and I sailed through the two days smoothly. The arrival of Mr D R Kaarthikeyan, President, Life Positive, was another shot in the arm which lifted our spirits. The most redeeming part of the expo for me was when at the end one of the participants got up and said on the mic. “Initially I was doubtful of Shivi Verma’s ability to host the event, but after seeing her in action, I am confident that she will don the mantle of LP’s editorship very well.” But the real heroes of the event were the wonderful facilitators. Mr Ketan Shah, Dr Ameeta Sanghvi Shah, Yuvraaj Kapadia, and Dr B K Chandrashekhar who were gracious as ever and gave their best performances before an eager audience. A report: Acupressure by Ketan Shah Ketan Shah began the workshop by asking the participants about the ailments they suffered from. Some said thyroid, some joint pain, others blood pressure, diabetes or insomnia. I was the only one who proudly proclaimed that I did not have any physical problems. Intrigued Mr Shah came forward and began to press my fingers and certain spots on my palm. Soon I let out a painful scream. “Madam, check your cholesterol, it may be above 70," he said knowingly. After he pressed a few more points it was discovered that my solar plexus and spleen were imbalanced, and if I didn’t do something fast I might come down with problems like joint pain, backaches or high blood pressure. My alarm bells began ringing. Shah then revealed all the pressure points on the hands, palms, feet, sole and ear lobes that correspond with different internal organs, and taught us how to press them to open blocked meridians, which supply prana and oxygen to them. Not only did he teach how to locate and press various points for better health, he even shared eye-opening details about the wonders of common fruits and foods that we mostly ignore. He shared that scientist in the West had discovered that Nitric Oxide (NO) had the power to eradicate all the illnesses within a person, but this discovery was not being promoted by vested interests in the pharmaceutical industry. But what we didn’t know that beetroot had NO in abundance and drinking its juice in the morning could help us expedite our recovery. Similarly, french beans when chewed raw could cure diabetes. These and many such wonderful insights were generously shared by Shah who was the epitome of simplicity, candidness, knowledge, depth and lightheartedness. Past Life Regression by Dr Yuvraj Kapadia Humble, well read and logical in his thoughts; Yuvraj Kapadia has the knack of communicating with the audience in a way that holds them spellbound. His elucidation of the workings of the mind and the intellect contributed to our understanding of this nebulous concept. Very simply and practically he taught people how to meditate, and to get into a trance. His insights on the working of the mind and the intellect were so powerful that participants were filled with a sense of wonder. He reduced a complex subject into simple laymen understanding. By the end of the workshop quite a few of the participants were able to regress into some of their past lives. The participants were a mix of not only the elderly people but also physicians, practitioners of alternative medicine and even a scientist from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He answered every one of the queries raised, in a lucid and simple manner and left us captivated and most importantly enriched. A young man A Sarvanan wanted to find the purpose of his life on earth. As he regressed as guided by Mr Yuvraj Kapadia, he saw himself as a wise old man in the land of Arabia in his previous birth. He found himself surrounded by people who looked up to him for guidance and advice. He then saw himself on his deathbed, with his near ones around him. He found that he was leaving the world peacefully and without any regrets. The he saw himself in interlife expressing the desire to help and heal the world. When Yuvraj asked him about his current life calling Sarvanan accepted that he was a holistic healer by profession. Dr Yuvraj's technique was immediately validated. NLP by Ameeta Sanghvi Shah Neuro Linguistic programming by Ameeta Shah was a refreshing breeze of change for people struggling with low-self esteem and emotional blocks. Ameeta, with her sunshine personality and dazzling smile, immediately put the participants at ease as she began to discuss the feelings which determine the shape and form of our life. Ameeta began with the controversial word, 'power'. Often seeing the misuse of power by powerful people, ordinary people begin to think that they are better off without it. But in reality, power is a useful thing because it helps us take charge of our life and mould it the way we want. Throwing further light on the concept, she said that positive power was linked to will-power, confidence, attitude, creation, coping with bad situation, and influencing others. And lack of power resulted in the feelings of anger, jealousy, or self-loathing. The birthplace of all violence was helplessness. “Affirm to yourself every morning, 'I am a positive powerful, energetic being'," she said. Explaining further, she said that power is sourced in energy and and the origin of universe lies in an energy called scalar energy. It is a zero point energy which existed before the world began, and which has force but no direction. It gets its direction by intention, thought and emotion. The more we are able to process our negative emotions, the more we are able to touch base with scalar energy that exists in our centre and create anything. The misuse of this power causes us to lose it, and its good use, increases its presence in our life. She taught several affirmations and switch words that had the power to realign people with Source and reconnect them with scalar field. Then she asked us to remember a very happy moment of our life. As we did so, she took us through a deep meditation. In that state, she asked us to change one thing in our lives, give the command and then come out of it. Most participants were lost deeply into it for a prolonged period of time. As the workshop ended, the participants had learnt the secret affirmations of being in a positive frame of mind. Such as 'today is the best day of my life and I will make it happen', 'there are no solutions but I can make it better', and many more. Mind and health management by Dr B K Chandrashekhar Dr Chandrashekhar has the rare experience of having communed with the maker, while experiencing near death resulting from cancer. His experience gave him the strength to recover and today he practises his own form of health and wellness called Psycho Neurobics – a science which he has perfected. He explained in simple terms and demonstrated practically the ways in which the various chakras in the human body function and how they impact our wellbeing. The practical demonstrations underscored the vital role of chakras in maintaining our inner wellbeing and how we can manage our inner self well. He taught meditations he had learnt from the Divine which involved visualising different colours entering your body through your crown chakra to heal specific organs and mind conditions. He also taught how to charge water and food to detoxify them and re-energise them with cosmic power. But the most mind-blowing part was the way he demonstrated his memory by memorising and then rattling off a long list of phone numbers written randomly and imediately on the screen towards which his back was. He said that anybody who practised his techniques could achieve a similar feat. Certainly a good news for students who participated in his workshops. The expo ended on an upbeat note. Happy participants offered their valuable suggestion to the organisers, and heartily took part in the closing ceremony. Pictures were clicked, hugs exchanged, friendships were forged and we at Life Positive felt elated to see the happy smiles on the faces of one and all. Thank you Coimbatore!