Alexandra has practiced Heartfulness for over thirty years and is a certified Heartfulness trainer. She holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Sciences and spent six years in research and development in Nepal. Since 1999, she has taught the Alexander Technique to individuals, companies, and trainee teachers. She lives in Vienna with her family.

Alexandra Mazek

<h3>ALEXANDRA MAZEK and THOMAS HIRT show how our movements reflect and reshape our inner condition, and how fostering the body–mind–spirit connection can transform the way we experience and respond to life.</h3>How do we embody the meditative state in daily life? What does it reveal about the way we move through the world? In this series, we explore how the way we move both reflects our inner condition and shapes it—and how paying attention to movement can help align the two.Daaji has observed that the way we approach even a simple act—like opening a door—reflects our inner condition. &nbsp;The attitude we bring and the care with which we act reveal something of our state within.Hearing this idea, I was taken back to my early teenage years. I was a nervous person: my movements erratic, my mind restless, my body tense. Sudden bursts of anger and tantrums were common. Yet the idea of being present in my actions deeply attracted me. Intuitively, I sensed that a peaceful mind is reflected in the gentleness of physical movement, just as Daaji described—but I had no real way of approaching it. I longed to change—to become steadier and more at ease—to be someone who could sit by the riverbank and simply listen to the sound of the water, as Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha does. I tried in different ways to arrive there. I tried yoga asanas, pranayama, meditation, and chanted mantras. I fell in love with the wrong man and tried to expand my consciousness through drugs. Inevitably, my nervous system suffered. Eventually, my body sent a signal I could not ignore: I lost my voice. &nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Daaji has observed that the way we approach even a simple act—like opening a door—reflects our inner condition. &nbsp;The attitude we bring and the care with which we act reveal something of our state within.</h4><hr>&nbsp;Every attempt to speak resulted in a strangled, trembling sound that made others stare. My fear and nervousness were suddenly exposed—most painfully in moments when I wanted to appear confident. I could no longer hide what was happening within me. Perhaps this created the humility to admit that I had to start again—that I did not know, and that I wanted to learn.Doctors were unable to help me with my voice. I then encountered the Alexander Technique, and one year later, Heartfulness meditation. Through the Alexander Technique, I learned how my habitual reactions were expressed in my body—and how they could be interrupted by consciously inhibiting unnecessary tension. It would become a critical tool in learning how to pause these patterns.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">First Step: Take Care of Your Spine</h4>In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali lists illness (vyadhi) as the first of nine obstacles, or vikshepas, on the spiritual path. Drawing on this, Daaji points to the role of the body—particularly the alignment of the spine and head—in supporting our ability to turn inward. &nbsp;When the body is misaligned, it becomes harder to remain steady and receptive; when it is balanced, that support is present. “When the spine is straight, we conserve energy in another way. With the body and head upright, gravitation doesn’t lead to more energy being dissipated than needed.”&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/knowing_oneself2_3303f32b17.webp" alt="knowing-oneself2.webp"></figure>&nbsp;<h4 style="text-align:justify;">From Habit to Conscious Awareness</h4>Every morning, as you get out of bed, you stand up against the pull of gravity without thinking. How did you learn to do that? Posture is shaped by habits formed in early childhood. A baby spends much of its waking time learning to move—gradually developing coordination, balance, and an internal sense of how the body is organized in space. To reach for a door handle, I rely on a subconscious sense of my arm’s length, the range of my joints, and the nerve connections that translate the wish to open the door into movement. At the same time, my body must orient itself in space—balancing against gravity on two feet. Thank goodness for movement habits, which allow all of this to happen without extra thinking. Over time, these patterns become automatic—and much of what we do happens without our awareness.Usually, it is pain, tension, dizziness, or other disturbances (the voice, in my case) that act as inbuilt indicators that something is not as it should be—that some of our programming needs re-evaluation. This is the point at which we must become consciously interested in what we do when we sit, stand, and move, and in the internal concepts that shape our movements.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">The Spine and Trunk</h4>Let’s explore what a “straight spine” means and how the balance of the head influences it. The spine supports the body and allows us to orient ourselves in space—but where do you imagine it actually is? Where does it begin and end?&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/knowing_oneself3_4461243ead.webp" alt="knowing-oneself3.webp"></figure>&nbsp;The two points that define the spine’s top and bottom are the atlas and the tailbone. Let’s call everything in between the top and lowest part of the spine the torso, which includes the neck and the pelvis (connected via the sacroiliac joints). The legs attach to the torso at the hip joints, and the head rests atop the spine at the atlanto-occipital joint.The way the head relates to the spine is especially important. For example, when looking down at your phone, you can either push your neck forward or let your head tilt at its natural joint with the spine. These are two different ways of performing the same action, with very different effects—not only on the body, but on how we experience the action itself.<h4 style="text-align:center;">How Forward Head and Neck Posture Increases Neck Load</h4>&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/knowing_oneself4_7ef67fd688.webp" alt="knowing-oneself4.webp"><figcaption>A chronically forward-bent head-neck posture places strain on the neck. Muscles in the back tighten, while the front structures are compressed. Over time, this can affect mobility, circulation, and nerve function.</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/knowing_oneself5_1a8ebecfca.webp" alt="knowing-oneself5.webp"><figcaption>Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam, Hans Holbein the Younger, Kunstmuseum Basel, 1523. The head inclines at the top of the spine while the neck and back remain upright, reflecting a coordinated use of the whole.</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;<h4 style="text-align:justify;">Becoming Curious about What We Do</h4>How do we react when we see these images? Do we want to correct others—or ourselves? Do we remember being told we have “bad posture”?Labels like “good” or “bad” rarely bring about change. If your goal is to check your messages and you crane your neck while looking at the phone, the brain registers it as successful—you achieved the task, even if unhealthy habits were involved.Instead of thinking in terms of right and wrong, we can become curious about what we do. The clearer we are about our actions, the more choice we have in how we carry them out.For example, imagine yourself sitting at the table, about to eat. Which part of you moves forward? You might bend from the waist, hinge at the hip joints, move the eyes and head, or crane the neck. Each produces a different result.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">Practical Explorations</h4>To explore these relationships in your own experience, you can begin with the videos accessible via the following QR codes. They introduce key points of orientation in the body—such as the atlanto-occipital joint and the hip joints—and show how small differences in movement can change the overall coordination.In the first video, Thomas demonstrates how the head balances and moves at its joint with the spine. &nbsp;<img class="image_resized" style="width:9.36%;" src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/knowing_oneself6_qrcode_headjoint_1c4fbcbf6c.webp" alt="knowing-oneself6-qrcode-headjoint.webp">In the second, Alexandra explores sitting and bending, showing how the relationship between the pelvis and spine affects balance and ease.<img class="image_resized" style="width:8.15%;" src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/knowing_oneself7_qrcode_pelvis_58e492014c.webp" alt="knowing-oneself7-qrcode-pelvis.webp">From there, you can begin to notice these same patterns in your daily activities. When you sit, where is your weight—on your sit-bones, or behind, or in front of them? When you bend forward, what initiates the movement—the hip joints or the waist? When you look at your phone, does the movement come from the eyes and head, or from the neck?You may find it helpful to use a mirror or ask someone to take a photo—not to correct yourself, but to see more clearly what you are already doing.Solution to the spine quiz: the middle image shows the full length of the spine—often different from how we imagine it.

