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Life Positive reports on the informative and rejuvenating activities of its three-day spiritual festival, which left the participants asking for more

There cannot be a better way of recommending yourself to others than by sharing a heartfelt message of praise, sent by a grateful well-wisher. Before I could even sit down to compile a report on the international spiritual festival that was held from 16 to 18 March 2018 at the beautifully verdant and scenic Zorba the Buddha in New Delhi, I received a long letter of appreciation from Tripta Dewan, one of the many participants at the festival. Since it is not possible to publish the entire letter over here, I am sharing the paraphrased version of it:

I do not have words to describe the amazing experience I had at the International Spiritual Festival organised by Life Positive. The happiness, the joy which embraced us for those three days has its lingering flavour even now! It was fascinating to see the skills and capabilities of our mentors and teachers and their keen desire to help us. On the first day, I had goosebumps when sister BK Shivani entered the hall to deliver her inaugural address. She emphasized on accepting people as they are and having the power to stand alone to make a change. The afternoon session was conducted by famous Past Life Regression Therapist Dr Trupti Jayin, who explained different types of karma and how they lead to delusion. We were made to go into our past lives and most of us had some experience to share!

On the second day, Dr Ajay Mishra who specialises in colour therapy, acupressure, and acupuncture shared the method of applying different colours on specific areas of the fingers whereby we can get rid of most of the diseases. Immediate relief was felt from pain in the neck, shoulder, knees, and head areas of the participants. It was truly amazing. The next session was taken by famous numerologist Dr Seema Midha, who talked about how changing the digits of our mobile numbers brings about changes in our lives.

'Spiritual Festival' was indeed an apt name for the event. Every session we attended had a spiritual message or undertone. In addition to these sessions taking us to a happy state, the ambience of Zorba just floored us along with the divine food served with so much love and care; besides being tasty it was so nutritive. This symphony was so beautifully orchestrated that I was in a bliss zone all the time. So, thank you, everyone.

Thank you, Tripta, for encouraging us to bring you the same treat next year too.

Here below is a report of the fascinating workshops that enthralled all and sundry at the event.

Day 1

Inaugural address by Sister Shivani

The festival took off to a flying start with the gentle Sister BK Shivani lighting the lamp and giving her profound inaugural address to eager listeners.

“The vibration of every mind creates the energy of the planet. I am impacting the vibration of this hall and, at the same time, getting influenced by its vibration,” she explained. Sister Shivani spoke at length about the consequences of vibrating at lower frequencies of emotions like anger, resentment, jealousy, fear, guilt, shame, and expectations. “Expecting people to be the way I want them to be, creates low vibrations,” she added. She further explained: when we think that whatever we do, we do it for the sake of our loved ones, we lower our vibration, as this thought operates from our ego self. And blaming someone else for causing us hurt further lowers our vibration.

“The simplest way to raise our vibration is to accept people as they are, with an understanding that whatever transpires between us and them was predestined at the soul level before we took birth. This acceptance provides us with protection for ourselves and compassion for them,” she said. Towards the end of her address, she concluded that since we are moving towards Satyuga, the era of the demigods, we should strive to live as givers (radiators of love) rather than seekers. For this to happen, we need to maintain our high vibration by safeguarding ourselves from impurity that reaches us via food, environment, and impure thoughts.

Past life regression by Dr Trupti Jayin

Renowned PLR therapist Dr Trupti Jayin’s half-day workshop was a fine balance of theoretical and practical information on the mystical topic of past life regression. She started the workshop with a little exercise that highlighted the role of our perceptions in our day-to-day dealing with the world around us. She instructed the participants to close their eyes and visualise that one person who never fails to irk them and imagine them as a small child. By the end of the exercise, most of us were able to transform the feeling of anger or despise towards that person after visualising them as a small babe. This small exercise set the tone for the next three hours of PLR workshop for the whole group. Defining the term karma, Dr Jayin explained how karma is segregated into four broad categories: prarabdh (matured), sanchita (stored), agami (forthcoming) and vartamana (present). Sanchita karma is an ocean of accumulated actions over many past lives. Prarabdh karma is like a bucket of that ocean water that our soul brings to the present lifetime,” she explained, adding that one has to learn to manage the fruits of prarabdh karma via vartamana karma so that one’s agami karma gets sorted. Dr Jayin conducted a regression exercise in the last session of the workshop. Andhra Pradesh based Sheeila Makkar shared her experience of the session in which she found herself as a happy, little girl of six or seven years, who died quite young. Sheeila suffers from endometriosis in her current life and was seeking to find the cause of this debilitating condition. Dr Jayin explained that the root cause of her problem, most probably, could be traced to the fact that her reproductive organs couldn’t even begin to function in the previous lifetime and, thus, were compensating for that lack by getting overly active.

