Heal Yourself with the Power of Consciousness, the twelve session online programme, was conducted from 9th to 21st August 2021, under the aegis of NAMAH, the Journal of Integral Health. Over 50 people registered for this programme, with a large proportion from overseas who availed of the recordings and summaries.
The programme aimed at viewing illness and healing from the perspective of consciousness. When we heal ourselves with consciousness, we are seeking much more than mere symptomatic relief. It transcends all systems, modalities and therapies. We aim to go to the very root of the affliction and enable permanent and lasting cure. We don’t just acquire physical relief, because the whole is always addressed. Our emotional and mental patterns are healed too. It is an integral healing that we seek. This power is not just given; we have to work on ourselves first. Then we can find ourselves armed with something which radically heals, changes and sometimes even transforms our being. It becomes a very precise tool for our well-being and growth. We find that our Consciousness is not static but something altogether dynamic that wields a mighty power.
Based on this premise, the workshop saw a beautiful confluence of individuals who are deeply engaged with Yoga of life as propounded by The Mother and Sri Aurobindo.
The programme commenced with Dr Alok Pandey’s talk titled ‘An Overview of Spiritual Healing’, where he highlighted that the spiritual system of healing requires one to undertake the journey of Yoga and come in contact with a higher (spiritual) consciousness. Faith and surrender are the essence of spiritual healing. True faith is an acceptance of and a trust in the Divine Will (Kalyan Shraddha). It leads to development of patience and surrender. There is not greater wisdom that this. Faith, patience, surrender and a quiet trust in Grace leads to establishment of peace within, which is the best condition for healing.
Sigrid Lindemann, in the next session titled ‘Your Inner Song’, explored the need for understanding interconnectedness of different aspects of our being, recognising and identifying how disconnection comes about among these aspects and re-establishing alignment resulting in the power of self-healing to take over.
‘The Flame that Directs our Healing’ -Arul Dev’s session was an experiential inward journey. Providing step-by-step guidance, Arul led the attendees within, towards developing the capacity to be conscious and discover the unique Inner Presence. Working with the body as a medium, healing is in fact a movement from a state of limited identification with the self to a union with the Divine.
The fourth session with Dr Monica Gulati titled ‘Give Yourself and Reclaim Your Life’, brought forth that suffering is the path towards surrender and knowing ourselves as the self luminous consciousness. From this perspective suffering and illness are indications that we have identified ourselves with falsehood, something which is not our truth. True healing requires liberation from the knot of ego consciousness.
Dr Falguni Jani’s session - ‘Understanding Self-Healing through the Inner Process’ highlighted that knowing the inner being is essential in understanding inner processes which are crucial to healing. Illness is in essence an expression of disharmony. Consciousness is the key re-establishment of harmony, leading towards healing.
Dr Debabrata Sahani, in his talk titled ‘Open the Power of Shakti’ empasised that the key to healing process is the power of consciousness, which can be utilised by being aware and paying attention. The power of consciousness is the opening for the power of Shakti to function towards healing. The indicator of this openness is perception. If one perceives, one is open. When we experience (perceive) pain through our power of consciousness the process of healing through the power of Shakti is initiated.
‘How to Receive Inner Guidance for Healing’ – the session by Manoj Pavitran provided a beautiful guidance into the profoundly deep framework given by Sri Aurobindo towards reaching the deepest possible guidance. The talk explored, in detail, the four-fold system of knowledge and the four cognitive methods of nature, as elaborated by Sri Aurobindo. Manoj, emphasised the need for all of us to systematically train ourselves so that we may move from the exterior cognitive method to the inmost way of knowing.
Dr Yogesh Mohan, in his interactive session titled ‘Self-healing – Consciousness as Medicine’ presented the idea of Consciousness as medicine – a system of healing by activating the powers (Shakti) which are inherent in us. The secret to self-healing is in the fundamental approach towards our body and ourselves as conscious beings. The miracle of healing can take place when we disconnect ourselves from the outer chaos and experience a sense of calm silence in our being. When we experience this healing, it opens up our being to a whole new vista of consciousness, a whole new field of knowledge and experience. Healing becomes a potent tool of Sadhana (spiritual practice) and Yoga. From this perspective, a disease may be viewed as a catalyst for our inner growth.