Knowing Oneself—Awareness through Action

Alice Russo

<hr><h4>ALICE RUSSO shares her journey of letting her heart guide her life.</h4><hr>I have made the awesome realization of having reached a place where it is no longer primarily my mind influencing me, but my heart influencing my mind. And this seems to be the safest, most secure way of life. For a long time I have understood that the mind needs to be surrendered to the spirit, and it has always been my intention as a woman of faith. But I suppose the subconscious mind was still preventing that friendship, mergence, oneness of mind and heart, practically and experientially. It was always a ‘coming back’ to the truth of grace with effort, rather than something automatic or abiding.My life experiences have repeatedly brought me to the edge of a physical sense of safety and well-being, with no choice but to take a leap of faith in being upheld by the Invisible. Time after time I have found myself to be completely supported, aided, and provided for. These challenges have exercised and strengthened my belief, and proven the complete reliability of our Source. I had always been brought back to a sense of solid ground under my feet for stretches of rest. I now feel as though I am safely established in a life of faith alone, living willingly and happily with a moment-to-moment dependence on the Invisible.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">There is no worldly sense of security that tops a life governed by the heart.</h4><hr>The mind needs to know the truth that is contained within the heart, but there is often a disconnect because the old, unconscious, habitual patterns of the mind keep us separated and limited. We see a certain experience and we auto-react and define it as trouble, so we take action to try to rectify the problem. We end up in a life of struggle, continuously striving to putting out fires, rather than resting in the understanding that we can just walk right through them untouched.There is no problem; there is only something the mind is defining as a problem.This is where the uninhibited heart will leap out and adjust that auto-thought if the heart has the dominant role.The heart has always been there, ready and waiting. It’s the clutter, the dross, and the unconscious, subconscious patterns and impressions that block our liberation. Although I have been a dedicated seeker for many years, it is without doubt the help of Transmission in the Heartfulness way that is clearing the path to my heart, allowing that mindheart connection. There is nothing in the world more important that this. There is no worldly sense of security that tops a life governed by the heart.<hr><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article by ALICE RUSSO</h4><hr>

