The Art of Living aims to help people cope with daily stress and inner conflict through yoga and meditation
Business Mirror: Personal Fortune
Written by Rizal Raoul Reyes
Friday, 21 November 2008 00:26
Even without the current global financial crisis, people have already been experiencing a lot of pressures from daily living mainly caused by consumerism and globalization. But thanks to Asian philosophies such as China’s tai-chi and India’s yoga, many have been able to cope with the pressures of everyday life.
The Art of Living Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving society by building the strength of the individual founded in India by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (not to be mistaken as the famous sitar player and father of Nora Jones), offers programs that eliminate stress, developing a sense of belongingness, restoring human values, and encouraging people from all backgrounds, religions and cultural traditions to be in harmony Art of Living has a Philippine chapter with over 1,500 graduates of the Part 1 course. The group includes businessmen, diplomats, professionals, doctors, lawyers, teachers, students and homemakers.
The Philippine chapter offers a basic course, which is a workshop spread over six consecutive days with a three-to four-hour sessions. It involves yoga, stretching, and relaxation practices, meditation and powerful breathing practices. The basic course, in particular, offers the Sudarshan Kriya, a unique breathing technique.
Since April 2005, Art of Living Philippines has been regularly conducting courses in Manila. Aside from the Part 1 course, it also offers the advanced course, DSN, Sahaj Samadhi Meditation course, Youth Empowerment Seminar, Art Excel (all-round training in excellence), Health and Happiness and the Sri Sri Yoga workshop.
Recently, Sandhya Rao, an instructor of Art of Living Hong Kong, and her Philippine counterparts launched their first outreach program in the medium-security unit at the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa.
Rao said the objective of the social work was to introduce to the prisoners breathing techniques, yoga and meditation techniques to develop a positive outlook and strengthen their well-being as well. The reason? Art of Living brings detoxification and cleaning of the mind. Hopefully, it will teach the prisoners to release the guilt of the past in order to move on and look toward the future.
Ruben Espiritu Jr., 45, who has been staying in the penitentiary for six years, said the basic program of Art of Living has benefited him by giving him time to relax and develop a piece of mind. “The yoga and meditation have helped me a lot in terms of coping with buryong [depression], especially at nighttime, when I used to think of the problems of my family,” he said.
He added the program gave the inmates the opportunity to control their temper, which is quite important inside to ensure harmony among the inmates. Espiritu also learned to develop positive thinking and kicked off his smoking habit. Anthony Abanid, Building 1 governor of the penitentiary, also benefited from the basic course. “Yoga and self-meditation are good for the body,” he said.
Based on his experience, his level of stress and tension dropped drastically when he joined in the program. “The breathing technique served as a very good form of exercise,” Abanid said. Francis Mendoza, 27, admitted that yoga boosted his health condition. “This is a good alternative to the conventional exercise, because yoga and meditation also teach you to develop an inner peace in your consciousness,” he pointed out.
Ina Andersen and Riza Regis helped Rao in conducting the initial workshop. But it does not stop there, as Art of Living will continue to scale up the program by enlisting more inmates from the medium-security unit.
Rao said they will seek funds to provide a roof for the basketball court so more members can join the program for free. The medium-security compound has a total of 6,700 inmates. For Regis, giving yoga lessons was part of her unfinished commitment to conduct outreach programs for the prisoners. Prior to the Art of Living endeavor, Regis was active in teaching music to the inmates. After the sessions, the inmates yearned to learn more. And so, she grabbed the opportunity when Art of Leaving invited her to join them in their outreach program.
For her part, Andersen, a native of Copenhagen, Denmark, joined Art of Living because she believes in the relevance of the programs. In this conflict-ridden world, Andersen said the goal of Art of Living of bringing people from different cultural and social backgrounds is a great relief for people who have become wary of the current events around the globe. “It’s a joy when people from different backgrounds meet together in peace and harmony to make life a celebration,” she said.
