Embracing Life – Dedicated to My Angel ‘Surya’

by Sudha Nujilla | Feb 11, 2022 | General

Once upon a time, there was this calm, soft and a shy girl I had met during her college days. The memory of my first sight of hers is still fresh in my heart and mind. I joined as a Training Officer in the college where she was one of my students. The innocence in her face, the shine in her eyes and the radiance in her smile made me fall in love with her the very first moment. You all might think what is so special about these characteristics as most of the girls have these characteristics. That is absolutely true. It is said that the curious mind never stops questioning and curious eyes never stop exploring. I am sure you would surely agree if I say, though our eyes keep exploring many things around us, they do stop at someone or something which cannot be ignored. For me, she was that spark. I knew nothing about her till then but the thought in my mind that there is something about her and I want to explore her deep never left my mind. Gradually, I started interacting with her and started my trials in understanding her as a person.

As and when I started observing the deep nature of this girl, I always realized her to be quiet, introspective and deep in thought. I could not categorize her as an introvert though, but may be she was shy or I always felt there was something inside her which is probably stopping her to bring out the best version of herself. The curiosity inside me got more and more strong and I started observing every minute thing about her in the process. She had drew a circle around her and there were very few people inside that circle with whom she used to spend most of her time. But one question never left my mind was whether she was being completely honest and sincere in being herself with those few people at least? Her actions and her eyes always gave me a puzzled answers to that. Sometimes, the sixth sense of a person works so strong that your mind denies to accept what your eyes see. The same was my experience with her. Officially, I was their trainer and mentor during their engineering and used to help the students with their trainings & placements. But, I decided to mentor her specially and personally. I felt she was like an iceberg, showing just a part of her abilities and keeping the rest hidden from the world.

Gradually, she became quite close to me and used to share her feelings and emotions with me. This was quite an improvement in my project. I remember one day the students were practicing for their annual celebrations in the college. I was there with her seeing her actively participating in a group dance practice. There was a glow on her face and the happiness I could see and feel inside her that day was amazing. As and when I got to know her better than before, I started loving this girl more and more. It was then I started realizing that she had a great influence of the thoughts of few people around her. She always used to try to be as they expected her to be and not be herself anytime. She had literally buried all her likes, feelings and emotions inside her and had covered all of those with the likes and emotions of those influenced people. She was literally living their life rather than living her own life. Finally, I understood this but when I tried to discuss the same with her, she always used to convince me saying that she likes being that way. But her answer never could convince me completely and the confusion inside me kept on disturbing me for very long. I never stopped my trials of counselling her and making her realize that being oneself is the utmost happiness in the world and she needs to change her perspective towards life. I was never sure of her thinking towards it but whenever I tried to talk to her about these things, she just used to divert the topic by giving a lovely smile and trust me her smile is a killer one, and I used to get carried away with that. But the thought that she was hiding too many secrets behind that lovely smile never left my mind.

With these continuous efforts in understanding her and helping her come out of that circle, time just passed too quickly. I had moved out from that job and later she finished her graduation and was ready to take up a decent job. But, we continued to talk regularly and meet whenever possible. She, along with a group of few more friends used to visit my place and many a times, I used to go and meet them. So there was never a gap felt between us in our bonding. She joined a job in an organization and I was working with Novartis at that time. While talking to her about the job, I realized that may be she is not that comfortable with it and I thought it would be great if she could be with me all the time so that I can protect her from all the negative vibes around her. I am not sure if it was my attachment with her or my over-protective nature which made me think that she should always be with me so that I can make sure she is fine and safe from all the negativity around in the world. That was the time when I approached my colleagues for her job in Novartis and she got through the same. Believe me, that was one of the best moments of joy for me. By then, knowing this girl for so many years, there was a very special bond with her. I have no idea of what to name that relation with her, but the kind of affection and attachment I have with her is undoubtedly one of the best. It is said that we should always trust our intuition, because it never lies. I don’t know if it was my possessiveness towards her or a hint from my gut feeling that I got her into Novartis with me, but I still believe and feel it was one of the best decisions I had taken in my life.