The invisible

Alice Walker

Imagination

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Aline Nicolai

<hr>I have French genes, but my appearance is the only European factor about me! I was born in Tamil Nadu and have spent most of my life in the south of India being chased by cows. I think I have had a very “blended” upbringing – a concoction of European and Indian influences that has shaped my worldview in a unique way.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/aline_nicolai_9ccfcb689f.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T03:25:21.497Z"> My passion for languages probably developed first from the fact that I lived in a bilingual household, and also in a country where most people speak at least two or three languages. The environment sharpened my ear to hearing, interpreting and recreating unknown sounds. When I started interacting with a sea of international people, it irked me not to be able to communicate with them in their own languages, and it seemed unfair that they were the only ones putting in effort to be understood. So, I started picking up any language I could get my hands on and ended up trying Spanish, Tamil, Hindi, Mandarin Chinese, German, Russian and Italian. I have varying grasps over these languages and it is tough to remember them when there is no one to practice with.When I do have the opportunity to practice, I enjoy it so much, and when I don’t have a class or language partner, I use websites or texting applications to practice with native speakers. I really need to feel the drive from inside to sit down, learn and improve myself.My current vision is to work at the UN, a multicultural and multilingual environment. It took me a while to realize that I could use my passion for languages as more than a hobby, and now I’m ecstatic that this is a possibility.I haven’t really felt a compulsion towards any one career path, so I don’t have fixed career plans, and I am open to living in any country and culture. Given that, there is one thing that I know I couldn’t do without, and that is meditation. Keeping that part of my life has proved challenging, especially in the West – being a 20-year-old who is vegetarian and doesn’t drink is already enough to set me apart. I have had a hard time balancing out that spiritual side with my everyday life, so much so that the discrepancy between the two has sometimes shocked me into stopping my practice. That isn’t the solution though, as I have found that being less centered makes it harder to deal with conflicts and stressful situations.So, although I don’t have a specific dream to follow, I know it will pan out in time. I try to remind myself to focus on developing myself in the present so that I will be ready for any situation that arises along the way.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/pursuit_dream_aline2_80576f75fa.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T03:26:32.070Z"><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article by ALINE NICOLAI</h4><hr>

In pursuit of a dream

Alison has worked with people in prison for 22 years as a Therapeutic Recreation Practitioner. She has developed interventions to support healing for people with complex challenges resulting from childhood trauma, poverty, and mental health issues.



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Alison Granger-Brown

<h4>ALISON GRANGER-BROWN lives on Gabriola Island, BC, Canada, and works with indigenous women in the prison system. She shares one woman’s story of courage and personal transformation. It is a reminder that even the most marginalized can find their way toward peace and purpose in life.</h4><hr>This is about my journey alongside an Ojibwa woman who was my client and who became my friend. We met in the women’s correctional system in British Columbia, Canada. At first I was afraid of her. That fear diminished as I became increasingly involved in her healing passage, and she grew from inmate to mother to researcher to colleague and finally to hospice patient. I traveled through many systems with her and saw first-hand the deeply ingrained racism in every institution and government organization with which she had to navigate and negotiate.She was the victim of childhood poverty, daily sexual abuse, and intergenerational trauma as the daughter of a residential school survivor. She experienced institutional racism from early childhood when she was removed from her family at the age of six and taken into government “care” through her childhood, to her involvement with the justice system’s over-incarceration of Indigenous people, especially women. From an early age she used drugs, alcohol, and violence to survive and manage the emotional pain of a life fraught with injustice. The group home she was sent to as a little girl was so diabolical that she set fire to the school room. How hurt is a child to act in such a way?Gradually, over time, her strong self-will and determination transitioned from harmful manipulation to healthy independence to helpful influencer in supporting other women like herself. She drew on her strengths and reshaped how she applied them, for example her sense of humor. She could see the absurdity in some rules and shifted from aggression to humor. Her survival skills turned from anti-social and criminal, to creative and legal, in order to meet the needs of herself and her young son.I watched and wondered at her resilience and commitment to change, with the absolute devotion to breaking the cycle of her family’s trauma from colonial oppression to the growth and development of her son and his future. She succeeded in change; the system did not and has not. This is the lesson – we cannot change the situation, the system, or the story, but we can change how we respond and react. That pause between input to output is where we have our personal power.Her resilience stemmed from the true ability to live in hope. Not false or unfounded wishful thinking, not a mulling over the potential probability of optimism, but a real belief in the possibility that we can effect change in our own capacity to manage and succeed. Here lies the lesson of hope.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/hope2_1_1b731d7820.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T12:58:42.391Z" alt="hope2-1"><hr><hr><h4>This is the lesson&nbsp; – we cannot change the situation, the system, or the story,&nbsp; but we can change how we respond and react.</h4><hr><hr>We may dream of systems changing, of the “other” seeing it our way …well good luck. Hope rests on finding and nurturing our self-will and building our capacity for creative thinking to find new pathways, new strategies, and new solutions. Every one of us has this capability if we look inside. We are the system, we are the only change possible, “We got this.”My friend died of cancer because she went undiagnosed, even with repeated requests for an examination by her doctor. That is another story. She never lost her sense of humor, her acute observations of the absurd, and her fierce determination. She survived several years longer than predicted out of pure love for her son, to make sure he would have a memory of her. He was six when she died. He is now sixteen, six foot five, and a gentle, funny, healthy, hopeful young man. He has already overcome painful challenges in his life, and I believe he will draw on the resilience he learned from his mother for the rest of his life to continue to grow and heal the historical wounds his family and his people have endured. He is the best next generation image of his mother, as she hoped he would be.<hr><hr><h4>Hope rests on finding and nurturing our self-will&nbsp; and building our capacity for creative thinking&nbsp; to find new pathways, new strategies, and new solutions.&nbsp; Every one of us has this capability if we look inside.&nbsp; We are the system, we are the only change possible, “We got this.”</h4><hr><hr>

Hope: one prisoner’s emancipation

Alok is a school student living at Kanha Shanti Vanam, India. He loves music, gardening, writing, and has a zest for life and discovering new things.



