When breathing is fun, the living is easy
Article Website: http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view/20061218-39007/When_breathing_is_fun,_the_living_is_easy
By Lynett A. Villariba
Inquirer
First Posted 19:41:00 12/18/2006
Filed Under: Lifestyle & Leisure, Health
Published on Page C1 of the December 19, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
ALL it takes to pull us out of a harried day in the newsroom is an invitation. So when the invitation called for us “to experience the Art of Living (AOL)” in six days, it was enough reason to drop everything.
There were 40 other kindred spirits in the Makati Shangri-La hotel venue who thought it was worth spending some 20 hours in the course.
Like Inner Mind lecturer Jaime Licauco who did not know what to expect, my knowledge of AOL was limited to the coincidence that its founder, Sri Ravi Shankar, was a namesake of the renowned Indian sitar player.
Some, like Nellie—a comely lady who does not look the septuagenarian that she is—expected to get something new out of a well-lived life. Others, much younger, were expecting to have the same life-changing experience their friends gushed about.
Putting a smile
Like innocent children on their first day of school, we sat on the white sheet-covered carpet to be enlightened on universal Vedic wisdom by a non-Indian lady garbed in an Indian tunic with a nametag that read “Ruth.”
She assured skeptics that: “The organization is not important, it is the individual that is. Our aim is to put a smile in every heart.”
Adapted to the needs of modern life by its 50-year-old founder based in Bangalore, India, AOL courses are offered worldwide as an experiential program designed to develop the full potential of life. It is anchored on the premise that it is in our nature to be happy, truthful and at peace.
Each one will have to work that one out for himself/herself. As the AOL founder says: “There is no proxy walking [on the path].”
Best chance
True to the eastern tradition, when a student is ready, a teacher comes to impart what instructional manuals cannot do. The teacher recommended things to undo as the best chance of achieving “what you came here for.”
At first, Miguel, in his 20s, balked at no caffeine, no smoking and going vegetarian for six days. But his passion for learning outweighed his desire for mundane pleasures.
What was harder for some people, because of the nature of their work, was to avoid news, violence and television.
Easy and relaxing
When Tita told her family she would be coming home late for the next five days because of her evening class, they could not understand why the busy Quezon City judge had to travel to Makati “just to learn how to breathe.”
As days passed, what made the course easy and relaxing were exercises to put the body in a relaxed mood. The series of breathing exercises freed the body and mind of negative emotions and toxic tensions that caused mental constipation. Once the mind was free and relaxed, the body followed.
On day three, Miguel found out he could easily glide into the relaxation state with a body made light by a vegetarian diet without caffeine and nicotine. He also noticed a heightened visual sense, making colors brighter.
By day four, Helen, an insomniac, was surprised to have been able to sleep without pills for the first time.
By day six, we were gazing into one another’s eyes, purportedly to relate. Instead, we ended up laughing and giggling at what we saw as mirrors of ourselves.
Affirmation
Did the students take to heart the Art of Living’s basic premises for achieving a stress-free life at the end of the course?
If only we can affirm that all human beings are capable of living a healthy happy life, free from stress, fears and anxieties. If only we can grasp that it is the birthright of all living beings to live life with energy, full of enthusiasm, meaning and love.
If only, with a cultivated positive attitude borne out of the skills taught during the course, we can summon our will and choose to live and find purpose in life, then we would have lived the Art of Living.
Transformation
Seven years ago, Ruth Kuok was content with her life in Hong Kong until she noticed a remarkable transformation in her friend who took the Art of Living course.
“For two years, this friend bugged me to do the course. If only to make her stop, I took it.”
Ruth says the six-day course was not a dramatic transformation for her but: “as I went into more and more practice, I began to attain a sense of wellbeing I have never experienced before.”
She changed from being a person who kept to herself to someone who taught others.
“When my two teenagers who were in that difficult stage began enjoying having me, I knew that the course opened up a whole new dimension for me. My family was the primary beneficiary. ”
Voluntary service
Ruth and others in the foundation are volunteers who render service for free. Enrollment proceeds are used by the local chapter for various humanitarian projects.
Something in the practice of breathing and meditation inspires humanitarian service. “Responsibility is joyful and empowering,” volunteers Nameeta Dargani and Katherine Tan said. During the course, they were organizing disaster relief for Bicol.
The foundation estimates that six million people across the globe have taken the Art of Living course.
Today, the Art of Living Foundation is the largest volunteer network offering inspirational programs in 144 countries to people of varied backgrounds—from professionals to distressed village children to prisoners. It has a special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
The next Art of Living (Part I) course is 7-10 p.m., Jan. 15-20, Makati Tuscany, Ayala Avenue. Call Nameeta Dargani at 0917 7919190 or Denise Celdran at 0916 3219223.
E-mail the author at lvillariba@inquirer.com.ph
