Heroes of Humanity November 2009

  "Today there is a great need for all of us to move from limited identifications of nationality, race, religion and culture to a broader understanding of the  unity of human life, which can help to bring about a more peaceful world."

                                          - His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
                                            Founder, Art of Living Foundation  

     The Art of Living Foundation honored local Heroes of Humanity on November 12th, 2009 at the Bridgewater Banquet Center in Powell, Ohio by presenting the Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Award for Uplifting Human Values.  This Award recognizes members of our society who have demonstrated their commitments to improve human values in our communities and thereby creating a better world.

    The thirteen nominees (listed in alphabetical order) are:  Sree Murthy Aswath, Rich Brown, Bill Dawson, Anas Deifallah, Matt Habash, Dr. Asma Mobin-Uddin, Dr. Milap Nahata, Rao Nunduri, Randel Rogers, Dr. Kamala Saxena, Rev. Dr. Lesley Stansbery, Jim Tressel, and Dr. Raj Tripathi.

     The theme of the Heroes of Humanity event was to create a Stress-Free, Violence-Free Society by uplifting human values and strengthening the individual.  Several organization presidents, business leaders and city officials joined a diverse group of representatives from various religious, cultural, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds in the sharing of human values, and in entertaining and honoring our local heroes.

     In celebration of 25 years of service, the Art of Living Foundation invited all the individual speakers, nominees and performers to light a candle, symbolizing that it just takes one light to light another (Shown below is Asma Mobin-Uddin, one of the 13  nominees).  The evening was filled with words of inspiration from community leaders, heroes in their own right.

     The evening was led by our lovely and charming Mistresses of Ceremonies, Maureen Baker and Charlene Brown.

Majority Whip of the Ohio House of Representatives, Jay Goyal (pictured below on right with Rajesh Kanumury, Art of Living Coordinator), began the ceremonies with a warm welcome and a message of congratulations to all that exemplify human values.

Sree Murthy Aswath (shown below on right with a guest) blessed the evening with chanting from a variety of traditions.

In addition to bringing greetings, Janine Jones, Senior Advisor to Governor Ted Strickland, offered congratulations and thanks in upholding human values.

  
Guadelupe Valasquez (smiling below as she prepares to light her candle), New Americans Initiative Coordinator presented a certificate from Mayor Michael Coleman's office.  

After a delicious dinner in good company, representing the youth of our community, students, Sulimaan Priest, Simran Taneja (shown below on left lighting her candle) and Dhruv Kaura shared their touching experiences gained from taking Art of Living classes.  

The evening picked up some rhythm with great dance performances and entertainment from youth dance groups Jai Ho and Wait OHIO.  

The Heroes of Humanity nominees were introduced next, and as each lit his or her candle, their community contributions were highlighted, as well as their personal life principles shared.  Community services range from establishing facilities for basic medical care and supplies, providing broad-range family services to immigrant widows and orphans, collecting clothing and food for the needy, bringing communities together through gardening and wildlife observation and preservation, opening and maintaining dialogue for interfaith discussions to further understanding and peace between traditions, raising money and awareness for various causes-such as diseases like cancer, generating donations for hospitals, and through it all, teaching along the way.


     As well as a hearty call to action, an energetic oration on the importance of embracing stress in order to harness its power for the promotion of human values was given by Renee Brandon from Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman's office.

     Nina Sanyal, Art of Living Instructor, gave a heart-warming call to action inviting attendees to seek the hero in themselves and to contribute to the humanitarian efforts of the Art of Living Foundation.

Soon, the moment everyone was waiting for arrived when the seven winners were announced and awarded their distinguished prizes.  The seven recipients of the Award were Matthew Habash, Bill Dawson, Dr. Kamala Saxena, Richard Brown, Dr. Raj Tripathi, Dr. Asma Mobin-Uddin and Rao Nanduri.  The winners are shown below with one of the Judges for the event, Mr. Nirmal Sinha, a leader of the Asian Indian community of Central Ohio.  Mayor of Dublin, Marilee Chinnici-Zuercher was also a judge.  Both judges were recipients of the 2007 Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Award, for their contribution toward fostering human values.

Dhwani Kanumury, Art of Living Instructor, brought the evening to a perfect close with a few moments of meditation with her soothe and calming voice.  Everyone left feeling relaxed, energized and ready to find the hero in themselves!