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Alok Anand

<h4
 class="block-heading"
 id="h-alok-anand-is-almost-a-teenager-here-he-answers-questions-on-friendship-and-how-his-friends-bring-peace-courage-and-confidence-to-his-life"
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 ALOK ANAND
 is almost a teenager! Here he answers questions on friendship and how
 his friends bring peace, courage and confidence to his life.
 </h4>

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 <h4
 class="has-text-color block-heading"
 id="h-the-qualities-i-value-most-in-friends"
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 >
 The qualities I value most in friends
 </h4>

 
 When we like the same things and like to play the same games. I love
 friends who have the ability to understand me, and to care for me when I
 need it. On the surface, I am very funny, energetic, optimistic, crazy,
 and sometimes very annoying; but inside I am very sensitive and can
 easily get hurt. People are unpredictable, and I don’t mind that, but I
 still have feelings, and some people can’t seem to understand that. The
 ones who do understand are those I call my true friends. This is the
 quality I look for most in a true friend: to be able to understand and
 care.
 

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <hr />

 <h4 class="has-text-align-center block-heading">
 The ones who do understand are those I call my true friends.
 This is the quality I look for most in a true friend: to
 be able to understand and care.
 </h4>

 <hr />

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <h4 class="has-text-color block-heading" style="color: #265269">
 The type of friend I want to be
 </h4>

 
 I want to be a friend who is playful, fun, caring, funny, not too
 annoying, and kind. Most importantly, I want to be a friend who is able
 to understand others, so if they need to share something, they can come
 to me and I can help them solve it. I want to be a friend who is
 trustworthy.
 

 <h4 class="has-text-color block-heading" style="color: #29556b">
 How my friends have affected the way I deal with life and others
 </h4>

 My friends have helped me realize things about myself, like:

 <ul>
 <li>
 Sometimes, in excitement, I hurt people. Now I understand that I need
 to calm down. This came from Harita and Pushpa.
 </li>
 <li>
 I should never ever give up, because if I do I will tend to give up
 more easily next time. This came from Rahul.
 </li>
 </ul>

 When I am bored, I look forward to playing with my friends.

 
 I am sometimes scared to do the things I must do. But my friends Stella,
 Rahul, and Saral have told me that they shall be there for me, and that
 has made me bold and strong.
 

 <hr class="vertical-space1" />

Friends

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Amelia earhart

AMELIE SU

<h4 style="text-align:center;">AMELIE SU offers a blessing to her friend.</h4>In the serenity, I feel a love that is everywhere.It comes from the sky and from the earth.I am not searching for it, but was already in it.It is like the air that surrounds me, and enters me silently, gently, but surely, supporting me.I began to understand that life is not about constant acquisition, but about learning to loosen the grip between loss and possession.I would like to pass on this love that I touched in meditation to my friend and her family.&nbsp;May her father be less sick, and may they be surrounded by tenderness even in the midst of their suffering.&nbsp;May they not be consumed by fear, but be drawn by the unseen light.&nbsp;May they find a place of peace even in the midst of storms.May this love return to my own heart, so that I may continue to practice—to <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/destiny-freedom-of-choice" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">practice freedom</a>, to practice letting go, and to practice compassion, to regain my agency over my life, one deep breath at a time.May the world be soft on all lonely souls, and may we all be illuminated by <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/gratitude-companion-kindness" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">kindness</a>.Even one moment is enough to light a lamp in a long dark night.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Artwork by LAKSHMI GADDAM</h4><hr>

Prayer - from meditation

Amir is a trained psychologist and educator with an interest in mind-body-heart medicine. He has been practicing and investigating how silence and stillness plays a role in our well-being and happiness. Amir is a heartfulness and mindfulness trainer, holding workshops and retreats internationally in close collaboration with Heartfulness Institute and other centers of excellence. He lives with his wife and two children in India.



