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• Personal Growth

January 2016

By Shivi Verma and Punya Srivastava

The fourth Life Positive Expo in Mumbai was a heady mix of learning, healing, growing, fun and laughter, say Shivi Verma and Punya Srivastava

Come November and the Life Positive Expo hoves into view in Mumbai, bringing with it a promise of joy, fun and quantum growth. This year, the Expo took place on November 28 and 29 at the World Trade Centre, Cuffe Parade. An apt time for Mumbaikers wanting to enter the New Year on a note of positivity and buoyancy of spirit. There were workshops, a discourse, body-mind products and services and a mini theatre workshop to heal and energise. As always, the Expo delivered on its promise to introduce seekers to a bouquet of new tools and techniques from the holistic world.

Day 1

Cure Chronic ailments naturally by Darryl D’Souza

The slender and popular Darryl D’Souza, who has himself healed from a host of ailments through the methods he advocates today, introduced long-term sufferers of lifestyle diseases to the possibility of a cure.

Darryl said that modern medicine did not fully understand the human body. Else it would not create inorganic remedies for an organic system. Modern medicines have no concept of subtle or energy bodies within the physical body of a person. Citing his own example, Darryl said that for 14 years he suffered from one chronic problem after another, but no medicine could cure him. The suffering became so acute that he decided to commit suicide. It was then that he was introduced to Dr Ashwin Dalal, an acupressure expert. With his help, Darryl bounced back to health and happiness. He realised that to maintain his health he needed to ingest healthy food. He began to study food and came to a few conclusions. He found that fruits and vegetables were natural foods for human beings and easily absorbed and digested by the body. Grains, dairy, fish and meat had to be processed to become edible. He concluded that the first step to regain health is to avoid wrong foods, which include milk, sugar, refined oils, and table salt. The only oils he advocated were coconut oil and rice bran oil.  And in salts, rock salt.  An integrated therapy, according to him, included a healthy diet, healthy habits, body detoxification, acupressure, yoga, counselling and energy work.

He asked delegates to include more alkaline foods in their diet, since cells, which are acidic in nature, must exist in a slightly alkaline environment. He then gave an exhaustive list of alkaline foods including spinach, cucumber, and capsicum. After that he created a diet plan for people to follow if they wanted to heal through natural foods.

Navel activation through sound and frequencies by Rivesh Vade

“Ninety per cent of people living in the metros are neurotics,” claimed Rivesh Vade, in his workshop on navel activation through sound and frequencies.

And rightly so. Turn around and we see people focussing on their mind, trying tools and techniques to empower their ‘minds’, and doing everything in their power to enhance their ‘mind power’. This obsession with the mind to enhance the quality of life, according to Rivesh, has superseded all other important aspects of human experience. Human beings are blessed with three energy centres that work in tandem. These are; a mind that thinks, a heart that feels, and a navel that senses. However, so much energy is being focused on the mind alone that we are losing touch with the other two energy centers. “The more you use your mind, the more disconnected you get with your heart and navel,” said he.  “The one who is centred at the navel is sthitpragya or aware in the present moment. When we connect with the navel, we connect with consciousness – with the Universe.”

Rivesh facilitated this experience with the help of singing bowls and gongs that produced various sound frequencies. “Every organ has its own sound frequency. When these sound frequencies go out of order, our bodies get dis-eased,” he said. According to him, one could  clear the blockages created by childhood conditioning, as well as those embedded in the DNA, by altering its structure using harmonic sounds.

The participants meditated upon sound frequency 414 hz to release energy blockages in their bodies. Rivesh also performed navel activation of each participant by placing vibrating bowls on each navel.

“I was pleasantly surprised seeing the effect of sounds on my physiology. I felt it was genuine and effective enough for me to buy his set of CDs and I have been using them since. As for major changes, I probably would still have to wait and watch,” said Mumbai-based Dr Uma Ladiwala, one of the participants.

Inaugural address by Jaya Row

Jaya Row shone with brilliance and captivated the audience with her sparkling discourse on the lessons of living. She emerged with six principles for good living: using the intellect, contentment, gratitude, excellence, oneness, and witness consciousness. She stressed the vital importance of consulting the intellect in taking decisions. “All of us have an intellect which must be consulted. And if we do not have it we must consult someone wiser”.

Elaborating on contentment, she said that a person who is free of wants is supremely content. Be content with where you are and whatever you have. Contentment does not mean being lazy and unproductive which is a sign of tamas. A satvic person is dynamic, vibrant, creative yet content with life.