Vibrational healing by Shruti Nada Poddar

“The universe is made up of vibrating atoms. Nada or vibration is in everything because everything is made up of atoms,” said Shruti Nada Poddar as she commenced her workshop on the first day of the expo. She further added how we all are vibrating beings in a universe that originated from sound.

Music is a universal language and much more than a series of notes and rhythm. It is a tool of Nada that heals the imbalanced harmony in one’s life. From her personal experience, Shruti stated that with the daily chanting of OM, one can revive one’s physical and emotional vigour. In the next session, Shruti introduced the concept of beej mantras or seed sounds.

A beej or seed is a reservoir of active information with all the potential of birthing a tree. Similarly, beej mantras are the shortest form of mantras that have the potential to heal all the koshas (sheaths) of a being. The beej mantras of five elements of nature, namely, ether, air, fire, water, and earth are ham, yam, ram, vam, and lam, respectively. The workshop ended on an invigorating note with Shruti’s impeccable chanting of the beej mantras which, for sure, would have permeated the core of each one present in the hall.

Improving the quality of life with Ayurveda by Dr Pratap Chauhan

We all know ayurveda as the ancient Indian system of medicine, which is based on nature and natural processes. But this class on ayurveda by Dr Pratap Chauhan was a major eye-opener.

He explained that ayurveda was an instruction manual for the human system which was linked with helping man attain his purpose in life, which was to do dharma, create wealth, enjoy life, and finally attain liberation.

According to ayurveda, as long as a person is rooted in his nature, he is healthy. Ayurveda classifies nature into three doshas, namely, vata, pitta, and kapha. The human body contains all the five elements such as earth, water, fire, air, and space. Those who have a predominance of earth and water have a kapha constitution, those with water and fire predominance, a pitta constitution, and those who have more of air and space elements, a vata constitution. Then he handed a checklist to everyone to help them discover their own dosha type. Once it was understood, he gave easy tips to find out which element in the body was out of alignment if a certain type of ailment was afflicting a person. The remedy would then simply introduce the counterbalancing element in the body. For example, itching would mean that the fire element was excessive in the body, indicating that one must avoid heaty foods and take cooling foods such as cucumber, melons, salads, and fruits to restore the balance. A severely ill patient who attended the workshop felt motivated enough to visit Dr Chauhan's clinic the next day and saw considerable improvement in his condition after treatment.

All the world’s a stage by Rashi Bunny

Rashi Bunny’s ‘All the world's a stage’ was an exploration of the mind, emotions, and spirit through body movement. Bunny, an Indian theatre and cinema actress, has worked with Living Theatre Academy under Ebrahim Alkazi, Indian theatre director and drama teacher and the director of the National School of Drama. The three-and-a-half-hour session combined theatre, art, meditation, and creative visualisation along with live music by the composer Ratnesh. The session gave the participants the opportunity to mime, act, and communicate through their bodies. The session was a reminder of how all of living is the acting out of roles. However, not all of us are completely present in our bodies and minds when we play these roles. Also, there is such a thing as not being true to our individual characters or not playing one’s role to the hilt. Something appears to hold us back as we attempt to be ourselves completely. The session had elements of choreographed body movements, which also allowed for personal variations. The live music that accompanied these exercises was stunningly beautiful. Bunny tried to combine a lot of themes in the short time. Overall, an uplifting physical, emotional, aesthetic, and musical experience.

Day 2

Shakti Pravaah by MaitriBodh Parivaar

The session conducted by the mitrs and maitreyis of Dadashreeji’s MaitriBodh Parivaar was one of the most sublime experiences of the entire festival. It started with an audio-visual clip on Dadashreeji, MaitriBodh Parivaar, and the organisation's various social initiatives. The facilitators, Maitreyi Sulata—a graceful and charming woman—and Mitr Sut or Dr Santosh Gupta, are amongst the first disciples of Dadashreeji. Supported by a group of all-white-clad MaitriBodh volunteers, both of them created a divine ambience, preparing the participants for the mystical process of shakti pravaah or energy flow. The first part of the session, facilitated by Maitreyi Sulata, revolved around going within and experiencing the Divine presence there. Next in line was a presentation by Mitr Sut, a consultant radiologist, on scientific proofs of changes that take place in various sections of the human brain when subjected to meditation.

