Acupressure is commonly used to treat many common ailments, including stress and anxiety. Acupressure point therapy is used to manage stress and enhance your life. Living with Stress can exhaust your vital energy, affecting the quality of your life.  Stress causes shallow breathing, which can lead to irritability, frustration, and eventually chronic fatigue. Many people turn to unhealthy habits like smoking, overeating, and alcoholic drinking to counteract stress.

The basic principle behind acupressure is the fact that the body has an energy that flows through it at any given time. Many of us have an imbalance on the inside of our bodies and this can block the free flow of that energy, causing a number of different problems for us. Some of these problems may be recognized as physical problems, while others may be mental problems, such as excessive stress.

Acupressure is a popular massage technique that is commonly in stress relief therapy. Similar to acupuncture, this technique uses points in the body meridians to relieve pain. Acupuncture uses needles while acupressure, as the name suggests, uses pressure by utilizing the fingers, thumbs and elbows. A very low electrical current is sometimes used also. This technique helps release tension in the muscles by applying a certain amount force and then releasing it to send the blood back to the tissue. Acupressure also releases energies located on this points that promote good health.

Acupuncturist can relieve the sense of stress, or depression by encouraging the flow of qi in the chest and abdomen. It involves inserting fine needles at pressure points throughout the body. The needles stimulate the body’s natural healing processes in their energy system. When your body is subjected to constant stress, the Qi of the body becomes congested. This stagnation of the flow of Qi causes a variety of physical and mental symptoms, such as anger, depression, cold limbs, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), tight tendons and muscles, headaches, and pain. The most common Oriental Medicine diagnosis would be Liver Qi Stagnation, as it is the energetic function of the Liver to smooth the Qi of the body, allowing it to flow freely. By stimulating the points, the Qi can flow freely, thereby alleviating stress. Through acupuncture, the energy blockages can be addressed. Acupuncture points serve as the on and off ramps to the energy highway, and can help energy flow smoothly, and alleviate not only the symptoms of stress and anxiety, but the stress and anxiety itself.

Benefits of acupuncture for stress

• Acupuncture is very relaxing
• It works to balance the whole body
• It addresses the origin of the problem
• It reduces the painful symptoms that are affecting your health
• It helps you to manage stress more effectively.
• It also alleviate stress related health conditions

The Lack of Pleasure in everyday life

The term anhedonia is derived from the Greek ‘’an-’’, “without” + ‘’hēdonē’’, “pleasure”. Anhedonia is the state of inability to experience pleasure from activities usually found enjoyable, e.g. daily affairs, exercise, hobbies, music, sexual activities or social interactions. In common words it is described as joylessness, emptiness, dreariness, discouragement, dejection, lack of taste, zest and spring.

It has two main components:

• Motivational anhedonia – lack of motivation or desire to engage in an activity
• Consummatory anhedonia – reduced level or absence of enjoyment of the activity itself

Anhedonia can be part of mental disorders including mood disorders, schizoaffective disorder, schizoid personality disorder and schizophrenia.

Causes

Some of the explanations given are:

• Breakdown of brain’s reward system
• Deficiency of Dopamine in brain
• Side effect of some anti psychotic drugs

Sexual anhedonia

As the name suggest, it is lack of pleasure in sexual activity. Sexual anhedonia may be caused by:

• Anti psychotic drugs
• Fatigue
• Hyperprolactinaemia
• Hypoactive or Inhibited sexual desire disorder
• Low levels of testosterone
• Multiple sclerosis
• Physical illness
• Spinal cord injury
• SSRI antidepressants 

Social anhedonia

It is seen as disinterest in social contact, social withdrawal, indifference to other people and decreased pleasure in otherwise pleasurable social situations. This is different from introverted personality and social anxiety. Males are said to have it more than females. Some research indicates role of genetic cause. Tomppo (2009) identified a specific DISC1 allele that is associated with social anhedonia.

Treatment:

• Family counseling for support
• Psychotherapy and Hypnotherapy
• Holistic treatment like acupuncture and homeopathy.

• Bliss of Being is not a company engaged in commercial activity.
• It is not an organization which you are supposed to join and work towards a goal. It is not a forum for propagation of certain views or beliefs.
• It is not a community with certain imposed value system.
• It is not an attempt to preach a particular way of life.
• It is not a school which teaches you what is right or what is wrong.
• It is not an effort to enforce morality upon you.
• It is not even a division of spiritual and material world.

So what is bliss of being?  The bliss of being is the state of existence, the unhindered unjudged uncompared consciousness of self based on which we feel what we are.

It is the Universal phenomenon. All are in a state of being and this all include so called living and non living beings. Said ‘so called’ the ultimate truth is unknown. Think about a stone – is it living or non living. Stone can be converted into energy and energy is life. So all are in a different state of being, different state of consciousness and therefore have a feeling of different identity. This different identity could be in the form of living/non living, animal/plant, creature/man, man/ woman, child/old, short/tall, beautiful/ugly, idiot/intelligent, successful / failure, english / african, christian / muslim, conservative / progressive, wild / civilized, sober / rogue, sick / healthy, poor / rich and so on the list of division is endless. That’s how all beings get a unique identity, the unique individuality that is I. And see how this I is reflected in all day conversation and thoughts in the form of ‘I am ………’

This ‘I’ is the state of consciousness. It is dynamic, functional and progressive. It has both material and non material component. The material component is referred to as – My Body along with its sensations and functions. The non material component of ‘I’ is referred to as Mind which is expressed as – I Think, I Feel, I Love etc. Other aspects related to ‘I’ like My Money, My House, My Wife, My Job, My World have both material and non material consciousness. For example the material aspect of my money is the amount I can count in my bank account or assess wealth of my property. The non material aspect of ‘I’ is my assessment of this money, what it means to me and the security or satisfaction I get from this money & wealth. Every moment of life is an opportunity to grow in this consciousness. The higher purpose of living is to grow in consciousness to a state of supreme consciousness (also called Nirvana) which is state of absolute oneness, total freedom and no distortion. There one has the choice to remain in dual consciousness or submerge self consciousness into supreme consciousness and thus achieve Moksha. Spirituality is nothing else but better understanding of self & life and realization of truth. This truth, which is always there and is there for everybody can be realized by one of the three ways – Jnana Yoga (Path of becoming aware & understanding), Karma Yoga ( Path of rightful deeds) or Bhakti Yoga (Path of love & devotion). Rest all said ways fall in one of these paths.

How this ‘I’ that is the state of being is created or evolved. Is this the result of uncontrolled destiny or chance Or if all beings are free to evolve their own identity. And why at all this being is there. Are we slaves of life to live even though we may not like to Or we have a choice. Is being a one time affair or we live again and again. Are these states changeable and is there a permanent state of being. Is there a purpose of being Or we are just there. If there is, then what it is? Is the present state real I or there is other I. What is the truth of being and life? What is the truth of pain and pleasure?

Who will answer these questions, who will give the ultimate truth and how do we know that this is the real truth, who will teach whom as there is subjectivity in both teaching and learning. We all have very limited experience and understanding. And this is true with even greatest of saints and wise men. Once a man asked Gautam Buddha what is truth. Buddha’s reply was – It is raining over the mountain. That man could not understand and went away. Later one of Gautam’s pupil asked about the meaning of reply. Buddha said – rain is to be seen or felt similarly truth is to be either seen around what is going on in life or it is to be felt by living experiences but ultimately it is to be realized by the person himself or herself. Self realization is realization of truth.

Bliss of being is understanding and realization of consciousness and being through free expression. This is your own space your own place. A place to share your thoughts, feelings, experiences i.e. share your consciousness of being which only you know and understand. It is the place of uninhibited free expression of self without being judged or compared. It is the place of acceptance, oneness, wholeness where all beings inspite of unique identity and individuality come together, enhance understanding of being by seeing and feeling things and events from different perspective and different point of view. This in turn will result in consciousness of whole without losing personal identity.

Self Concept / Awareness Stages

•   Intrauterine – Initiation of Identity

Infant           –       Dependent Stage

1-5  Years    –       Learning of Self Dependence

5-12  Years  –       Consolidation Phase

12-19 Years  –      Transition Phase

• onwards –     Adult / Independent Stage

Late Age        –     Decline Stage

Components of Self Realization  and Self Actualization

• Spiritual Consciousness
• Health (Mind  and Body)
• Social, Family & Friends
• Philosophy and Humanism
• Education and Vocation
• Personality Development
• Life management

The consciousness of undistorted reality and whole will result in realization of self and ultimate truth. This supreme consciousness is the enlightenment of the permanent state of bliss, the bliss of being.

Lack of perspective, spontaneity are just some of the reasons why we feel bored, and that too, so frequently. And at the slightest provocation, we are ready with one-liners like “I am so bored” or “It’s so boring”. Experts say, it’s best to realise that ‘boredom’ is a state of mind, and by giving in you are only making life more mundane.

Here are some tips to effectively ward off boredom and stay more active:

Change your attitude

Cribbers are the first ones to realise that they are bored. You need to change your outlook, the world is not a very sad place to live in. There is always much to do and enjoy. Says Dr. S.K Sharma, clinical psychologist and lifestyle advisor, “Getting bored is an attitude. The fact that you feel bored is because you have allowed it to creep into your life. Be ready to change gears. Tell yourself that I am not going to allow this to happen to me. Just stop thinking how bored you are, instead ask yourself – let’s do something.”

Organise your life

Stop mulling, instead put things into perspective. Chart a routine for yourself, and squeeze in some time for a recreational activity, exercising or a hobby. That’ll keep you happily busy. Dr. Sharma believes that by organising your time and resources well, you will be left with some time to try new activities. “When you are too caught up in a routine due to lack of organisation, you tend to feel suffocated.”

Change – a constant

Someone has rightly said, variety is the spice of life. It is imperative to introduce small changes to our daily lives, from the way we think, the way we dress, to changing the set up of the living room once in a while or picking up some off-beat book and reading it up. The idea is to not stick to a set order, and keep experimenting. He explains, “Your mind needs change to feel excited and happy. Always look for change. You can turn your routine life into an interesting one by making tiny little changes.”

Cultivate a hobby

Keep yourself enthused by learning something different. Try to hone a skill or develop a new one. Join a baking class, learn how to strum the guitar, become a fitness enthusiast, meditate, practice yoga, go swimming, learn a new dance form, or simply pick a sheet of paper and sketch your heart out. “Look for new activities. It could be a new hobby, some adventure sport, or learning a new language. Remember age is no bar. Again mix it well according to your preference and feasibility to keep your mind excited,” says he.

Be a social bunny

Agreed, it may not be your forte, but at least give it a shot. We don’t mean you barge into others’ conversations or be over-friendly. Take interest in people outside your friend circle. You are sure to find a whole section of interesting ones out there! Give up all inhibitions, simply explore, talk it out, listen and absorb. And, you will never again be bored. Dr. Sharma suggests, “Make sure you mix with people across different age groups and from different walks of life. For instance, instead of spending all the time with friends or as a couch potato, sit with a group of kids from your colony and strike a conversation. People with different personalities and tastes add novelty into your life.”

Counseling is a process that facilitates better personal and interpersonal understanding & functioning. It relates to issues of life from childhood to old age focusing on emotional, intellectual, social, vocational and health related development. It has following major components :

• Better understanding of self and world around.
• Less distress & better adjustment through more effective coping skills.
• Realization of self potential & better quality of life through more effective functioning.

Counseling provides a safe and free platform which allows you to discuss & explore yourself and your life in an atmosphere of privacy, trust, respect and warmth along with psychological expertise of counselor. It provides an opportunity to vent out your feelings, to explore your positive & negative aspects, to discuss problems and to explore better options without any threat of being judged or ridiculed.in short counseling helps in living a better life.

It is confidential.

Counseling is entirely confidential. It is not necessary for you to reveal your details like real name, address, place of work etc. The life incidents and relevant information reveled by you remains only between you and your counselor. It is never discussed or shared with anyone under any circumstances. 

Types of counseling

• Emergency – It helps in urgent cases of threat, psychological catastrophe, rape, accident etc.
• Distance Counseling (Online Chat / Email / /Telephone) – It helps those who are unable to visit clinic for in-person counseling.
• In – person (in clinic) Counseling
  • Children & Sibling Counseling
  • Adolescent Counseling
  • Student Counseling
  • Professional / Career Counseling
  • Counseling for Men
  • Counseling for Women
  • Pre Marital Counseling
  • Marital / Couple Counseling
  • Sex life and Sexuality Counseling
  • Personal issues Counseling
  • Family Counseling
  • Social and Relationships Counseling
  • Old age / Geriatric Counseling
  • Spiritual Counseling
  • Health Counseling
  • Stress and anger management Counseling
  • Grief / Anxiety / Depression Counseling
  • Counseling for unwanted thoughts / feelings / behavior
  • Problem & Solution Focused Counseling
  • Self Management & Self Growth Counseling 

Conditions in which counseling is helpful

Some of the conditions are :

For major anxiety, depression, phobia, mania, obsession, schizophrenia and other psychiatric diseases, see Psychotherapy.

Benefits of counseling

• It improves your ability to understand and analyze yourself, the world around and the difficulties faced by you.
• It helps you to explore better options, grow in life and realize best of your potential and success.
• It helps to adjust better, resolve problems & crisis and move on in life.
• It helps in your search of self identity and self worth.
• It improves confidence, communication skills and give a positive personality.
• It helps in developing positive relationships, happy family and avoiding discords.
• It helps in releasing negative emotions, frustrations and increasing satisfaction in life
• It improves ability to plan, take decisions, face challenges and become more dynamic.
• It helps in removing stress from life, feeling good, being peaceful & relaxed and living more fully.
• It helps to remove negative thoughts / feelings / behavior and develop positive thoughts / feelings / behavior.
• It gives you a true friend who is non judgmental, objective and supportive with a feeling of trust, respect and warmth. 

Process of counseling

The process of counseling is called the therapeutic process where the counselor and counselee share a relationship of trust, respect and warmth. In this the role of person taking counseling begins before that of counselor. It is important for the person to come to counseling free from prejudice and wrong notions. He or she should have open mind and free from thought that ‘nothing works in life’. Counseling should not be seen as a threatening place where one can be judged, criticized or ridiculed. It is not about fault finding or pushing you to any particular thought or behavior decided by the counselor. A good counselor will help you in removing these false beliefs. A good counseling provides you an atmosphere of privacy, confidentiality, ease of mind, respect, trust and warmth along with the psychological expertise of counselor to help you to freely explore yourself, give vent to your feelings, re-look at situations in a relaxed & objective manner, explore possible options & ways and learn more effective strategies in life. 

Counseling schedule

Counseling can be divided into three schedules:

• Single session counseling.
• Short term counseling ranging from 2-3 sessions to frequent sessions for about 3 months.
• Long term counseling lasting months and even years with need based unscheduled sessions.

It can be individual, couple or in group. Counseling schedule depends on the need of the situation and person concerned. Short term counseling is for situations which require immediate attention and long term counseling is for sustained growth & prevention of relapse. It is possible for a person to take short term counseling for immediate need and later switch to long term counseling for persistent improvement.

A counseling session can be of 30 minutes to one hour. It can be longer as sometimes it is necessary to continue with the counseling process specially if it is in some crucial moment. The first one or two sessions are usually about information gathering which forms the basis of further sessions and direction of counseling. You can decide about the frequency of sessions.

Decision making is an essential leadership skill. If you can learn how to make timely, well-considered decisions, then you can lead your team to well-deserved success. The first key in understanding how to make great decisions is learning how to synthesize the overwhelming amount incoming information leaders must deal with on a daily basis, while making the best decisions possible in a timely fashion. The key to dealing with the voluminous amounts of information is as simple as becoming discerning surrounding the filtering of various inputs.

