Excellence in Action is Yoga

[Music]

about 30 years ago

when i was in my final years in medical

school in india

i suffered from severe low mood

depression hopelessness and suicidality

my whole world was disintegrated

the familiar things i knew almost

disappeared in front of my eyes

i lost interest in everything

i was disconnected from my friends my

family

my creativity my dawns and my dreams

it was a dark night of the soul

but i didn’t realize at the time

this dark shadows that came over me was

also life

transforming somehow it was creating

unhealthy fertile soil for me to grow

to expand to explore the deep

structures of human existence

to find the connections of mind and body

and even with the spirit

i wanted to become a psychiatrist i came

to great britain

got a training as a psychiatrist and

more

specialized training in child and

adolescent psychiatry

in this global crisis in pandemic

we are continuing to fill the

devastating effects of corona

in every sphere of our lives

our health our finances in education

but more importantly in your mental

health

especially for kids i work with kids

with

complex neurodevelopmental and mental

health disorders

and serious risk-taking behaviors

but those kids who are not even at home

are struggling

with high anxiety depression especially

kids who has autism spectrum disorder

or intellectual disability the whole

world has got disconnected socially

systemically and otherwise

as a psychiatrist i learn in my long

journey

that medicine only is not the cure of

mental illness

and even this virus cannot be cured by

medicine alone

recovery means a broader understanding

of bringing physiological

but psychological educational

behavioral social and even spiritual

dimensions of

recovery and well-being in this journey

to become

a healer from a doctor comprise me of me

asking questions what heals

what is recovery what is well-being

how can you find a greater meaning and

purpose in our lives

rather than just symptom reduction how

can we be

more whole in our lives more alive

when i first came to iit kgp

i saw in your logo at three sanskrit

words

yoga karmashu kaushalam the way of

action is yoga for me

choga is integration

and union it comes from the sanskrit

word yuj

means to become one to create that

right internal order

be in harmony with

everything that there is to ourselves

to our sacred nature to each other

yoga is not just a physical acrobatics

what is

understood in general yoga is not even

this

breathing exercises it’s a systematic

practices

of bringing that integral wholeness

within ourselves

to deeply and intimately participating

with that given reality

that arising within us and always that

that is our true nature of reality

and what is wholeness

just look at a child play a playing in

joy and radical aliveness

perhaps positive psychologist would say

it is

flow when they’re so absorbed into doing

something

time stops they’re alive

everything gets fuzzy and we are

completely in full attention and in

joy in contentment

it is about that mindfulness

body fullness and spiritualness

we find our wholeness

in fact the word spirituality

if you look into hebrew or latin or

greek words

the original words mean spirit us the

life

breath breath makes us alive

what spirituality is about

is that aliveness that we feel in life’s

flow

it is not about going somewhere and

looking into something

it is about having one step in front of

another

filling that aliveness and joy and

knowing we are already there

and when we feed that whole that

aliveness

in ourselves meaning flows in our lives

a greater sense of meaning and belonging

comes to our lives

and that is joy and wholeness in

integration in harmony in yoga

so how come we are not feel that alive

in these times of crisis of global

pandemic

the one word answer is fear

the fear that disintegrate us grabs us

holds us and creates disharmony

breaking our world view of integral

worldview of calm and stability it

threatens us

so how can we overcome this fear

we transform this fear by

cultivating an inner attitude

of stability wholeness

aliveness and integrating or

reintegrating back into our lives

and this is my yogic approach a

three-step approach

called set stillness

exploration and trust

stillness in this scary and difficult

world today

it is hard to find a place of stillness

and calm

it’s like water is muddy in all sides

and we cannot sleep clearly

but if we try to find

solutions in a frantic way the water

gets more muddy

what we need it to keep still

so the mod settles down and we can see

more clearly

make wise choices

but this stillness comes with practice

and it’s not easy

we need to stop give purposeful pauses

purposeful mindful pauses

in every step of our life stop means

s-t-o-p stop

a moment of pause

taking a breath observe what’s happening

in the outside

world and in our inner world

and proceed to our practices

when we are stopping and paying

attention

we can hold our fears and anxieties

and difficulties and disappointments

with greater equanimity

and peace we can be more aware of our

thoughts and emotions

moment by moment without judgment

we can experience life more fully

not about good and joyous things but

understanding life it’s his

entirety that life is a mixture and a

full

spectrum of things from good and bad

evil and beautiful

but we can hold it with more kindness

