By Punya Srivastava
May 2014
The Life Positive Expo, Delhi, 2014, met with an unprecedented response and stood out for its remarkable combination of unique workshops, profound discourses and free-to-all exhibition, says Punya Srivastava
LP feels like family,” remarked Krishna Singh, one of the participants at the Life Positive Expo, Delhi. True indeed! And with every passing year, this family is increasing, thanks to our endeavours and our readers’ best wishes. Like every year, this year too, the daddy of all spiritual events in the Delhi calendar – the Life Positive Expo, February 21, 22, 23 – was a resounding success. Participants thronged to each of our six dynamic workshops, often challenging the capacity of the room. The brilliant and unique workshops, two master speakers, a free-to-all spiritual bazaar and the warmth of our participants, contributed to making this mega event the year’s highlight for all those associated with it. One laudable aspect of the event was the increasing presence of allopathic doctors, there to broaden their understanding of health and healing.
“The Life Positive Expo was indeed a positive and rejuvenating experience. Many thanks for this beautiful journey,” said Payal Gandhi, Gurgaon.
“The Expo has helped me gain some spiritual insights and I can proudly say that I have become a better person at the end of this three-day sojourn,” shares a grateful Medhavi Tyagi.
“I loved the choice of facilitators. Sanjiv Ranjan has become my favourite, for communicating profound matter with such simplicity,” shares an enthusiastic Geetika D Dogra from Delhi.
Below is a detailed report of this three-day extravaganza.
Day one
Inaugural address by Sister BK Shivani
Finding happiness in hard times might look improbable, but certainly not after listening to the ever impeccable Sister Shivani. Delivering the inaugural address at the Expo, Sister Shivani eloquently dwelt on the topic, explaining the difference between parastithi (situation influenced by external factors) and swastithi (situation influenced by one’s own self). “We need to understand that a situation does not create our state of mind. What we encounter is parastithi, and what we need to transform it into is swastithi,” she said to a packed hall.
She also explained that we hand over our life’s remote control to others, and then crave for freedom from their judgements. We depend upon others to make us feel good, and when they don’t meet our expectations, we get upset. “We seek others’ approval. ‘What will people say’ is our constant refrain. Even while getting ready in the morning, we tend to wear clothes to make an impression on others rather than wearing what we are comfortable in,” she said. Our other mistake is to engage in the constant battle of who is right and who is wrong. “The point here is that no one is right or wrong, but everyone is different from the rest. Instead of proving the other wrong, let’s teach ourselves to adjust with his or her samskars,” she added. Her wise words unlocked the secret of peace and happiness, and although practising it is a harder task, participants recognised that there was no other way to achieve them.
If you feel, you heal
Trupti Jayin’s Past-life Regression (PLR) workshop on the first day of the Expo invited a packed house. An occupational therapist from Mumbai, her popular TV series, Raaz Pichhle Janam Ka brought the concept of past-life regression to the general public. Trupti began the day-long session differentiating between the Physical Body that is the physical manifestation from seed to human where one can work through one’s karmas, the Etheric Body where one can travel in space but not time, the Emotional Body that is strongly connected to our sacral chakra, the Astral Body that is our transparent light body where we can cross the barriers of time albeit only into the past, the Spiritual Body that is the collective abode of stored memory, the Cosmic Body that is the equivalent of Sabhay Samadhi or the place where channelling can happen, and the Nirvanic Body, the equivalent of Nirbhay Samadhi where there is no seed but only potential.
Through two interactive sessions, participants were able to directly connect past-life experiences first to their inner child, and then to the exact physical point of their ache or illness. A desire for a home in Kasauli and a poor relationship with a brother was traced to the loss of property in Kasauli and loss of life at the hands of the same brother in a previous lifetime. Stab wounds in war in another century were correlated to physical ailments in exactly the same part of the body today.
Trupti, herself, a warm compassionate guide, encouraged participants to be open, to let what was coming to simply flow through. We might not know where our consciousness was taking us, she said, but we could trust it definitely to take us to that significant event we term as ‘trauma’, not to maroon us there but to once and for all heal.
Harmony of the body, mind and soul
The first day of the Expo was an exhilarating experience for participants attending Marie Elangovan’s workshop on healing through dance. The celebrated Bharata Natyam exponent’s grace and elegance, coupled with her unassuming and caring presence, captivated the participants. “She is a beautiful person, and her persona is reflective of her inner beauty,” said Babbu Gill, who had come all the way from Ludhiana. Marie, with a Canadian-French origin, has been in service to this dance form since 1991.