There are processes and techniques to improve decision-making and the quality of decisions. Decision making techniques can be separated into two broad categories:

• Group decision making techniques
• Individual decision making techniques

The method used depends on the nature of the decision to be made and how complex it is.  The method described below follows seven stages.

The stages are:

• Listing all possible solutions/options.
• Setting a time scale and deciding who is responsible for the decision.
• Information gathering.
• Weighing up the risks involved.
• Deciding on values, or in other words what is important.
• Weighing up the pros and cons of each course of action.
• Making the decision.

When trying to make a good decision, a person must weight the positives and negatives of each option, and consider all the alternatives. The decision maker(s) may face a problem when they try to rank alternatives in terms of how attractive they are when all the criteria are considered simultaneously. Time and emotion also play a role in the quality of decision making – the more time, the more deliberate the decision making process. Secondly, the more that is at stake, emotion will come into play, rising as the decision making timeline is reached.

Is destiny fixed or one can change it ??

It is not easy to change destiny. Everyone has a unique cosmic existence which determines the destiny. Destiny is the comprehensive collection of circumstances, incidents and characteristics one has from birth to death. It refers to what happens to one through the course of life. It is composite whole of one’s existence & events, gains & losses, success & failure, happiness & sadness. It is both material and abstract. It is unique for everyone and is said to be decided by and based on Law of Karma. According to some what one does in past lives lays the foundation of present birth destiny. That’s why we all differ from each other in all aspects and goes through certain experiences of happiness and sadness decided by our unique destiny. We differ physically, socially, financially, spiritually, in experiencing incidents & circumstances etc. But there is one thing that people are not aware of. Destiny is indeed made by past deeds but in addition it is also decided (or changed) by present karma. This removes the confusion that usually arises that if destiny is fixed than why to do any work (karma). By doing work (karma) you are not only making future destiny but also you CAN change present destiny significantly to improve overall quality of life.

It is true you may not be able to change destiny entirely because cosmic influence is too powerful but you can still change it to a large extent. We call it Destiny Management. It depends on:

• Correct analysis of your unique condition and cosmic influence
• Correct and unique solutions in all aspects from spiritual to material
•  Your sincere and positive approach which is free from prejudice from one extreme and blind faith to other extreme.

This is like treatment of disease. It requires correct diagnosis, correct treatment along with correct do’s & don’ts about thoughts, actions, life & lifestyle.

Detoxification is the physiological or medicinal removal of toxic substances from a living organism, including, but not limited to, the human body, which is mainly carried out by the liver. Basically, detoxification means cleaning the blood.

Toxins can harm

Toxins can harm a big way. They lead to damage to cells and diseases. They also damage body’s physiological functions thereby depleting energy and resulting in suffering and unhappiness.

Usually a constellation of complaints helps you determine whether or not you are toxic and to what extent you need to cleanse. Some examples of what might infer a toxic system are:

• Constipation
• Persistent headaches, muscle aches and muscle fatigue
• Eating a lot of swordfish, tuna, shark etc.
• Food allergies
• Stubborn weight loss
• Consistent use of NSAIDs such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen
• Skin abnormalities such as acne or eczema

Ways to help your body detoxify

• Drink at least two quarts of water a day.
• Eat plenty of fiber, including brown rice and organically-grown fresh fruits and vegetables.
• GetVitamin C from kiwis, strawberries, kale, cauliflower, tomatoes, oranges, Brussels sprouts, mangoes, and bell peppers
• Drink a freshly-made veggie juice daily.  This can be as easy as throwing a couple of handfuls of leafy greens into a blender with some frozen berries and water.
• Breathe deeply to allow oxygen to circulate more completely through your system.
• Transformstress by emphasizing positive emotions.
• Sweat in a sauna so your body can eliminate wastes through perspiration.
• Eat organically grown produce and meat
• Eat slowly. During a detox, you can stretch out your meals by chewing thoroughly and without hurry. Slow eating also aids digestion.
• Natural therapies like acupressure, acupuncture, naturopathy, massage and homeopathy have good solutions for natural detoxification.
• Psychological techniques like counseling psychoanalysis psychotherapy hypnotherapy and EFT are good ways of having psychological Detox.

Emotional insecurity is the most important factor of any one’s life today. Emotional stability tells about level of emotional stability. Lack of security leads to a sense of vulnerability which can be reflected as:

•  State of uneasiness or nervousness
•  Feeling of being emotionally threatened or attacked
•  Aggressiveness to counter perceived attack
•  Suspicion of wrong done by others
•  State of persistent sadness or anxiety
•  Withdrawal from society

According to Maslow an insecure person is a person who:

• Perceives the world as a threatening jungle and most human beings as dangerous and selfish
• Feels rejected and becomes isolated person, anxious and hostile
• Is generally pessimistic and unhappy
• Shows signs of tension and conflict
• Tends to turn inward
• Is troubled by guilt-feelings
• Has one on another disturbance of self-esteem
• Longs for support, safety and security
• Lacks confidence
• Lacks trust in themselves or others
• Has fears that a present positive state is temporary

Causes

So why do some people feel so insecure. According to research it can be due to brain chemistry. So people are prone to be. Small incidents can affect them badly.  Another reason can be early childhood incidents which can damage development of a safer self concept. Parents and sibling’s attitude, atmosphere in school, abuses like sexual abuse all can create emotional insecurity. Emotional insecurity can also be realistic when real life situations are threatening although perception may differ person to person. And since emotional people become prone to further emotional trauma and get hypersensitive about emotional states, the condition aggravates itself.

Treatment

The first thing is to realize and accept the state of emotional insecurity. There are various treatment which can be used with good success rate.

• Self help groups
• Counseling and Psychotherapy
• Life skill development
• Life management
• Hypnotherapy
• Constitutional Homeopathy

It is very important to safeguard healthy family system. It is the axis of safe society as it helps in giving a sense of belongingness. This results in reduction in crimes and anarchy. There are basic needs of every human being. Family gives a unique opportunity for people of all age groups and both male & female gender to live together in harmony and have all kinds of satisfaction – physical, mental, social etc. But merely getting married, having kids does not make a good family. We have seen how unhealthy family can make our lives miserable. Therefore it is very important to understand and learn – How to create a happy family. A source of lifelong happiness.

Benefits of marriage 

People in a married life live a happier and more satisfying life. They

• Feels in a more satisfying relationship
• Feels emotionally healthier
• Enjoy wealth more
• Less likely to commit or suffer from sexual assault or other crimes
• Less likely to attempt or commit suicide
• Low risk of drug and alcohol abuse
• Low risk of STDs
• Less risk of poverty
• Better social relationships
• Physically healthier
• Feels completeness of life
• Live longer
• Physically healthier
• Increase in the stability of employment, more success
• More satisfying sexual relationship.
• Less likely to contract STDs
• Better Earning less expenditure due to sharing, better Investment

Your family is your treasure

Your family is your treasure as it gives you everything to live:

•  Safe and warm entry to this wonderful world
• Childhood nurture
• Give and get love and care
• Sense of identity and belongingness
• Safety and security
• Guideline to live a successful life
• Mission and purpose to live
• Someone to share joy and sorrow
• Source of inspiration
• Strength and support
• Check from making mistakes
• Self growth
• Forum to learn life skills
• Happiness
• Respect in society
• Social harmony
• Contentment
• Graceful existence
• Fulfillment of needs
• Safe and graceful exit from the world
• Let us nurture our family.

This is the path of our happiness and peace in society.

Benefits of Healthy Family

A healthy and happy family is helpful by :

• Learning constructive use of emotions and feeling
• Free expression and acceptance of emotions and feelings
• Proper communication within family and in society
•  Development of uniqueness of every individual
• Provides environment of trust and safety
• Learn to develop and respect privacy
• Develop healthy spiritual beliefs and values
• Learn judicious decision making and risk-taking
• Develop and enjoy family’s strengths
• Learn to respect each other
• Learn to respect environment
• Learn to be sensitive to others
• Learn to value culture, history and tradition
• Learn to change and grow
• Learn to be humorous and cheerful
• Learn to serve others
• Develop intellectual abilities
• Learn to be healthy
• Develop morals for a healthy life and healthy society
• Develop logical, responsible and effective thinking and behavior patters
• Learn healthy competition
• Learn the art of intimacy
• Learn conflict & problem solving and disaster management
• Learn to help others and seek help
• Learn and develop ability to learn
• Learn to be responsible
• Learn to be aware and informed
• Learn to accept mistakes
• Learn to make polite complaints
• Learn to work in a group
• Learn to manage disappointments and grief
• Learn to manage resources and compromise

Happiness is the path of life. It is the secret to good life.

People seek happiness. Most do not realize happiness can be created. Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. The emotion of happiness is not caused simply by entertaining your obstacles. Happiness is not merely a life lived by accumulating moments of pleasure. On the contrary, happiness is a long lasting enduring enjoyment of life; it is being in love with living. It is your reward for achieving a good character and personal rational values in life. Some important values are a productive career, romance, friendship and hobbies.

Benefits of happiness

• Happiness is good for our health
• Happiness is good for our relationships
• Happy people “catch” the emotions of others.
• Happy people are more creative and are better able to see the big picture
• Happy people live in a great community.
• Happy people manage their money well.
• Happy people spend their money on life experiences instead of material items.
• Happy people think about the past fondly.

Once you learn to have confidence in your own mind and once you discover the virtues that make it possible for you to achieve your values and that make your life worth living, then you will experience the result – an earned pride and a genuine self-esteem and of course happiness.

Harmony of a person is characterized by two types of interactions which are constantly going on.

• The intraperson dynamic interaction of different aspects of health in an individual.
• The two way dynamic interaction of the individual with the environment at different aspects of health.

For a person to be healthy it is necessary to have two things

• Harmonious development of different aspects of health in an individual with respect to age.
• Harmonious interaction of different aspects of health within the individual and with the environment.

The dynamic organization of different aspects of health among themselves and in relation to the environment (which includes time and space) constitute the ‘state of being’, the uniqueness of the individual which a person identifies as I or self. The material being and the spiritual beings of a person are not unrelated entities.  Although the different aspects of health can be studied separately but in fact they have to be seen in relation to each other and the environment.

This state of being or  ‘I’ is an ever progressive state which starts its journey at conception. Or if we can say even before conception? As we know the conception in itself is a dynamic process which creates a very unique identity by combination of genes from progenitors. To be considered here is the fact that these genes are carried generation after generation and these are in constant and dynamic interaction with the environment. So the genes a person gets are already in interaction with the environment even before conception.

The conception can be said to be a landmark at which a person starts its unique identity and there begins its journey of life. Based on the foundation of genes a person starts its unique perception of self and environment along with the dynamic interaction between the two. This leads to unique differentiation of self i.e. the State of Being. These processes of perception, reaction and differentiation constantly occur at all aspects namely physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual and lead to evolution of the consciousness of the person.

A person is said to be in harmony if he or she has realized the true and absolute state of being. This starts at Self Realization i.e. understanding of true self and goes on till Self Actualization which is the absolute state of being. This state is characterized by total Order where all aspects of a person within and in relation to the environment are fully developed and are in absolute harmony and balance. This leads to free flow of nature’s energy and life force resulting in natural positive holistic health.

What is our role in creation of health and sickness? If we see closely it is a matter of choice. At every moment in life we face a situation where we make a choice. This choice could be constructive or destructive, positive or negative, for harmony and balance or against harmony and balance,  towards order and health or away from order and health. This choice is in both perception and reaction. And the resultant choice has its mark on differentiation, on state of being. We can not change what we got in our genes but one should not blame all on genes. Genes gives you a wide range to live with. By making choices we allow different aspects of genes to unfold. If we make wrong choices there is flare-up of genetic predisposition. Choice is like a seed which creates our destiny.

The role we play is more important than genes and environment. It is required to have a balance between pleasure and pain. Excess of one will surely result in other.

To regain health it is important to progress towards harmony and balance. For this on the basis of understanding of health, we have to do two things –

• Develop wisdom and attitude of health by making right, constructive, positive choices.
• Take comprehensive, holistic, dynamic treatment
• The Therapy protocol followed in this approach is called HIS Treatment
  Where H stands for Holistic harmonious natural therapies
                                   I stand for Integrated synergistic eclectic schedule
                                   S stands for Scientific systematic rational approach

Healthy sex is one of the ways to happiness. Sex is an important part of most people’s lives, and it can be devastating for individuals and couples when they are having ongoing sexual problems.

Healthy sex involves the conscious, positive expression of our sexual energy in ways that enhance self-esteem, physical health, and emotional relationship. It is mutually beneficial and harms no one. For healthy sex you should avoid sexual perversions and also you should have good relationship.

How to avoid sexual perversions

Sexual perversions are conditions in which sexual excitement or orgasm is associated with acts or imagery that are considered unusual within the culture. It comes in different forms. Some are simple and can be avoided as time goes by while the others when they develop into addiction can become disorders.

• Learn to have normal sex more often. This way, you are better able to satisfy yourself and your desires
• Do some exercise, take a bath or meet a friend so you can think of better things.
• Be committed to avoiding ideas and images that increase your lust. Observe yourself and then develop self-discipline.

Sex based on good relationship

Sex is supposed to make you feel good about yourself and about your relationship. Whenever we have sex, we should be attentive to each other’s pleasure. We should always have each other’s consent, and we should never use pressure to get consent. We should share in the responsibility of guarding ourselves and our partners against unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection. And we should always be clear about what we want to do and respect what our partners want to do sexually. Some steps to help you make sex important in your relationship are:

• Make sure you actually care about your significant other
• Show your partner respect
• Make sex important in your relationship by making time for it
• Touch and kiss your partner often
• Play around and do fun stuff together
• Depending upon your partner’s temperament, surprise her/him.

Homeopathy has unique place in creating happiness

• It is effective in treating psychiatric diseases and gives peace of mind.
• It improves alertness & functioning of mind. It does not make mind dull.
• It is safe for all ages and conditions. It has no side effects.
• It does not create dependence.
• It is proactive and prevents sickness from developing.
• It has unmatched reputation in treating psychosomatic conditions helping at both physical and mental level simultaneously.
• It is suitable for both acute and chronic phases of sickness.
• It values the significance of person’s thoughts, feelings, behavior as well as life incidents & circumstances.
• It very well deals with emotional traumas and pent up emotions.
• It can deal with chemical imbalance in brain and brings that back to balance

Homeopathy has given high emphasis on psychology and personality of the person to be treated of any physical disease or psychological complaint. It takes mind and body as a complete whole. Its treatment of psychological complaints is positive i.e. it not only relieves complaints but also makes the person more functional to become more adaptable and better equipped to handle stress of life. Homeopathy understands and values minute feelings and also physical impact of emotions. It does not ridicule strange looking feelings and sensations but takes them as important messages of inner health. It ‘cures’ the root cause of psychological complaint be it impact of grief, disappointment or discord in personal life. It can even resolve pent up emotions & bad memories. It is said to restores the chemical imbalance in brain.

What is hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy is type of psychotherapy in which a deep relaxed & focused state of mind is induced by the hypnotherapist. This state is called Trance. The state of trance is used for diagnosis and / or treatment of psychoemotional complaints. It can also be used for better mental health, better control over mind and better mental functioning. It is a powerful technique which can enable one to think, feel and act better. Hypnotherapy is a strong technique as it uses the enormous power of mind.