Congratulations to all the Heroes of Humanity 2009 for Central Ohio award winners and nominees!  Congratulations to the Hero in YOU!  A huge heartfelt Thank You to all the participants and contributors in this year's event.

A special note of gratitude goes out to all the tireless volunteers for their time, effort and contribution from Heroes of Humanity 2009, Columbus Chairman of Event, Soumitra Deshmukh and from Rajesh and Dhwani Kanumury, the Dynamic Duo of Art of Living, Central Ohio.

To view more pictures from the event, please click on the link below (or paste in browser).


http://www.ido.lifepics.com      Then click on the Recent Public Events - Heroes of Humanity  (Please note that you will asked to sign the guestbook to view the photos.)

Kids-4-Kids at ENON Elementary

400 Children shouting KIDS FOR KIDS, CLAPPING IN UNISON AND GREAT CHEERY SMILES ALL ROUND..
Very good experience... Scott was great motivating the kids.. More and more schools should do it.
ENON Elementary was on Channel 2 news and an article appeared on ENON Messenger...
All teachers were enthusiastic about the project. Big Posters about Random Acts of Kindness was posted
everywhere in the school. The two motivated parents - Scott and Wendy went around collecting funds
and have gotten a committment from Rite aid, and couple of other stores. They went door to door and collected $300 so far
to give prizes away to kids for K4K program. And they have not even done Part 1. Talk about commitment..

Enon school principal Tammy Carnahan just got promoted to be district superintendent of ENON School district .
Tammy has been a great supporter of K4K program.

Yoga for Life!

YOGA FOR LIFE!

Happenin' in Cincinnati - A 6 day workshop that brings together the yoga for breath, yoga for the body and meditation for the soul. A gift to bust stress and enrich your life just in time for the holiday season. With Tanuja Limaye, one of the most senior Art of Living instructors, she teaches internationally and is on a special US tour this winter.

Where: Tangeman Center, University of Cincinnati
When: Dec.14-19
6:30pm to 9:30pm and 10:30am - 1:30 pm (Sat & Sun)
Cost: $100
Qualifications: Open to all, beginners and those who have been practicing yoga for a while.

Discover a new way to intergrate Yoga in your Life.

For Details & Registration contact: Akshay.ponda@gmail.com
Sonal.shanker@artofliving.org

YES Plus...say YES to possibilities in life

YES Plus! YES, this course truly converted my mind to say YES! Yes to all good and desired possibilities in my life...Yes to all good possibilities in others' lives....Yes to a possibility that there is lot more to achieve and do in life than what our belief is. YES stands for Youth Empowerment Seminar. YES Plus is specifically developed for youths between 18 to 30 years of age. Fundamental teachings are not different from Art of Living Basic (Part I) course but this course is taught the content with more action, exercises, games and experiments rather than only theory. Youths freak out learning this way. We got totally involved and blood was always on the ruh through our veins when we were in the course. We laughed, ran, played, meditated, acted and did lot more things that we usually do not do in normal routine and for that matter take for granted. Each activity taught us so much more.

Bawa (whose real name is Khurshed Batliwala), who taught us this course specially came from India to launch this course in the US. He was superb. Young, talented, very clear in communication, specific and impact-full. Teacher makes considerable difference to a course but YES Plus structure itself is such that any teacher will make the course fun and a great learning experience. I will not write specifics but it was just too good for me and Kavita. Most of Part I learning were strongly reinforced into us and various technique were taught to increase concentration, increase stamina, increase energy levels, making new friends and maintaining existing and lots more. All these things are so crucial if you want to live a complete and happy life - social or professional.

Radhika from Baltimore/Washington DC too taught some part of the course and she was just awesome. She is in her twenties but is a dynamic, effective and a very sweet teacher. I think USA should have hundreds of teachers like Bawa and Radhika to take YES Plus course places.

Much thanks to AOL Columbus team - specially Rajesh, Nina, & Prasad for making this happen.

AOl Part I Course - August 4 to 9, 2006

Once again our two loving teachers from Columbus make it happen. A beautiful course dellivered by Rajesh and Nina. I will invite all the participants to blog their experiences but before that here are some visual moments captured during the course.

jai guru dev

Research on Sudarshan Kriya - One of the powerful breathing techniques taught in Art of Living Course Part 1.

Research on Sudarshan Kriya - One of the powerful breathing techniques taught in Art of Living Course Part 1.