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Amir H. Imani

<hr><h4>AMIR IMANI explains the root cause of stress and what we can do to remove it.</h4><hr><h3 style="text-align:center;">What is the ABC of stress reduction?</h3>This question takes us to the root cause of stress, and the one effective way out of it. The very root of stress is really the lack of compassion and kindness we have towards ourselves. This is the A of the ABC of Stress.<h4>A. The root of stress</h4>It may sound odd, but if we dive deep inside when we are really under pressure, we will see that it is not only the toothache, or the upcoming mortgage payment, or the feeling low and depressed, but the fact that we do not want to feel the pain or the worry that makes us suffer.The closing of ourselves to life and what we are going through at difficult times is what causes us the most pain. Put it this way: it is not only the stressor that determines our level of suffering, but the quality of our relationship with it.Here is an example: first consider a day when you wake up early in the morning, spend some quiet time with yourself, walking, reading, breathing and stretching, before starting your working day. Then take a day when you jump out of bed and hit the road, hurrying all the way through your day. Your reactions to life and what it brings you are different. I welcome you to test it. An incident of, say, somebody cutting you out on the expressway will affect you differently on those two days. Perhaps on the first day you have more space for life. This brings us to the question: what can I do to deal with stress in a better way? This is the B of the ABC of Stress.<h4>B. What can I do?</h4>The answer is in the question. If the root cause of suffering is the lack of kindness, then the remedy is compassion and gentleness towards ourselves at all times, even when things are really stressful and out of our control. Having a soft corner in ourselves for the bad and miserable to come, stay and leave, maintains a degree of balance and reduces suffering tremendously. It is like being in the midst of a storm, but not getting lost in it; being in the water but not getting drowned. This is possible if we permit ourselves to be the way we are moment-by-moment, no matter how unwell we feel.How can we do this? This is the C of the ABC of Stress.<h4>C. How can I do it?</h4>Cultivate heartfulness and compassion. Take time to practise opening up to ourselves – to the way we are and the way we feel, in whatever way it works for us. This gives us the ability to do so even when things are not that good in our lives. There are numerous ways of training the heart to rest and return to its original state of openness and acceptance. Here are some of my favourites:A slow and silent walk in nature, with no aim in mind. Just walk and take in nature the way it is through our inner and outer senses.Sit silently and in a relaxed way with the mobile phone switched off. If you wish, you can bring the attention to the heart very gently and allow the heart to be the way it is without forcing anything.Lie down, staying awake, and pay attention to the way your body is, however it might be from moment to moment.Eat a meal with your awareness in the present with the food. Stay with how it tastes and feels to be nurtured by nature, thankfully.When feeling peace and gratitude, share these feelings with others by allowing the heart to open up and send joy and calm to all beings.<hr><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article by AMIR H. IMANI</h4><hr>

ABC of Stress Management

A self-professed liberal who at the same time loves the religious traditions of his native India, Amish has brought to life the mythology of Lord Shiva and the Ramayana for readers worldwide, and has developed a pop culture celebrity status as one of India’s most popular authors.