That was the time when we used to enjoy each others company every single day. We used to spend so much of time together talking about every damn thing in this world. We gathered so many memories together that we can cherish them for lifetime. All the gossips, the parties, dance performances, outings, secrets and many more such crazy memories with her doubles my happiness in life. She is one such person in my life who knows every bit of my life, be it my past, my present or my future plans. She understands every bit of me as a person and believe me, she has been a victim of my mood swings and crankiness many times but she never complained it anytime. Sometimes, I wonder that how we both get along each other so well and understand each other immensely irrespective of the age difference we have. But our relation has yet again proved that “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter”. For us, age never mattered and we were just the best versions of ourselves when next to each other. Many people used to ask me what is my relation with her. Shall I say she is a student, a friend, a sister or a daughter? The name just never mattered for us. When the bond is so strong, when we understand each other’s feelings without even talking to each other, when we compliment each other in the best possible way, why should anything else matter? In the midst of those happy and joyful days, there was a storm which just blew away all the happiness in our lives. Something unexpected happened in her life and she was devastated. Few incidents and few people for whom she has given the half of life completely had put her down and she was in the worst phase of her life. It was like people could not see her happiness and tried to knock her down by hurting her very badly. Though I was with her as a rock standing next to her but to take all that and accept the bitter facts of life was the biggest challenge. I was worried that how would she take all that as she was a very sensitive girl, she not only showed up the courage to face that situation but also knock it down with such a great confidence. She had proved that no matter what, the comeback is far greater than a setback. Finally, I could see my girl breaking out all the barriers of her circle and walking out of it with her head high. That was the best ever feeling for me as a mentor and well wisher for her.

When a ‘setback’ brings a ‘comeback’, that’s grace in action!

The way she handled herself in that situation and turned the biggest nightmare of her life into a learning lesson and moved on made me so proud of her. I always had loads of love for her but the way she fought with her weaknesses and brought out the best version of herself made me respect her to a great extent. Not only did she handled herself in such difficult times but since then she has been a greatest support for me in all difficult times. There have been instances in my life when I felt low and could not handle myself. She was the one who handled me and made me realize my self worth once again. It was a biggest surprise for me to see her motivating me and making me fight with circumstances. A feeling that when did that shy little girl had turned into a positive and confident woman surprised me. What else can a teacher expect from her student? She has surpassed me in many ways and that makes me so proud and the most happiest person in the world. I left Novartis few years ago but she continued her journey with the company for almost 7 years and now she is ready to take the next challenge of her career. I am sure she will do wonders wherever she would go. Not only career, but she also has proved that if you have a strong will, anything is possible in life. Life is all about accepting every situation, face it, fight with it and win over it to achieve the utmost happiness.

This has been my long pending wish to pen down my emotions and feelings for her. I wanted to dedicate this to one of the most and dearest persons in my life as she is in the phase of starting a new chapter of her career. I always wish she gets everything she wishes for in her life. May she reach to greater heights in her career and achieve utmost success and happiness both in her professional and personal life. There is only one thing I can tell her that I love her to the moon and back and no matter what, she will always find me next to her in every step of her life.

“A smile can open a heart faster than a key can open a door… So brighten the world with your smile.”

Fortitude & Resilience

by Sudha Nujilla | Nov 6, 2021 | General

Fortitude is the mental or emotional strength that enables you to find courage in the face of adversity, whereas resilience is the mental ability to recover quickly from depression, illness or misfortune. Have you ever known a person who seems to be able to keep going and stay motivated when everything seems to be falling apart? This is called mental fortitude. Many people wonder how a person can be with such high mental strength and think if did he/she was born with this quality? But the fact is that we are not born with fortitude, it is something we develop in ourselves gradually as part of our life. I feel every person experiences this stage in their life at least once at some point of time. I, personally, have gone through this stage and have understood how developing a strong fortitude has helped me to cope up with so many tough situations in my life. It does not happen overnight and it does not happen easily, but it is always possible to do so. It needs lot of patience and efforts to tune your mind towards learning to get mentally strong. How you do it? Everyone has their own way of doing it. I am sharing my ideas and thoughts which I have been following and which have actually helped me to build a strong fortitude for myself.