In the first session participants learned correct posture and gait, for a better flow of energy throughout the physical body. The second session was a delightful affair with the introduction of navrasas and how to incorporate them in daily life. The cherry on the cake was a mesmerising performance by Marie, titled Niranjali, depicting the rejuvenating and healing powers of nature.
“Dance helps us open up to the divine energy. It acts as a balm on our routine-weary body, mind, and spirit, and helps focus in a better way. Dance stimulates the nervous system and strengthens the mind-body connection,” explained Marie. At the end of the session, participants performed a brief stint in praise of Lord Ganesha, incorporating all that they had learnt throughout the day.
Day two
Secrets of self healing
Sanjiv Ranjan’s workshop on self-healing carried with it a touch of mystical power that belied his soft and unassuming personality.
Defining ill-health as only the absence of health, Sanjiv said that the body is equipped and designed to self-heal; however we complicate matters with our tendency to blame and resist. He defined the four keys to self healing as: capacity to take responsibility, eliminate fears, work on our beliefs, and loving ourselves. Asking participants to make a list of their fears, he encouraged them to see how it was limiting their lives and advised them to focus on the heart, each time fear assailed them. He led them through a beautiful meditation, asking them to visualise white light from the heart breaking through all the walls built around them, and to visualise a golden ball in the region of the heart shielding them with its protective golden light.
He then asked participants to make a list of their limiting beliefs, and to imagine the worst that could happen if these beliefs were true, and to accept them. He led them through another meditation to heal limiting beliefs, and replace them with positive ones.
Post-lunch, Sanjiv dove into the vast subject of self-love. The group was asked to read a powerful oath honouring themselves and to sign it too. There were other exercises they were asked to do, such as writing what their physical, emotional and mental states would be if they were well. With every meditation, Sanjiv added his own meditation and blessings. At the end of the day, most left with a sense of benediction and greater hope.
Medical Qi Gong
Master Tan Soo Kong’s workshop on medical Qi Gong attracted a packed house. Facilitating a workshop in India for the first time, Malaysia-based Master Kong, founder of Wellness Medical Qi Gong, enthralled the participants with the theory and practice of this ancient Chinese energy healing therapy.
“Any vibrating impurity within the human being manifests in the physical body as an illness. Qi Gong is an art to enhance qi and its flow in the body, which helps in synchronising one’s energy with that of the earth and the universe,” explained Master Kong. The workshop started with a brief summary of the therapy, and then took participants through various exercises to enhance the flow of qi in the body. According to him, Qi Gong works on each of our 50 trillion cells and plays an important part in maintaining cell metabolism. It restores membrane potential, opens membrane pores, increases oxygen flow, and removes waste. Thus, a number of breathing exercises were also incorporated in the workshop, followed by healing sessions in the end.
Qi Gong not only facilitates the energy flow but also helps in increasing the concentration and grasping abilities in a young mind. This fact was illustrated by a short video of his foundation where kids aged around four to 10 were merrily doing their school work, arts and crafts, mental maths, memory practice, and so on with blindfolds on! Participants, a number of them from a medical background, couldn’t help but marvel at the sight.
Day three
Mind, Memory, and Healing Power
Consider this… thoughts and emotions enter the brain, get converted into specific hormones in specific quantities, which in turn move through the blood and get converted into triphosphate energy residing in the mitochondria of our cells. Hence the quality of our thoughts and emotions directly affect the quality and level of our cellular energy.
B.K. Chandrashekhar Tiwari, a Rajayogi, Psycho Neurobics specialist, and pioneer of the SIGFA healing concept, in a dramatic demonstration, showed a packed hall of participants how even the memory of an incident that caused anger, depletes physical and aural (read spiritual) energy within seconds to a fraction of the original levels. The same happens with the use of the ubiquitous gadgetry we can’t seem to do without—mobile phones, iPods and iPads, computers and the like. A spellbound audience then learnt how to replenish these energy levels through charging water and food with colour therapy—orange for liquids, and green for solids.
The principle is simple. We charge our brains to the frequency of the colour necessary by concentrating on that colour, and then transfer those thought waves to water or food. Chandrashekhar introduced us to the different colours associated with each chakra and thus to specific organs. He explained the effect of meditation and mudra when combined with this colour therapy, and how illness is virtually annihilated. And the result? We become generators of our own healing power. At the root of this seemingly miraculous emergence of such ability lies the simple fact that we are visual beings and thus our minds respond to visual stimuli—pictures, forms, and colour. These easy-to-absorb imprints translate into greater mind power, memory power and ultimately healing power.