She urged people to be thankful. “There is always something to be thankful about,” she stressed. “Be thankful that you have free oxygen, roads to walk on, a liver and spleen. Like this the attitude shifts from profiteering to serving and happiness begins to flow freely in life. Emphasising the importance of working, she said that Vedanta is not meant for failures. Worship your work and power it by right motivation which is working selflessly and with detachment. Know that you can do precious little to change the world, but still give your best, selflessly and without attachments. Fix your attention on something higher to transcend desire. Get inspired with something higher.  Believe in the oneness of humanity and All that Is. Today, every family has discord. No two brothers are getting along, but earlier, generations of employees worked with generations of employers. All the ladies of the house would get together to make papads and pickles and drudgery used to get converted into revelry. When people got together even the most difficult tasks would get done. And finally she asked the audience to cultivate sakshi bhaava, or witness consciousness. “The world is an illusionary projection. Do not take it so seriously. Witness the events of your life like a distant observer. Do not get too embroiled in its ups and downs,” she exhorted, leaving the audience greatly inspired.

Day 2

Theta healing by Renu Agrawal

Neat, composed and confident, Renu Agarwal, the master Theta healer, started the workshop by asking delegates if they were happy. People gave several replies. She said that the first answer was of the subconscious, the second of the conscious and the third of the  heart. She asked people to lead a life of choices instead of compulsion. “Instead of leaving the bed unwillingly every morning, choose to get up joyously. Make a choice of everything you do. Create a stress-free environment wherever you are. Develop a bond with God. Share your anger and negative emotions with Him,” she advised. Moving onto Theta healing, she said that Theta healing is a meditational technique that creates physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual healing through focussed thought and prayer to the creator. In Theta healing focussed thought is achieved by slowing our brain waves to 4-7 cycles per minute. Through illustrations Renu showed that our cells had the same composition as the universe and we could access the highest plane of oneness by doing guided prayers. She asked the participants to conjure up a miniature image of themselves which is lodged in their heart chakra, and then go down through the chakras into the core of the earth. There she asked them to englobe themselves in a ball of light and then travel back via the chakras into outer space, leaving the planet behind, and then after crossing several planes, enter the pearly white domain of the Absolute. There she instructed the participants to shed their covering and merge with the white light. In this state whatever we asked for is granted unequivocally by the Divine. She taught how to send love and light in this state to our homes, family members, baby in the womb, workplace.

The experience was so powerful that many participants lost the chain of Renu’s instructions and were steeped in the bliss of merging with the Divine. Some of them were found sobbing. Said Renu Arora, “I feel I can heal most of my issues through this powerful technique.”

Total wellness through acupressure by Ketan Shah

Ketan Shah’s workshop, as always, was a perfect mix of knowledge, practical exercises, interactive interface and handy tips. Talking about body-mind-emotion wellness through applied acupressure, Dr Shah held a perfect space for an interactive and beneficial session. The best part of his workshop were the plethora of seemingly small but extremely valuable tips that he doled out from time to time.

He started with explaining the body-mind-emotion connection, and how applying pressure on the corresponding points can significantly change the body-mind complex. Thanks to his decade-long deep research in this sphere, Dr Shah expounded in detail the role of each organ in our emotional wellness, especially liver and gall bladder. “People with weak livers generally suffer from migraine, are unable to sleep well between 1:00 am and 3:00 am, and have a hard time in turning their promises into actions,” he said. Along with pressure points, Dr Shah suggested swallowing 8 – 10 grains of raw rice with water on an empty stomach, to reduce acidity caused by a dysfunctional liver. Similarly, he shared two ways of detoxifying the body – either by drinking a concoction of black tea (boiling a teaspoon of tea leaves in one cup of water, reducing it to half a cup, adding half cup of normal water to it) daily on an empty stomach; or, by oil pulling with either sesame oil or any other non refined cooking oil except olive oil.

Further into the workshop, he listed five parameters of measuring sound health – correct way of breathing, drinking at least 30ml water per kg weight, eating the right food according to your dosha at a set time, sleeping adequately within a set routine, and healing through acupressure. Quick on his feet, he gave precise answers to innumerable questions bursting forth from the audience.

Mr Pradip Butale, an elderly participant from Pune, with Parkinson, saw a tremendous improvement in his condition by the end of the day. At the start of the workshop, his jerks were quite obvious but subsided and smoothened, as Dr Shah administered his healing touch on his pressure points several times throughout the day.

All the world is a stage by Rashi Bunny

“Make them laugh, make them cry, and back to laughter. What do people go to the theatre for? An emotional exercise. I am a servant of the people. I have never forgotten that,”  said Canadian-American artist Mary Pickford. And this is exactly what Rashi Bunny, the exuberant theatre artist  from Mumbai, does every time she holds fort.