Hypnotherapy is a form of psychotherapy in which heightened state of mind (called trance) is reached with the help of hypnotherapist and this state is then used for either analysis or reorganization of subconscious mind to achieve a calm mind with better control and functioning.

Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy can change life for better. It changes the way you think, feel, behave and will. Benefits of hypnosis or hypnotherapy are

• Better understanding of self and world around.
• Increase control over own thinking, feeling and behavior.
• Helps in living a fearless life.
• Increase control over life.
• Increase enjoyment of life.
• Increase ability to do things currently found difficult or impossible.
• Increase performance and achievements in life.
• Increase ability to do new things and make changes in life at will.
• Eliminates embarrassments.
• Improves relationships and home atmosphere.
• Avoids transfer of traits to children in family.

How hypnotherapy works

Human mind has enormous potential most of which remain untapped. Mind is like an iceberg, 90 % of which remain hidden. The 10% visible part is the conscious mind which helps in perceiving environment, short term memory and thinking. The remaining 90 % is the subconscious mind which is responsible for long term memory, learning, emotions, habitual patterns, learned behavior etc. Subconscious mind stores memories and associated emotions. This helps mind in ‘learning’ how to feel and behave in a particular situation. It even influences conscious mind. Our past learning and memory affects our present thinking and behavior.

Positive mental health, mental calmness, confidence, correct thinking, positive habits, emotions & behavior all this depends on how well this subconscious mind is organized. The better this subconscious mind is organized, better is its growth with age with minimum or no conflicts. But in case of some disorganization due to poor learning or some traumatic incidents, the conflicts because of this results in deficient mental functioning or undesirable behavior. This is where hypnotherapy comes to help. It helps in better reorganization of subconscious minds thereby eliminating conflicts, past traumas and negative learned patterns. It separates unhealthy emotions & behavior from past memory and replace with healthy emotions & behavior. The outcome is positive thinking, healthy emotions and desirable behavior.    

Is hypnotherapy scientific

Hypnotherapy has been proved to be scientific. There has been extensive research and its results are seen to be significantly positive. It has been accepted and recommended by world’s most reputed healthcare organizations like American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, National Institute of Health, USA. Research studies have been shown to have positive effect on human mind and body. Some of the positive changes observed are brain imaging changes, physiological changes, immunological changes, EEG changes, Neurotransmitter changes etc.         

Types of hypnotherapy

The basic working of hypnotherapy is same but over the years many types of hypnotherapy have become popular among psychotherapists around the world. Different types of hypnotherapy are based on different techniques of psychotherapy. Some are more focused on analysis of subconscious mind while others are more focused on its reorganization. Some are:

• Traditional Hypnotherapy
• Ericksonian Hypnotherapy
• Hypnoanalysis
• Cognitive behavior Hypnotherapy
• Time regression Hypnotherapy 

Yogic Hypnotherapy

Yogic Hypnotherapy is a unique type of hypnotherapy sequence developed by Dr S K Sharma. This is a short therapy in which hypnotherapy stimulates the Chakras in body and helps in development at both mental and physical level. It gives benefits of Yoga without going through years of Yogic Sadhna.. It is result oriented therapy in physical diseases, psychological complaints and achieving heightened performance at both physical and psychological levels.

Couple Hypnosis

One to One Couple Hypnosis is one of its kind hypnosis sequence to help couples in attaining the state of true love. It helps in creating better understanding, better communication with a stronger bond. It removes conflicts & discords.

Three Step Self Hypnosis

Safe, simple and easy to do yet very powerful self hypnosis sequence. You can learn and do it yourself. This is much more effective then self hypnosis cd’s & audio’s since it will directly involve you.

This can power you to :

• Achieve better personality
• Reduce anger and anxiety
• Get better performance better results and success
• Learn various skills
• Remove phobias and bad habits
• Improve relationships and much more 

Benefits of hypnotherapy

There are many unique and profound benefits of hypnotherapy like:

• It treats cause as well as complaints
• It gives better control over mindand life
• It helps in better understanding of self and world around
• It gives deeper insight into present and past
• It increase control over own thinking, feeling and behavior
• It helps in living a fearless life
• It eliminates stress and increase enjoyment of life
• It increase ability to do things currently found difficult or impossible
• It increase performance and achievements in life
• It increase ability to do new things and make changes in life at will
• It eliminates fear, panic, anxiety and embarrassments
• It improves relationships and home atmosphere
• It helps in avoiding transfer of traits to children in family
• It helps in eliminating negative patterns and creating positive patterns
• It helps in achieving mental clarity, calmness and peace
• It improves creativity and higher learning
• It helps in achieving better self confidence and self esteem
• It helps in gaining optimistic outlook towards self, circumstances and life
• It improves mental flexibility and gives broader vision
• It helps in physical, mental, emotional and spiritual healing
• It remove past trauma and negative learning
• It creates harmony in body, mind and spirit

Most common uses of hypnotherapy are:

• Hypnotherapy for fear, phobia, anxiety or panic attacks.
  • Hypnotherapy for social phobia, anthropophobia
  • Hypnotherapy for aerophobia, fear of flying
  • Hypnotherapy for entomophobia, fear of insects
  • Hypnotherapy for acrophobia, fear of heights
  • Hypnotherapy for necrophobia, fear of death
  • Hypnotherapy for claustrophobia, fear of enclosed spaces
  • Hypnotherapy for glossophobia, fear of public speaking
  • Hypnotherapy for mysophobia, fear of germs or contamination
  • Hypnotherapy for molysmophobia, fear of infection
• Hypnotherapy for self esteem and self confidence.
• Hypnotherapy for pain and disease management and better immunity.
• Hypnotherapy for addiction treatment and deaddiction like alcohol addiction, smoking nicotine addiction, drug addiction etc.
• Hypnotherapy for better mood and emotional freedom, recovery from past painful memories, anger or grief.
• Hypnotherapy for habit breaking.
• Hypnotherapy for better sexual abilities, desire and performance.
• Hypnotherapy for eating disorders, obesity treatment, slimming and weight loss.
• Hypnotherapy for pain free natural child birth.
• Hypnotherapy for better relationships.
• Hypnotherapy for better memory, performance & achievements in study, exams or work.
• Hypnotherapy for stress management.
• Hypnotherapy for better sleep.
• Hypnotherapy for speech problems , stammering 

Myths about hypnotherapy

Some people are not clear about what happens during hypnotherapy sessions. This leads to many myths and unwanted fears about hypnotherapy. Few facts about hypnotherapy sessions are:

• Will I go to sleep?

The person under hypnotherapy does not sleep. He or she is fully awake and aware of self and surroundings.

• Will I be under control of hypnotherapist?

The person under hypnotherapy is never under control of hypnotherapist. Self control remains throughout the session and after.

• Will I be made to do things which I do not want?

Hypnotherapy can not make you do anything against your will.

• Can I get ‘stuck’ and not come out?

There is no question of ‘not coming out of hypnotic state’ because one is never in a state which is not normal. Trance is not like sleep or unconsciousness from which one is required to ‘come out’. It is a state of higher mental awareness and concentration which is a normal awakened state.

• Will I be able to get hypnotized?

Almost everyone can be hypnotized but no one can be hypnotized against will.

• Can it harm me?

Just like any other treatment, if it is done by ‘quacks’ unqualified & badly trained persons, it can cause harm. See precautions and past life regression therapy above. There are many commercial unscientific ‘uses’ for which hypnotherapy is getting exploited. In contrast it is a very safe and powerful therapy if done by well qualified and trained mental health professionals.

• Will it change my judgment and value system?

It is a matter of choice what one wishes to change in his or her subconscious   mind. It is not possible to change one’s morals, beliefs, values or identity.

Hypnotherapy process

• Consultation – First thing to do is discuss about one’s difficulties or changes required. Hypnotherapist takes into consideration person’s complete details, background and circumstances.
• Diagnostic session – In most cases a diagnostic session is undertaken to assess the real cause of complaint.
• Formulation of therapy strategy – An individualized therapy strategy is then designed.
• Therapy sessions – The therapy sessions are undertaken. The number of sessions varies depending of severity and chronic nature of complaint. It can also vary because of individual response to therapy.
• Assessment and follow up – Assessment of change & betterment is done on completion of sessions. In some cases follow up session are decided.

Super Specialty Hypnotherapy

Advanced Hypnotherapy techniques by Dr S K Sharma

• Electro-Hypnotherapy
• Chromo-Hypnotherapy
• Hypno-EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique)
• Homeo-Hypnotherapy
• Hypno-Yoga
• Hypno-Meditation
• Hypno-Pressure
• Hypno-Puncture
• Hypno-Massage
• Hypno-Reiki
• Dhara-Hypnotherapy

For A Happy And Successful Life

The ideal life

What is an ideal life? It may be difficult to define. Also it varies person to person depending on one’s needs and priorities. But a wholesome life has certain parameters.

Life Quotient LQ is a combination of various factors:

• Spiritual Q
• Happiness Q
• Health Q
• Sexuality Q
• Intelligence Q
• Emotional Q
• Social Q
• Financial Q
• Achievement Q
• Life Skill Q

It is well balanced optimum development of these factors which leads to an ideal life about which one can have immense satisfaction as the life progresses.

for this one needs to have :

• Positive spirituality. It is not necessary to be very religious or spend hours praying but it is the inner state which is in union with higher consciousness. It is the journey of of self realization to self actualization.

• Positive life path. One must determine the purpose of being. The path of life should become one of righteousness. This is the real meaning of yog, the union where one moves from disorder to order. Dharma should not be confused with religion. Dharma is the way of rightful life making truthful and wise choices thereby limiting impulsiveness. It is not necessary to become a saint but being a true human being must be the minimum.

• Positive life goals. One must be careful in choosing goals. Goals must fit well into higher mission of life. They should not contradict else this will lead to loss of direction.

• Positive self identity. One needs to create a positive self identity, a positive I. There are some factors which one cannot choose but one can give importance to many factors which one can choose to create a positive identity like honesty, integrity, commitment, wisdom etc. One can generate such positive traits in self and continue to grow through the course of life.

• Positive mind & emotions. No need to tell that to have success and satisfaction in life how important it is to have positive mind and emotions. One needs to know that positive mind and emotions can be easily developed through right choices and attitude.

• Positive health. Poor physical health can be the major source of distraction and loss of happiness, time, energy & resources. Surprisingly most of the time we are responsible for poor health and diseases. A healthy lifestyle is the best investment one can make in life.

• Positive socialization. Relatives, colleagues, friends, neighbors and others make valuable assets in life. Ask them who spend a lonely life, nothing is more painful. Relationships must be preserved thoughtfully and carefully making them enriched with symbiotic interdependence, integrating and mutually progressive.

• Positive education. Education must lead to learning. It should growth oriented and should help in generation of wisdom. This being crucial foundation, one should make careful choices and efforts.

• Positive vocation. Earning money is necessary and equally important is to grow in a vocation that is growth and aim oriented, that gives inner satisfaction, that helps to bring out best of you and that gives a positive identity.

• Positive finance. One should be very careful here. Money may tempt but remember rich is not who has lots of money but rich is who knows money management. One must see that it comes from virtuous source and then must learn proper management that includes spending, saving and investment. Pay your tax properly, this will make you very rich by being a responsible citizen and feeling of self pride.

• Positive worldly wise. Mere laying down rules is not sufficient. You need moment to moment discretion to live your life sensibly. There will be moments where it would be difficult to make a correct choice but that are your real test.

• Positive activities. Do not live in past or future. Live the moment, remain occupied in positive activities and enjoy. Remember journey is equally important as goal. Make this your life’s motto – love live laugh. 

Life Management

It is a holistic psychotherapy which aims to rectify psycho – emotional complaints, treat mental sickness and strengthen positive mental health for mental calmness and efficient mental functioning. It has following components.

• Free Consciousness of Self, Environment and Life Facts.
• Life Skills Training.
• Positive Living.

Life management therapy has short and long term strategies for both acute and chronic complaints. It removes distress & negativity and promotes mental control & effective mental function. The highlight of life management therapy is the fact that it does not stop at treating mental sickness but continue to promote positive mental health.

It covers all / some of the following aspects of life:

• Life Management
• Positive Health
• Sickness Management
• Time Management
• Stress Management
• Grief & Crisis Management
• Anger Management
• Memory & Mind Power
• Relationship Management
• Harmony & Happiness in Family
• Role & Dignity of Senior Citizens
• Marriage – Its success & relevance
• Self / Personality Development
• Healthy Sexuality
• Bliss of Being –  The Science  of Spirituality

Childhood and Adolescence Issues

• Generation Gap
• Jealousy
• Adolescence Crisis
• Study Skills
• Delinquency (Anti Social Behavior)

Health Issues

• Sleep / Appetite Disorders
• Addictions, Alcohol / Substance abuse
• Pain Management
• Psychosomatic / Psychosexual Complaints

Mental Health Issues

• Anxiety, Phobia, OCD & Depression
• Emotional Quotient
• Rational thinking
• Poor Concentration / ADHD
• Decision Making & Problem Solving
• Confidence, Will Power & Self-esteem

Communication Skills

• Schizophrenia and other Psychiatric Diseases

Love is simple yet complex

Love is simple. It is the basic emotion, most basic necessity. It sounds very obvious to all of us. Yet it is so much missed. Even in love marriage, we need reassurance. Do you love me? And we are not talking about why relationships get broken. Simple answer – No love left. Why??

Answer is – Love is simple yet complex.

It is not just one emotion but a complex & dynamic mix of many emotions and traits. There are individual difference how one expresses, expects, perceives and feels love. And this leads to doubt and dissatisfaction.

It depends on how much you are ready, how much developed to perform the game of love. For different kinds of love one needs to have developed various components be it spiritual skills, intellectual skills, emotional skills, physical skills, social skills and so on. For a good bond, two people need to be compatible and developed in these skills. If it is so, they will share and satisfy each others need of love. Otherwise same story of unhappiness.

Why does love fail

With so many broken marriages and broken relationships, do you wonder why does love fail. Important reasons are:

1. There was no love at all – Many marriages and relationships are assumed to be based on love but in reality they are formed due to other reasons. He is handsome she is sexy, this may not make a great love story. Similarly he is rich she is cute. Look carefully your own case.

2. Priorities change – There was something that brought you together but that no longer is your need or priority. Or you have developed some other priority. His need was sex, he got that. In earlier days you loved to spend time together but now rising high in your profession excites you more. What is your priority?

3. Occasionally good but now a burden – Some traits were adored in low dose but become a burden in daily dose. His possessiveness was symbol of care but now feels suffocating. Moderation is the key.

4. Boredom – Mind needs novelty, simple. You can prevent this.

5. Lacks love skills – This may be news but is true in most cases. You need love skills to make a super hit love story.

6. Fear of failure – Surprisingly in a large number of cases rest all is fine but it is the fear of failure of love that results in ultimate fall apart. You anticipates that love is dying and start making accusations over innocent errors. That is the beginning of end.

Selfish can never love

A selfish person can never love. He or she will only think about self gratification. Even when in relationship, a selfish person thinks about relationship as possession. The level of thoughtfulness, sensitivity and understanding that is required to form a strong relationship is not there in a selfish person.

A selfish person may give costly gifts but will not be able to feel the emotional need of other person.

To love one needs to think beyond I.

But the state of such selfish person is so miserable. He or she is deprived of the real happiness, the ability to give and receive love. Such selfish people gather possessions even people around them to cover up their deficiency. But they do not have happiness, the bliss that comes from love. Those who stays with them are there only for their own selfish interest. The joy of relationship can never be felt by selfish.

Such people live with a feeling of loneliness even if they are surrounded by others. The frustration comes to surface in moments where there is real need of true love. But sometimes it gets too late.