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Amish Tripathi

<h4>In this exclusive interview, AMISH TRIPATHI speaks with ELIZABETH DENLEY about what propelled him to write fiction. A self-professed liberal who at the same time loves the religious traditions of his native India, Amish has brought to life the mythology of Lord Shiva and the Ramayana for young readers, and has developed a pop culture celebrity status in the process.</h4>Q: Welcome Amish.Thank you.Q: Through your books it’s obvious that you love mythology and the ancient traditions of India. Where did this love come from?<img class="image-style-align-left" src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Amish_4e3065f3a4.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T07:59:54.351Z" alt="Amish">It’s my good fortune of birth. It’s not just the ancient traditions of India, but ancient traditions across the world. My grandfather was a pandit in Kashi, in Benaras, and he was a teacher as well at the Benaras Hindu University. So I learnt a lot from the family. We grew up learning our stories, our traditions, our philosophies. Both my parents are deeply religious, and one of the good things they poured into us is the respect and love for knowledge and an attitude of questioning everything. Nothing should be taken on blind faith.So one of the things I learnt early in life from my family was that in Vedic Sanskrit – the language of the ancient Indians – there was no word for ‘blasphemy’. Since the concept didn’t exist, the word didn’t exist. No one was beyond question – no one and nothing. And if you have that kind of attitude and yet you’re willing to learn philosophy, willing to explore faith, willing to explore spirituality, you can have a very rich life. It’s my good fortune that I learnt this from the family.We weren’t a very well-off family; we had a very humble beginning. But despite the constraints, there were always a lot of books at home. And since we saw our parents reading, it was natural for us to start reading. I read, my wife reads, and my son also reads. Children tend to do what their parents do, not what their parents say. So maybe these were the two things: learning from the family, and lots of reading.<img class="image-style-align-right" src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/tradition3_7ef4337981.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T08:00:36.003Z" alt="tradition3">Q: Did you always follow the religious traditions of your parents, or did you challenge this?I was deeply religious when I was young, but at the age of 15 or 16, when I entered college, I became an atheist. I was an atheist for more than a decade – an extreme atheist. I thought that God was wrong, and religion was wrong; that it was silly. Writing my first book, The Immortals of Meluha, slowly brought me back to faith.Q: Can you tell us how that happened?I think all of us discover the form of the Divine that works for us. For someone like me, who is naturally rebellious and anti-elitist, I guess Lord Shiva was the best god to pull me back to faith, and I say this with no disrespect to any other god or goddess. He is the ultimate god of rebels. He is a rule-breaker. He exists outside society, and he is a brilliant dancer and musician. He is very attractive for those of us who are rebellious by nature. For me this worked best.Q: So is that what drew you to write about him in your first trilogy?It was actually the other way around. Writing about him kind of pulled me back.Q: Okay, so why did you start with him?My book began with a thesis of pure philosophy, an explanation of the question ‘what is evil?’ And that was converted into a story later. The idea was to convey the philosophy through the story. And if I am writing a story to convey a philosophy on evil, the best hero is the destroyer of evil, Lord Shiva.Q: Your first book was published in 2010, and since then you’ve gone on to become the celebrity pop-culture author of India. It’s a big change from your humble beginnings. How has it been?It’s been fantastic! I worked in banking for fourteen years, and I resigned only after my second book. Part of having a humble beginning is you tend to be pragmatic about your life choices, so I resigned when my royalty check became more than my salary. It’s been a fantastic ride. I get to do what I love, which is writing, reading, traveling to historical places, and I actually get paid for it!Q: Why do you think your books have been so popular? Each of them has sold millions of copies. They are about traditional Indian mythology, and most of your readers are young. What’s the magic formula, Amish?When my first book was ready, every publishing house rejected it, saying,“This has no hope of success, because the primary readership today are the youth and youth aren’t really interested in religion. Even if the story is fast-paced, you’re writing about a god.”One of the publishers said, “You have these ‘gyan sessions’ where you are discussing philosophies, and this will not work with the youth.” I was advised to write a campus romance instead. So I actually self-published the first book, and it took off, and then many of the publishers who had rejected the book came back to me. It’s not that I predicted it and hence wrote it a certain way. I just wrote the book the way it came to me.So the pendulum swung to the other extreme, where every tradition was attacked, and many people felt unmoored and uprooted. If there are no roots to hold onto, that doesn’t feel like a good life either. Today humanity is doing so well materially; we have never had it better. In terms of physical security we’ve never had it better. Per capita violence is the lowest humanity has ever seen. And yet loneliness and unhappiness have probably never been higher.Many people want to find an ideal means to be traditional and also liberal: where you can feel a sense of connectedness to the Divine and tradition, yet still respect LGBT rights, respect women’s rights, respect the environment etc. I think many of these ancient stories serve that need.<hr>There is no point judging others. There is no point mulling over the past&nbsp; or worrying about the future. Learn from your past, plan for your future,&nbsp; but don’t get obsessed by it. The only thing in your control is this moment&nbsp; and your decision in this moment. So life should be about learning to make better choices now, and that’s the way to approach these stories.