1. Have Courage – The first thing to have to build mental toughness is courage. It is important to have the courage to face your fears and endure those challenging and at times uncomfortable situations. This is where your attitude towards such situations comes into picture. You need to believe that you can overcome the challenge and when you do, you need to reflect on how you felt at that time and how great you feel now. To have courage, you need to be prepared to fail and to learn from that failure. This will help you to improve your mental fortitude.
2. Be Determined – You need to be determined and focused on your goals and vision. It will help you to keep an eye on what is most important to you and to prioritize where you focus your energy and determination.
3. Be emotionally self-aware & calm – It is actually important for you to be aware of your emotions and how you feel in certain circumstances. What actions or behaviors of others make you feel uncomfortable, strong, confident or upset? By identifying these situations and how they make you feel will help you improve the self-awareness of your feelings and body language. The next and important step is being aware and controlling your emotions in these situations. Being calm under fire is an important trait of great leaders. It is very important for us to be calm and composed during difficult situations and help our mind to think in the right possible way.
4. Work hard at building fortitude – Building fortitude takes time so be patient and look at it as a learning process. We should not be too hard on ourselves but find someone to hold you accountable.

A great outcome of having fortitude and mental toughness is that you will develop resilience. In challenging times, you will be able to bounce back and remain productive and be focused on your goals. Acknowledging that we are not perfect but yet we can still be confident and have a positive attitude towards life is a great feeling. You might make mistakes in your life but you can have the toughness and fortitude to not let these mistakes stop you or derail your plan to move forward in life with confidence. Resilience is the outcome of having strong fortitude.

It’s your reaction to adversity, and not adversity itself that determines how your life’s story will develop.”

Dieter F. Uchtdorf

What is that one thing which can help us to keep going when you just want to quit? It’s nothing else but Resilience. It is to bounce back from negative experiences and disturbances in life. To some like me, resilience is a sort of “miracle drug” personality trait, something that can heal all wounds and right all wrongs. To be more precise, developing resilience basically requires emotional distress. If we never ran into disappointment in the first place, we would never learn how to deal with it. When you think about it in those terms, it’s easy to see that we all display some pretty impressive resilience. Some of us are more resilient than others, but we have all been knocked down, defeated, or disheartened at some of time in our lives; however, we kept going – and here we are today, stronger and more experienced with such difficult situations in life.

My Personal Memoir

We all have some kind of motivational factors in our life which help us to face the challenges life throws at us and successfully overcome those situations with confidence. I am no exception in this matter. I have been a very active child right from my childhood. I used to love to keep myself busy with all different learnings and passions I had which used to always help in having a positive atmosphere around me. I used to be a passionate dancer and an enthusiastic sportsperson right from the beginning. I was always a below average student when it came to studies but my passion always was in other activities. Things were quite smooth for many years until I was in my Graduation. That was the period when I had some medical complications and had to undergo a surgery and had quite a few side effects post that surgery. Gradually my health started deteriorating and got too complicated post marriage and even worse after having kids. As and when the time passed with these medical complications, I was forced to go away from my passions as they needed much physical strength. There were few years in life where I could not even think of anything else apart from my regular job and my routine activities. It was quite difficult managing the same but am blessed to have a wonderful family around who had been my biggest support in all these difficult times. Still, to fight with these challenges wasn’t easy at all for me and had gone through a bad emotional phase many times during these years. But the only thing which kept me going is my mental strength which I had developed for myself. The resilience I had developed was the only key factor in facing these challenges and fighting it back every time life knocked me down with some emotional challenge. Even after trying my best, I could not win over these medical challenges which had made my life very difficult. In every bad situation, life gives us a second chance to make it right. Some take it, others leave it and most don’t see it. Life had given me as well the same chance and I was fortunate to grab it by bringing back my passion of dancing again into my life. Dancing and sports have always been my biggest motivational factors which give me the utmost strength to fight with anything that comes in the way and successfully come over it over a period of time.