True love comes from giving true love. If you want it, give it.

Eternal love is sensible and honest

Want to live the bliss of eternal love? It is possible, just get practical. Fulfill the basic needs of each other in day to day life and experience the love. And here it is how:

• Action – Nothing happens on its own. You have to make it happen. So act and act appropriately when and where it is required.

• Soul Mind Heart and Body – Love involves play of all, soul mind heart and body. You must have the skill to touch all.

• Thoughtfulness – Think and apply yourself. A simple gesture with some thought behind it can do wonders rather than million dollar gift.

• Understanding – Every human being is unique. Understanding of each others personality is the biggest investment one can make.

• Support – Support each other in need and in growth. That will help the bond grow.

• Sex – Never ignore the basic element. Quantity and quality both matters. Learn the art of sexuality to keep it fresh always.

• Help grow – Do not let your partner stagnate in life. Suggest and stimulate growth at various levels. This will avoid negativity building up and will infuse positivity.

• Pray for him / her – It helps. You need not be very religious but can definitely pray for your partner and the relationship.

• Small things – Don’t think that only big gifts or big acts can create love. On the contrary it is the small little day to day activities which express care for each other.

• Protect and encourage – Protect and encourage the partner when he or she is feeling week. We all undergo such moments and genuine encouragement can do well for the person and for the love between.

• Quality time – It is not only for young couples. For love to grow it is crucial that we spend quality time together. It can be morning walk, reading book together, yoga or dance class, a vacation or cuddling in bed. Choice must be mutual.

• Words of love–  Be vocal about love. Speak it up. Your partner is hungry for such words.

• Complaints – Learn to make proper complaints and be safe from disaster. Your goal is not to hurt but to bring about a change. So be gentle and specific. Never forget to reward the positive response and stay calm if it is not there.

• Questions – Do not hesitate in asking questions but as in complaints, be gentle and specific. It will save you from fights and embarrassment.

• Patience – Have patience. Avoid getting hyper on small things. Discuss and sort out. The tree of love takes time in growing. Nurture it before expecting fruits.

• Desirable – Be desirable for your partner. It should be in grooming, attitude, values, habits, social skills. Make sure that you are not becoming a liability or repulsive.

• Enjoyable – Keep yourself interesting and enjoyable. Engage in positive activities, learn new things, have good humor, remain interested in life.

• Observe – Be attentive. Observe your partner’s clothes, grooming, mood, health and other things. This conveys that you are interested.

• Appreciate – Never underestimate the power of appreciation. It should not be flattery but genuine appreciation with thoughtful advice if necessary. Simplest way to quick love flow.

• Wanted and loved – Make your partner feel wanted and loved. And this requires small gestures of attention and care. A warm smile or hug, moments of togetherness, timely care will stir up the romance.

• Share stress – Help the partner unloads the burden of stress but do not take it on yourself instead.

• Responsibilities – Like stress, share responsibilities. Result – low negativity high positivity.

• Priority – Your partner is your MIP. Most Important Person. So deal with him / her accordingly. Set your priorities correct. And it does not mean you become unfair to others.

• Gifts – Love can be without gifts but gifts can not be without love. It can be among strangers, acquaintances, in business but in love your gifts must have your feelings in it.

• Share and seek opinion – Will help in improving understanding and mutual growth.

• Funny moments – Spend some light, funny moments together. Laugh together over silly things.

• Forgive and forget – Fine to have some forgettable moments. Do not keep account book of these. Let it go and move on. Do not keep them alive by recalling them again and again.

• Remember dates names – Try to have them in your brain but it is ok to have them in diary, mobile. It will make your partner feel wanted and important.

• Friend – Be friend and remain friend. Keep the spark alive. Learn to laugh and cry together.

• Don’ts – Strictly no to these until and unless you intentionally want to kill love. Cribbing cursing and hurting, adultery, cheating, lie, manipulation, possessiveness.

The secret is in giving …..

To be able to achieve sustained calmness and happiness, it is important to understand basic principle of life and set your inner philosophy accordingly. Life is a strange combination of destiny and deeds. How well we understand and manage this interplay of destiny and deeds results in our happiness and success. Circumstances are neither good nor bad. They become good or bad by how we relate to them and manage them.

Those successful and happy do following things:

•  They do not allow destiny / difficult circumstances to overwhelm them. They understand and accept the facts but do not feel ‘unfortunate’. Because if you start feeling unfortunate, you get demotivated and feel helpless which you are not. This is the real cause of inner sadness.

• They are not problem oriented but remain solution oriented. When you remain focused on problem / difficult circumstance and not carefully think of solution, you feel angry. Calm and happy people always try to understand root cause of problem and find out simple n practical solutions to them. This gives them confidence.

• They plan well and have well defined goals. They are more organized. They have clear cut priorities and divide their time / energy / resources according to these priorities. This helps in relaxed state of mind.

• They are progressive. They remain charged up and focused on how to improve as human being. How to improve self skills. This gives them motivation n energy to bear difficult times and keep growing.

• They have strong support system. Relations (family / friends), your academic / vocational pursuit, your hobbies etc are anchors which help you to sustain in difficult times and gives a positive identity. One must carefully nurture these to become asset.

• They believe in themselves. It is a scientific fact that all are given tremendous potential by nature. Those who believe in themselves and work to improve self are always successful and happy.

• They remain positive n hopeful. John F Kennedy once said that if you write Crisis in Chinese it denotes danger as well as opportunity. Happy people always see opportunity in crisis.

•  They have strong faith on God. They do not take difficult circumstances as curse but accept them as God’s Wish and acknowledge their divine duty to fight with difficult circumstances and remain positive.

So life is full of plus and minus. We must have faith in God, believe in our self, remain focused on positive, organize our life well, and make intelligent efforts to improve our self and conditions around us. Remember you are happy or not depends on how intelligently you are understanding and acting. Always demand intelligence from yourself. Try not to remain anchored in past / difficult circumstances. Develop self skills to remain independent and happy.

Meditation is not for sainthood but for everyday life

Almost everyone today has heard about meditation. People are practicing meditation for different reasons. Some common reasons for which people meditate are – it is good for mental peace, it helps in spiritual growth, it is a way of worship, it improves concentration etc. But this is not all. Meditation, if understood well, can prove a way to improve the entire quality of life. We must know what meditation is, how it is to be done, what its benefits are and why it should be part of everyone’s life. Before understanding what meditation is, let us see how it can help us.

Benefits of Meditation

• It helps in development of mind and its functions like concentration, memory, intelligence, judgment, creativity etc.
• It improves self control over mind as well as minds control over body.
• It improves the state of consciousness
• It improves awareness and power of observation.
• It improves self understanding & understanding of environment and world.
• It helps in understanding the mystery of life & death and purpose of living.
• It helps in understanding the logic behind do’s and don’ts of life thereby improving the effectiveness of behavior.
• It helps in self growth and realizing best of self potential.
• It helps in spiritual growth and realization of self & truth.
• It relieves stress, gives calmness, acceptance, compassion and better relations.
• It improves health through better choice making and through mind body relationship.
• It even helps in treatment of physical & psychological diseases.

What is meditation ?

There is lot of confusion about what is meditation. Confusion is also there because of the fact that there are innumerable ways of meditating. For a beginner it is difficult to decide which method to adopt and this sometimes result in disappointment with the progress. Therefore, to progress well, it is important to understand what meditation is. Before understanding meditation, it is necessary to know what is mind.

Every human being is in a state of consciousness. This consciousness, which we refer to as ‘ I ’,  is dynamic, functional and progressive. It has both material and non material component. The material component is referred to as – My Body along with its sensations and functions. The non material component of ‘I’ is referred to as Mind which is expressed as – I Think, I Feel, I Love, I Understand etc. Some of the functions of Mind are Perception, Awareness, Thinking, Feeling, Memory, Intelligence, Judgment, Creativity, Understanding, Will etc. Mind should not be confused with brain, the organ through which mind carry out its functions. In a broad sense Mind can be divided into three zones.

• Input – Perception & input of information picked up by senses like vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Past memory also serves as source of input.
• Assimilation – Assessment & assimilation of information by Thinking, Feeling & Understanding. This could be Fact, Incident or Abstract oriented with Intellectual or Emotional predominance. Information and its meaning are saved as Memory which is later used to understand further information. This entire process forms the basis of organization and reorganization of self.
• Output – Output is the resultant behavior based on input and assimilation and is effected through Judgment & Will.

In order to function in good capacity, mind requires development. And this process of development of Mind is called Meditation. Without development, Mind works in a narrow range of awareness with less / faulty input, poor assimilation, distortion of reality and poor output which is unhealthy and negative behavior. Thus the person feels problem with self or the world around and which can range from mild day to day problem to severe mental sickness. Meditation helps to prevent this state and improves functioning of mind. Mind if developed has enormous potential which in most of us remain untapped. You can very well appreciate that with a developed mind how well you can have better awareness & understanding of world around, better relations, better performance & efficiency, better growth in life with happiness, and with such inclination, better spiritual growth. Spirituality is nothing else but better understanding of self & life and realization of truth.

Types of Meditation

Meditation can be done in a number of ways. Most of the methods can be put under multiple types. These can be broadly divided into three types depending on the aspect of mind it is working on. It can be based on :

• Input of Information like perception. For example focus on an image, listening to mantra, observing breath etc.
• Assimilation & Assessment of Information. For example thought watching, observing inner self.
• Output like behavior. For example activity meditation, chanting of mantra, yogic posture meditation etc.

Other ways of describing types of meditation can be :

• Intellect Predominant / Emotion Predominant. It can be based on intellectual function of mind or on feelings / emotions.
• Active / Passive Meditation. It can be done by active effort as in fantasy visualization or it can be done in passive manner like done in observation of breathing.
• Dualism / Oneness Meditation. It can be done in a manner in which distinctiveness of everything is maintained or it can be done in a manner in which oneness of everything is seen.
• Focus / Wholeness Meditation. It can be done by focusing like meditating on an image / object / thought or it can be done towards universality as done in thoughtlessness.
• Past / Present / Future – It can be done by meditating on past, present or future.
• Concrete / Abstract – It can be done by meditating concrete objects / facts of life or by meditating on abstract thoughts or ideas.
• Structure / Non Structured. It can be structured in time, place, way etc or it can be non structured.
• Mind training / Awareness / Spiritual Meditation. Mind training meditation is done to train specific mind faculties like concentration, creativity, learning etc. Awareness meditation is done to become more aware about self, world around, life process etc. Spiritual meditation is done for spiritual growth and realization of self & truth.

How to Meditate

• Chose your way. How to meditate depend on many factors like how it relates to your personality, your lifestyle, your need to meditate, the aspect of mind you wish to develop etc. No method is ‘better’. It all depends on your choice and suitability. But do not change your method too often.
• Start now. Do not wait for time when you will be ‘ready’ for it. Meditation is an ongoing journey. Begin it now and keep progressing.
• Have patience. Do not expect great results immediately. With patience and regular practice you can progress well.
• Enjoy the journey instead of meditating in a monotonous manner.
• Be fully involved in meditation; do not meditate in a mechanical manner.
• Initially structured method may help more, select appropriate time and place, be free from distraction. It is better done on empty stomach but one should not be too hungry to get distracted. Wear comfortable clothing.
• Basic posture is sitting comfortably with straight but relaxed back, hands on lap and eyes gently closed. Take regular, deep breaths and relax your body. Select the technique and practice regularly.

Some Popular Techniques

• Meditation on observing the breathing. Both active and passive.
• Meditation on body relaxation.
• Vision Meditation. Focus on some object / picture.
• Meditation on hearing. Focus on sound, mantra etc.
• Thought Meditation. Thought watching, thought wandering, thoughtlessness etc.
• Fantasy meditation. Meditating on imaginary objects, incidents, light etc.
• Self awareness meditation. Meditating on self (physical / emotional self), past and present.
• Real life meditation. Meditating in day to day activity with present mindedness.
• Activity meditation. Meditating with dance, painting, playing music etc.
• Kundalini meditation. A powerful technique which combines various other techniques to meditate on energy centres called chakras resulting in activation of kundalini (yogic) energy.
• Other popular techniques are Preksha meditation, Vipassana meditation, Transcedental meditation, Mindfulness meditation, Zen meditation, Buddhist meditation, Yogic meditation, Tantra meditation etc,

There is lot of commercialization of meditation these days. But you need not spend big money to meditate. The real power of meditation is always there within you. Every human being is given unlimited capacity of mind. Only thing you need to do is to start the journey, it does not matter which path you take. Do not worry about result. Enjoy the journey. Every step, every second spent on meditation will unleash the inner energy. The world of success, freedom, joy, love and happiness is waiting for you.

Complete but quick

The assessment must be complete. It must take into account all factors which could have led to present status as well as complete assessment of person’s psychological status. At the same time it should not be hasty but reasonably quick so that the main purpose of assessment should not get lost in the long process.

Correct

Everyone will agree that assessment must be correct and no mental health professional would like to make an incorrect assessment. But this occurs due to many factors like haste in assessment, preconceived ideas about condition, lack of knowledge, lack of effort, even lack of desire to go deep into complexities of condition. Needless to say that incorrect assessment can only lead to incorrect treatment.or management.

Not just to give name of sickness

It should not be the approach on part of mental health professional to somehow fix a name to the condition. There are cases where one may not be able to reach any conclusion. It would be much better on part of the mental health professional to seek second opinion.

Meaningful for suitable effective remedial action

Mental health assessment is not meant to fill pages for records. It should be meaningful assessment which could prove useful towards correct management and treatment of the condition. 

Complaints

Psychological Complaints people suffer from can be divided into following types:

• Difficulties or disorder in perception like delusions, illusions or hallucinations.
• Difficulties or disorder in cognitive functions like thinking pattern, concentration, memory, calculation, reading, writing, learning etc
• Difficulties or disorder in emotions like mood disorders, anger, sadness, fear, grief etc.
• Difficulties or disorder in behavior including behavior towards self and behavior towards others.

Solutions

Management or treatment of psychological complaints requires a comprehensive approach. Therapist can use following techniques depending on their suitability and applicability in a certain case.

• Counseling
• Psychotherapy
• Homeopathic Psychiatry
• Hypnotherapy
• Lifestyle management
• Life Management 

Mental Disorders in today’s world

Mental disorders are fast becoming very common. The common causes, apart from biological causes, are setbacks in life, grief, poor coping skills, faulty upbringing, high pace & high demands of modern life, complex social structure, rapidly changing human values, lack of role models, poor support system, influence of media etc. The psychological disorders affect people’s ability to think, feel, act and relate in effective manner. They affect the happiness and progress in life. Their early detection and treatment is crucial to save person from long term suffering. (Also see Counseling for early intervention). 

Recognize early

It is possible and helpful to recognize the changes early. Look for the following changes / symptoms in yourself or your loved ones.

• Changes in personality
• Problems of behavior
• Inability to function effectively.
• Persistent stress & inability to cope
• Extremes of mood and mood swings
• Unwanted strange / troublesome ideas / thoughts
• Inability to relate and have satisfactory relationships
• Persistent distressing feelings like sadness, anxiety etc
• Marked non specific changes in body functions like sleep or appetite
• Addictions and substance abuse like alcohol / drugs / sex / gambling etc
• Non specific physical complaints like weakness, bodyache, headache etc. 

Mental Health Assessment

One must be careful while doing mental state examination. The information gathered is indicative of disorder. Always it is the completeness, the totality which will decide the remedy. In this examination the specific psychiatric terms have been omitted. Focus has been kept on what can be observed to identify what is characteristic of the disorder.

