Two Day Workshop on Health & Well-Being

Two-day workshop on Health & Well-Being held at the Sayer Centre by Jain Vishva Bharati London (JVBL) on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th December 2008.

By Rashmi R Shah

With the blessings and in the presence of Samani Prasanna Pragyaji and Samani Rohit Pragyaji, the two-day workshop covered various topics and each session was conducted by specialist presenters in their own field of expertise.

The programme on each day commenced with the welcome and recitation of Namaskar Mahamantra by Samanijis.

The various sessions were attended on average by 35/40 people with ages ranging from 11 to 65 years with the active involvement of the participants.

A book by Acharya Mahapragyaji ‘Happy and Harmonious Family’, published in August 2008 was introduced during the workshop.

The various sessions held over the two days are summarised below:

The morning workshop commenced with a presentation by Dr Rimal Shah on ‘Heart Problems’. He discussed the anatomy of the heart and the causes and contributory factors to heart problems such as diet, smoking, drinking, sedentary lifestyle, high blood pressure, cholesterol and preventative actions that an individual can take to minimise the risks.

Samani Prasanna Pragyaji commented that mental and emotional issues such as. anger, greed, fear, hatred also plays a part in ones health and well-being.  She said that self-help techniques such as relaxation, mantra meditation, breathing techniques and mudra exercises (postures of the hand and fingers) can improve the flow of energy (Prana) and help to alleviate heart diseases.

This was followed by a session of ‘Total Relaxation with Self Awareness - Kayotsarg’ conducted by Samani Rohit Pragyaji, demonstrating the spiritual aspect of relaxation which frees one from physical, mental and emotional stress.

After a short break for tea, the calmness generated by the relaxation session was followed by ‘Laughter Therapy’ - laughter with no reason, conducted by Shree Harishbhai Chavda; describing Laughter Yoga/exercises as having two main components Aerobic and Breathing and these have physical, mental and emotional benefits by improving the body and mind connection and help un-condition the mind from certain behaviour patterns. The health benefits of laughter are that they exercise the body both internally and externally through stimulation; improving blood circulation, breathing through your diaphragm, strengthens the immune system and creates feel good factors. The science, psychology and explanations behind laughter therapy were a real eye opener to the participants.

Lunch was followed by keynote session ‘Overcoming Anger’ presented by Mr John McConnell a coach in personal growth and self-development. John in a very easy and lucid manner with interjection of his own personal experiences discussed the different types and causes of anger and showed various techniques on how to overcome anger with self reflection and assertions to the self with positive-ness and how to handle anger assertively (overcoming and removing anger not anger management). 

This was a very interactive session where the participants were required to carry out various exercises to recognise and identify one-self by looking inwardly. He explained the virtues to overcoming anger through relaxation techniques and attitude change (take control of yourself through control of mind and body, responsibility for your own actions) and through

• The powers of perception i.e. we cannot control the actions of others but can have complete control over our own actions
• Thoughts create our destiny, i.e. thoughts-become words-become actions- become habits-become our destiny.
• Where the attention goes energy flows. i.e. do not feed energy to emotions such as fear, anger, sorrow, regret, false pride, competition, superiority and ego; but feed energy to emotions such as joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, sincerity, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.
• Change negative (reactive) emotions such as anger into positive (proactive) emotions.

 The second day started with a presentation by Shree Harishbhai Chavda on ‘The Art of Eating & Obesity’ – You are what you eat and how you eat and the quantity that you eat. Food is a very important for the health and well being of the self. Harishbhai discussed the importance of not only the different types of foods but ‘mechanics/art of eating’ which starts with the mind/thought, saliva, chewing, swallowing and the absorption of the nutrients into the blood stream to all cells of your body and gives you energy which is done by what you eat and how you eat. He then went on to describe the four important practicalities before the art of eating: i.e.
Tools of Eating - feel and touch the food,
Eating environment - where do you eat, concentrate on your food and emotion,
Do not multi-task - make food the centre of your focus, not other tasks,
Preparation before eating - a thank you prayer for food to create, feel good factors.

After tea break, Shree Ashokbhai Gudka presented a very interactive session on personal development applicable to our busy everyday life ‘How to Manage Myself and My Time’. This required audience participation to identify various causes of why people are always busy and short of time by completing a self-assessment checklist to identify the ‘Hurry Addict Symptoms’ & ‘The Signs of the Rushaholic’. The results revealed, classified into following four groups:

Ashokbhai then discussed 10 Techniques to Create Space of Time with a final exercise to change pre-laid Negative (Reactive) statements into Positive (Proactive) statements though ‘The Power of Language’.

The afternoon session was in three parts and commenced with a topic on ‘Cosmic Energy’ by Shree Manubhai Shah with a presentation on energy levels through the meridian lines on the self and how these connect us to the earth and the cosmos and that if these are out of balance or that there is a leakage. These leaking of the energy can be counteracted by the use of colours and special oils through the analysis and advice of specialist practitioners. Alternatively this healing can be done through the mind.

This was followed by the ‘Meditation Journey’; a journey through the mind to the inner self, presented by Smt. Shardaben Pardiwalla. This type of meditation is very similar to the techniques of  ‘Preksha Meditation’.

The afternoon keynote session on health and well-being was through ‘Rhythmic Breathing Exercises’ conducted by Shree Kanubhai Patel with a talk on how this self governing and natural system can bring the body cells into rhythm with this three step Rythmic Breathing (Volume, Technique and Rhythm). Imbalances arise in an individual via thought, food and lifestyle and incorrect breathing which causes ill-health. Kanubhai then demonstrated 6 breathing exercises of one minute each, to be carried out daily for preferably on an empty stomach.

During her closing remarks Samani Prasanna Pragyaji thanked all the speakers, participants and the volunteers. She summarised the two-day workshop into an acronym - ‘PACK’:

• Purity of Soul
• Awareness of body, health, breathing, anger, emotions
• Control of  mind, body and emotions
• Knowledge