1. Study conducted by Bangalore Medical College, Bangalore observed that after Sudarshan Kriya practice, there is a significant fall in the levels of Serum Total Cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and an increase in HDL, thereby making Sudarshan Kriya a tool for prevention of CHD (Coronary Heart Disease).

2. Peripheral blood samples of cancer patients taken before and after the Part 1 Course of Art Of Living were analysed for Natural Killer Cells and T - Lymphoyte subsets by flowcytometry. Results indicate an increase in percentage of Natural Killer Cells & T-cells Subsets - thus indicating that Sudarshan Kriya and Pranayam can go a long way to prevent relapse in Cancer Patients.

3. Sudarshan Kriya also produced Neuro Hormonal Responses - Plasma Levels of Prolactin were elevated but not those of Cortisol. Regular practice of Sudarshan Kriya lowered Plasma Cortisol thereby indicating lowering of stress and long term relaxation.

4. Subjects regularly practicing Sudarshan Kriya show increased Alpha as well as Beta activity indicating a state of heightened alertness along with calmness and deep relaxation.

5. Sudarshan Kriya and Pranayam relieve stress and improve the immune functions of the body.

6. Nimhans conducted clinical trials of Sudarshan Kriya in depression patients - results indicate that Sudarshan Kriya has significant anti depressant effects which compare favourably with imipramine - an established anti depressant.

7. Practice of Sudarshan Kriya and Pranayam helps the tobacco consumers to quit this habit and participants narrated that the 'urge' to consume tobacco disappeared.

8. Another study by Nimhans, Bangalore on effects of Sudarshan Kriya on alcohol dependent patients demonstrates that Sudarshan Kriya practice helps to reduce anxiety and depression in alcohol patients significantly. Thus Sudarshan Kriya can play a significant role in prevention and treatment of relapse in alcohol treatment procedure.

9. Regular practice of Sudarshan Kriya showed improvement in the sleep patterns of the subjects studied.

10. Subjects doing regular practice of Sudarshan Kriya showed an increase in plasma prolactin also termed as the 'Happy Hormone' thus making the subjects feel happy, cheerful, and relaxed and have a sense of belongingness with everybody

the dancing flames....

