Stress Management and Art of Living
By Mina Ercel
With the launch of the MindBody Festival many yogis and spiritual practioners gathered in Istanbul last weekend. Giving a workshop on yoga and uniting with ones true Self at Sisli’s popular yogastudio of Yogatime, we sat down with Kamlesh Barwal to talk about the importance and healing power of the breath, stress management in daily life and how the practice of yoga can help us contribute in the society.
Born in northern India, Kamlesh Barwal met her humanitarian teacher and master Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and became involve with spirituality as a result of major illness and pain attacks in her college years. With her doctor’s recommendation after reading about the power and benefits of breathing technique called the Sudarshankirya taught in Art of Living programs, Mrs. Kamlesh attended her first course in her home town. Practicing this breathing technique for merely three months, she and the doctors were astonished when she became cured without any medication or treatments. Not only physical but also her mental and emotional stability improved. Thus since the past sixteen year, she has been part of the spiritual and humanitarian Art of Living Foundation to bring peace and cure people with throughout the world. For more information on the organization, visit artofliving.org
Currently in the West, yoga has become “trendy” and more of a physical practice than a spiritual one. According to Mrs. Kamlesh the deeper meaning of yoga has lost its true meaning in this fab of wanting to become fit and stand on one’s head for the whole day. “But that is fine, even if people only come to yoga wanting physical fitness and flexibility, once they start doing yoga, they begin to unite with their true sense and being. The word yoga translates to yoking, uniting; yoga means becoming who you truly are” she claims. To come back to our true nature, there are various techniques which are used. One such technique is the asana, the physical postures. “They are a method to help you experience your truth, your reality. But only doing yoga asanas are a misinterpretation of yoga that I observe in the West”, she says and advises practioners not to get obsessed with the physical aspect and get stuck merely on the surface.
The roots of yoga and spirituality go deep in her home country of India. Yet there, the concept of yoga is about finding beauty on the inside, through the mind and internal bliss. However mostly outside of India yoga is about exterior and outer beauty. “It is just how yoga is offered in the West and of course how the individual teacher presents it”. Mrs. Kamlesh teaches a style called Sri Sri Yoga (inspired by humanitarian leader Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar) which originates from the ancient Vedic knowledge and is a way to help one realize their highest potential through breathing, postures, meditation and an element of service (giving back to society). “Importance is to be able to carry space of yoga even after you have rolled up your yoga mat and go outside the studio. You are spreading joy and applying the Vedic knowledge of contentment and patience all through the day” Mrs. Kamlesh says.
Stress is inevitable and has always been in the society. Rather than get rid of stress, the important issue is how we handle the stress. “Develop as skill to handle stress better. A big link between the body, mind and breath has been established” she says, “only in breathing and meditation we can relax the mind and take it away from the demands in today’s high-paced society”. Any change in the body will be reflected in the breath and the mind and vice versa. “For example, if we get anger, you will notice a chance in the breath and your body will begin to hurt, perhaps you get a headache; same thing with fear and sorrow. Breath and mind are interconnected” she states.
Yet how not to get angry and fearful? “Use the breath to handle the mind, let’s change the breath so I do not get angry and change the rhythm of the breath so I do not get scared” Through hundreds of years of practice several breathing techniques have been developed to change the mind and this knowledge is available today for us to learn and practice through the Art of Living courses. “Only when we learn to use the breath well, we can the relax mind and body also becomes healthier”.
Mrs. Kamlesh came to Istanbul for the first time last week and finds the Turkish people very open, friendly and energy of the city inspiring.
Internation Herald Tribune- Turkish Edition
September 27, 2013