I am 40 years old today and would you guys believe me if I say that I had undergone 10 surgeries in past 20 years of my life? Many people don’t. In fact, I myself feel surprised when I think of these 20 years of my life. It has never been less than a roller coaster. But I am glad and proud of myself that I have been strong enough to face all these challenges and overcome them with self motivation and confidence. Recently, had to undergo a major knee surgery and may be I will never be able to dance or play sports in my life in the same way again. This had shaken my confidence in a worst way. But again, my resilience had helped me to motivate myself and bring a hope back again that I might not be able to lead my life in the same way as I used to do earlier but this would not stop me. I always believe in a quote which says, “When life gives you hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have thousand reasons to smile.” What if I will not be able to lead my life in the same way, I am sure I will still manage to make the best out of it. I always haven taken these challenges in a very positive way and I feel these tough situations help me to bring out the best version of myself every time. I feel life is too short and is very unpredictable. We never know what is in store for us the very next moment? We should live every moment of our life with positivity, try to be happy with whatever life gives you and make people around us happy in the best possible way.

Body Shining

by Sudha Nujilla | Sep 7, 2021 | General

Body ShamingShining

Did you ever stop and think about how often we have seen people talking about one’s appearance? I have heard many times in my personal experience. Sometimes, it’s in a positive sense but sometimes it seems like a criticism. Many people in the society, especially women, have been through these so-called societal norms across the world. The widespread phenomenon of receiving the feedback from society when our bodies don’t meet the unrealistic beauty standards. I personally feel that we spend most of our time in self-critical thoughts, despising our body and comparing ourselves unfavorably to others. I, personally have faced lot of criticism from many people around towards body appearance and weight aspects. Probably, this is one of the reasons which has pushed me in writing this blog. But whatever I pen down here in my blog is just my perspective and my personal experiences towards it.

Body shaming has been the most used term for this. But I rephrase it as Body Shining or Body Positivity for myself. For me, personally, shaming seems a bit negative and I feel why should one feel negative about themselves in any way. As a child and a youngster, I was very slim and fit person in the normal societal language and am no more the same. But why should this bother someone, when I am fine with however I am. In my perspective, am still fit and active, might not be physically but definitely mentally and emotionally. I always have been confused about why people only think about being fit and active physically and don’t focus on mental fitness and activeness. Don’t you agree with me if I say this is equally important, or to be more precise, being strong, fit and active mentally is much more important than being strong physically?

There have been many personal experiences in life for me, just like many other women in the society. I have been through many situations when people around me had criticized me for my body appearance. The terms like “Oh! You are too thin, you need to put a bit of weight and become more stronger”, “OMG! You have put on so much of weight, how would you even manage to do anything in your daily life”, “It would have been so good if you were a bit taller”, “Oh! You are so tall; you look equal to those boys” are the common ones we can hear people talking about others. Some people think that it is just for fun. But pause there for a second and place yourself in that position and think if you would ever be able to take it as a fun if someone criticized you that way. It would be difficult for any of us to see ourselves in that position. But if we really empathize with the situation of the other person, we will understand the pain and emotional stress one goes through in such situations. I, personally feel, this is intended more towards women but still don’t understand why? One who has the mindset of criticizing others in this way will anyways do it. We cannot control the actions and comments of others, but we can stop ourselves from entering the vivacious cycle of body shaming.

“The next time you start criticizing yourself, take a split-second pause, step back and ask yourself where it’s coming from”, said Jenny Weinar, a Philadelphia – based social worker and therapist. She asks people to focus on whose voice we hear and says that voice could be of someone specific in our lives. Regan Chastain, a Los-Angeles-based fat activist who holds the Guinness World Record for heaviest woman to complete a marathon, spent a long time feeling angry at her body. Then, she realized she hadn’t spent a minute being grateful for its powers. At that point, she listed off everything she could think of that her body did for her. Going forward, every time she experienced a negative thought about her body, she replaced it with something from her gratitude list. This story of hers had inspired me personally to a great extent. I feel our mind would act as we tune it. If we focus more on positive, it will lead us towards positivity and vice versa. Since I had learned of this story, I had started following the same and I realized that there are so many positive things about myself for which I can really be proud of. I strongly believe the proverb, “Count your blessings, not your troubles”.