Appearance

There are certain points given by appearance.

• Others : Altered pupil size could be possible drug abuse. Arcus senilis, palmar erythema and spider angioma indicates alcohol abuse. Skin damage may suggest compulsive washing. Tattoos & body piercing may suggest personality disorders.
• Gait & Posture : This reveals how the person carries himself / herself. It has psychological component along with physical component.
• Physical Status : Note physical states like body built and physical handicap. How patient is dealing with his limitations?
• Grooming : How the patient is dressed & groomed. This can reflect disturbed mental state or ability / attitude for self care. It also reflects how patient relates to self. Note extra bright dressing or extra dull dressing. It could be both, an attempt to conceal or reveal inner self. Dressing may reveal status of gender identity.
• Apparent Age : The apparent age may differ from actual age. Condition of body structure, skin, hair etc contributes to apparent age. Older looking appearance could be because of physical illness, poor socioeconomic status or psychological distress.

Behavior

This includes in-clinic behavior and general behavior. In-clinic behavior starts the moment patient enters observation field and continues till departure. Observe body language. Observe how patient relates with others and with doctor. Observe activity level. Study the pattern of conscious & unconscious movements. Note the difference between desire for activity and being industrious. Look for indicators of restlessness like frequent shifting, hand wringing, leg movements etc. Look for facial expressions. Do they align with general behavior? Are there some automatic behaviors? What is the level of cooperation? How patient responds to instructions?

Note the patient’s behavior in real life situation. How he responds to responsibility and changes in life? Note the difference between lascivious, coquettish, adulterous and excessive sexual desire. Any substance abuse? See such behaviors in context with prevalent norms and cultural patterns. How is the social behavior, prefers company or aloofness? Is he timid, awkward or arrogant when in company? Is he too cautious, impulsive or reckless? Any capriciousness or fastidiousness? Is he charlatan, deceitful or liar? Is there any compulsive behavior like checking, praying, counting or washing? Is the behavior appropriate for age?

Speech

Two components of speech are to be observed. One is language and other is thought content. Observe the ability of patient to express self. How is the articulation? Watch for the accent & dialect. Observe the pressure, rhythm and modulation of speech. The problem could be in speech apparatus, speech centre or in psychological state. Also observe the thought content. How is the organization of thoughts? How is the direction and flow of thoughts? Is there appropriate control? If loquacity is there then about what? Are the thoughts meaningful in self and with context & surroundings? Is he abrupt?

Emotions

Note the emotional status of patient. Is it in congruence with the life situation? Is it stable or changeable? Observe the range and intensity of emotional state. How he expresses his emotions? Does he torments self in anger, curse & laments others, gets abusive, violent or taciturn? How consolation or contradiction affects him? Is he irritable or averse to be disturbed? How he responds to real life situations? Let him come up with his anxieties and anticipations. Is he fearful of anything or situation? Is he serious, in grief or sad with some reason? Note the difference between apathy, ennui, loathing life and suicidal disposition. Does he craves love, is jealous, feels forsaken or is indifferent to it? Is he affectionate or benevolent? Is he cheerful, vivacious or euphoric?

Perception

Note how patient perceives self and surroundings and how is his relationship with surroundings. Is the patient in touch with reality? How he takes the impact of environmental stimuli and surroundings? How is the state of self identity? Note the distortions like delusions, illusions or hallucinations. Observe the kind of insight patient has and his ego status. Is the judgment in order? How are the judgments of time and space? Note the belief system.

Cognitive Functions

Note the cognitive functions of the patient. Observe the level of consciousness, alertness & attention. Note the abilities of concentration, memory, calculation, reading, writing, learning etc. Is he absentminded or forgetful or has difficulty in concentration? Is the memory active, he dwells onto past occurrences, fancies or there is abundance of thoughts? Any tendency of theorizing? Note the state of will power and self confidence. Is there any state of confusion, dullness or delirium?

Once the information is gathered, the next task is to see what is characteristic of the disorder. A mere collection of symptoms is not helpful. Classical Homeopathy requires individualization. Remedy selection and doses including the follow-up must be in accordance with the principles of classical homeopathy.  Homeopathy will not let you down if you conform to its principles.
Homeopathy brings about subtle changes in person’s psychological being. It can change the thinking pattern of a person from negative to positive. It erases past emotional trauma and enables to ‘look forward’. It improves cognitive functions and can help one to achieve a positive mental health.

Everyone needs motivation to achieve success and reach their goals to fulfill their dreams in life. If you are lacking motivation, have trouble becoming inspired to do things, or just generally want to be more proactive, and then hypnosis will certainly help you.

Benefits of hypnosis

• Develop inspiration to come up with new ideas
• Motivate you into action
• Improve your energy levels to get things done
• Overcome any self defeating attitudes so you always CAN do it
• Improve your attention span to follow things through
• Give you the confidence to achieve your goals

Hypnotherapy sessions are also useful if you are struggling to find new ideas, or the motivation to act upon them. This is especially useful if you have personal projects, business ideas, inventions, a book to write or anything else that you want to get done. With equal parts inspiration, motivation & the drive to follow through, you can achieve some amazing things.

Hypnotherapy can definitely help our strengths become stronger, and can initiate the positive behaviors we desire. It can also help us improve our thoughts, which are at the source of most our problems, and improve the beliefs we have about ourselves. Once we transform our limiting beliefs into positive ones, the potential for positive change is incredible.

Good health is the basis of happiness.

Everyone wish to have good health. But few know the secret. There are two options. One, we can get treatment of the disease we are suffering from. Second, we take steps so that diseases do not occur or atleast get delayed and cause minimum suffering. This second step is known as Preventive Healthcare.

Why Preventive Healthcare is important? Reason is easy to understand. By the time we come to know about disease through complaints (signs and symptoms) or investigations (blood test, scans etc) it is already too late and significant damage has already occurred to body tissues. And even after knowing about sickness we are unable to get relief due to factors like lack or delay in initiative to start treatment, wrong diagnosis, non availability of specific treatment, failure of treatment and so on. End result is suffering, years of suffering which is likely to last life long.

Millions of people around the world are suffering and dying due to preventable causes. It sounds strange but true that big causes of suffering and untimely death are poor diet, lack of exercise, excess stress, preventable injuries, pollution and other such factors. We can manage them to a large extent and prevent diseases.

How to prevent sickness and diseases

Some of the things we need to do at individual and community level are:

• Believe in golden truth – Prevention is better than cure
• Become aware about what can be done
• Regular check up and investigations, all ages
• Immunization
• Healthy and balanced nutrition
• Regular exercise
• Learn stress coping skills
• Maintain hygiene
• Avoid addictions
• Safety measures to avoid injuries
• Control pollution
• Holistic preventive care

Levels of prevention

• Primary prevention – Eliminating disease agents like immunization, healthy diet and exercise, avoiding smoking etc.
• Secondary prevention – Early detection and management of diseases like detecting diabetes and hypertension and managing them.
• Tertiary prevention – Slow down disease and reduce negative effect.

Holistic Preventive Care

Holistic Preventive Care promoted by Ethos is unique and has edge as it works at all three levels. It improves health, reduce chances of getting sick, detect early indications and also slow down and reduce negative effects.

It involves:

• Constitutional Homeopathy
• Acupuncture
• Diet and Nutrition
• Exercise and Fitness
• Lifestyle management
• Massage
• Yoga
• Meditation
• Wellness

What is Psychotherapy?

Psychotherapy is the process of non medicinal intervention by trained therapist (psychotherapist) to treat people suffering from mental illness or psychological disorders of thoughts / feelings / behavior and to help people in improving mental control & functioning for a better life. In short it is the therapy which helps to achieve sound & positive mental health.

There are many methods / techniques which are used by psychotherapists today. (See types of psychotherapies) They have both diagnostic and therapeutic (curative) value. These therapies differ in origin, underlying principle, working methodology, professional training and usefulness in treating disorders.

Psychotherapy is a very specialized treatment which requires substantial amount of skill, effort and energy on part of psychotherapist. In a very short time psychotherapist has to understand the unique mental functioning of the individual patient in context with his or her circumstances of life and has to design a suitable psychotherapy treatment protocol. All this requires in-depth education, training and experience. In addition, the psychotherapist must have himself or herself grown as a human being, must have integrated personality and must have understood the dynamics of mind and dynamics of life.  His treatment must be based on sound theoretical background of psychotherapy and also practical enough to be easily and effectively applicable in patients every day life.

Psychotherapy is not one therapy. It is a broad term used to refer to all such non medicinal therapies which are used to help people in achieving better mental health.  Commonly used psychotherapies are counseling psychotherapy, cognitive behavior psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, gestalt psychotherapy, group psychotherapy, integrative psychotherapy, play psychotherapy, family psychotherapy, narrative psychotherapy, hypnotherapy etc. There are three main aspects of psychotherapy. One is the person who is seeking help for some difficulty, second is the psychotherapist who is qualified and trained to undertake such therapy and thirdly which is the most important is the rapport, the bond or the relationship between the person and the psychotherapist. This relationship is based on trust, confidentiality and mutual regard. This provides the platform on which one can explore one’s deepest difficulties without any fear or inhibition.  Psychotherapist then uses his or her skills to explore solutions and develop better coping skills towards a positive mental health and efficiency.

Psychotherapy helps you to :

• Control and correct involuntary thoughts, feelings and behavior
• Break old and ineffective habitual patterns of thinking and behavior
• Discover creative and effective ways of thinking and behavior
• Find new ways to cope and better coping skills to solve problem
• Unload emotional burden and get “unstuck” from past
• Heal old psychological wounds
• Improve communication skills
• Improve your self esteem self confidence
• Increase your ability to love yourself and love others

Conditions in which Psychotherapy helps 

According to a recent survey for mental illness, approximately 26.2 percent of adults (over 1 in 4) are affected (or likely to be affected) by some type of mental illness.  Here are some of the common mental illnesses that

psychotherapist work with:

• Anxiety disorders like stress, non specific anxiety, health anxiety, social anxiety etc.
• Behavior disorders like uncontrolled anger (IED), impulsive gambling / stealing / pyromania / sex & pornography.
• Childhood disorders like attention deficit disorders (ADHD), autism etc.
• Cognitive disorders like amnesia, delirium, dementia etc.
• Dissociative disorders like depersonalization, identity disorder etc.
• Eating disorder like anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating etc.
• Factitious disorders like feigning sickness.
• Mental disorders due to medical condition and sickness
• Mental retardation and poor development, specific or general.
• Mood disorders like depression, mania, bipolar disorder etc.
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• Panic disorder like cue attacks, situational attacks, spontaneous attacks etc.
• Personality disorders like anti social /avoidant / paranoid personality
• Phobic disorders like phobia of animals, accidents, water, crowded place etc.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Psycho social disorders like isolation, problem with social group or occupation.
• Psychosomatic disorders like psychosomatic pain, conversion disorder, hypochondriasis, body dismorphic disorder etc.
• Schizophrenia with delusions, hallucinations etc
• Sexual & gender identity disorders like exhibitionism, fetishism, disorders of sexual desire / function, painful sex etc.
• Sleep disorders like insomnia, sleep walking, nightmares etc.
• Substance abuse (alcohol/drugs/nicotine) 

Some commonly used Psychotherapies 

• Adlerian Psychotherapy
• Behavior Therapy
• Cognitive Therapy
• Cognitive Behavior Therapy
• Emotional Freedom Therapy
• Existential Therapy
• Gestalt Therapy
• Hypnotherapy
• Integrative Therapy
• Interpersonal Psychotherapy
• Mind Body Therapy
• Neuro Linguistic Program Therapy
• Person Centred Therapy
• Primal Therapy
• Psychoanalysis
• Rational Emotive Therapy
• Spiritual Therapy
• Transactional Analysis
• Expressive therapy
• Narrative therapy
• Emotionally focused therapy 

Benefits of Psychotherapy 

• It decreases mental distress and helps in overcoming mental illness.
• It improves mental calmness, control and functioning.
• It improves job stability and helps in growth.
• It reduces socially unwanted behavior.
• It helps in getting freedom from addictions.
• It decreases dependence on psychiatric medicines.
• It reduces suffering and even treats psychosomatic diseases.
• It decreases discords and improves satisfaction in relationships.
• In addition to patient it improves the atmosphere of patient’s family.  

The Process of Psychotherapy

Apart from professional skills of therapist, psychotherapy (like counseling) works in an atmosphere of privacy, confidentiality, trust, respect and warmth. It is entirely confidential and it is not necessary for the patient to reveal his / her name, address and place of work. The initial sessions are about information gathering which are crucial for correct assessment and which form the basis of direction of psychotherapy. Patient’s can safely reveal his / her mental anguish and thoughts / feeling / behavior howsoever strange they may seem to be. On the basis of assessment the psychotherapy schedule is mutually decided. The schedule is need based and takes into consideration state of sickness, patient’s life and responsibilities and the effect of sickness on patient’s life and life of those related to him / her.  Through the use of different psychological techniques, patient understands his / her sickness, gains mental control & functioning and learns various strategies to keep mental health positive and strong. In terms of benefits and reduced suffering, psychotherapy is a very cost effective treatment option.

Recreation is refreshment of health or spirit by relaxation and enjoyment. Recreation is about activities, pastimes, and experiences which are freely chosen. They are usually undertaken in free time and produce feelings of well being, fulfillment, enjoyment, relaxation and satisfaction.

Recreation is an essential part of human life and finds many different forms which are shaped naturally by individual interests but also by the surrounding social construction. Recreational activities can be communal or solitary, active or passive, outdoors or indoors, healthy or harmful, and useful for society or detrimental. A list of typical activities could be almost endless including most human activities, a few examples being reading, playing or listening to music, watching movies or TV, gardening, hunting, hobbies, sports, studies, and travel

The specific activity performed is less important than the reason for performing the activity, which is the outcome. For most the overarching desired outcome is recreation or restoration. Participants hope that their recreation pursuits can help them to balance their lives and refresh themselves from their work as well as other mandated activities such as housecleaning, child rearing, and so on.

Benefits of Recreation

• Recreation is important in promoting quality of life.
• It increases self esteem and confidence.
• It allows people to contribute their skills and feel a sense of belonging and accomplishment.
• Gives people the opportunity to make their own choices.
• It allows us to be challenged, take risks and experience new things.
• It enables us to become involved and feel part of the community.
• It increases the opportunity to gain and develop new friendships.
• It bridges the gap between attending and participating in the community.

Relationships are made in heaven but must be nurtured and enhanced on earth. You can do it.

People have been always fascinated by human relationships and its impact on our life. The growth of human civilization and culture owe most to these. These relations form core of our life. Most successful people have credited success of their lives to their loved ones and close relations. People have termed relations as the biggest asset and beauty of their life. It is said that life and world looks beautiful if you have positive relations.

Relationship is a dynamic process between two personalities. No relation can exist in isolation. It is always in close interaction with circumstances and even other relations of the two. Relations are anchors of life also called as shock absorbers of life. And why not, they give you stability, identity and hold you through rough patches of life. Relations are strong to support but delicate if taken for granted. Every relationship goes through highs and lows. It depends on how you they nurture the relationship.

Types of relationships

•  Family relationships
• Marital relationship
•  Friendship relationship
•  Romantic relationship
•  Live in relationship
•  Ex relationship
•  Distance relationship
•  Cyber / Online / Internet / Chat relationship
• Sexual relationship
•  Homosexual gay or lesbian relationship
•  Workplace relationship
•  Official or Business relationship
•  Social relationship
•  Spiritual relationship

Every relationship has unique chemistry depending on type of relationship and personalities of the persons involved. They further become complex by overlapping. Therefore, they require sensitive and mature nurturing. Biggest mistakes I have seen that people make in relationships and spoil them are:

• Taking relations for granted
•  Stereotype role-play
•  Unrealistic expectations
•  Poor communication
• Poor prioritization

It is not impossible to have positive relations. But yes, it requires desire and initiative on your part set things in order. Rest all is just a matter of Learn and Do. 