'Twas a serene,cool crisp morning.A tranquil and yet frolicsome zephyr ruffled the foliage of the trees...The great ball of fire started to spill its first scintillating rays on the zenith and the little sunrays traversed the heavens down to earth, illuminating the milieu....The crescent moon was bidding adieu to the skies and getting ready for its siesta....I was in a little world of talking trees and walking houses...riding a cloud through the azure skies...frozen in time..and my eyes futtered open...I transitioned from one paradise to another in a "flutter"...This one had crimson skies... I filled my lungs in with the crisp morning air and sprung out of bed.The dainty little space molecules around me started to do jigs....Excitement?Anticipation?Or just an ode to the divinity and chastity of Mother Nature?I felt the little pool of "emotions" flowing through me play some music....The Bohemian Rhapsody?Aaaah yes....Realization made a grand entry into my conscience...As my boat would sail a little ahead in the stream of time, I would anchor and leave my little realm for a while and go to a different realm with an element of "unknown" attached to it....As the little droplets from the pool of "emotions" traced question marks on my soul,my nerves started working up a frenzy and I could feel little beads of perspiration soak my forehead...."Calm down", say the jittery space molecules to my conscience....Thankfully,my psyche complied and after going through the conventional morning routine,I waited for Akshay to pick me up...The jarring monotony of the morning routine suddenly made me realize what slaves of habit us human beings are! As time flowed a bit farther,I saw a silver streak with a somewhat "meticulous" rhythm approaching my building...The glass doors of my appartment doors frowned at me,but little did they know that their transparence had allowed me to catch a glimpse of Akshay's magnetic smile....Soothes the soul instantaneously....Just like a pat on the head from an older brother..!We picked the ever divine Nityanand up (he surely does justice to his name!) and the mellow Marilyn up....The drive to Columbus was absolutely beautiful....The trees were flaunting their lush green hues and the jagged gray and brown rocks were so synergistic, that the "rhythm" reminded me of Beethoven's ninth symphony....Every note evokes and compels a different entity from the stream of "emotions" to manifest....Every note tells a different tale....The trees were in deep discourse with the clouds...Probably convincing them to let the sun come out and cruise the zenith....The "unconditional love" between the elements of Nature always marvels me....The Sun and the flowers,the mountain and the river, the sea and the sky......Such sublime love stories....Yet even the trees and the clouds share an equally sublime friendship...My mind reeled back in time....from the abyssmal river of "today" to the little tributaries of "yesterday"....A depsondent flavor superseded the moment and I quickly shook it off like one would shake off particles of dust from one's clothes.....The rest of the ride was full of Nitya's jokes, Marilyn's wisdom and Akshay's giggles....aaah bliss! After going for a bit of a roller-coaster ride on Columbus' undulating streets,we finally reached the "spot"...We all got out in a tremendous hurry...Marilyn's feet had gone to sleep,but they quickly woke up...We were greeted in the parking lot by a vivacious gentleman...I kept wondering who he was....I noticed the very geometrical and "conventional" beams and columns of the structure,appreciating the architect's inkling for simplicity.The main auditorium was full of quiet human souls...The "kriya" had started.A powerful and yet enigmatic voice was guiding us through it..All the drops from the pool of "emotion" ostracized motion and its kin...Tranquility made her presence felt...All of a sudden,some uncanny sound waves invaded space..My cognitive faculty took a few seconds to realize that these were the shouts of young souls....For a second,a young,precocious version of me came back to haunt me.... After the "kriya",I noticed that melancholy was in the air and I was surrounded by reticent souls..I heard a loud voice enhanced by a gazillion watts...We were to greet each other AOL style...!"Oh-oh" I thought...My nerves started doing jigs again...But all of the love and benevolent sentiments calmed me down in a jiffy...Some people talked with their eyes..some with their souls...some with words and some with their hearts...This resplendent moment went down in my treasury of memories...I met another Preeti...so beautiful!..Sparkling eyes and dimpled cheeks..made my heart beat with joy!And hallelujah...I met yet another name sharer who sang like a nightingale..Which made me wonder what talents Preeti (me) had..a hard,hard question!!..(I made a mental note in my mind to tell mom how "creative" she was in naming us!!!) The next event that granted time definition was a game of "Fire in the Mountain"...Oh,and Sherlock solved the mystery of the parking lot gentleman too...His name was Paresh..and he was hell bent on rubbing some of his ebullient spirit onto the crowd..We scampered around like little rodents for a while and played a toned down version of tug-of-war!We also played another game which I cant remember the name of (shame on me!)....But I do remember the exhiliration and joy that spread like the pneumonic plague! Everyone was quite hungry by the time we were done with our round of shenanigans...And sure enough,dinner was just moments away..I was thankful to the big,red apple in my bag...I realized that I hadnt tasted normal food in 10 years...As I was about to eat the apple,I felt a hand on my shoulder...and there she was...charming and beautiful as always...Rupa.She had cooked boiled "daal-chawal" for me...I was touched(which made me cry!)..After sneaking in some surreptitious tears,I joined the crowd and relished every bite....Everyone loved the food...Food to satisfy every last taste bud...sweet,salty,sour,stringent,spicy...! After the scrumptious and hearty meal, we gathered in the main room again....It was "Satsang" time....."Yipppeeee" is all I could think of saying!! "Satsang" means "with truth"....I wondered what "truths" would manifest...I looked into the eyes of some people around me...and I could see glimmering pools of mirth and tranqulity; which soothed me...We all grow "up" to defy gravity..we all want to touch the sky and ride on the clouds..we all want buoyancy in our physical as well as metaphysical beings...we all gather immense fortitude during the span of our lives to keep our boats sailing...These are the realms where my mind goes galavanting away when the word "truth" comes around....But "Kirtan Ensemble" took me to yet another wonderland..What mesmerized me the most was the 16-17 yr old tiny soul playing on the "tabla"...I could imagine as he being the heart of the group...His tenacity and dexterity put me in awe...It was as if each beat was singing a note..His fingers and the "tabla" were in perfect synchrony...Preeti started with "Hallelujah"...quite different from the conventional gospel version that I am so used to...but beautiful!The girl is a nightingale!Prasad and Munish made the space molecules very happy...I could see the tiny flames of the "deep"s near Guruji's picture dance with the tiny space molecules..I swear I saw Guruji smile a bit wider which just added to the luminous twinkle in his eyes...Paresh's voice made me as happy as the space molecules...One of the songs was similar to a "Garba" so everyone started to dance...Beautiful hand and foot movements etched pulchritudinous and ebullient spirits in both space and soul....Akshay, Sandesh, Rupa, Nitya and Ishan were hell bent on making me sing...."Thundering typhoons",I thought...My nerves and the pool of "emotions" started to create a mayhem again....But Inshallah,my little treasure box of memories didnt let me down...I thought of my "nanima"..and her soothing voice..I thought of how her songs were like an elixir for me...I would sing as an ode to her...as an ode to every soul in that room...as an ode to "Kirtan" and their talents...And I did!!(clap,clap,clap Preeti!!).Then all of us folks from the Nasty 'Nati rocked the house...I realized that Sandesh and Akshay had marvelous voices... As we neared the end,we sang the "Guru Arati"....I love flames...and my eyes kept wandering off in the direction of the dancing flames on the "thali"...Guruji got his birthday cake,birthday song and birthday sentiments...Nilesh played the role of Guruji..hehe..!It was his birthday too...I exchanged telephone numbers with a few folks...And I fell in love with little Harshita...such a doll!We then decided to have a slumber party at Paresh's house..."Goody goody gumdrops" I thought...We had a blast..We played dumb charades and pictionary...I flaunted my low IQ level by making very,very "Preeti" blunders...!!The nightingale Preeti,Paresh,Rajesh in one team...trust me folks,if u're on the opposite team you DO NOT want that to happen..!We opened the golden gates of our pasts for a while and let each other catch a glimpse of the other side...After gulping down a plethora of laughs and a keg of "masti", we were ready for our siesta..Back to the land of talking trees and walking houses....cruising on the clouds in the azure skies.....with precious moments and lots of love as our priceless souvenirs... As I left the next morning, my spirit was lugubrious...the milieu seemed wistful too! After saying heartfelt good-byes,we were on our way to Cincinnati...I was pensive and thoughtful for a while...The resplendence of the morning before all made sense now...Mother nature was euphoric 'cause she foresaw the moments to come...priceless moments saturated with unconditional love,laughter and ebullient spirits that made every last molecule surmounting us hallow and consecrated....The soul of every being that I interacted with is engraved on my heart....Now I understand what Mark Twain meant when he said "Dance like no one's watching,sing like no one's listening,love like you have never been hurt and live like its heaven on earth....".. Heaven is definitely a place on earth!

