The desert pump - a story of faith in others

Dear Reader

Here is an inspiring story on faith in others:

The Desert Pump – author unknown

A man got lost in the desert. The water in his flask had run out two days ago, and he was on his last legs. He knew that if he didn't get some water soon, he would surely perish. The man saw a shack ahead of him. He thought it might be a mirage or hallucination, but having no other option, he moved toward it. As he got closer he realized it was quite real, so he dragged his weary body to the door with the last of his strength.

The shack was not occupied and seemed like it had been abandoned for quite some time. The man  entered, hoping against hope that he might find water inside.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw what was in the shack: a water pump. It had a pipe going down through the floor, perhaps tapping a source of water deep under-ground.

He began working the pump, but no water came out. He kept at it and still nothing happened. Finally he gave up from exhaustion and frustration. He threw up his hands in despair. It looked as if he was going to die after all.

Then the man noticed a bottle in one corner of the shack. It was filled with water and corked up to prevent evaporation.

He uncorked the bottle and was about to gulp down the life-giving water when he noticed a piece of paper attached to it. Handwriting on the paper read: "Use this water to start the pump. Don't forget to fill the bottle when you're done."

He had a dilemma. He could follow the instruction and pour the water into the pump, or he could ignore it and just drink the water.

What to do? If he let the water go into the pump, what assurance did he have that it would work? What if the pump malfunctioned? What if the pipe had a leak? What if the underground reservoir had long dried up?

But then... maybe the instruction was correct. Should he risk it? If it turned out to be false, he would be throwing away the last water he would ever see.

Hands trembling, he poured the water into the pump. Then he closed his eyes, said a prayer, and started working the pump.

He heard a gurgling sound, and then water came gushing out, more than he could possibly use. He luxuriated in the cool and refreshing stream. He was going to live!

After drinking his fill and feeling much better, he looked around the shack. He found a pencil and a map of the region. The map showed that he was still far away from civilization, but at least now he knew where he was and which direction to go.

He filled his flask for the journey ahead. He also filled the bottle and put the cork back in. Before leaving the shack, he added his own writing below the instruction: "Believe me, it works!"

May this story inspire you to take a leap of faith in your main dilemma in life and watch the magic unfold.

Warm regards,

Rohan

When a peer gets promoted & becomes your boss…

Here is a real life corporate world situation I heard about from one of our workshop participants.

A leadership team had 15 zonal heads. They were peers reporting to the management committee. The company decided to restructure and selected 4 of them as Regional Heads. This means other 11 zonal heads will need to report to one of their counter-part peers.

Shyam was one of these 11 zonal heads. As the restructuring was announced, he had two choices.

• Fret, fume and resign  OR
• Accept and stay positive.

Shyam trusted the management’s judgement in choosing the 4 people to be promoted. With all his heart he chose option 2. He spontaneously went up and embraced Kartik, one of the four people promoted. He congratulated Kartik and said “I am really happy to have you as a supervisor.”

Shyam and Kartik shared a very good rapport thereon. Shyam continued giving his best at work. He worked at enabling success for his boss as well as his team. Shyam’s rapport with Kartik was also noticed by the company leadership. Kartik gave lot of positive feedback on Shyam and his team.

Six months later Kartik was moved to another role, and shortly thereafter Shyam got promoted to Regional Head role in a different region. Shyam’s team was elated on his promotion, but was also in tears as they would no more be working directly with such a contributing boss.

This story reconfirmed our belief that rejoicing in other’s success leads to enriched connection and progress.

Warm regards,

Rohan

Nutrition and Wellness - part 2

Dear Reader,

Few days back I had written a blog on Nutrition and Wellness - sharing a new awareness journey, guided by THAC team (The Health Awareness Center). The journey of assisting body to heal itself by naturally aligned food habits & lifestyle has been quite worthwhile.

In my last blog I had promised answers to some questions but now I feel that understanding the basic functioning of the body is more relevant.