Family

Family is not just living under one roof. Family is the social unit of society. It is about oneness, about one’s identity, about one’s core beliefs & values, about one’s meaning & purpose of life, about one’s personality and about one’s happiness. It is closest to one’s being and has profound impact. It has mainly following relationships:

•  Parent parent relationship
•  Parent child relationship
• Sibling relationship between brothers and sisters
• Grand parents relationships
•  Extended family relationships
•  In-laws relationships
•  Step mother step father step children relationships

These relations overlap and influence each other. To add to complexities intra family dynamics are affected by interaction of family with other units. These dynamics are:

Intra family dynamics – within the family

Inter family dynamics – between one family and other

Family school dynamics – between family and school

Family society dynamics – between family and society 

Common causes of family discords are:

Rights versus responsibilities

Role play discord

Power disbalance

Money matters

Autonomy discords

Eccentric behavior & habits

Family culture & discipline

Family norms & boundaries

Addictions

In-laws and extended family

Interference from outside

Why do relationships go sour and how to set them right

Human beings are social. We cannot live in isolation. We need to have people around with whom we can connect, share emotions and feel that we belong to. This is true for everyone. We all want to feel wanted, loved and honored. We are also happy in giving the same to others. But then why do relationships go sour?  Relationships are said to be the first indicator of person’s happiness and quality of life. These can vary from close relationships like family and friends to colleagues, neighbors, business associates, acquaintances and even strangers.

Healthy relationships are good for mental health & happiness. We want happiness and share this happiness with our loved ones. Then why do people feel so lonely today? Why do we get hurt or feel uncared by others? Why we are getting more and more isolated even after having many people around both in real and virtual life?

Situation is painful but fortunately easy to understand and rectify. To understand one must understand the spectrum of relationships, its interdependence and interactions. Relationships go sour because we let them go sour. Relationships can be kept healthy by proper management. There are many factors which play crucial role in keeping relationships healthy.

These are :

Priority : One must be clear about priorities in relationships giving due space, time and involvement to each relationship. Be sure about who is important and how much. But one must make sure that this should not be defined by selfishness. Priority should be in fair proportion done with honesty and giving due importance to sense of responsibility.

Roles : One must clarify the role one is required to be play in relationship. Whatever your role is be it parent, sibling, friend, boss or any other. See honestly, are you playing your role with sincerity or not? There is no harm in making a realistic self assessment and / or get feedback. Carefully watch complaints or situations which will give you fairly correct idea how you are doing. But be careful to be realistic as people’s expectations will run high. So must know how to have balance in life. This is possible if you can have balance of playing your role nicely on one hand and have the ability to say polite no to undue expectations.

Expectation : One must have realistic expectations for healthy development of relationship. This is true for both expectations from yourself and from others. It is common to see guilt feeling if you try to overdo. In this case either you will have frustration or guilt. You may also feel used by others. Make fair assessment of own and others expectations and have a balance in life keeping in view your other priorities of life.

Space : one must create sufficient self space and respect others space. Just like expectations, space must also be balanced. You must have your own space. Learn ways to maintain your space without getting harsh with others. Similarly respect others space and honor that if they resist your intrusion even if in your point of view that was ok.

Independence: Interdependence is necessity of relationship but independence is necessary to keep relationships healthy. Just like financial independence, emotional and intellectual independence is necessary in every relationship. This will allow you to resist possessiveness and other negative traits.

Values : Values like honesty and sincerity are crucial for healthy relationship. We wish to have honesty and sincerity from others but we fail to do same from our side. Our selfishness and greed does not allow us to be fair. How often we find excuses for our selfishness and justify it to our self or others. But when it comes to other person we get furious and ready to take revenge be it verbal or in deeds.

Communication : Lack of proper communication is the cause of most relationship problems. All above factors will play role in your relationships and you are required to communicate. But most often we communicate in harsh or sarcastic manner. Our focus is on blames. We must learn how to communicate own point of view and similarly listen patiently other persons point of view. This is art. Learn the art of communication.

Transformation : No relationship is static. They change with time. But unfortunately we do not understand the necessity of such transformation. Siblings or children share one kind of relationship before their marriage and different after. Some personality traits and temperament are likely to change. This does not mean that there is less affection after their marriage or they have changed. If one understands the transformation process then it would be easily to relate under new circumstances.

Conflict resolution : Human beings think and act differently. But it is not necessary to allow these different ways to become conflicts. And even if they occur do not allow conflicts to linger on. Discuss and solve at earliest opportunity. One most important thing is to handle each other gently. Attack on the person is not the strategy. One should instead adopt solution oriented strategy.

Relaxation is the act of relaxing the mind and body, and can also be defined as the state of being relaxed. Various techniques are used by individuals to improve their state of relaxation. A relaxation technique is any method, process, procedure, or activity that helps a person to relax; to attain a state of increased calmness; or otherwise reduce levels of pain, anxiety, stress or anger. Some of the methods are performed alone; some require the help of another person (often a trained professional); some involve movement, some focus on stillness; while other methods involve different elements.

Certain relaxation techniques are

• Acupressure and Acupuncture
• Autogenic relaxation
• Biofeedback
• Deep breathing
• Meditation
• Massage
• Mind body relaxation
• Zen Yoga
• Progressive Muscle Relaxation
• Pranayama
• Visualization
• Yoga Nidra
• Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy 

The benefits of relaxation techniques

• Slowing your heart rate
• Lowering blood pressure
• Slowing your breathing rate
• Improving concentration and mood
• Lowering fatigue
• Reducing anger and frustration
• Boosting confidence to handle problems
• Reducing activity of stress hormones
• Increasing blood flow to major muscles
• Reducing muscle tension and chronic pain

Remember that relaxation techniques are skills. As with any skill, your ability to relax improves with practice. Be patient with yourself. Don’t let your effort to practice relaxation techniques become yet another stressor. If one relaxation technique doesn’t work for you, try another.

Poor self confidence can cause a number of problems for you.

• Difficulties at job interview, at work or in exams
• Problem speaking in front of public
• Anxiety about communicating your views to others
• Awkward feelings or self consciousness in relationships
• Finding meetings or social events very stressful
• Anxiety about what other people think of you

Hypnosis is a very effective tool for building confidence. It seeks to determine the root cause of the low self confidence and then find ways to resolve it. Hypnosis can reach the unconscious mind and modify belief systems, and replace negative thought patterns with positive ones. This can boost self confidence and completely change an individual’s life.

During hypnosis, you enter a deeply relaxed state. In this state, you are able to access your unconscious or subconscious mind much more effectively. Because of this, certain repetitive suggestions can powerfully affect the deep parts of your mind where you core feelings and thoughts reside. Once you are able to access your subconscious mind, often you can purge many of the stale negative thoughts that are stagnating there and replace them with positive and more helpful ideas or thoughts by using hypnotic suggestions.

Benefits of Hypnosis for Self-Confidence

• It builds on your inner subconscious strengths in a positive constructive way
• Better ability to express yourself
• Confidence in your own decision making ability
• Increased capacity to step outside your comfort zone and reap benefits
• Improves your self esteem

Hypnosis can help you to build stepping stones so you become more confident which in turn allows you to feel more powerful about building a successful business and life. hypnosis or hypnotherapy is one of the healthiest & least intrusive ways of improving your self confidence.

Hypnotherapy is one of the most successful ways of changing the way you think about yourself. It is becoming really popular nowadays. It involves a state of deep relaxation. The lack of confidence that you feel can stems from limiting or negative memories. Therefore, the negative memories are accessed and the negative emotions that emerge are given positive reinforcement. You can gain self-esteem and confidence through hypnosis. During a self esteem hypnosis program, the person’s subconscious is reached and is transformed. It improves your self-projection. It helps you to think positively about your mind, intelligence, creativity, abilities and talents. It control over your frustrations, habits and your self-denial over your life. Hypnosis can help you build your self-esteem to the point that you will no longer avoid social situations that now make you feel uncomfortable and awkward. You will be asked to visualize yourself feeling extremely positive about doing the things you want to do. It allows your mind to reassess the situation in a more appropriate manner.

If you follow the treatment plan with honesty without breaking the flow, then you will gain self-esteem and confidence forever and will never have low self-esteem. Hypnotherapy will reveal your authentic self and personality more accurately and positively so that the people can see it. It will make a dramatic change in your personality. After few sessions, the individual will be able to see the changes in himself and will notice that he has achieved a higher level of self confidence. It is an effective way of accomplishing your goals.

Poor self-image means thinking of you as inferior, inadequate, or flawed. People who harbor a poor self-image tend to compare themselves unfavorably to others. They suffer from social anxiety, fear of failure, lack of initiative, poor performance, and various forms of self-sabotage such as perfectionism, underachieving, or second guessing themselves. Left untreated, a poor self-image can lead to unhappiness, depression, isolation, despair, and even suicidal thinking.

Hypnotherapy may be available in various ways. You can go to a trained professional hypnotist and undergo hypnosis sessions to improve your self- image. Self-image hypnosis can create positive changes in the way a client thinks and judges him/herself, creating a more positive self-assessment and greater self-acceptance. The client must really want to make the changes, must believe that they can make positive changes, and must be open to using the tools and techniques.

The treatment plan for a poor self-image must be tailored to each individual client’s particular case. Hypnotherapy is a relaxing, natural, and safe, brief-term form of therapy that involves an interactive process to redirect the attention of both the conscious and subconscious mind where a poor self-image develops and festers. Self-image hypnosis can create positive changes in the way a client thinks and judges him/herself, creating a more positive self-assessment and greater self-acceptance.

Hypnosis is like being in a state of deep relaxation. You are consciously aware of everything that is going on around you. You are not asleep just very relaxed. During the hypnosis session, you will be guided into a highly relaxed state. It teaches you to be more positive about yourself; it works towards creating a better self image through training your subconscious mind to do away with the negative feelings. It lets you be comfortable in your own skin and clear the clutter in your mind. It lets you overcome your fears and enables you be comfortable with yourself, to love yourself.

Achieving a more positive idea of self can improve many different aspects of your life and for some people it will prove to be almost vital for any kind of success and happiness.

In our day to day discussion, people talk about being spiritual and non spiritual.

Usually those people are considered as spiritual who are:

-God fearing (or God loving)
– Who perform religious rituals
– Who go to places of worships

And non spiritual / materialistic people are:

– Those who do not care much about God talk
– Those who run after pleasures of life
– Those who accumulate assets

Sometimes spiritual and non spiritual also used to differentiate right minded & wrong minded persons respectively.

But in reality everyone is spiritual by default. No one is out of realm of nature and nature is self governed by single universal energy system called by various names like Supreme Consciousness or God.

Now since everyone is spiritual being part of nature, all that can happen is that the individuals may be in harmony with this supreme consciousness i.e. God or in conflict.

Harmony is identity of Yog (Union) and this is order. In this one identifies with whole and then lives a life accordingly. Whereas conflict is disorder where one see oneself as separate being and lives a life of self centered selfishness.

Result – In first one lives in peace with cooperation with others. In second one is always at war to win so unhappiness for self and others.

It is up to you, which way you wish to move on.

Simplify spirituality

Real spirituality is simple because God is simple. God has never asked anyone to pray in a particular way for a particular amount of time or donate a particular amount of money. Religions present around the world were supposed to do two things.

1. Help people in self realization and awaken real spirituality to ‘find’ God.
2. Help world by promoting harmony and human values.

Both stands defeated.

Unfortunately as we see around there is lot of pomp & show in the name of religion, it has become big business. Real spirituality is lost in the religious chaos. People may be doing hours of prayers or meditation, going on pilgrimage, donating big amounts but there is no true realization. There is confusion, chaos and negativity. Millions of articles and discourses of spirituality serving no purpose. Worse they are inflating spiritual ego – a false feeling of being spiritual. No where to go.

Real spirituality is simple as God is simple. Real spirituality means becoming one with God. And for this one has three options.

1. The path of awareness (Gyan) – Rightful awareness through rightful thinking. Think of entire creation as one, this will make action rightful and generate peace, compassion and love for all ultimately leading to state of self realization.

2. The path of action (Karma) – Do rightful action or deeds.Be just to self and others as if all are one. This will make awareness rightful ultimately leading to self realization.

3. The path of surrender (Bhakti or Worship) – Surrender to God, shed your ego. This will make both awareness and action rightful leading to self realization.

One can follow any of the path. In worldly life it may not be possible for one to follow a single path. In this one can do following:

1. In mind follow path of Gyan – Add good knowledge, righteous thinking and become aware.
2. In soul follow path of Bhakti – Surrender to God and let the love of God flow.
3. In world follow the path of Karma – Do all your practical life action, your duties including work, relationships, earning money in rightful manner.

God is right there inside us and every where. All religions, all spirituality revolves around these three paths. The only caution is – Do not get lost in chaos. 

The real spiritual growth

What is the real spiritual growth?

Why even after years of meditation and other practices, there is no growth?

Why people are not ‘happy’ inspite of spirituality?

There is no spiritual growth. People only gather so called spiritual words but nothing happens. All that happens is spiritual arrogance. You start feeling spiritually grown but where is the ‘growth’.

The answer is simple. No one can ‘teach’ spirituality.

Intellectual growth is through ‘knowledge’.  You can gain spiritual knowledge by reading or listening.

Emotional growth is through ‘feeling’.  You can gain spiritual feeling by meditation.

And…

Spiritual growth is through ‘realization’.  Spirituality is and can only be realized. It comes from within.

Let it happen, naturally and spontaneously. 

Spiritual investment and spiritual opportunity

People are wise to judge investment opportunity – stock market, gold, real estate and what not. We let go no opportunity. We even value ‘opportunity’ of good sex. Another opportunity we look for is to have something for free.

But what about the most important opportunity – the spiritual investment opportunity ! Returns are big and fantastic.

We either take this for granted or do not care at all. What a miss…..

Understand the importance of human life. Realize the importance of spiritual investment opportunity. Do not waste this wonderful opportunity. It is not bad to have pleasures, earn money, eat good food or have good sex. But do not let all this spoil this wonderful spiritual investment opportunity. The real opportunity.

There are different types of spiritual investments. One is to replace impulsive thoughts, feelings and acts of selfish nature with thoughts, feelings and acts of welfare of self and others. Second is to pray and surrender to supreme consciousness and meditate. Doing one’s duty sincerely is another type of spiritual investment. Benevolence is a well known type of spiritual investment.

And the returns are plenty:

– True happiness, calm and peaceful mind
– Positive mindset
– Positive energy system
– A developed and powerful mind
– Stronger innerself
– Safeguard from mental and physical illness
– Immunity from negative energy, negative happenings and negative people
– Higher success, best of self potential, positive ‘luck’ and destiny
– Realization of truth and self
– Oneness or Yog with supreme consciousness or God

If living a normal life, doing all that you normally do and having all the fun of life, you can still achieve all this by making day to day small spiritual investments then why to miss this wonderful opportunity.
Start investing now………

World is fooled in the name of God

What a sorry state. World is so successfully fooled in the name of God. World is full of temples, mosques, churches. There are discourses by preachers of every religion attended by masses and watched on TV by large population.  But what is the outcome. Religion has become a big business. Huge amount of money is donated to these religious place, to these preachers. Some social work is done but that is nothing compared to amount of money that goes to them. World is suffering from poverty, there is no food / water / medicine for huge population. But these so called religion places and people sit on such huge amount of money unaccounted. This is fraud in the name of God. Is this what religion or spirituality is all about. Ask yourself honestly.