Miss Universe Lara Data -- seeks solace in the Art of Living

Lara seeks solace in the Art of Living May 19, 2006

It's a lesser-known fact that Lara Dutta has been pursuing Art of Living courses for over six years now. This former Miss Universe had her first stint with various self-development and stress management programmes as a Miss India aspirant."It was a compulsory module in our Miss India training programme. Gradually, I got hooked on to it after I realised the benefits of the course,"she says.This led her to enrol for advanced courses and now the belle can't think of starting her day without meditation."Over these six years, I have done these advanced courses and now I can't think of life without practising the yogasanas", she says.Ask her about her favourite exercise and the prompt answer is Sudarshan Kriya, a key technique to Art of Living (founded by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in 1982).

"It's incredible"..."It's an incredible stress-relieving technique that I have learned. I have been into yoga and pilates for years now. But Sudarshan Kriya helps you retain your calm and be aware of everything that's happening around. The past few months have been less hectic. Therefore, I could get more involved in it and am doing a couple of more courses," she explains.

Others followedSeeing her reaping the benefits of Art of Living, a lot of her friends got interested in the popular stress-relieving method. "The benefits are quite visible. My close friends did realise it and gradually for themselves enrolled for it. There are 20 million people around the world who practise Art of Living," she says.

Even Kelly is now practicing the Art of Living religiously, but Lara says she didn't sell the course to him, "I never pushed Kelly into pursuing the Art Of Living. I believe you can't force someone to do anything. It has been a few months since he has started and he is relatively new to the exercise," adds Dutta.

Mahasatsang on occasion of Guruji's 50th birthday - its celebration

Art of Living Columbus events are always planned at last moments. Few people from the whole Columbus family have big enthusiasm for the organizing such events. But still when we are done with the event I get the complete satisfaction, as one gets after doing a service to needy. What is that makes all the events so fulfilling? What turns around these functions from poor start to a great end? I feel there is some magic that happens during the event. People get energized and coordination happens faster. They do not complain and focus on getting things done. I sometimes feel that there is some external cohesive energy that bonds our thoughts together and things fall in place. A guru magic!