<hr>Q: <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/ramayana-to-reality-the-continuous-search-for-sanjeevini" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mythological</a> stories are incredibly dynamic and non-judgmental. Tell us more about that.In fact that’s another intriguing thing about the ancient Indian way. Vedic Sanskrit did not have a word for ‘judgment’ either. Again, that concept did not exist.The entire approach to these stories was not to judge them, and it’s not that the gods or goddesses judged us, either. The entire perspective was to look at those stories, see the archetypes, learn from them and apply the knowledge in our own lives. The philosophy is very clear: the only thing that is in our control is our own choice within this moment. Our past is not in our control, our future is not in our control, and what other people do is certainly not in our control.So there is no point judging others. There is no point mulling over the past, or worrying about the future. Learn from your past, plan for your future, but don’t get obsessed by it. The only thing in your control is this moment and your decision in this moment. So life should be about learning to make better choices now, and that’s the way to approach these stories.If you take judgment away, the floodgates open up for learning. Judgment actually stops our ability to learn. In the Ramayan, Lord Ram is the hero and Ravan is the villain. We can learn from Lord Ram, but we can also learn from Ravan. Our task is not to judge him but to learn from him.Q: The first series was the Shiva trilogy. The second one is the Ramayan. Tell us more.The Shiva trilogy has three books: The Immortals of Meluha, The Secret of the Nagas, and The Oath of the Vayuputras. And that was my imagination of what could have been the adventure of a man called Shiva, who lived 4,000 years ago, whose adventure was so grand that he was looked upon as a god. He discovered the Divine within himself.The Ram Chandra series is an interpretation of the Ramayan, literally ‘the travels of Ram’. And I am experimenting with a slightly complex storytelling style, called the multi-linear narrative.The first book, Ram – Scion of Ishvaku, is from the birth of Lord Ram to the kidnapping of Lady Sita. The second book, Sita – Warrior of Mithila, is from the birth of Lady Sita to the kidnapping of Lady Sita. And the third book, Ravan, which I am writing right now, which will come out by mid 2019, is from the birth of Ravan to the kidnapping of Lady Sita. The fourth book will be a common book up until the death of Ravan, and the fifth book will be about Lord Ram fighting his actual enemies. Ravan was only an opponent; his actual enemies were in his own land.<hr>Perhaps the way to look at Ravan is that he was a genuinely brilliant man, with an uncontrolled ego. Even if you are as talented as him, if you cannot control your ego, it’s not going to end well for you.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/tradition2_b5b2c861c2.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T08:01:19.020Z" alt="tradition2">It’s a mix of different interpretations. You know, the modern Indian version of the Ramayan is actually a 1980s television serial, and if you see the really ancient version, the Valmiki Ramayan, he is not presented as a pure evil demon. He had strengths too. So the first Ramayan, the Valmiki Ramayan, was actually written from that nuanced perspective. He was a devout Lord Shiva worshipper, he was extremely intelligent, and he was a master of the Vedas. There’s a stringed instrument called the rudra veena, and it is like the sitar turbo-charged. Even the musical masters can’t play it, let alone master it. And it is believed that Ravan invented the rudra veena. Perhaps the way to look at Ravan is that he was a genuinely brilliant man, with an uncontrolled ego. Even if you are as talented as him, if you cannot control your ego, it’s not going to end well for you.Q: You’ve also written a non-fiction book, Immortal India. Tell us about that.Till Immortal India, I’d written fiction books. Step 1 was always some philosophy that I wanted to convey. The story was step 2, like a wrapper around that philosophy. The core philosophy at the heart of the Shiva trilogy is, “What is evil?”As the first step is normally the philosophy and the second step is the story, there are many readers who go deeper into the philosophy. So I wanted to write a book that just speaks of step 1, the philosophies, in simple bite sized articles. This book has my thoughts and musings on various subjects like spirituality, historical issues, science, and things like that.Q: What next, Amish?Right now I’m writing Ravan, the third book of the Ram Chandra series. I have various story ideas in mind, enough to keep myself busy for at least 20 to 25 years. I have 9 or 10 book series in mind. I’ve left clues for all of them in the Shiva trilogy. So even if I release a book 30 years from now, I have left a clue in the Shiva trilogy. I have enough work to do to make sure that I finish all those books before I die. I don’t want to carry them to my cremation pyre.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/tradition4_696bb3dad5.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T08:02:13.082Z" alt="tradition4">Q: A lot of your readers are young. How do you engage with young people? What role do you think your books play in helping them move forward into modern India?Today India is a country of youth. Coupled with that are the dramatic changes that have been happening in India since 1991.In fact, many say that our true mental independence as Indians started from 1991, not 1947, because after centuries of failure we started rising again in 1991. And that started the return of the historical self-confidence that defined India for many centuries.Angus Maddison, the British economist, has shown that for 15 of the last 20 centuries, India was the number one economy in the world. Of the remaining 5, thrice we were the number two economy. And we were extremely productive in science, medicine, navigation and everything else. We lost all of that in the last few centuries. Now you see a return of the historic self-confidence, but there’s also still the element of insecurity, which is why you find unnecessary aggression at times. And there’s also this youthful charge with it. This is a process of massive change.And in that story, who drank the poison so that it would not hurt others? It was Lord Shiva. That is why he has a blue throat. And that is what I suggest to people who are devotees of Lord Shiva: behave like a god. There is a process of change that’s happening right now. A lot of the effects will be positive, and will be good for India, but there are some negatives too. All of us devotees of Lord Shiva should behave like Lord Shiva: drink that poison, take that negativity out. Speak politely, speak nicely, speak positive things. Take the negativity out so that India moves in the right direction.<hr>This is such a wonderful time to be Indian! Nowadays you can dream any dream, and chances are you can pursue it. We’re doing well.<hr>Q: So is this your main guidance for young people today? How would you tell them to live their lives?I would say this is such a wonderful time to be Indian! When I was growing up there weren’t so many opportunities. Why did I choose banking as a career? Because there weren’t many opportunities. Nowadays you can dream any dream, and chances are you can pursue it. We’re doing well.This was our traditional way. Can we revive that? Then we will create a society of which our ancestors can be proud. How can we deserve that pride and support the rest of the world in the journey as well?Q: It’s a great note to end. Thank you!Thank you.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Interviewed by ELIZABETH DENLEY</h4><hr>