Creating inner Peace, Health and Balance
“When the mind is empty, you can do whatever you want to do,” said Dr. Rangana Rupavi Choudhuri at the start of her workshop on EFT and matric reimprinting. Sharing techniques that have proven a healing benefit personally or with those she has interacted with around the world, Rangana was a live wire throughout the day. Starting with her own story of fighting cancer and emerging victorious, she touched many hearts during the course of the day.
She exhorted all to ask questions to the body about what it is feeling and where; rating the intensity of the feeling or discomfort. She then went a step further and asked everybody to visualise the feeling and describe its colour and sound. She asked to imagine a hollow tube in the shape of the infinity symbol, and place ourselves in one of the circles, and the problem in the second one. She then asked us to speak the affirmation while imagining a bright blue light travelling through the hollow tube. This detachment process can be used to heal issues like fear, frustrations, anger, anxiety as well as manifesting things like good health, money, job in life.
Many people found a marked difference in their discomforts and disorders by the end of the workshop, owing to EFT tappings and affirmations. The session was quite interactive as well with people working as a group, and sending love and blessings to each individual coming forward for healing. Dr. Navin Dhir, a surgeon by profession, had a hearing impairment that got relieved to quite an extent by the end of the day, courtesy all the unconditional love and acceptance flowing in the room along with the meridian tappings.
Valedictory address by Swami Nikhilananda
Swami Nikhilananda, the head of the Chinmaya Mission, Delhi, graced the Expo on the last day with his learned presence. Speaking on how to overcome negative emotions, Swamiji stressed upon the significance of using the intellect judiciously. “Our emotions are reactions to external stimuli. To have them is not wrong but we need to use our intellect and analyse these emotions. Intellect has the ability to understand emotions – it analyses them, judges and discriminates between them. If we don’t use our intellect, then our mind will take over and react. Problem arises when we react to the situation that we don’t like. One must respond, not react,” he elucidated.
He further went on to compare the intellect to the head manager in a corporate company who is in charge of sorting the files (problems). Most times our files are unable to reach the manager as the clerk (mind) himself takes the decision on the former’s behalf. This results in chaos.
He then proceeded to point out a few steps as a solution to this problem. Creating positive stimuli around us or simply, changing the surrounding environment, is the first step. One also needs to change his/her perception of looking at the problem. “We can bring about a change in our samskaras any given time in our lives, by changing our perception and using our intellect wisely,” he concluded.
Exhibition
This year, one of the liveliest facets of the Expo – the free-to-all exhibition area – scintillated with an added feature: free one-hour talk sessions, where healers talked on topics like ayurveda, breast cancer, eating disorders, and siddha yoga. This initiative met with huge success as people teemed to the canopy for some free yet valuable gyaan.
The exhibition venue was abuzz with verve and excitement as people browsed through various stalls. People thronged the Loving Yourself Foundation stall to get their hands on books by bestselling author Louise L Hay as well as other goodies like angel books and card decks. Sai-ish Energy Crystals offered hand-picked and hand-crafted crystals, precious and semi-precious gemstones, and jewellery. Arya Vaidya Sala stall offered free ayurvedic consultation for various diseases. The Mystic Violet Agni stall by Jaspal Soni was a hit among people as most of them felt rejuvenated after the free healing sessions. The Meta Health stall by Anu Mehta offered meta-medicine and meta-healing for emotional cleansing.
MCKS Pranic Healing stall offered pranic healing courses, along with cds of Grand Master Choa Kok Sui. Tarot Card reading by Rashmi Miglani was an instant success with people thronging her stall to get their readings done. Automatic yoga by Adhyatma Vigyan Satsang Kendra, Jodhpur, offered easy and uncomplicated yoga exercises. The ever popular Blossom Kochhar displayed various aroma therapy and beauty products in her stall. The Divine Life Institute offered programmes on food habits, lifestyle, behaviour – things which put people on the path of spirituality and connects them to universal energy. International Peace Foundation by Sumant Kaul provided healing sessions on Theta Healing. A stall by Astroved enlightened people about the science of Nadi astrology. Reiki Healing Foundation, Dynamic Sigfa Healing and Acupressure Healthcare International were some of the popular stalls in the exhibition.
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