So, here are some fundamental concepts as understood by us…

A: HOW TO CHOOSE WHEN?: BODY RHYTHM – CIRCADIAN CYCLE:

Our body follows 3 steps in the 24 hours cycle:

Duration	Main function of the body	Recommendation
4 am – 12 noon	Elimination of body waste & food debris	When we eat, body will immediately have to divert energy for digestion, instead of elimination. Better to eat fruits, dry fruits during this period as they take least time to digest
12 noon – 8 pm	Appropriation & digestion of food	Eat cooked food, nuts, sprouts, fruits etc. Include lots of raw salad to aide digestion
8 pm – 4 am	Absorption & use of energy to rebuild, repair & regenerate	Preferably let the body rest. We don’t repair a running car, so let the body focus its energy on repairing. Better to eat fruits, dry fruits if hungry

B: HOW TO CHOOSE WHAT?  It is suggested to use the following 4 filters while making food choices:

• Eat food that is wholesome.
• Food must be easy to digest. Our body has no refrigerator. The moment we feed it, it gives top priority to assimilation, digestion & takes away energy from all other functions making them suboptimal.
• Eat foods that leave behind least toxic residue. Natural foods, eaten in their unprocessed state leave minimum toxic residue.
• Eat food that helps maintain alkaline pH as most of our organs need alkaline medium to work. E.g. salad, lemon juice, fruits & dried fruits, raw vegetables, nuts, sprouts.

C: ILLNESS = BODY’S ALARM TO EXCESSIVE TOXICITY: When our body is under digestive overload, gets insufficient rest & is stressed, it is unable to eliminate toxicity through normal routes. It then attempts other routes of elimination which show up as illness symptoms. e.g. cough, cold, indigestion, skin allergies etc. Suppressing symptoms is temporary relief. Understanding the source of toxicity in our food or lifestyle and eliminating that, gives a long term solution.

D: WHY WE AGE? : Our metabolism primarily involves Digestion, Cleaning & Regeneration. These functions are executed by an army of enzymes regulated by hormones. When we eat food heavy to digest, the body has to stop cleaning & regeneration work. Thus toxicity level increases & body start degenerating. That is the key cause of early aging.

E: FOREVER “GET-SET” MODE PAUSES ESSENTIAL PROCESSES: Most of us are highly alert the entire day. This sparks the fight/flight mode. The senses signal to the brain that there is danger. This causes the body to release specific hormones to run or fight. With no real danger most of the time, all 3 key functions – digestion, cleaning, regeneration are still put on hold. This takes a big toll and results in

o    poor absorption leading to low energy / tiredness

o    poor elimination leading to increased toxicity and eventually illness

o    poor regeneration leading to early ageing & slow recovery from injury / illness

It is useful to create a spa kind of feel around you wherever possible, especially at home: soft instrumental music, aroma, candles etc. to remind the brain that “All is well in my world.”

We are now experimenting with a nutrition style of fruits, vegetables, sprouts, nuts, etc. in alignment with Circadian cycle. Adding a conscious choice of sleeping in darkness for 8 hours is showing encouraging results.

This is not even the tip of the iceberg. For in-depth clarity & specific suggestions you can:

1.     Call THAC  on +91 22 24980005/6 or email thacwellness@gmail.com & consult them

2.     Participate in 3 day workshops being conducted by THAC in Mumbai, Delhi & Jaipur: The workshop is designed to break myths about food, body & disease. It also includes practical tips on how to make food and manage a seasonal and regional kitchen. Current dates are:

•  Mumbai: 11-12-13 August 2015 (Tue-Wed-Thu)
•  Delhi: 8-9-10 September 2015 (Tue-Wed-Thu)

Please contact THAC for further details.

These workshops can help you create a path to choose & implement a new rhythm in your lifestyle. It has been very worthwhile for us for sure.

Wishing you wellness with lots of smiles.

Rohan

Nutrition and Wellness - sharing a new awareness journey

Dear Reader

Let this blog find you experiencing wellness ‘inside out’.

Last few years we have focused more on our health, food & life-style. Especially after witnessing illnesses faced by people around us.