Breaking inhibitions of the participants, relaxing them through laughter, making them embrace their uniqueness – Rashi did all this in a mere 90 minutes. Her workshop started with participants pacing the hall in reflective steps and owning the space. Next, everyone formed a circle and celebrated every participant’s presence by repeating their names and imitating their gesture. The workshop then proceeded with participants moving in a circle while following her commands – which ranged from clapping to a boisterous ‘ha ha ha’, from hand gestures to kicking in the air. People cackled with laughter like little kids during this exercise, but there was more fun to follow. Facing each other, participants were divided into pairs and each pair then conveyed different emotions to each other  through gibberish. What a sight it was to witness a plethora of laughter ringing in the hall – from unabated laughter to streaming eyes, from bashful smiles to rib-tickling laughter! The workshop also had a mirror exercise where pairs took turns to become each other’s mirrors, assisting each other in forgiving and moving on. The exercise then subtly merged into a meditative one, pushing the participants deeper within and embracing and accepting oneself with love and forgiveness. Participants were left wanting more in this thoroughfare of enjoyment.

“I truly enjoyed the workshop and felt the experience to be highly valuable.  It struck a superb balance between self-exploration and creative expression. Rashi did a great job of engaging the participants and encouraging us to dig into the cryptic truths of our own self and life.  I also hope to be a part of more such creative workshops by LP in the future,” observed Arti S, a photo and travel blogger from Mumbai.

Exhibition

The open-to-all exhibition area, hosting a multitude of stalls on healing modalities, drew curious crowds on both the days. The brightly decorated stalls suffused the gigantic hall with a mellow warmth as eager stall-holders enticed people with lucrative offers for healing and rejuvenation.

Shilpa Oza offered a vivid platter of healing services ranging from reiki to numerology, tarot reading to vastu consultancy, at her stall titled Spiritual Shilpa.

Shreshtha Jayakar from Metaphor Soul Shoppe offered interesting products such as cushions, mats, balms, gel, scrubs and soaps made with pure refined ingredients and infused with energised crystals.

Dr Ambarish Healing Centre had on offer various alternative therapies like acupuncture, reiki, Chinese cupping therapy and Moxa therapy. According to Dr Ambarish, the purpose of moxa treatment is to stimulate circulation through the points and encourage a better flow qi, or energy, through the body’s meridians, by combatting cold and dampness.

Bangalore-based Dr Zane Cuxton’s Face Reading Foundation offered extensive reading sessions. He explained how different parts of the face reveal the status of one’s health, and also correlate with different organs of the body and their health.

Delhi-based healer KripaJyoti offered her services on reiki, theta healing, and past-life regression through her stall, Cosmicx Healing Art. She also held tarot reading sessions for the visitors, enabling them a sneak peek into what was in store for them. Angels and Tarot by Anisha also offered tarot readings.

Akashic Records Reader Rani M had a stall in the exhibition through which she offered readings to the visitors. “Akashic record reading is the umbrella under which predictive sciences like nadi shastra, past-life regressions, and tarot work. If you get your Akashic records reading done, you wouldn’t need the help of any other modality. These records are the road map that your soul drew before taking birth in this realm,” she explained.

Celebrated healer Pervez Daruwala also held a stall on Akashic Records reading along with offering sessions on Access bars. According to him, Akashic Records are the non-physical, vibrational ‘hidden library’ that exists in the cosmos. It is like an  advanced universal web where any information can be accessed about anything, at any time by an authorised person only. Rani M and Pervez Daruwala are currently the only authorised people in Mumbai to do these readings.

Rita Jain and Kalyan Jain are licensed Heal Your Life® Workshop leaders and licensed Heal Your Life® teachers trained under G L Sampoorna who offered their services as life coaches through their stall. The duo doled out inviting discounts and goody bags for eager visitors.

Sound and Vibronics healer and therapist, Rivesh Vade, also had a stall in the exhibition offering his sets of Power Brain CDs – a result of painstaking and profound research in the sphere of sound healing. After his workshop on the first day of the expo, these CDs sold like hot cakes, indicating people’s interest and inclination for this therapy.

Anil Tiwari of NIMBA – Nature Cure Village also held a stall offering information about his Mehsana (Gujarat) based center. Along with that, the stall also had on offer nature-based wellness products that come handy while following naturopathy.

Silva India disseminated information on the Silva Healing Method practised and propounded by Dr Bimol Rakshit in India.

Astroved.com offered services like astrology and nadi readings, and Vishnu Maya readings. They also offered solutions for a number of life-related problems, pertaining to health, career, family and relationships. Swarna Shree Yantra stall by Anurag Kumar offered meticulously manufactured Shree Yantras that promise to manifest abundance to the holder, thanks to their precision.

Arya Holistic Services touched the hearts of many visitors. Manned by a team of visually challenged persons, the stall offered various wellness products ranging from wheatgrass products to acupressure mats and slippers.

Star Health, our diligent sponsors, offered premium health policies and a range of other policies to suit different needs and pockets at their stall. Star
Health is the only agency that offers policies to senior citizens.

Team Life Positive: Three cheers for a good job done