The participant becomes the teacher.

It is a cool dry night in Bengaluru.  On the Arogyadhama daily schedule 8-9pm is designated as the post-dinner self-study hour.  I am walking back from the cafeteria to my dorm.  I see Ravikiran sitting on bench. I ask if I can join him. We trade pleasantries on dinner and the refreshing evening air. I ask him if he takes the time to enjoy fresh air breaks when he is in his home setting.  This develops into wide-ranging conversation on how we incorporate what we have learned on campus and how we might take it home with us.  We circle back to why we came to Arogyadhama in the first place and how our experience here has affected us.

Ravikiran has been here a month. When we first met, he shared with me that, “I came to lose weight because I was embarrassed at the office.  I could not fit in my office chair.” The first week of therapy he was struggling and thought about giving up. During his time, he came to the deeper soul realization that allowed him to “put down the struggle and keep going.” With a soft smile in his eyes, he tells me his insight came through meditation and explains,

“I am 22.  My father is 40 years older than me.  I’ve always looked up to my father. Since Covid I see that there is no way to know when is our last day (alive). I was here to lose weight to fit in at the office.  Now I know I am doing this so that for as long as possible I can be here (alive) with my father for as many days as we get.”

Ravikiran let go of his burdens and found his freedom.  He recognizes the path ahead is long. There will still be challenges, yet he has what he needs to traverse wherever his path leads.  He is no longer trying to chase a carrot at the end of the stick.  Rather, now he is being guided from a deeper, stronger inner light: a compass of the spirit.  His desire, his practice, is to be “here” and be present.  In doing so, to share precious present moments with his beloved father.

Presence with participants

Prior to my internship I was clinging to a heavy load of learning from decades of courses; life lessons, catalogs of curricula, tables of teachings, series of symptoms, menus of methods, inventory of interventions and more.  I’ve noticed I can now turn off the chatter in my thinking mind running through the accumulated contents.  I let go of the distractions.  Now I’m listening.  I let go of the cumbersome, heavy load.  Now I’m free to ‘see’ above, below, and all around.

Now when I’m with a participant I’ve learned to allow my mind to just be.  I’m silent inside, listening.  I hear what the vibration of their voice is expressing rather than the content of the words.  I observe the landscape of subtle energy of their human form vibrating in energy fields, along channels, within structural bodies.  I invite them towards their own calm clear mind.  I indicate optional routes their neutral mind can use.  I support as they direct the alignment of their form to the natural flow of prana, to heal.