‘Healing Consciously’ – Gitanjali’s talk presented the idea that illness emanates from disharmony. Disharmony and disease happen when our individual will is not aligned with the Divine Will. It is when, due to ego, desire and attachment, we veer away from the flow of the Divine Will that our being falls into disharmony. Attachment – the limitation of the physical being; desire – the limitation of our vital being; and ego – the limitation of our mental being, keep us in our lower nature and prevent the individual will from aligning with the Divine Will. Our ego ‘I’ is the false ‘I’, whereas the psychic being is our true ‘I’ and is by nature aligned with the Divine Will. When we operate from our psychic being, which is aligned with the Divine Will, harmony is established and healing starts.
James Anderson’s experiential session titled ‘Practise Consciousness – Work on Your Body’ focused on working with the body through the power of consciousness. It explored inner domains and the endless possibilities for healing that lie latent within.
Practice – the art of living consciously, begins from the significant moment, when we make a firm commitment to turn the orientation of our consciousness or awareness away from the surface. Development of this ‘witness consciousness’ – the ability to be aware of what is going on inside without getting involved, allows us to be a passive witness to our inner movements. This passive awareness can be transformed into the dynamic poise of consciousness with the ‘power of identification’. Consciousness is the fundamental instrument behind all change and healing – the torchlight, which carries the flame as well which exhibits Knowledge and Shakti.
Neelesh Marik’s talk titled ‘From Incapacity towards Delight’ explored the deeper meaning of illness and healing. Healing is the full being remembrance of our wholeness as opposed to a sense of incompleteness or separation emanating from a kind of forgetfulness or amnesia. From the Yogic perspective, healing entails the restoration of harmony in the transformative process and in the journey of all parts of our nature in a dynamic equilibrium with the divine ordainment.
‘Consciousness-Based Psychology’ – talk by Dr Soumitra Basu was the final session of the series. Dr Basu highlighted that at the outer level of our being the various interspersing planes of consciousness – physical, vital and mental held together by the ego. This mess at the surface personality level is responsible for many of our disharmonies, problems and illnesses. To overcome disharmonies in our outer personality, we have to go to the inner being. This inner being is supported by the soul principle of the psychic being and is free from control of the ego.
The sessions were beautifully received by over 50 attendees, who participated with unparalleled levels of eagerness to learn, absorb, heal and transform. The programme brought forth the need to move away from an isolated scientific model of healthcare which has resulted in a society of pill-poppers instead of individuals who have trained their minds to take charge of their cognitive process and their own movements of thoughts, emotions, sensations, and energies.
The greatest advantage of the method of consciousness is that it is not limited to our individual self, rather it is open to the collective and universal being. Whatsoever we establish within our self, percolates and widen and spreads across.
Feedback
“Each speaker brought a different perspective to the topic of self-healing, and together they formed such a beautiful galaxy of information and experiences. I loved that some of the sessions were experiential and some were full of information, all together they have given me much to learn and practice and be. From "Conscious Inner Dialogue" to "Live within and be aware of the parts of your being" to "Open to the Shakti of the Mother", there were so many beautiful moments that I hope will stay with me forever.”
“I attended Namah and SAFIC's Heal Yourself workshop in August, 2020, this was a Divine gift at a time when I was acutely grieving the loss of a beloved one. That series kick-started for me a process of aspiration and growth that continued through the year and is still ongoing, hopefully for as long as I am on this Earth...In resonance with the Darshan message of Sri Aurobindo's birthday this year, living within is the key and if I may say so, this to me was the crux of this year’s workshop and what I aspire and persevere for. Much gratitude to all the speakers and the organizers of this wonderful series, you have made such a difference in my life, I feel blessed to be able to be a part of this journey with you.”
“I wish to convey my deep gratitude and love for the initiative you and the team Namah undertook in transforming our lives with the gifts of consciousness.
I have experienced the wonders of this simple and eternal jewel called consciousness time and again, but its working through our 'silent' physical is so just divine.
With this, I hope to use, learn, and improve my understanding of integral health in times to come.
Please accept my sincere gratitude for giving us these wonderful insights.
Thank you James and all the speakers for an inspiring workshop. All the talks were excellent.”