Mitr Sut then guided the participants through a meditation, followed by the process of shakti pravaah. The whole group was taken into a trance-like state and was told to hold on to it. Then, in batches of four, the group was guided to four mitrs and maitreyis who are ordained by Dadashreeji to channel the divine energy in the form of shakti pravaah. At the end of the session, the hall radiated bliss, reflecting from all the satiated faces that were at peace with themselves.

Radiant health through healthy habits by Nandini Gulati

Nandini Gulati’s workshop on radiant health through healthy habits kept each participant hooked with interest. It started with a discussion on the actual meaning of terms like disease and health, and carried on to suggest habits to restore well-being. Quoting from Vedanta, Nandini explained that the word swaasthya (health) is made up of two words swa and asth, and it means ‘to be centred in one’s self’. The route to well-being originates from the combination of Vedantic knowledge and following one’s intuition.

“Our focus should be on raising the standard of our health, not on eliminating the disease,” she remarked, while explaining the tenets of nature cure/natural living that she personally follows and propagates. Nandini explained how our inner world and outer world are made up of the same five elements of nature. She also expanded on the ways to utilise these elements to catalyse healing in our body, mind, and spirit. Some of the habits worth inculcating are: conquering hunger by fasting (she touched upon various forms of fasting), letting our physical body as well as our surroundings breathe, exposing ourselves to the sunlight of the rising sun, and aligning our sleep and wake cycle to it; drinking water when the body needs it, eating plant-sourced, whole, fresh, organic, seasonal, and local food.

Numerology by Seema Midha

Seema Midha opened her session by asking an elderly gentleman his date of birth and went ahead to explain his character, destiny, relationships, and financial health. "There is nothing about you that I do not know now," she smiled. I urged her to share something scandalous about the gentleman with the rest of us but she just laughed with the others and dismissed the suggestion. This was the most involved session that I attended at the Life Positive Expo this year. This had to do with the fact that Midha shared tools that allowed the participants to make their own calculations about money, destiny, relationships, and fate.

Numerology explains which numbers rule our character and destiny. When some important numbers that impact our lives are missing, the remedial action is to introduce those numbers into our lives. The new numbers could be mobile numbers, house or office numbers, or even vehicle numbers. Similarly, when there is an excess of certain numbers that also pose certain problems, remedial action can be taken to shed those numbers by affecting certain changes.

The session was over too soon for the participants, leaving them asking for more.

Colour Therapy by Ajay Mishra

Ajay Mishra's colour therapy session with sketch pens stretched credulity. Mishra's system combines the insights of traditional Chinese healing with ayurveda to heal diseases. Based on the understanding that colours emit light that punctures the skin and directly affects the acupoints (acupressure or acupuncture points on hands or the body) and makes healing possible, Mishra gave a live demonstration of how colours of varying frequencies, when applied to specific points on the hands, make healing possible.

The proof of the pudding—the eating—came during the session. There were participants with chronic shoulder pain, knee aches, and other kinds of pain who experienced freedom from pain in a few seconds after colours were applied to their hands.

Most of these participants walked away amazed at the results of doing something as simple as drawing splotches of colour on their hands.

Amazingly, everybody experienced relief (in varying degrees) in a few seconds.

You, dear reader, should have been there.

Next time.

Pyramid meditation by Dhara Bhatt

Dhara Bhatt started the workshop by enlightening the participants about her father Jiten Bhatt’s passion to experiment with pyramids. Once he created an open pyramid and kept it on his terrace. As a child, Dhara used to love spending time under it. Unwittingly, she started developing psychic abilities like seeing auras, spirits, and angels. Her grasping power and memory too began to amp up, resulting in better performance at school and college.

In a way, what ordinary meditation takes longer to achieve can be materialised much faster through pyramid meditation. She revealed that the pyramids of Egypt were basically meditation chambers of the kings who used to harness Divine energy for ensuring greater prosperity of their kingdom. Over the years, their real significance was lost and now they are nothing more than a tourist attraction. Dhara led the participants through pyramid meditation by asking them to place a paper pyramid on their heads while doing guided meditation. She shared the benefits of using pyramids to charge water, food, and achieving desirous results in life. Participants were given CDs, books, and manuals to optimise their life with the use of pyramid energy.

Rising in love by Jacqueline Maria Longstaff

“To be in a conscious relationship is the way of awakening,” said Jacqueline Maria Longstaff in her workshop on relationships. Emphasising on self-love, she further added, “Work on your own shadow aspects. If you deal with the deeper notions of your self, you will be able to settle more into ‘you’ and deal with your shadow-self compassionately.”

