WHO ARE YOUR WORKSHOPS GEARED FOR?

At no age do you stop growing - If you do, you don't live.  So, I welcome anyone who wants to grow and develop.  But my main focus is on young adults - who are facing tremendous competition - It has always been difficult in the "growiing up" years, but more so today, with so many different kinds of influences & invasions - cultural changes & no role models anywhere in society - you read any paper or watch any news channel & the most hitting headline is a scam, scandal or shooting that is being highlighted.  During the summer holidays, I do special workshops for school children in Pune .  No matter where I am, I make it a point to return here.  I start with children who are six years old and have groups of five to six participants so as to give them individual attention.
 

WHAT ARE THE HEALTH VALUES YOU TALK ABOUT?

I am very concerned with the nutritional problems that young adults & teenagers have - Falling hair, skin problems, chipped nails, weak bones,  irritability, nervousness can all be corrected with ample calcium in ones diet and some form of a simple exercise - you need not go to a fancy gym or an aerobic class.  A brisk walk or a good run for 1/2 an hour is the best aerobic exercise. It builds up bone mass and strengthens the muscles. Fractures are occurring much faster than ever these days. A small fall, and there you have it… an Indian vegetarian diet is the healthiest kind of diet available. We in India are lucky that some fresh vegetables, fruits are always in season, we don’t have to eat canned and preserved foods. The fresh veggies provide you with complex carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, enzymes & fibre. This is lacking in most people's food, specially in those of teenagers' and many health problems occur because of a lack of fibre in foods…  Look at the collossal amounts we are spending on medications and surgeries. - every day there seems to be a new hospital opening… It is time we stood up & took notice of this…Unfortunately nutrition is a very badly neglected science in India.  "To me, The less the medicine - the best the medicine".
 

HOW IMPORTANT ARE CONFIDENCE BUILDING & POSITIVE ATTITUDES ?

Confidence comes with knowledge - It does not mean being brash, aggressive & loud.  It means talking with assurance and belief in what you are saying & doing, and this belief in yourself transmits to the other person believing in you.  Your mind is your master - Today 1 in 5 people are suffering from depression and are being treated for some thing else- Not only in India, all over the world.Verbal abuse, constant nagging and running down if people, brings in low self esteem & depression and a thousand other problems in its wake - parents don’t  realize this - teachers don’t realize this.Constant nagging can hurt a sensitive mind  & damage it and bring in low self esteem.  Addicts are not born  - they are made, made by us…by society. We spend thousands on drug rehabilitation centres....what we should be doing is nipping it in the bud and not allowing drugs to happen at all.
 

WHAT KIND OF  RELAXATION TECHNIQUES, EYE EXERCISES NECK & SHOULDER STRAIN RELIEVNG EXECISES ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

I have devised simple exercises from yoga & T 'ai chi for relieving neck,eye and shoulder strain - They are simple economical, practical and can be done anywhere anytime - These come handy particularly for computer professionals, & those with desk related jobs who are on the monitor for 12 to 14 hours - The simple eye exercises can also keep you away from reading glasses & other problems - so many young adults are suffering from back aches, head aches, shoulder aches, and are consuming pain killers by the dozen. The medicine making Industry is making millions.  For instance if you are sitting at a computer or at a desk job, just closing your eyes for 5 seconds periodically can relieve eyestrain.  Blinking often using as much natural light as possible, can also be soothing - 14 hours at a computer, can be back breaking, getting up every hour to look at the green outside can relieve the strain.

 WHAT  ABOUT  ETTIQUETTE AND GROOMING ?