Embrace Yourself

Many times, I have heard people getting worried if there is any solution to this and how do they fight against body shaming? I feel there is no problem without a solution, it is just that we need to change our focus and mindset. I personally follow my own principles to allow myself to stay away from such negativity in life and love myself as I am. I am over weighted and fat – so what? Does this make me do anything less in my life than I wish for – Never. Then, why should this even bother me. I keep telling myself frequently that I am beautiful in my own way and I can do wonders in my life. “Self-Confidence is the best outfit, rock it and own it”.

• Embrace our own – Body positivity as opposed to body shaming is learning to embrace your own imperfections and feeling content with how we are and how we look. Once we start doing this, no amount of judgement that may be directed towards us can put us down.
• Maintain healthy relationships – Surround yourself with people who are body positive and accept you for who you are – without forcing you into society’s impossible standards. It is very important to spend quality time with people who will help you view yourself positively and prohibit any semblance of body shaming.
• Educate those who body shame – The effects of body shaming are more emotional than physical. In most of the cases, the people around might not even notice the emotional trauma the victim is experiencing. This emotional stress accumulates and bursts out at some point of time. If you catch anyone body shaming another, confront and educate them. Talk out nicely and discuss the harmful effects of body shaming a person.

At the end, each one of us want to be accepted for who we are and how we look. Beauty is not about having a perfect body or amazing looks. It’s all about the person’s heart and soul. Every person is beautiful in his/her own way. When a person is meant to be in a particular way, why should we expect him/her to change for some baseless norms of the society. Size of your body doesn’t define your beauty. Be confident, be happy, love your body and embrace yourself!

UNAPOLOGETICALLY ME

by Sudha Nujilla | Apr 12, 2021 | General

We all might have had experiences where we felt like a fish out of water, or we were swimming against the current. Things were not just going well and we had to stop, revaluate and regroup. Chances are, many of these situations might be the result of unrealistic expectations we had on people around us and even ourselves. My belief is to expect more from yourself than others. Because expectations from others hurt a lot, while expectations from yourself inspire a lot. That is life.

Perfectly Imperfect Me!

From childhood, we are taught to cut down on ego – on an exaggerated sense of self, and to consider others before one’s self. This is very much true in our country, and more specifically with girls. This thought process of the society has always been confusing for me. As a kid, I always used to think that is it wrong to think about myself over others. The question that why we put ourselves last and why self-love cannot be a priority was left unanswered for many years. It is not that I do not agree to the feeling of putting others first. I, personally believe that we should be there for others, but never leave ourselves behind in this process. Is it that difficult for a person to have this balance? Few misconceptions had been imposed into our minds about the concept of self-love and self-care.

Self-Care Vs Self-Obsessed

As many of us think, self-care or self-love does not mean being self-obsessed or selfish. Taking care of ourselves strengthens us and enables us to support our loved ones in a better way. For me it took quite a long time to understand and agree to the point that self-love is an antidote to stress, as it builds resilience so we can better cope up with challenges life throws at us in this beautiful journey. Just think, how they tell us to put on our oxygen mask first on an airplane before we help others. It is just the same way. Yes, absolutely support others, but nurture yourself first.

We confuse “rescuing” with “caring”

People often sacrifice self-care because they are too busy trying to save everyone else’s life around them. But sometimes it is important to understand that people have to learn their own lessons in life, however painful that might be. It might be that while we think we are caring for them by rescuing them from the unpleasant experiences in their lives, we are denying them the opportunity to face their own challenges, and grow stronger or learn a lesson from doing so. This has been a hard truth for me to face, as I always thought I was being nice and caring towards others and vice-versa. I do not mean that we should not support others, but it is important to understand that there is a difference between providing support for someone who asks for help and taking upon ourselves to save somebody in our way, irrespective of what the other person feels. So, stop rescuing and start caring!

We teach people how to treat us!

We do not often realize that we teach people how to treat us by our own actions and attitude towards them. When we take a step forward and try to help others in any way, the question, which makes a difference, is whether they are willing to take your help or if we are voluntarily forcing upon our thoughts and process to the other person. No doubt, you have played your part perfectly by offering your help to the person in need but we cannot change the way the other person would receive this kind act. We only have control over our actions and not on the actions of others. It is always important to put ourselves in the shoes of others and try to think about all the possible outcomes before we deal with people. What is good and right for us might not actually be the same for others and vice-versa. So let us not teach people how to treat us and instead, let us leave the option to the other person. Seems confusing, but it makes sense when you think about deeply.