Mahasatsang to celebrate Guruji’s 50th birthday and AOL’s 25th anniversary was such an event. Since the idea of organizing this event and first planning step, we changed venues and menus and ended up at Powell City Hall as venue and with Annapurna’s menu. We invited people from all cities in Ohio and from nearby states where AOL had presence and quite a few people did show up. In fact there were comparatively less people from Columbus. I don’t know why not many of them come to AOL events. I agree that after hectic work week they would like to spend time with their family and sometimes it’s hard to manage things when you have kids but such events are not organized every now and then. Frequency of such big AOL events in Columbus is not more than once in 4 months. If I do simple analysis, it takes only 0.14 % of our time assuming we come only for 3 hrs, including travel to venue. Please know that your presence would make any event livelier, bring in more positive energy and eventually help AOL become bigger in its work. We want nice people like you to come, share your happiness, and make this society much better place to live in. We want your love.

We first did Maha Kriya – it was good for me. I think that most people had deep kriya. Hall was big and there was peace amongst all although neighboring hall some children party going on. Later I went to pick up Arun and Mayaji while all other played games. By 6.45 pm we started dinner. Food was good except I found Bhendi ka sabji little oily. Gulab Jamuns were just awesome. Overall, I feel that good food and timely dinner made people happy. It was all well organized by Prasad, Shikha, Nina and all others who were involved in managing refreshments, including egg-less cake

Later we started ‘Satsang’. Satsang in literary terms means ‘company of truth’ and according to me idea behind it is to be in present moment. We sing bhajans, play music, do some chanting, some meditation. I always like satsangs. The AOL bahajans are not typical old typos and that’s what I like the most about it. Anyone can sing these bhajans with ease but in our group Paresh, Prasad and Munish are ‘the’ people who have good voice and have kept the music going and are building it further through ‘Kirtan Ensemble’ music group. But today was special day – Preeti opened the satsang with ‘Aaa le lu ya’ and then Prasad sang ‘Krishan Manohar’ and then he also sang ‘Durge Nandini’ and they all joined in. Dayton people came forward, so did Cincinnati and then Mrs. Nath sang ‘Tu hi’. See that magic – we discovered that Arun invited himself to play table. Man, he is real good. Debu, our master musician plays excellent guitar, although this time we did not give him enough opportunity to show his talents. When all this was happening, I took an opportunity to capture the ‘sat-moments’ in video. People well all drenched in this divine music in serenity. I love this kind of environment, especially in the evenings. Anyone there could feel presence of divine soul - our beloved Guruji.

We ended the function with one beautiful Guru Aarti. Since Kavi was not there I asked Nina to hold my hands as I was praying offering aarti to Guruji. I missed Kavi all along the event. We cut the cake - it was delicious. I liked the spirits of people from other cities who came so long to make this event a success. They are great. They are true guru souls.

Jai Guru Dev

Sharing my experience about the AoL course-I

Although, the Art of Living course touches upon various facets of life such as body, mind, intellect, etc. I will talk about only of them in this short note about my experiences. It is breathing. A primary reason to select breathing for the note is, I personally was completely unaware of the importance of it. All of us know that breathing is most important activity for our life but a few of us know that right breathing can improve one's life. This may not be a surprise given the importance of breathing as I just mentioned. But I learnt it from my own experiences over the 5 days of the course.

Not only was I taught different different forms of breathing but also how to interweave those different forms into various Yoga Aasanas. The culmination point of the experience was Sudarshan Kriya, where one utilizes a combination of breathing, Aasanas, and sacred chanting to take a step closer to the inner Self. The only way to understand this experience is by doing it yourself. I am thankful that I had this opportunity.