Good manners never ever went out of fashion. The words 'please', 'sorry' ,' Thank you 'can move mountains.  They are as important as packaging is to a product; and polishing to metal, with the world shrinking and competition growing, one has to have the cutting edge. Today package product has become a science - Being well groomed and dressed for an occasion gives you confidence, is good for your image and self esteem.  Looking good is our birthright, each one of us can look good and must...Being aware of one's good physical features, and enhancing them, can do wonders for your  personality - your image, your self esteem, your ego ( each one of us has a little ...even swamijis and sadhus).  It does not mean being overdressed, 'zari' clad or suited, on a casual visit - and in 'Bermudas' at a formal do ' - I have seen people overdressed at a picnic, and out on a morning stroll, in a bazaar at a hill station  - Children in tight leather jeans & poinnted uncomfortable shoes, out on a causal; visit on a hot Sunday afternoon ...how you dress & speak, are the 1st facets you see of a person.  First impression are sometimes last impressions.
 

HOW IMPORTANT IS SEX EDUCATION?

We are shouting about AIDS AWARENESS on the top of the roof:  spending millions & millions on AIDS research.  What we should be doing is giving sex education in school - in a simple straight forward way - so teenagers do not get a warped and dirty idea of it.  On the one hand we have films in hindi & english and other language verging on pornography while on the other hand we treat sex as a totally taboo subject... to be swept under the carpet.  AIDS is a problem worldwide.  I know, but our approach to this problem has to be different, in keeping with our culture  - our people our problems.  Sex is normal, Sex is natural, God given, you & I  have not fabricated it - let us give it respect - The right perspective  - being attracted to a girl and vice versa is not abnormal - But sex indulged in, sans laws. sans love & sans respect, mindlessly is undervaluing your own self.  So many people go about with a guilt complex, which affects their functioning in other fields.
 

WHAT IS IMAGE CONSUTANCY?

Image is a reflection of what you are, what you want to be and want you want to portray.  Many of us are also putting on facades.  Anyway, I make participants imagine what they want to be - kind, generous, sincere, confident, creative, smart executives, confident marketing managers - whatever - I do colour co-ordinating - try on different colours on them - specially women - after all we are the fairer sex - The colourful, sex, aren't we ?  certain colours come alive on certain people, and they look good in them, because it is in tune with their personality - all this added to your mannerisms, ettiqueette, grooming, voice modulation, and of course your positive attitude makes you a finely packaged product - sound inside, sound outside !
 

 HOW ABOUT ORIENTATION TO TRAVEL AND WESTERN CULTURE?

With the world having shrunk and travelling having increased so much, I find some adults who do, are miserable abroad and are not able to give their best or made the best of their assignments - For e.g. countrary to what the media portrays. The U.S. is not just glitz, glamour & Dept.  Stores - It is discipline, adhering to rules, values for money.  It is respect for public artistic history, law, culture - most of all, nothing, but nothing prepares you for the emotional aloneness - I know some people who came back 4 times in 1 year, because they can not adjust and were not at ease.  Each country has its own culture, its own customs - The people are private and do not like unfolding to a stranger, whist we like to relate the smallest detail of our grandmother's village, at the very first meeting!
 

HOW DO YOU TEACH CONVERSATION SKILLS?

Many people dominate the conversation, without giving anyone a chance to talk - Conversation is a two-way traffic - It also means the art of listening - This has to be cultivated consciously.  When some one talks, many times the other person is framing out a question or whatever he wants to say, rarely, does someone listen genuinely!  It is also common to see people asking personal questions or make rude comments.  Being able to listen is important in marketing  - in Sales, in Management - as a parent, as a husband in every facet of life, I would say.
 

FINALLY, BEHAVIOUR SENSITIVITY & PERSONAL HYGIENE?

We are all extremely conscious and clean personally, but as far as our civic sense & using other peoples things or public utilities go, we lack thoughtfulness.  I was at a world convention recently in a 5 star hotel, when I could not use the toilet.  I requested the manager to have it cleaned and heard, with disbelief, that he had, had it done just 10 minutes ago.  Something similar happened at a wedding in a big hotel.  It happens all the time in flights, travel, trains and we keep passing the buck !  We wear the most expensive clothes, jewelry, but never think twice about leaving toilets wet and dirty sometimes!
 
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