and the attitude of stillness is more

nurturing

approaching in friendly way to hold

ourselves

in kindfulness mindfulness

joining with the nurturing kindfulness

brings us a position

of deeper sense of awareness

it comes gradually because we try to

avoid these bad thoughts we reject them

we put them under the carpet

we distract ourselves to other things

we’re trying to become just

positive but we need to be still not

just

positive and at this moment

we approach life with or

fear and fascination at the same time

look at a child in the beach when the

wave comes in

they withdraws with fear but this same

child

goes towards the waves when they’re

receding with joy

and aliveness and in both responses

needs openness and the stillness

brings us to a position

of transformation and power

where we can go to the second step of

more exploration

in that space of peace and in this

creative space

opening from stillness we can encroach

into understanding and exploration

and in the first step of that is

acknowledgement

acknowledging and recognizing that we

are suffering

i am struggling this is a hard time

right now

but we can embrace that suffering

this acceptance is not a passive

acceptance

it’s an active process of acknowledging

and recognizing and accepting

it is what it is right here right now

i’m suffering but

we are all together in this game

i’m not suffering alone millions of

people in the world

are suffering struggling

it happened before in the plague in 14th

century in europe that killed millions

of people

we are almost in that space again

i am not the only one and in this

recognition opens up

a possibility of more self-compassion

be more kind to ourselves it opens up a

space

of understanding that our thoughts and

emotions are separate from ourselves

we are not our thoughts and emotions we

are unlimited sky

and these thoughts and emotions are like

clouds passing by

it’s like a film screen that we are

watching a movie

the pixel dancing on the screen but we

can

caught up in the drama but we have a

choice not to

and see the movie screen separate from

ourselves

in that recognition we can start

altering the relationship with our

thoughts and emotions and ourselves

we can use the understanding from stoic

philosophers

like marcus aurelius or even epitectus

who said

some things are up to us and other

things are not

things or even doesn’t have a value in

itself

how we respond or relate to them

are important whatever is going in the

world in our lives in our families

we can create a different relationship

but using philosophical understanding

being in the zone one our attitudes and

things our beliefs towards things

zone two is something that we cannot

control we try to control and become

more anxious

the events that are happening is in zone

two but we can relate to it differently

but this has to come from understanding

recognition acceptance and stillness

and it’s a creative process and in this

process

brings us to trust

trust and openness

is a yes to belonging a hope

i even call it faith faith is not in a

religious narrow sense or a dogma

it’s a courageous trust to life

courage comes from the latin word core

means heart

it is the full-hearted response to life

and that aliveness that all it offers

it is the full-hearted mindful approach

towards

life that we lean into our pain and

embrace the whole world of suffering

we watch our thoughts but do not cling

to them

do not feed the fire but we can alter

the relationships and trust the process

of life

in corona times the battle is begun

between

fear and faith

and you know what we can bring them

together in a kinship

we can be more kind to ourselves and

each other

we can create a global kindness pandemic

in fact kindness comes from the

english old word cindy and middle

english word kinde

means family kindness is our religion

we are tired together and in the right

sense of the religion again

from latin religio tying the broken

knots together

we can integrate ourselves in that hole

we can reconnect with nature ourselves

and each other in a different ways

and when we do that integration again

meanings start

in our lives we belong

and in that greater sense of belonging

we become greater and larger than

ourselves

and that is yoga in summary

in this difficult times our full-hearted

response to aliveness or wholeness means

to be mindful to be fully present with

our experiences

to be playful to be open and creative

and curious to be prayerful

to connect communicate in communion

and have trust a sense of belonging

yes and last but not the least

be grateful and bringing that radical

attitude of gratitude in every sphere of

our lives

to be grateful to be alive to this day

to bring a gift to our life

as that day brings to us and the only

response we can cultivate to this day

is to thank you

and to know that we can bring that

wholeness back

and integrate in our lives and say

as in four canonical bibles we have

known

fear not stand in our holy ground as

moses did

take our shoes off of fear and say

mabhoi in sanskrit fear not

and we can have a fearless full-hearted

response to aliveness and this joy in

this

life together in this planet today

in sanskrit in our indian tradition we

call

if you take wholeness away from

wholeness wholeness remains

as fullness arises from fullness

i’ll finish with the sanskrit vars from

uponishads

purnapura

m

you