wellness – Piyush Sharma

International Yoga Day 2016: YogaUtsav@Yeldur, Karnataka – A Real ‘Ananda’ Experience

Firstly, thank you for being patient all this while and trust me, you won’t be disappointed when you will read the upcoming posts on my blog. I have been busy lately in researching and practically experimenting with a lot of techniques that can be used for personal energy management and change management. More to follow but for now all I have to say is that “you control your state of mind”.

As you might have guessed from the title, this blog post is about my experiences from an event that I attended on 21st June, International Yoga day 2016 – by YogaUtsav team, in association with Village Kids India Trust and National High School at Yeldur Village, Karnataka. Kudos to YogaUtsav team and Village Kids India trust volunteers for organizing such a well intentional and soulful event. Everyone involved in the event – teaching staff at school, guest of honor, volunteers and most importantly the participating school kids; each of them were inspirational and beaming with positivity. I feel truly blessed to be a part of such a wonderful experience.

When I initially looked at the event schedule, I thought it will be a good Karnataka village experience and a break from work routine. Only if I knew then that by the end of the event and day in that village, I will be so much more recharged and will have so many beautiful memories to share.
At 5am, serenity in the village was like nature doing meditation and that fresh air…I can still smell and feel in my nostrils…what a start to a lovely day, sheer bliss! I was literally feeling as if I have been “plugged –in” to a source of abundant positive energy.

Village scene in the morning – residents chit-chatting, some playing badminton, some on a morning walk and others getting ready for their work. Not much different from our city routine but oh wait, I realized the difference within few minutes; first – no one seemed to be in a hurry, second – they were not busy looking at their smartphones and third and most important for us Bangaloreans – No Traffic!!! 🙂

I can go on writing about every minute I spent there but sharing some “fire-fly moments” that will remain forever with me:

Kids making mistakes just to make sure that I go to them and correct their yoga postures. Those naughty smiles were so infectious!
Kids who knew they had pretty perfect postures, also calling me just to check if they were doing fine. Their sense of pride was so innocent!
Ladies of our group clicked selfies with a young boy; seeing his embarrassment was so endearing!
A young boy celebrated his birthday with us and when we sang “happy birthday”, his happiness was so sincere!
Encouragement, support and respect that we received from the guests and the school staff was so motivating!
Kids surrounding our team after the event which made us feel like a celebrity. It was indeed overwhelming for me!
A young boy holding my hand when we were leaving after the event and asking me if I had lunch, that sparkle in his eyes was so honest!
Love and affection from the family who made lip-smacking lunch for us and then served it with even more generosity. It was truly so humbling!

It was a gentle reminder that happiness is all around us, all we need to do is open-up and embrace these beautiful moments. Happiness is in the moment!

Stay happy and stay blessed!

~ Piyush

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How do we recharge ourselves?

Actual question in my mind was – are we recharged enough? But when I started thinking on that I realized that if I know how we recharge ourselves, I will have the answer to the main question – if it’s enough or not!

So, I reframed the question to – how do we recharge ourselves?

Now some of the obvious recharging options, which I call “direct plug into power socket” type recharge, are:

Good night sleep
Morning walk or exercise
Healthy meals
Good work environment
Having a hobby or ‘me’ time
Time out with loved ones
Any celebration or festival
Breaks or vacation
Prayer or meditation

This list depends on individual’s choice, routine and circumstances. Important thing to notice here is that most of these need some bit of planning or effort from our side. And to make that effort itself, we need some initial charge to provide motivation.

So, in this post I will discuss such options of recharge, which can keep our battery at a ‘motivated’ level. I call them “fire-fly moments” type recharge options. Just remember this analogy of a person collecting fire-flies in a glass jar to have enough light on a dark night.

To give you an idea, some of the “fire-fly moment” examples from my own experience are:

Getting up beside a loved one and exchanging sleepy smiles
Looking at the morning sky, trees, birds and absorbing the enthusiasm of the atmosphere
Saying hello with full excitement to fellow morning walkers
Exchanging smile or a little chat with a neighbor’s kid going to school
Exchanging greeting with a neighbor going to office
Acknowledging someone’s effort with a little chitchat; like a traffic police officer, road side vendor, bus conductor or a cab driver
A simple act of chivalry in the bus by offering a seat or space to someone
Sharing some light moments during lunch or coffee break with colleagues
Sincerely appreciating a colleague for a job well done
Surprising loved one by carrying their favorite snack item in the evening
Listening to loved one’s day experience
Listening or humming a favorite song together with your loved one, kid or a friend
Dancing on a favorite song with your loved one
Remembering a good old time on a telephonic conversation
Even recollecting or discussing such experiences with your loved ones

We can see that we don’t even need to create them, these”fire-fly moments” are constantly happening around us. All we need is to open ourselves for these real “social connection” experiences with people around us and the environment.

So simple yet so powerful, isn’t it?

Above list can easily run into pages depending on our willingness to recognize, consciously experience and creatively convert even the faintest of such “fire-fly moment” into a powerful recharge option.

Just by living in the moment and enjoying these simple experiences to the fullest, we can easily get enough energy for making that extra ‘conscious’ effort and achieve more in life.

And the best part is that most of these experiences are two-way recharging option, so not only we get recharged; we recharge others around us.

Just imagine how much joy we can spread in the process of keeping ourselves recharged!

Think about it…

Stay well and live in the moment!

~ Piyush