An inspiring story of a woman who is helping Chhindwara cops de-stress
For as long as I could remember, the routine of a normal life never seemed enough for me. I had everything while growing up that any girl my age would want. I was getting a good education studying pathology, I was proficient in kathak and had a loving family to support me. But it was never enough. This internal stress started at the age of 18 years - this need to fulfill my destiny. My family couldn’t understand this aspect of me. I wanted to do something meaningful with my life, something for them as well but they just couldn’t empathize.
The first solace came when I was 21-year-old. I had started teaching dance to physically-disabled children of Disha Nishakt Vidyalaya, a school that catered to children who couldn’t hear or speak. Seeing the smile on the faces of those children, the joy that erupted in them as they celebrated the movements, and the resulting satisfaction it brought in me gave me the first glimpse of what I wanted. I encouraged the school authorities to let me conduct an event that could also act as a fund-raiser for the school. The school agreed. We conducted a mega charity show.
I was working as a pathologist, living a good respectable life, and yet the time spent with those kids was the best part of my day. My family couldn’t understand this, they were perplexed at the fact that this gave me absolute joy. But the only problem was that it wasn’t enough. We could only conduct two events in a year.
First brush with peace
When I turned 23 years of age, a friend told me about an Art of Living Happiness Program in Chhindwara. My friend told me to attend it. Despite the presence of the children in my life, I still felt pangs of desolation and frequent bouts of stress. The first thing I asked was, “Would I get peace of mind?” It was the most important thing for me at that time.
The friend replied in affirmative, but I was skeptical. I was not sure if I’d go after the first day. On the first day itself, I started to feel excellent. I happily attended and completed all the six days and by the last day, I felt that I got what I had been looking for my whole life.
Joining The Art of Living gave me the two things I wanted the most. Not only did Sudarshan Kriya help me get rid of stress, but the organization also provided me the platform to do more for society.
Growing with the organization
In the early 2000s, Chhindwara used to have only one program in a month. I used to ensure that I attended each of them. While doing this, I started a service project where we would test the blood groups of all the city children and create a record of them. I, and several other Art of Living volunteers, used to go to villages and conduct blood tests so that all parents know the blood type of their children. This helped us create a registry of all the potential donors in the city and even the parents got to know if their children had a rare blood type.
We started keeping a list of all the negative blood groups in the region. Many of the parents thanked us later saying that this information sometimes helped them save their child’s life. Much later in 2008, I attended the Advanced Program and went on to become a faculty member in 2010.
First course for the officers
I took a sabbatical when my daughter was born but by 2015 I was back conducting service projects in the region. In winter, we started the project to distribute warm clothes to the underprivileged with no proper home or shelter. While doing this, I met many policemen who used to help me locate the needy people. It is then that I realized that these policemen had very long shifts and even they were out in the cold the entire day and night.
While distributing the warm clothes, I got to talking with the officers about their lives and saw that the stress and frustration they faced were higher than the rest of society. They had to constantly deal with threats to their life, the bad elements in the society, face inhumane working hours, and then also manage their lives.
In 2016, all the DIG level Chhindwara officers, thanks to the support of the superiors, underwent the Happiness Program.
“My colleagues and I feel such relief from stress, We feel energetic and are having a really good experience. I am going to recommend this for all of my officers,” says TI (Thana-in-charge/ Town-in-charge) of the Indian Police, Anil Yadav, posted in Amarwada, a town in Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh.
“I feel very relieved; it feels really good. The experience of meditation was very unique and powerful,” says Dipti Pathak, wife of DIG GP Pathak. Aged 50, she claims she feels very energetic after the workshop and has been regularly participating in the service initiatives of The Art of Living.
“I feel refreshed. I believe that if the techniques are practiced regularly, then the positive effects will be visible,” says Pratap Singh Uika, Commander of the 8th battalion of SAF.
“It has been a wonderful experience. My migraine has almost stopped. My colleagues are having a really good experience themselves,” shares TI Anil adding, “Sub-inspector Ajay Sharma in my staff who had suffered from insomnia is now sleeping well in time, which helps him feel a lot more energetic.”
Expanding the work
After the positive response for the first program,, we are regularly conducting one yearly program for these officers. With more and more positive feedback and apparent change in the officers, even the IAS officers and ministers have shown interest in learning the life-transforming techniques.
Working with those children initially made me realize that if you can inculcate stress-relieving habits when they are young, you are giving them tools with which they can better handle the challenges that they will face. A year ago we found out that many police officers had started drinking alcohol on the job as a way to deal with stress. Because of their alcohol consumption, many cases started coming up where officers behave rashly with civilians while under the influence.
To tackle this, I approached the superiors and acquired permission to conduct the program for the officers.
My affinity and comfort with the children continue to this day. Every year, I make sure that I take Art xcel courses for visually-imparied children of Shubham Nishakt Vidyalaya. I also get to conduct a Happiness Program for senior citizens living in old-age homes.
While on the path, I have found many people like me who wanted to serve society but didn’t have a decent outlet. I used to fear that if this desire burned out without being channelized, I might feel a discontent that would never go away. The Art of Living not only removed all my stress, but it also gave me the one thing I desired the most - a platform to serve.
- Shweta Chadda, The Art of Living faculty, Chhindwara