Tradition, liberalism, and Lord Shiva

Amit founded the Turning Point Rehab in Surat, Gujarat, in 2015. A recovering addict himself, he works with clients to help them recover physically, mentally, and spiritually. Turning Point is a pioneer in world-class holistic programs and amenities.



Amit-Karekar.jpg

Amit Karekar

<h4>AMIT KAREKAR’S story is one of deep inner challenge and triumph over darkness. With help from loved ones and professionals, and the determination to live, he turned his own life around and is helping others to do the same at Turning Point Rehab, a safe haven for all souls who have lost themselves to substance abuse.</h4><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/dealing_with_addiction2_ad3d95392e.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T04:50:37.068Z" alt="dealing-with-addiction2"><hr>My story has been a roller-coaster ride. A lot of ups and downs. As a child, I was obedient and soft natured. During my school days, I became rebellious, probably because I always liked to be the center of attention. I was so obsessed with certain things that I couldn’t really strike a balance, and as I grew older, I became stubborn. During my college days, I could not tell my parents that I did not want to do an engineering degree, and so I wasted two years of my life instead. They said I shouldn’t be wasting time and that I had never known responsibility in life. Taking things for granted and being stubborn took me downhill.I was born with a silver spoon, having everything at my disposal. I just had to enjoy life, or so I thought. My parents loved me a lot, but I took undue advantage of their feelings. Instead of using my privilege for my benefit, I abused it. That’s how it all began.I had a girlfriend in school, and breaking up with her gave me one big reason to start self-sabotaging. In college, the drugs and alcohol started. First beer, then marijuana, then “brown sugar,” the kind of heroin we get in India. And so I became a hardcore “smackie” within a period of six months.I was completely powerless over that addiction. I didn’t realize it and my parents didn’t intervene because they thought I would be okay, and obey them one day. They kept waiting for that day, while my addiction went to another level, and I became suicidal. 18 months down the line I was completely messed up. They took me to a psychiatrist and I took medication. I did a drug detox, but it didn’t work. I relapsed and was taken to rehab when I was 18. I did a program for around 35 days, but me being me, I picked up all the notorious guys from there, got their contacts and planned what I would do after getting out: more drugs. That was how I was.I had a long journey of rehabs and relapses, seven to eight rehabs, and every time it was the same thing: I went to rehab, got clean, did the program well, and all the counselors were very impressed with me. I liked to be in their good books. And I was good at sports. I would never receive any punishment and everything was pretty smooth. So fear of rehab was not something that worked in my case. This went on for around 20 years.Finally I got married, and one fine day my wife told me, “You know, this is not working out. Let’s just stay apart for six months and I’ll see what you do. Take your time to decide whether you want to carry on with our life or you want to live your way.”I packed up everything and thought, “Wow, this is amazing. I’m gonna be free from today. No responsibilities. Super. God works.”I met a friend and told him, “Just set me up in some ashram where I can stay. I just want to disconnect from everything.”Escapism was everything for me.I wanted to escape from each and every situation in life. I did not want to face it; I did not want to fight it; I only knew “flight” and that’s what I did. But for some reason, my friend didn’t comply. He said, “You’ve gone nuts. I’ll set you up in a rehab facility. Go there and do some service work, help them out, and you’ll be able to figure something out. Do it for 20 days.”<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/dealing_with_addiction3_187d49bbfc.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T04:51:09.212Z" alt="dealing-with-addiction3"><hr>That’s how my journey of recovery began.Service is one of the final steps to recovery. You are supposed to motivate others that recovery is possible, and give hope and strength to the people who are suffering with addiction.They accepted me in a rehab center in Mumbai, and I started taking sessions, but I was just faking it. There’s a slogan, “Fake it till you make it,” and it’s been true in my case. I started helping people to realize what was wrong, why they should turn their lives around, and how to learn the concepts of balance, etc.And then I was shifted to Surat to start a center there. The adventurous me said, “This is it! You’ve got to go there. Whatever you will do in the future doesn’t matter at this point in time. This is the best you have in front of you – just go for it.” Honestly, I didn’t have anything else in front of me, and my parents and wife had also given up hope.So I packed my bags, moved to Surat, and stayed at the rehab house to set things up. People said the house was haunted, but that’s what kept me there – I was all in for the adventure. I hung around for some time and then we got a client. And so my journey began with that connection with another person, who arrived fresh to recovery. He compelled me to stay, and I stayed for around 8 months.I was working for True Care in Surat. My father figured out that this is what I did best, so he encouraged me to start up a center. That’s how Turning Point was created.My wife came back to me, and has supported me a lot. She’s the backbone of the center. She’s always been the backbone in every walk of my life, and if not for her I would not have become a responsible man. I look at it this way.In a nutshell, I had everything at my disposal, but I took things for granted. I had never understood my responsibilities, and I was never left alone. Even if I was busted by the cops, my father would bail me out. I didn’t have anything to worry about. These things allowed me to hold on to bad company, and I did not know where to strike the balance.I was enjoying life and ruining it at the same time. I thought I was having fun, that I was happy, but I was not.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/dealing_with_addiction4_23a0bf8d6b.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T04:51:51.452Z" alt="dealing-with-addiction4"><hr><hr><h4>We have a slogan in our program,&nbsp; “If you want to keep what you have, the only way is by giving&nbsp; it away to others.”</h4><hr><hr>The events of 8 years back changed everything for me. Taking responsibility for myself and my life was a turning point. When my parents and my wife backed out, that’s when I realized, “I’m on my own. I have to sort it out. I have to get it together.”Now I’m going well. It’s fun. Doing the same thing that got me back to life 8 years ago keeps me going. We have a slogan in our program, “If you want to keep what you have, the only way is by giving it away to others.”<hr><hr><h4>Illustrations by LAKSHMI GADDAM</h4><hr>

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