We often do not realize our worth!

Ultimately, it boils down to the fact that we think others are worth more than we are. If we are confident in our love for ourselves and treat ourselves as if we are worthy enough, that would make our life more beautiful and happier. Our outlook on life is a direct reflection on how much we like ourselves. Self-worth is how you value yourself and not based on what others think of you.

“When you know who you are, and you are pleased with the person you have become; you will experience a sense of peace through life’s inevitable ups and downs – Amy Morin”

I, personally have learnt this lesson hard way through the journey of my life. For many years, I always felt like I had to prove myself as worthy of everyone for everything. I did things that made others happier than it made me. I did this so often for so many people around me that I lost track of what I valued in this process of pleasing everyone around me. Thankfully, at one point of time, I realized that what made me happy mattered more than pleasing others. It was not an easy task to make my mind and heart go through this transformation phase. The work is still in progress, but now, I try to measure my self-worth based on my own sense of self rather than how other people perceive me. This mindset sometimes may not make others happy, but it definitely makes me happy as I am doing what my mind or heart asks me to. My idea behind this is instead of chasing things that temporarily boost your self-esteem, measure your self-worth by who you are at your core.

“A strong positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success in life” – Dr. Joyce Brothers.

Self-Efficacy – The Secret Mantra!

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you are right” – Henry Ford

When facing a challenge, do you feel like you can rise up and accomplish your goal or do you doubt your own abilities and give up in defeat? Most of us have the similar mindset in such circumstances. However, one thing, which makes difference, is how you train your mind to react in those situations.

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change” – Wayne Dyer

It all depends on what and how we train our mind to believe. The body achieves what the mind believes. It is thus important to believe in ourselves to achieve anything in life. When we doubt our power, we give power to our doubt. The secret mantra for this is Self-Efficacy.

There are lot of misconceptions about what is Self-Efficacy? It is a person’s belief in their ability to succeed in a particular situation. Psychologist Albert Bandura described these beliefs as determinants of how people think, feel and behave. Self-Efficacy is part of the complete self-system comprised of a person’s attitudes, abilities and skills. I have had my own set of experiences and learnings on how Self-Efficacy plays a vital role in how we think, how we feel and how we act towards it.

Can we learn to develop self-efficacy by ourselves? During the journey of my professional and personal experiences, I have come across this question quite few times. Every time I faced it, my answer always was a Yes. Learning how to believe in yourself just needs a holistic strategy, which helps you to take control of your thoughts and feelings by yourself.

Developing a strong sense of self-efficacy can play an important role in almost every aspect of our life. Life is full of challenges and high levels of self-efficacy can help us better deal with these difficulties more effectively. Our belief in our abilities can predict how motivated we feel, how we feel about ourselves, and the amount of effort we put into achieving our goals.

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

DANCE – A Fascinating Journey

by Sudha Nujilla | Feb 6, 2021 | General

The Dawn of Passion

Dance is the hidden language of the soul. I developed a great love for dance at a very young age. I started to learn the art watching the songs in the TV. I used to love watching people perform dance with so much energy and grace. Gradually, it made me feel immensely happy and I started focusing more towards learning the art of dance. As I started growing little big, this liking towards dance turned into a passion and drove me a step closer towards it. With the support of my family, I started learning one of the well-known Indian Classical dance form – Bharatanatyam. I kept on learning, practicing and performing dance wherever there was a possibility. Every time I used to dance, it used to make me a better person and I started loving it even more. There are many things which Dance has taught me over the years. The best thing which I started following and still do is “Never dance to impress, but only to express yourself”. Dance is the best of allowing yourself to be what you actually are. It is a way of expressing your thoughts and feelings in the best possible way. It helped me develop a great mental ability as the years passed. I never left an opportunity to dance, irrespective of the place and occasion. Dance became the best therapy in my life, which helped me to balance my life appropriately.

“Indian classical dance and music are not just for entertainment – they are designed to elevate your conscious”

Sadhguru

Dance – An art, Science and beyond!