On completing one year with Art of Living

Today I completed one year of association with Art of Living. This day last year I met my lovely and sweet AOL teacher Ms.Marlene Barerra, whom now all call Lalitha but I still call her as ‘teacher’. When I call her teacher, I get a feeling that I am still a student and have to get more knowledge from her, and in general from the divine – may it be other people or nature or the system that we live in. She is a loving person and anytime I spend with her I feel loved and get strong sense of belonging to my greater self. Art of Living and its teachings opened the doors of spirituality for me. More than just spirituality, I sometimes feel that it opened doors to my own mind.  I brought me realization that I loved spirituality and loved being a good human being. Doing Basic Course back in Spring 2005 was one of the best decisions I took in area of health and well being. Teachings of basic course and of regularly doing Sudarshan Kriya have helped me on numerous fronts. I used to be little short tempered person, but I now I have much better control over my mind and emotions. I used to find faults in people before knowing the situation but now I try to understand situation before thinking anything about person or people involved. I see why they behave as they do. Due to this exercise I have found that most of the times people are not at fault but it is the overall situation that make them behave in particular way - people are always good. I have started seeing picture from up above and I see how different things that look disconnected from down here look well connected and meaningful from higher level.  I think Sudarshan Kriya has some hidden powers that one can easily experience but its realization may take a while. You have to do it and do it regularly with full faith. You will not only start loving it but you will not feel like staying without doing it. I try my best to do it at least four days a week and I feel I should do it much more regularly. From the very first time I did Sudarshan Kriya till date whenever I do it on Guruji’s tape I go deep and when I relax after Kriya, I am lost to the space. I go in deep sleep and cannot hear Guruji’s voice when says words or sings to bring us back to normal. I loose all sensation but that leaves in me a great feeling and relaxes my mind and body. On anniversary of completing one year, I would like to pranam my beloved teacher and say her ‘Thank You’ deep from my heart and then I would like to think of Guruji for few moments and get lost in space once again.  And how can I forget another invaluable gift that AOL gave me. It’s the loving and ever green AOL Columbus group. Each one of them has brought so much joy, happiness, love, and belonging to Kavita and me in just one year. It’s their energy and enthusiasm and selfless attitude that we loved. You got to meet them all to realize what I am saying. Jai Guru Dev.

Love,

Salil

Faith is Beyond Our Comfort Zone

A STORYA few weeks back I was a bit frustrated at the lack of Hispanicinvolvement in ART of Living in Miami, especially when in SouthFlorida the Hispanic population is so prevalent. Some efforts toprocure spaces for courses had run into snags and it seemed as thoughthings would not move. I had run out of logic and decided to walk infaith. "Today", I said to the universe, "please manifest a locationfor the Spanish Courses in Miami." I got up trusting that the Divine,indeed would speak to me in some way and point me in the rightdirection. Hialeah, where I currently stay, is a Hispanic barrio. Notfar away from every home in a Spanish barrio is a typical family ownedrestaurant, and by my house "Yoyito's" serves Cuban food. At I simpletable I sat, surrounded by blue collar workers who came in trucks,city workers, elderly citizens and the cook's three year old daughterwho wonders freely throughout the restaurant. " All these people toserve", I thought, "but how?" "O.K., Guruji, the ball is in yourcourt, I said. I am simply taking action and letting you steer." Asthe waitress dressed in jeans and a green t-shirt approached me Isaid, "I'm a yoga teacher and would like to give stress managementclasses free for the people. Do you know any hall that would let meuse their space for two hours?" The girl thought and thought. Shesaid, "Try down 12 Avenue, I have seen empty businesses. Perhaps ifyou call the owner he will let you use them. It might give himexposure and help him rent the spaces." Now my mind would say to me"Your crazy to roam the streets on a Saturday afternoon and expectsomeone that doesn't know you to lend you a hall!" However, when youwalk in Faith, you turn "off" the logic switch off for a while andjust walk.

"Allright Guruji, I said, "I'm trusting. "Let's see where you takeme." Twelve Avenue in Hialeah is a busy street with strip shoppingcenters and businesses. A sign for a karate studio caught my eye andI pulled into the first strip mall. Inside it felt UNCOMFORTABLE tobe randomly searching for a space. Yet the commitment to walk infaith had me put this uneasiness aside. You cannot see miraclesotherwise. After taking down the phone numbers of several store frontbusinesses I noticed at one end of the strip a banquet hall. With abit of shyness, which I could feel like a lump in the throat or aslight tightening in the chest, I approached a man standing outsideand asked to see the manager. He takes me inside to what is anabsolutely striking hall. Here I am conscious of being a 50 year oldwoman a bit overweight and with grey hair saying, " I am a yogateacher and would like to know if you will lend me the hall to givefree stress management courses in Spanish for the people." The youngwoman looks at me, gently smiles and says, ""Perhaps. Let me takedown you information and I will call the owners on Monday." I couldfeel relief inside. Well, that was not a rejection. It was a maybe.I took a risk and it was O.K."

When you walk in faith, you keep walking until you get a YES, or youjust simply cannot walk anymore for reasons beyond your control. Thenext shopping center and had another Banquet hall. Again, I took adeep breath in, felt a bit uncomfortable at putting myself out andasking to use a hall for free, but I went anyway. Neither theprophets in the Bible, nor the great men of science ever accomplishedanything by giving into fear. When I explained my situation in thesame manner I had previously done twice, she the gentleman who ownedthe hall looked at me straight in the eyes and said, "I absolutely donot give anything for free." And here I realized that rejectiondoesn't hurt very much at all.