Loving someone means holding their heart. So even if we hurt that person, we should be courageous enough to deal with that hurt honestly. This can be effectively implemented by a simple technique of ‘witnessing’; that is, taking a step back and observing the whole scenario as a third person. This allows us to objectively witness a situation without having to bother about the noisy background that has its source in our ego-self. Differentiating between love and sentiments, Jacqueline outlined that love is an outward moving force with its origin in our hearts, whereas sentiments are all about thoughts, dealings, and expectations.

She concluded the workshop with a rebirthing session to facilitate the process of letting go and bringing awareness to one’s closest relationship that challenges one to shift from ‘relationshit’ to relationship.

Cultural program: Kundalini Sadhana by Ashwin Bharti

The second day of the expo had an interesting evening program conducted by Ashwin Bharti, Director, Zorba the Buddha. He held a special session on Kundalini Sadhana that started with moving and shaking the lower limbs of the body to release stress and activate the life energy within them. The session segued into a laughter conclave in no time! As Ashwin puts it across, laughter triggers the latent energy of the body in motion so that it invigorates the entire spectrum of body, mind, and spirit. Sequentially, the Sadhana merged into a 15-minute meditation, with some melodious music in the background. The evening ended with everyone lying down in Shavasana (corpse pose), allowing their consciousness to come to the fore and letting the negativity within go up in smoke.

Day 3

Transgenerational healing by Anuradha Ramesh

Anuradha Ramesh’s one-day workshop on transgenerational healing held a sense of intrigue of ‘what happens next?’ till the last session of the day. The undercurrent of the whole workshop, in Anuradha’s words, was the statement, “Victimhood is the biggest lie and the easiest disillusion designed by human beings.” Working from this premise, Anuradha explained how all that we receive in our lives is the manifestation of our own vibrations radiating in the cosmos. These vibrations are nothing but our accumulated ideas, emotions, and actions. “Everything that happens in this world—good or bad—has the approval of that Supreme Consciousness which operates this Universe,” remarked Anuradha, adding that any kind of unresolved business results as a karmic residue beyond the lifetime of one’s physical body. Transgenerational healing covers the entire ambit of addressing the unaddressed issues spanning over generations. The biggest takeaway of the workshop was the knowledge that ancestral karmic baggage is a thing that needs to be addressed on a regular basis, and for this, one needs to develop a personal spiritual practice, be it yoga, meditation, or any other modality. “We have to manage our emotional response so as not to hand over our unresolved baggage to our children, and to further our spiritual evolution,” she concluded.

Forgiveness: Path to freedom by G L Sampoorna

“Forgiveness is a pathway that clears all the blockages and protects us from getting hurt,” said facilitator G L Sampoorna in her full-day workshop on forgiveness.

Many a time, people are disillusioned with the authenticity of the statement ‘forgive and forget.’ Denying this, Sampoorna illustrated that suppression of any mishap leads to pseudo forgiveness. Hence, in order to genuinely forgive, it is mandatory to face the situation and go through all the accompanying emotions.

The delegates were introduced to Ho’oponopono, a profound Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and forgiveness which includes four steps—repentance, seeking forgiveness, gratitude, and love. The workshop concluded with a cord-cutting process to ensure that no residual emotional charge remains stuck with the participants. Cord-cutting also ensures that one breaks free from the chain of emotional reactions and starts operating from the empowered state of self-love.

Vastu Shastra by Manoj Juyal

The fact that Manoj Juyal is a raconteur who has lived a rather interesting life, helped. In a free-wheeling session that spanned Vedic astrology, Puranic wisdom, yoga, and different healing sciences, Juyal left his listeners with a list of clear to-do's along with a glimpse of the vast body of knowledge about vastu shastra. Juyal is a teacher of vastu and some of his young students were often included in the presentation to illustrate his points.

Juyal emphasised the scientific basis of vastu, which had taken on a covering of superstition with the passage of time. He explained why certain rooms required for rest were built in a direction that received little sun so that the darkness facilitated rest. The reasons for the directions were often lost on people but, nevertheless, are valid enough to follow the rules of vastu. Even these deeper reasons could be understood if one made a diligent study of the Vastu Shastras.

Juyal shared his own journey with the participants. He had been a young interior designer in a new partnership with another young friend from his interior design institute, when his dreams took a rude shock. Their clients (the few that they had) told them that the changes they had suggested would not do as they were not vastu-compliant. It riled the youngsters who wanted to rough up the pandit who had offered the unwelcome (from young Juyal's) point of view.