This must change. These so called religious places and people should get registered as NGO (Non Government Organization) and be properly accounted completely towards social welfare. Donation boxes must be sealed and opened in front of audit agency. Money and articles collected must be used for social welfare through reputed NGO’s.

The preachers must know that they hold responsible place and must not say or do anything to divide society. God is one. Any thing said or done which can spread disharmony is definitely against God.

The entire purpose of places of worship and of preachers is to promote sensible, meaningful spirituality among human beings to create sensible, wiser and better human beings and to create better humanity for a better world where all live in harmony. Unfortunately these places of worship and preachers have failed to do so. It is time that all human beings including preachers honestly do some introspection. We must try to become sensibly spiritual rather than madly religious. God does not get tempted by how many hours you have spent in prayers, how much you have blindly donated to such places, what all pilgrimage you have done. Do not try to fool God. All that is required is to have genuine love for God in your heart & soul and attitude of fairness & compassion for others.

Spiritual foolishness

How difficult it has become to find ‘normal’ people. Sensibility is an impossible task. There are ‘material sinners’ or ‘spiritual fools’.

World and life are usually divided into two – material and spiritual. It is said that some are driven towards material world and succumb to Vikrati (disorder) of Kaam Krodh Madh Lobh Moh. And those who are on spiritual path must give up or fight these Vikrati for realization of truth and God. And most ‘bad’ thing according to them is sex.

Stay away from sex. Don’t even look at it, there should be no thought. Sad and strange, people are told to give up sex even in married life or told to stay away from marriage or relationship. Their spiritual realization is so weak and fragile that sex will destroy it. What a shame !!

There are too many spiritual guru and spiritual sect around the world which will show you the way and teach you how to fight and win these Vikrati. This is as if they ‘know all’ and are realized souls. Blind showing path to blinds. These so called guru and sect have failed to do any good in this world. They have even failed in helping disciples becoming better human beings or rise in spiritual journey. All they have done is to have big empire, huge following, even more huge money, big pomp and show. And to prove good they talk big spiritual words and do some charity to prove goodness. End result is also big zero.

Reason is simple. The path shown is wrong. Material sinners to one extreme are attached and surrender to temptations of Kaam Krodh Madh Lobh Moh and spiritual fools are reversely attached to Kaam Krodh Madh Lobh Moh by fighting them hard. In the end both are two sides of same coin. They fail to understand it is not their whimsical impulse that will help them in living a sensible life and true development, it is the Dharma, the path of righteousness which will help them in correcting the Vikrati, the disorder and lead to ultimate truth, the ultimate consciousness.

These guru and sect are intentionally making all this so tough and complicated. They appear ‘God like’ to people. They have numerous stories too in their support. People out of ignorance and fear surrender to them.

In reality none of the Kaam Krodh Madh Lobh Moh is a Vikrati or a disorder. Real Vikrati or disorder is the attachment to them and reverse attachment by trying to fight them out of life.

Path is simple. Just identify your whimsical selfish attachment and use of Kaam Krodh Madh Lobh Moh. Use them sensibly and appropriately according to Dharma for welfare of self and others. This is what Geeta has told to be in moderation. This is the real path shown as Dharm Arth Kaam Moksha.

Honesty is the key. Be honest with yourself, identify your weakness. Gradually attain the state of Dharma using Kaam Krodh Madh Lobh Moh in right proportion, in right manner, at right place and towards right purpose. This will help you in true spiritual development and supreme consciousness. Having sex, eating good food, wearing good clothes, making a good house or enjoying life is not a barrier in spiritual growth. On the contrary they are necessary and helpful.

God has created everything. Look at the beauty of nature. How can God expect you to become dull and boring away from everything? All that God expect is to raise your consciousness from narrow minded selfish I to Dharma. Spiritual foolishness of fighting away everything is as bad as surrendering to material temptations. Be sensible.

This is the essence of life, this is Yog, this is realization. God is right here, God is every where. God does not see you as sinner. God loves you. Of course what you sow so you reap. If you harm others, bad result will follow. That is not punishment but merely a result of deed. God is not cruel. God has given you sensibility to use Kaam Krodh Madh Lobh Moh in right proportion and create a good life and also rise higher in spiritual journey.

This world is a lab. Lab of good and bad, right and wrong. Do not worry about lab. God will take care of it. This lab has given you an opportunity to create balance and harmony. Even if you wish to help mankind, bring a change within yourself. Just commit to path of Dharma. Make God your guru and surrender your whimsical selfish ideas to God. God will guide you what to do, how to do and for what. Your consciousness will grow to supreme consciousness and that will be true Yog true Realization – the Nirvana.

Anything that poses a challenge or a threat to our well-being is a stress. Stress becomes dangerous when it interferes with your ability to live a normal life over an extended period. You may feel tired, unable to concentrate or irritable. Many different things cause

stress for many people.

The symptoms of psychological stress

• Lack of judgment
• Problems with memory
• Worrying all of the time
• Inability to concentrate
• Negative thinking
• Trouble thinking clearly

Psychological stress also has a physical impact on your body. Headaches are common for people under a lot of stress. People often feel muscle tension and stiffness, nausea, insomnia, chest pain and rapid heartbeats, hives, loss of sex drive, and frequent colds.

Stress can be reduced and even eliminated before it becomes a chronic problem. There are many things you can do for natural stress relief. The two primary ways to relieve your stress include:

• Exercise – Exercise is known to make anyone feel better after they have a good workout.
• Eat healthy – It is important to eat healthy and get all of the supplements your body needs in order to have proper stress relief.

Psychological stress may also have evolved from a real event that caused an emotional disturbance in the past. Counseling and psychotherapy can help people to accept the initial stressful event and rationalize the subsequent stress inducing thoughts. 

Stress can harm in a big way, it can cause

• Anxiety and depression
• Poor memory, concentration and judgment
• Lack of motivation and procrastination
• Anger and violence
• Isolation and problem in relationships
• Negative thoughts and mood swings
• Poor performance in studies and work
• Disturbed or lack of sleep
• Lack of energy and life drive
• Aches and pains
• Back pain, migraine etc
• Diarrhea or constipation
• Nausea and dizziness
• Lack of libido and poor sexual activity
• Erectile dysfunction
• Frequent sickness like cold
• Eating disorder
• Loss or gain of weight
• Falling to substance abuse, smoking, alcohol
• Nervous restlessness or nail biting
• High blood pressure and heart attack
• Gastric Ulcer and acidity
• Irritable Bowel Disease
• Infertility
• Asthma
• Diabetes
• Poor immunity
• Early ageing
• Premature death 

What is Stress 

Stress is your body’s way of responding to any kind of demand. Stress affects your body as much as food and exercise. Stress is related to both external and internal factors. 

Symptoms of Stress 

• Sweating and tingling
• Rapid or shallow breathing
• Racing pulse
• Tension
• General anxiety
• Physical illness or pain 

Causes of Stress 

• Increase of responsibilities
• Major life changes
• Work
• Relationship difficulties
• Family problems
• Sexual problems
• Financial problems
• Being too busy
• Injury and illness
• Consumption of alcohol or drugs
• lack of sleep
• Lack of money 

Risk factors of Stress 

• Genetic factors
• Older adults
• Immune regulated diseases
• Stressful events
• The lack of network of family and friends

Complications of Stress 

• Heart disease
• Eating disorders
• Sleep disorders
• Problem in Sexual performance
• Headaches jaw clenching

Diagnosis of Stress 

Doctor will usually be able to diagnose stress based on your symptoms alone. He may also ask about your family history and your personal life. He may ask some tests such as a blood or urine, or a health assessment. 

Precautions & Prevention of Stress 

• Try deep breathing exercises
• Do not skip meals
• Avoid unhealthy food
• Adequate sleep
• Avoid smoking

Treatment of Stress 

Homeopathic Treatment of Stress

Homeopathy is popular worldwide as safe natural and effective treatment of physical diseases, psychological disorders and psychosomatic complaints. It treats and cures stress caused by various reasons. And it relieves both mental and physical complaints of stress like irritability, emotional pain, lack of happiness, nervousness, fatigue, sleeplessness, body aches, frequent sickness or any other complaint. Homeopathic remedies supply the stimulation naturally and without any bad side effects. It helps in reducing the symptoms of stress. Some of the homeopathic remedies for stress are:

• Gelsemium
• Belladona
• Chamomilla
• Nux V
• Nit ac
• Ignatia
• Lycopodium
• Silicea 

Acupuncture and Acupressure Treatment of Stress 

Acupuncture treatment is very relaxing. Acupuncture helps to address the origin of the problem, while at the same time reducing the painful symptoms that are affecting your health and well-being. It gives immediate improvement in muscle tension and your overall energy level. In acupuncture therapist will first diagnose the case on the basis of energy system or chi blockage as well as on the basis of status of five elements. On this basis certain disease specific acupoints are selected and stimulated.  

Psychotherapy and Hypnotherapy Treatment of Stress

Stress elimination psychotherapy and hypnotherapy is highly effective. It enables a person to tolerate stress more readily. It helps in decreasing the effects of stress and increases your capacity and tolerance. Psychological techniques that can actually help to reduce complaints of stress are Individual and group counseling, Biofeedback, Relaxation techniques, Self-hypnosis, Visual imaging and Learning or conditioning techniques. Hypnotherapy is safe and quick treatment of deep seated psychological issues and barriers.

Conventional / Allopathic Treatment of Stress

Allopathic treatment includes drugs to control blood pressure or other physical symptoms of stress. It includes drugs such as tranquilizers or antidepressants that affect the patient’s mood. 

Dietary & Herbal Treatment of Stress

• Avoid Caffeine and alcohol
• Avoid foods rich in saturated fats
• Eat Whole grains
• Eat Food High In Fiber

Other Treatment of Stress

Yoga gives psychological benefits such as stress reduction and a sense of well-being.

Success plays a big role in happiness. Who does not want to be successful? But most people does not know it can be created by creating the mindset.

A study using hypnosis to see how it affects Goal Accomplishment was done. Having a vision of future is similar to setting a goal for self and surroundings. We all have vision but most of us do not know that vision (goal) can be created and pursued with success. This is not day dreaming or wishful thinking but a planned task using mind mechanism. For example Mahatma Gandhi had a vision of free India, he created a life around that vision, inspired millions and was instrumental in realizing it. Another example can be given of a sportsperson who visions an Olympic gold medal, sets his or her mind on to it and rest follows. One can say here that most of us have vision but also true is most of us lack perseverance and endurance. So how can that be achieved. Here hypnosis can play a crucial role. It creates vision and sets mind on to it. The particular goal becomes a future ‘reality’ and the mind starts working towards it. It automatically sends signals to mental and physical ‘departments’ to do the needful.

In the study conducted 12 students were selected with similar background and past records. Out of these 4 were kept as control group, 4 were put under counseling & study skills training and 4 were subjected to hypnosis. Groups were observed monthly for three months. Groups were compared with own past performance and relative performance including attention span, problem solving & memory. Group under counseling & study skill training showed some improvement whereas group under hypnosis showed significant improvement in both self and relative performance.

So how can hypnosis be used to enhance mental performance. There are many ways. It can be used to improve :

• Concentration
• Memory
• Creativity
• Goal accomplishment

Better performance has many requisites. There is no magic for higher performance but hypnosis or hypnotherapy can play a useful role in enhancing one’s performance.

No secret anymore. It is right there within us, in our brain. A spot or centre of brain near thalamus in our brain is related and responsible for it. Neuroscientists have found that stimulation of this spot leads to experience of pleasure. There are chemicals in brain that forms the network of happiness and bliss. Some of them are:

• Adrenaline:

We all know adrenaline rush. This chemical is known for giving us energy especially during stress or fear.

• Dopamine:

This chemicals removes inhibition and gives us a feeling of high post our pleasure seeking behavior.

• Endorphin:

This chemical is known as world’s best pain killer as it gives us relief from pain. It also generates relaxation and euphoria.

• Gaba:

This chemical reduces anxiety and generates calmness and peace.

• Oxytocin:

This chemical is said to be the one which causes our bonding and attachment with others.

• Phenylethylamine:

This chemical gives us a feeling of excitement and a feeling similar to romantic state of love.

• Serotonin:

This chemical gives happiness by giving a feeling of self worth.

Let us create happiness

These ‘happiness’ chemicals and also chemicals related to suffering circulate in our body. As we continue to live under influence of these chemicals, our body gets ‘used to’ these chemicals by multiplying the number of receptors. Eventually this becomes a vicious cycle of either ‘happiness’ or ‘suffering’.

This also gives us hope. We can actually create happiness by helping our body generate more happiness chemicals and let them circulate in body. This is exactly what age old wisdom says – if you wish to be happy, surround yourself with circumstances that generate happiness which in turn will lead to more happiness chemicals.

So romance will lead to more love chemicals, energy games will lead to more energy chemicals, good relationship will lead to more chemicals of bonding and so on.

Happiness Technology

The obvious next step is to see can we use technology to assess and generate happiness chemicals. Yes, we can.  Many experiments have been conducted successfully in which various technologies like sound, light or electrical stimulation has been shown to generate state of deep calmness, wellness and bliss.  Some of the popular experiments are:

• Audio-visual Stimulation

In this pulsed light and sound is used to generate natural and normal brain waves. This reduces stress and anxiety. This also helps to improve concentration and learning.

• Biofeedback Therapy

It measures blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension and skin temperature and this information is then used to reverse the negative conditions. One can easily relax and induce calmness.

• Cranial Electro Stimulation

The application of low levels of electric current on head increases alpha rhythm in brain similar to deep meditation. This can be used to treat sleep disorders, depression, stress, anxiety, pain, substance abuse and other psychological conditions.

• Floatation Tanks

Floating in a dark salt water tank is a very unique experience. It gives experience of calmness and higher consciousness. It relaxes nervous system and improves hypertension, insomnia, stress and other such conditions.

• Neurodynamic Activator

In this flickering lights are used to induce calmness. This can be used to ease pain and stress.

Wellness is the proactive, dynamic & progressive living in a higher and positive state of body and mind. It involves integration of body, mind and spirit. It is characterized by preservation, growth and development of different aspects of self.

Dimensions of Wellness 

Physical Wellness

• Keep body healthy and work actively towards it.
• Adopt health promoting lifestyle.
• Eat balanced and healthy nutrition.
• Keep body weight in right zone.
• Incorporate regular physical activity and exercise.
• Say no to harmful habits, substance abuse and addictions.
• Take adequate rest and sleep.
• Avoid unhealthy sex.
• Prevent injuries by being alert and avoiding risky behavior.
• Maintain adequate self hygiene and self care.
• Undergo required medical checkup and act as per advice.
• Prevent sickness by controlling sickness causing factors.
• Enhance fitness by activities like Yoga, Meditation, Massage, Sports etc.

Intellectual Wellness

• Stay alert and observant through five senses.
• Be aware and present minded.
• Be active and interact positively with people, circumstances and environment.
• Be curious, learn more and apply what you have learned.
• Seek intellectually stimulating environment.
• Learn goal setting, planning, decision making and problem solving.
• Learn task management and organizational skills.
• Learn stress coping skills.
• Look for and make best use of opportunities.
• Learn creativity and apply it in day to day life.
• Look at difficult circumstances as challenge and opportunity.
• Develop efficient thinking. Balance firmness and flexibility. 

