Good Evening, Namaste, suswagatam everyone! Welcome to first ever SheSpeaks online.
Hope you all agree with me that good health is not just physical. It requires an alignment of a healthy mind, body and spirit. This is what truly defines our happiness which in turn leads to healthy interpersonal relationships and eventually paves the path for a successful life.
Covid is a unique disaster for mankind in ways more than one. It caught the governments and people napping and completely unaware of what was coming or was to be expected.
This unprecedented experience caused due to extended lockdowns has led to many new dimensions and questions at individual, national and interpersonal level. Some families have experienced joys of togetherness like never before but for most women it was a horror story unfolding, what with a 60% increase in domestic violence and abuse reported from all parts of the world as many reports have suggested. The beast in us has again proven that it is the hapless, vulnerable women, children and the poor who have paid the highest price at the altar of national lockdowns in a bid to keep the Corona virus away.
It has prompted me to organise this discussion on health & Spirituality.
For I believe a healthy mind is a spiritual mind and would never resort to violence under any circumstances. As we all stagger to invent or acquire cures to do away with Corona from our lives, we may have to spend considerable amount of time holed up in our homes. How we are going to spend this time is a choice we have to make. As men will we vitiate this time by venting out our frustrations on women and children or will we shape this time as golden memories when we bonded well with our dear ones, by extending a helping hand in domestic chores. Maybe it’s a golden opportunity for men to learn cooking, washing and caring. Maybe it could be a time when many women will break glass ceilings with their innovativeness and when many men could break gender stereotypes and thus pave the way for a healthy home environment.
Time and again all the religions have laid stress on the role of a healthy mind, body and spirit in the pursuit of eternal happiness. There are several treatise, articles and epics that have laid stress on their mutual interdependence. In non- dualism stream of Indian philosophy they are even seen as one. In its first ever edition of SheSpeaks online, we invite you to a riveting and engaging discussion on Health and Spirituality. The discussion is more relevant now than ever as we all struggle to chase Corona away from our lives.
Spirituality is an essential element of humanity. It encompasses individuals’ search for meaning and purpose; it includes connectedness to others, self, nature, and the significant or sacred; and it embraces secular and philosophical, as well as religious and cultural, beliefs and practices.1 Spirituality has been foundational in health care for centuries but became overshadowed by early 20th-century technological advances in diagnosis and treatment. Though these advances were dramatic and resulted in countless lives saved, the scientific focus moved the culture of medicine away from a holistic, service-oriented model to a technological, reductionist and profit optimization model.
We are honoured to have some extremely distinguished speakers amongst us.
We have 5 distinguished speakers with us today. And I shall introduce them to you as we proceed before handing over the mic to each of them. I have divided the session into 2 rounds. In round 1, As I introduce them, I will give them 5 mins each for their free-flowing thoughts. Round 2 is Q&A. I have a specific question for each one of them to be answered in 2 mins. Other participants can DM me their questions with the name of the guest they want the question addressed to.
This sets the ball rolling with our
- Our first speaker of the day, Mr Sanjay Bhatia is a Mechanical Engineer and an MBA from Southern Cross University, Australia. He is a Maharashtra Cadre IAS Officer in the rank of Secretary, to GOI. He is a preceptor of Heartfulness (Sahaj Marg) Meditation and has been practicing meditation for last seventeen years.
Sanjay Bhatia – Why does one meditate. If I have good health, good family & friends, contentment. Everything…even then would you recommend us to meditate. - Our 2nd guest, Kavita Narayan is technical advisor to the Ministry of Health & family Welfare, GOI & the State Govts on health human resource strengthening & policy reform for past 4 years.
Kavita N A core group of medical academics and practitioners launched a movement in US to reclaim medicine’s spiritual roots, ultimately it was incorporated into the curricula of over 75% of U.S. medical schools, within medical education.
Do you think it Can play a role in Corona care? If yes then what role. - Our 3rd guest Reshma Ganjgi, is a fashionista & a style icon. She has been in the fashion industry for two n a half decade, serving as the MD after listing of her Company on the NSE. She has been Awarded as the most Enterprising Duo and Business Icons by ET. She is also the first Indian designer to showcase a collection at the One World Trade centre.
Reshma – Everyone has inside of him or her, a piece of good news. The good news is that u don’t know how great u can be! How much u can love! What u can accomplish n what your potential is!
I found this the spiritual mantra of today’s discussion. Do you believe in power of prayer? - The guest speaker Karan Razdan of Rajni fame is the author of two books. ‘Tantra and the Tantrika’ & ‘The Secret Law of Blessing’. He is a Spiritual and Motivational speaker. He lectures and counsels’ students in various schools and colleges. And addresses issues related to mental well-being and health.
Karan – what prompted you to write your books on Tantra & blessings. - From the house we have Sandeep Bhargava, a technocrat, He is the former EVP Vodafone. Now a consultant by profrssion, He is a Hon mem’ of the Advisory Board of Aambra Foundation and very actively dons the role of He for She.
Sanjeev – How empowering according to you can spirituality be and how can we use it to control domestic violence and abuse.
And well… if you want to know about me. there is always Google & my website.
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