I was proud of my zero medicine bill since last 16 years. I had to let go of that claim in April 2015. My skin showed severe allergy and inflammation. I avoided any medication for 1 week, finally gave up & consulted a renowned skin specialist. It was diagnosed as URTICARIA. I was asked to avoid Bengal Gram (Chana), Besan, Hummus etc. I went through many tests and was put on anti-allergens, Cyclosporin etc. Though the allergies got suppressed in a week, I was told that the medicine will continue for several months. I had to get kidney function tests done every month to reconfirm that the medicine is not adversely affecting the kidney!!

A friend, who cured his Asthma by natural diet and lifestyle, recommended us to THAC team (The Health Awareness Center) at Worli, Mumbai. We visited THAC and met Dr. Vijaya Venkat, the sprightly 78 year old founder & one of the early experts on nutrition in India. Our awareness of the body system has gone through a sea-change since then.

Dr. Venkat explained:

‘The body is million times more intelligent than the mind. A fine balance is needed in the body to keep you alive, be it body temperature, pH balance, hormonal balance, blood clotting, memory, digestion system, breath management and what not. Please let it take its own course. You job is to only remove speed breakers, provide it right material, eliminate actions/food that increase toxicity in the system.

All skin allergies are an indication of excess toxicity in the system that the body is unable to throw out through natural routes. Body is designed to safeguard you and will not allow toxicity in the blood stream.’

Her explanations totally resonated with me. I abruptly stopped my medications and switched to eating plant based whole food – fruits, vegetables, pulses, nuts & dry fruits.

Within 24 hours, all the allergies resurfaced. I remembered a friend telling me that medicine normally suppresses the symptoms for 12-24 hours. Finally it’s the body’s internal intelligence that heals you!

THAC advised me to go off salt & grains and take a lot more rest. And the body did its natural magic & allergies receded!! I no longer avoid bengal gram, chickpeas, hummus, besan, etc.

Since this experience, I have been reading a lot about nutrition and its impact on wellness and health. I am glad that we finally found a team like THAC who has done intense research work on nutrition, impact of various activities & food on the body and how to restore natural wellness.

I found answers to lots of questions that I had. Many of my firm beliefs (though more of hearsay) got shattered & replaced with a resonating logic that ‘rang a bell within’. Some of the questions I had were:

-       What is an ideal quantity of water I should drink?

-       Is whey protein essential for vegetarians? When should I take it? How do I know it is really helping?

-       Does milk really help in adding calcium & proteins to our body?

-       What is the right time to eat what kind of food? Is it okay to eat breakfast like a king?

-       Does meat protein really help?

-       How does sugar impact my body system?

-       What does high cholesterol or high blood pressure indicate?

-       Why is it so hard to reduce body fat?

-       How does (early morning) coffee / tea impact my system?

Some surprising answers I found, I will share in my next blog.

I believed I was following very healthy lifestyle practices. What was my body pointing to via this skin allergy? I found some clues…

There was a growing toxicity in my system because:

-       I was sleeping less than required

-       I had excessive screen exposure (even though I don’t watch TV!!)

Brain & liver are two critical organs in our body. Body can’t give both of them high energy at the same time. As long as lights are on brain is active, liver gets to work only when we sleep.

Liver’s job is to detoxify the blood running through 600,000 km of capillaries in the body every day. We need at least 8 hours of sleep (that too in darkness), for our liver to function at optimum.

I used to believe that my 6 hours of deep sleep is enough. Combined with average 11 hours/day of sitting in front of computer screen with 15 simultaneous hours of smart phone exposure overloaded my system. I’ve realised that being fit externally need not mean internal health. I’m now working at restoring the normal rhythm of the body with more sleep, reduced screen time & plant based food.

If you (or anyone around you) have any persistent symptoms or want to reduce dependence on medication, give THAC a call on +91 22 24980005/6 or mail thacwellness@gmail.com.

Wishing you wellness with lots of smiles.

Rohan Singal