Of course, now with his years of study and spiritual practice, he knows better.

The participants kept Juyal engaged for about 45 minutes after the session closed. Some of them were with him even as lunch was served at the green lawn fringed by fish ponds with ducks.

A good invigorating session that left one with the desire to learn more. 210 minutes of insightful learning.

Organic Kitchen Gardening by Shammi Nanda

Shammi Nanda is a man of many parts. An FTII alumnus, he travels widely to spread awareness on non-violent communication, organic farming, and unschooling.

Nanda's workshop was a brief introduction to organic urban farming as a means of reestablishing one's connection with the earth, conscious eating, and also growing one's own food. Nanda bases his practice in organic farming on the principles propounded by Masanobu Fukuoka, the author of The One-Straw Revolution, and the originator of natural or 'do-nothing' farming.

His workshop at the Life Positive Exposition focused on Organic Kitchen Gardening and dealt with the most fundamental human act—that of eating. His sharing opened up the mind on subjects like eating, growing, and improvement of food quality.

The beauty of the workshop was that he showed how each one of us can participate in this process and be the change. He shared useful tips on composting waste and using the manure to reap a rich harvest of fruits and vegetables on your balcony.
 

Disease is impossible by N K Sharma

Very few people are able to leave such a strong imprint on others. Dr N K Sharma and his wife Savita Sharma are one such power-couple. Their conviction in their positive beliefs and practices is boundless.

He said that not obeying the laws of nature and eating foods not meant for us was the root cause of diseases, adding that neither he nor his family members have ever fallen sick in the past 40 years, simply by practising right living. He advised people to minimise cereals, milk, and wrong food combinations, and sustain themselves on fruits, juices, nuts, and seeds since they can easily be digested by our body without undergoing cooking and heating. He also asked people to embrace meditation, cultivate positive thoughts, and stay away from five poisons that contribute to an unhealthy body: image consciousness, non-acceptance of others, having ideological scales to judge others, too many expectations, and eating without hunger. He emphasised that feeding babies raw foods and cereals when their milk teeth have not yet appeared, was the root cause of their crying and stomach problems in their infancy. Mothers milk is more than enough for babies until they have grown teeth. The participants felt so upbeat on listening to him that they were unable to contain their joy. Said Heidi Gass from the USA, “I love India because nowhere else do you get to hear such life-changing positive things. I have no words to express myself.”
 

Exhibition

The exhibition area was inaugurated by Sister Shivani on the first day of the expo. Abuzz with an enthusiasm that was a clear departure from the usual tranquil ambience of Zorba the Buddha, the circular canopied area hosted numerous stalls offering spiritual literature and holistic wellness products.

Dr Anuradha Iyer’s Krishnapriya stall had on display beautiful sketches of Indian deities, along with her latest book, Krishnapriya. The book chronicles her spiritual journey which has Bhagavad Gita as its cornerstone. Chananda Cultural Society, a non-government organisation founded in India, had put up an array of its published books on healing. With the purpose of spreading unique, partial, spiritual teachings of East and West alike, the organisation mainly strives to impart practical knowledge on healing and opening the chakras with the help of 'violet flame.' Health Horizon, a food manufacturing company, had an incredible product— hemp—on offer. An ingredient used in traditional cuisines of indigenous communities of northern India, hemp had gradually lost its space in those kitchens. The company’s products include sativa nubs, sativa oil, and sativa protein products that come with essential proteins and fatty acids packed in a perfect ratio. Portal of Thrive Art and Soul, India’s one and only state-to-state digital portal, had put on display a verified network of seekers, healers, and explorers. The organisation also hosts an impressive roster of wellness workshops and spiritual events globally. MCKS Yoga Vidya Pranic Healing Trust, New Delhi, offered a sample session of chakra cleansing and energising to visitors. It strives to empower one with pranic healing techniques to overcome different challenges in life, related to health, relationships, career, prosperity, and spirituality. Krishna Bhumi, one of the residential development projects from the stable of the Infinity Group, disseminated information regarding their spiritual residential project that offers perfect living conditions with optimum natural light, ventilation, and privacy, coupled with fresh and green surroundings, in Vrindavan. The exhibition area also had stalls of our sponsors: Star Health Insurance and Heritage, along with a Life Positive bookstall.

Illuminating workshops, a bucolic locale, cosy cottages, and retail therapy for the soul—the latest Life Positive Expo had it all