BREATHE, MEDITATE, RESONATE

Breathe. Meditate. Resonate — with this session featuring Bollywood actor Madhoo Shah, Rhea Pillai and Vedant Birla, who is currently serving as chairman and managing director of Birla PrecisionTechnologies, members of Flo Kolkata got an introduction to the much-needed world of self-care through practicing the art of breathing, meditating and relaxation. While the three recounted their stories of how their relationship with The Art of Living and just taking time out for themselves to concentrate on their breathing began, it was interesting to note how the stories overlapped. Vedant highlighted the importance of just focusing on breathing and how it helps in his field of work in the corporate world. Madhoo spoke about how she had always been immersed in a spiritual journey but is taking the time now to delve deeper into it to explore a practice that suits her pace and mind.

Rhea insisted on the importance of quietening down for the senses to get heightened so that we can really listen to ourselves and our inner voices. Rhea threw light on her own experience with Covid and how her breathing exercises helped her heart rate go down. She also believes that in these troubling times and one can take as much information they want or how much they can digest but with everything going on at the moment, sometimes, knowledge can fly out of the window but breathing stays.

Through the talk and workshop on meditation and breathwork, our members have learnt how to use the breath to calm anxieties and bring peace to mind. At Flo, we aim to bring more immersive learnings for members this year and hope to enrich lives with knowledge.

Four days of breathwork, four days of knowledge, four days of slowing down, four days of detox and four days prioritizing our health — the happiness program conducted by The Art of Living taught the members of Ficci Flo, Calcutta, how to breathe correctly and focus on their breathing during meditation. The members learnt to focus on things such as the Sudarshan Kriya, a technique that helps detox the mind and body and brings peace and calm to the entire nervous system. Learning a number of Sutras was part of the course on how to manage expectations, how to take responsibility and how to be happy by not focusing on the result but your action. As a result, the members had an enriching four days that transformed the lives of many. They were also joined in by stylist Ami Patel and singer Pratish Mhaske during the course of the workshop.