Emotional Wellness

• Understand own & others feelings & needs.
• Work on emotional stability.
• Accept self limitations in right spirit and work on them for self growth.
• Learn to express own feelings & needs.
• Get over disappointments and turn scars to stars.
• Avoid stress and learn stress coping skills.
• Be realistic, do not distort facts about self, others and circumstances.
• Learn about mind body relation.
• Learn inter relation of thoughts, feelings and behavior.
• Learn methods of healthy recreation and self release.
• Grow constructive habits and hobbies. 

Social Wellness

• Understand and appreciate social norms, values and beliefs.
• Learn to be at ease and relate well with others.
• Learn to think for common welfare and social justice.
• Develop effective communication.
• Develop positive interdependent relationships based on mutual trust, commitment, honesty and respect.
• Learn to create own space and respect others space. 

Cultural Wellness

• Learn about culture & richness of heritage.
• Understand & appreciate how culture can improve quality of life.
• Integrate culture into everyday life.
• Avoid cultural rigidity. 

Occupational Wellness

• Develop skills and talents and make best use of them.
• Explore opportunities & understand occupational requirements.
• Identify self aptitude and meaning of occupation in life.
• Develop identification and commitment with occupation.
• Understand and assume responsibility. 

Environmental Wellness

• Create comfortable and stimulating environment.
• Keep environment clean and safe.
• Respect and develop environment, reduce pollutions.
• Develop harmony of self with environment. 

Spiritual Wellness

• Understand meaning and purpose of life.
• Nourish constructive personal beliefs & philosophy of life.
• Grow towards self realization.
• Develop faith and justice.

Why Wellness should be the way of life 

• It helps in keeping mind body machine in best possible state.
• It improves efficiency and helps in realizing best of our potential.
• It helps in achieving our goal of meaning & purpose of life.
• It gives one a quality living.
• It helps in avoiding mental and physical suffering.
• It paves way to success in life, joy and happiness.
• It improves one’s relationships and minimizes stress & discords.
• It saves time and money in a big way.
• It is good for self, family, community, country and entire world.

How to achieve Wellness

• Give wellness an undisputed topmost priority.
• Understand and assume full responsibility of your wellness.
• Continuously learn, be aware and be ready for required changes.
• Plan comprehensively and take proactive action.
• Take positive and judicious choices.
• Adopt holistic & healthy lifestyle.
• Take authentic, professional help when required.
• No excuses, no lethargy and at the same time no fuss.
• Beware of shopping mania in healthcare.

The Science of Body Mind and Soul

Yoga – ‘Must’ for happiness

The effects and results of Yoga are so profound and almost incredible that it is fast becoming a ‘must’ for healthy and happy living. It is there for ages but recent scientific research has reconfirmed its beneficial effects on health, psychological state and even on improving the entire quality of life. Therefore it is not surprising that in today’s stressful life, people are making Yoga a part of life to keep healthy both physically and mentally. 

What is Yoga

The word Yoga has different meaning for different people. For some it is a type of exercise to keep healthy. For others it is a way to develop spirituality or mental peace. Yoga gives both but it is much more than these. Yoga refers to Yog derived from Yuj which in Sanskrit means ‘to unite’. Yoga or Yog Sadhna is the holistic unification of Body Mind and Soul with internal and external harmony. It is a systematic process to bring about transformation of physical fitness, mental calmness & function and spiritual awakening to enable one to live in good health of body & mind and to pursue higher purpose of living. By breaking physical barriers (of sickness & poor health) and mental barriers (of mental weakness & distress) it opens up new horizons of self awareness, self control & self growth. In short it is the way of good living. 

History

Yoga was originated in India about 5000 years ago. The ancient scriptures in India are replete with text on Yoga. Vedas, Upanishad contains yogic teachings which give the background philosophy of Yoga with explanation of atman (self), karma (deeds), dharma (duty) and brahma (the ultimate reality). It tells that higher purpose of living is to perform duty and transcend self to ultimate reality. . It is not possible for someone to live in happiness and progress if one is sick. Yoga is the stepwise process of doing this and helps to achieve required mental & physical health and harmony for the purpose of higher living 

Schools of Yoga

There are various paths (types) of Yoga. The goal is same but these different paths have different philosophy and methodology. Some of them are – (1) Bhakti Yoga – The Yoga of devotion (2) Jnana Yoga – The Yoga of knowledge (3) Karma Yoga – The Yoga of rightful deeds (4) Kundalini Yoga – The Yoga of awakening dormant energy or kundalini. (5) Tantra Yoga – Yoga of wholeness (6) Sahaja Yoga – Yoga of being spontaneous (7) Hatha Yoga – Yoga of Energy balance and  (8) Raja Yoga – The Royal Yoga also called Classical Yoga, the Yoga of self awareness & self realization. Of these Raja Yoga is the one which is most popular and being studied as a mean to attain good health of body and mind. Its most popular text is given by sage Patanjali in Yog Sutra (aphorism). Patanjali Yog Sutra focuses on means and stages of achieving ultimate liberation through Samadhi (ultimate unification & consciousness) through Ashtanga Yoga. Ashtanga means eight limbs, Ashtanga Yoga gives eight progressive steps of Yog Sadhna. Every step is thoughtfully developed to improve one’s present state and prepare for next stage.

Ashtanga Yoga

The eight stages of Ashtanga Yoga are :

1. Yam – The code of conduct. It incorporates Ahimsa (Non Violence), Satya (Truth), Asteya (Non Stealing), Brahmcharya (Control over senses), and Aparigrah (Non Greediness).
2. Niyam – The Self Regulation. It contains Shouch (Cleanliness), Santosh (Contentment), Tap (Austerity), Swadhyay (Study of scriptures), Ishwar Pranidhan (Devotion & surrender to God)
3. Asana –  Postures of health and harmony.
4. Pranayama  –  Control & balance of Prana (life force)
5. Pratyahara  –  Control of senses and going beyond them.
6. Dharna  –  Awakening concentration
7. Dhyana  –  State of meditation
8. Samadhi  –  Ultimate oneness, consciousness & liberation. 

Yoga for Body Mind and Soul 

Yoga transforms & harmonizes body, mind and soul. Its effects and benefits are seen at physical, mental and spiritual level.

At physical level, it improves health by improving the functioning of all body organs & systems. It increases flexibility, strength and stamina. It is one of the rare therapies which have the capacity to improve functioning of hormonal glands like pituitary, thyroid, adrenal, pancreas & sex glands. It improves body metabolism and chemical equilibrium. By improving physiological functions, it removes toxins from the body. It increases resistance to diseases by improving immune system. It increases life force and gives vigor & vitality. It gives a youthful appearance. It shows beneficial effect on investigative tests like cholesterol, creatinine, ECG etc and is found helpful in treatment of various diseases.

Physiological Benefits of Yoga

• Balance pulse & blood pressure
• Better coordination of opposing muscle groups
• Breathing becomes deep & rhythmic
• Eye-hand coordination improves
• Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) increases
• HDL cholesterol increases LDL cholesterol decreases
• Hematocrit & Hemoglobin increases
• Joint mobility and range of motion increases
• Pain tolerance increases
• Posture improves
• Reaction time improves

At psychological level, it decreases stress, balances mood & relaxes mind. It improves mental calmness, concentration and mental control. It gives mind a positive outlook, creates internal harmony and self acceptance. It helps in personality growth. It gives freedom from addictions. It sharpens mental faculties like attention, memory, learning and creativity. It has shown beneficial effect in treatment of psychological disorders.

At spiritual level, it gives inner harmony & peace, creates understanding of self & life and gives humanistic outlook. It helps in self growth and self realization. It also helps in unleashing yogic energy. Finally it helps in attainment of ultimate consciousness and liberation. 

The Science of Yoga

Yoga refers to complete wellness & harmony of body, mind and soul. It has been scientifically arranged in a stepwise manner so that every step takes care of your present status and prepares for the step ahead.  For example attaining state of meditation is not easy for those who are not prepared because of physical sickness or mental distress. Therefore the initial steps prepare by improving physical and mental health with better control over body and mind. In Yoga the complete wellness and harmony of body, mind and soul is achieved by activation of energy centres called Chakras which parallel the axis of body along spine (Sushumna Nadi). These chakras represent and controls different aspects of physical, mental and spiritual being. The chakras must remain in balance and activated for good physical & mental health and heightened spiritual consciousness.

There are seven chakras in body :

First Chakra : Muladhara
Location: Base of the spine. It is seat of base energy.
Responsible for : Survival, stability, solidity, identity and self-sufficiency, energy and strength.
Controls : Bones, teeth, nails, anus, excretory functions, and muscular system
Element: Earth / Colour: Red / Sense: Smell / Mantra: LAM
Physical Complaints : Excretory dysfunctions like constipation, eating disorders, tiredness, poor sleep, lower back pain, sciatica, obesity.
Psychological Complaints : Fear, insecurity, greed, excess desire for comfort.
Postures that balance first Chakra : Tadasana, Parsvakonasana, Virabhadrasana, Uttanasana, Setu Bandhasana

Second Chakra : Svadhishthana
Location: At the level of genitals and the sacrum. Seat of instinct & unconscious mind.
Responsible for : Life energy, sexual energy, creativity, sensual consciousness, emotional identity, procreation, and personal relationships.
Controls : Sexual and reproductive organs & functions, menstruation, lymphatic system.
Element: Water / Colours: Orange / Sense: Taste /  Mantra: VAM
Physical Complaints: Sexual & reproductive dysfunctions, lower back pain, sciatica, urinary problems
Psychological Complaints: Addictions, lust, vanity, jealousy, guilt, lack of creativity& morality
Postures that balance second Chakra : Prasarita Padottanasana, Upavista Konasana, Baddha Konasana, Supta Baddha Konasana
Third Chakra : Manipura
Location: At the level of umbilicus corresponding to solar plexus. It is seat of expansive consciousness.
Responsible for : Sense of belonging, confidence, will, ego, self control, intelligence, self-esteem.
Controls: Digestive organs and functions, upper abdomen, gallbladder, liver, middle spine, kidney, adrenals, small intestines, stomach
Element: Fire / Colours: Yellow  / Sense: Sight, form and colour / Mantra: RAM
Physical Complaints : Diabetes, indigestion, adrenal imbalances, arthritis, colon diseases, liver disease
Psychological Complaints : Poor self-esteem, timid, depression, poor self image, fear of rejection, indecisive, judgmental, perfectionism, hostility
Postures that balance third Chakra : Suryanamaskar, Virabhadrasana, Matsyendhrasana, Dhanurasana, Navasana

Fourth Chakra: Anahata
Location: At the level of cardiac plexus in the region of the heart. It is the seat of love.
Responsible for : Love, compassion, altruism, devotion, trust, forgiveness.
Controls: Heart & circulatory system, blood, lungs, respiratory system, diaphragm, thymus gland, breasts, esophagus, immune system.
Element: Air / Colors: Green or pink / Sense: Touch / Mantra: YAM
Physical Complaints: Heart complaints, hypertension, upper back and shoulder problems, asthma, lung disease like pneumonia
Psychological Complaints: Feeling of lack of love, lack of hope, hatred, grief, envy, jealousy, anger, anxiety.
Postures that balance fourth Chakra : Ustrasana, Bhujangasana, Matsyasana, Pranayama like deep breathing, kapalabhati, anulom vilom.

Fifth Chakra : Vishuddha
Location: At the level of the throat. It is seat of pure consciousness.
Responsible for: Communication, creativity, sense of responsibility for one’s own needs, faith, truthfulness, self-knowledge, intuition.
Controls: Throat, thyroid gland, parathyroid gland, trachea, cervical vertebrae, vocal cords, neck, mouth, hearing.
Element: Sound or ether  / Colors: Blue  / Sense: Hearing  / Mantra: HAM
Physical Complaints: Thyroid & parathyroid dysfunctions, sore throat, hearing problems, stiff neck, mouth complaints.
Psychological Complaints: Lack of faith, communication & expression problems, poor decision making, criticism.
Postures that balance fifth Chakra : Matysasana), Ustrasana, Setu Bandhasana, Halasana.

Sixth Chakra  :Ajna
Location: Situated between the eyebrows (Third Eye). It is the seat of mental consciousness.
Responsible for : Insight, intuition, self-knowledge, wisdom, intellect, clairvoyance, visualization.
Controls: Brain, eyes, ears, nose, pituitary gland, pineal glands, neurological system
Element: Light  / Colors: Indigo  / Sense: Extra sensory perception  / Mantra: AUM or OM
Physical Complaints-Headaches, complaints of eye and ear, nightmares, epilepsy, hormonal disbalance.
Psychological Complaints: Learning disabilities, complaints of judgment & evaluation, distortion of reality, confusion, panic, depression, lack of concentration
Postures that balance sixth Chakra : Yog mudra, meditation, balasana.

Seventh Chakra  : Sahasrara
Location: Crown of the head. It is the seat of supramental consciousness.
Responsible for : Spirituality, peace, emotional freedom, integration of the whole, heightened awareness & consciousness.
Controls: Brain, nervous system, pineal gland
Element: Thought  / Colors: Violet/white   / Sense: Empathy, unity  / Mantra: silence
Physical Complaints: Lack of energy, nervous disorder, sensitivity to light and sound, poor coordination.
Psychological Complaints: Lack of purpose, loss of identity, lack of trust, apathy.
Postures that balance seventh Chakra : Yoga Mudra

Yoga for Treatment (Therapeutic Yoga)

Those who are unable or disinclined to embrace Yoga in totality can still benefit from it to get relief from physical & psychological complaints and diseases. Research has confirmed the ability of Yoga in improving health and treatment of various diseases. Different conditions and status of patient require assessment and selection of a specific program. One should not diagnose one’s sickness and try Yoga treatment himself / herself either by reading books or watching TV. It must be done under supervision of a trained Yoga Therapist. The components of Yoga which are used in treatment of sickness are :

• Yogic Shuddhi (Cleansing)
• Yogic Asana
• Yogic Relaxation
• Pranayama & Bandha
• Yogic Mudra

Yoga is not intended to replace ongoing medical treatment. Yoga improves overall health and has proved beneficial in treatment of various conditions like :

Physical Sickness – Diabetes, hypertension, allergy, asthma, hypothyroidism, digestive complaints, obesity, back complaints, arthritis, sciatica, nervous weakness, menstrual disorders, rheumatism, piles, headache etc.

Psychological Disorders –  Stress, mental weakness, anxiety, depression, phobia, psychosomatic & psychosexual complaints.

Precautions

• Yoga must be done under supervision of a trained therapist. There is a trend now a day to get into Yoga after reading books or watching TV. This can harm instead of helping. Yoga requires assessment of the health so that proper precautions may be taken. Certain conditions contraindicate some asana and pranayama. Secondly if Yoga is not done in right manner, it will harm the health in place of helping.
• Yoga must be done in a stepwise, regular manner. There should be no hurry. Asana may take 4 – 6 months to perform fully. Hurry will only injure the body tissue and organs.
• Yoga must be done with a calm mind. There should be no distraction. One must get fully involved to get good benefit. Do not mistake Yoga for any ordinary exercise.
• Yoga must be done empty stomach. Early morning is the best time to do Yoga. Otherwise it can be done in the evening and there must be a gap of at least .2 hours after a meal.
• Select a calm, clean place for Yoga. It must be done on floor where one can use a mat. Wear light & loose / stretchable clothing.
• Do it gently, take breath through nose except when indicated.
• Avoid Yoga during acute illness.
• Adopting positive lifestyle with light & nutritious diet helps in getting greater benefit from Yoga.