Not yet exhausted I continued to a third shopping mall and a thirdhall. A bit shyer since the last experience I hesitated before thesign of the hall. None the less, I was there, "so let it happen", Ithought. A middle aged woman was arranging chairs when I entered."Hello, I said, I am a yoga teacher…" You know the rest. She lookedat me and said, "Why not? If I'm not using it, why shouldn't you useit? The hall is just sitting here." Alleluhia and Jai Guru Dev!Bingo! She even agreed to stay opened an extra hour so that I couldhave the Public Intro Talk. I sat in the car and cried fromgratitude. People are so noble and kind. When these qualitiesmanifest they are of incomparable beauty and have the ability ofbringing others to tears in the same way a fine painting or a stirringconcerto moves one to tears.Aura Arce , a volunteer who has been struggling with health issues,pushed beyond her comfort zone and calling COLD, from the phone bookin one day arranged a radio interview and a television show for thenext week. We felt the need to further advertise and without muchtime, Aura, Diana and I pushed again beyond our comfort zone and stoodon a street corner in Hialeah on a Saturday afternoon and gave outflyers to drivers ,at red lights. We did the same as the vendors whosell water bottles or flowers. When the light turned red we walkedbetween the cars and slipped the flyers through slightly openedwindows or into open palms. Three and a half hours later about 1,200had been distributed. Somehow although our feet ached our faces borea glow that can't be purchased at cosmetic counters. And our heartsfelt a smile.


The day of the Intro talk 47 people attended and filled a room thatwas beautifully arranged with chairs elegantly adorned with whitedresses. A reception table was set with green velvet. Even abeautiful gold stand for the large easel I brought sat in the frontwaiting to be used as if specially ordered for the occasion. Men,women and teenagers all learned breathing techniques and ways ofthinking to alleviate the pain of tension. At the end of this verysuccessful evening I thanked the owner for her graciousness andoffered to bring her a gift the following day. "Don't you dare.Everything in life is not money. While you where speaking in theconference we signed four contracts for the rental of the hall." And,yes my eyes filled with tears, because of the beauty in the noblequalities that are both divine and human: sacrifice, fidelity,courage, compassion, strength, commitment, dedication, determination,devotion, trust and love can be best seen when we push ourselvesbeyond our comfort zone……and into the realm of faith. Dare to travelthe path of faith, for it is only from here that we can experience themiracles….. they are always beyond our comfort zone. And from thisvantage point we become aware of the infinite love of the divine
- Anonymous

Let's commit some time to AOL activities on regular basis for mutual benefits

When I reviewed my last week’s calendar to see where all I spent my time, it showed all office work and nothing else. I realized that I need to spend some time in service and for benefit of others. What could be better than doing service through our Art of Living activities? We need to get involved in the work that Art of Living Foundation as whole does.  Let’s show-up with our minds and brains and smiles. Few hours a week is enough. That means not even 5% of our time. Can’t we give that much for our progress and progress of our community? I have decided that I will plan my calendar ahead of time and allocate say 8 hours per week for promoting Art of Living and its activities. These are other than Satsang time.  I will not deviate from my calendar but while planning it I will work with all coordinators so that there is some overlap for meetings and group activities.  I have an idea.  On Tuesday evenings or Satsang days we will call for or get dinner at Rardin. Once we are done with Satsang, we will have dinner and then work for one straight hour – may be it is meeting or paper work or on internet.  Location can be Rardin or any coordinator’s room. This way people don’t have to come again on Wednesday night and more and more people will get chance to contribute. Also all that positive energy gained during Kriya will not go waste in hunting for some Mad Mex restaurant.  Let me know your views.

 

Love,

JGD

Salil

Cincinnati Events

April 13-18 2006
Art of living course in Cincinnati -
my first course, as a teacher, uniques experience! :-)

Next course in Cincinnati May 30-June 4th 2006
Jai Gurudev!
Sonal

Spreading joy in Ohio

Welcome to Art of Living Ohio Blogsphere!

If you have participated in the Art of Living workshop here is your chance to post/share your experience. If you have not participated in the Art of Living workshop you can still post your thoughts.
From time to time we will be posting life positive messages, something to think about thoughts or discuss a topic in depth.