Dance is an art, paint your dream and follow it. It is a natural form of self-expression and a means to express our inner feelings, thoughts and experience in a beautiful way. Dance enables us to tell a story with the help of gestures and expressions. Is there a science behind the art of dance? Many things stimulate our brains. Scientists are not sure why we like movement so much, but there is certainly a lot of unreliable evidence to believe it to be true. Some studies show that dance increases levels of the feel-good hormone serotonin, and helps develop new neural connections. Dance can support emotional competence and can turn the emotional expression into an art. When we become aware of our feelings and move them out of our physical body through dance, we begin to embrace our humanity while we give it an artistic expression. That is when dance touches our soul. Dance has proven to be a beautiful art form with a meaningful scientific theory behind it. However, does the magic of Dance end there? The answer is a definite no. Dance is something beyond all these. Have you heard of the word therapy? I am sure yes, as it is a quite commonly used term these days. Dance, is now being considered as a therapy in few countries and is referred to as Dance / Movement Therapy or DMT. It is a type of therapy that uses various movements to help individuals achieve emotional, physical and social integration. It is beneficial for both physical and mental health, dance therapy can be used for various aspects like stress reduction, body management, emotional balance, etc.

Dance – The Indian Heritage

India has a great heritage of dance and music, as part of its culture. Culture, in India, although diverse and varied, still binds the country together in some form of common identification. Indian dance has played a remarkable role in this unification. Dance in India has an unbroken tradition of over 2,000 years. Dancing is one of the most esteemed Indian arts as it incorporates melody and drama in the best possible way. Gestures, body positions and head movements are emphasized in Indian dance.  There are almost a thousand specific hand movements and signs, which are called Mudras. India is known for its diversity and can be seen in a variety of things. The key aspects of understanding diversity are different religious and cultural backgrounds.  In India, we find people speaking different languages, celebrating different festivals, eating different cuisines, following different art and culture but still live together happily. When we talk about art and culture, Dance is one of the main aspects of the Indian diversity. Each state has its own different traditional dance forms, which has its own beauty and specialty.

Indian Dance – A Perfect Epitome!

Indian dance is one of the most revered identities of our culture. We can broadly classify the Indian dance into two main genres – Classical and Folk Dance. The main difference between the two is the origin of these dance forms. Classical dance has a deep-rooted relationship with the Natya Shastra, whereas Folk dance emerged from the local tradition of the respective state, ethnic or geographic regions. The classical dance forms recognized by the Sangeet Natak Academy and the Ministry of Culture are –

1. Bharatanatyam, from Tamil Nadu

She is a professional Bharatanatyam Dancer and Guru, who has rich experience in the field of Indian Classical Dance. She is an elegant dancer who had started her journey of dance at the tender age of five and has accumulated many achievements in her bucket during her long professional journey. She has been my Guru and an inspiration in my passionate journey of Dance.

She is a professional Bharatanatyam Choreographer and Guru with rich experience in the field of Indian Classical Dance. She is a Dance Teacher in an International school and also a registered Teacher in Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Mumbai. She choreographs and trains her students for various programs and competitions across the country. She has been my biggest inspiration and mentor in the field of dance since last few years.

2. Kuchipudi, from Andhra Pradesh

Abhinaya is a Pharma professional, working with Novartis Healthcare Pvt. Ltd in Hyderabad. She is a trained dancer and performer in the field of Kuchipudi dance. She started her passionate dance journey at a very young age and has performed across the country and outside as well. She is passionate for the art of dance and is a bunch of immense talent with experience in learning various Indian and Western dance styles along with the main form of Kuchipudi. She is a very close family friend of mine and has been a great supporter and motivator me in my journey of Dance.

Dhruvi is the daughter of one of my very close friends Dr. Harivardhigini and is studying in Grade V at Delhi Public School, Nacharam. She has been passionate for dance right from her childhood days and has been learning professional Kuchipudi dance under her guru Smt. Adapa Bharani garu from the age of 5 years. She has performed in various events across the state and also participated in many competitions and created a unique name for herself in this field. She continuous to enjoy other western styles of dance along with Kuchipudi under the guidance of her super talented mother, who is a passionate and a lovely dancer herself. Dhruvi stands as an example to many other children of her age in taking forward our Indian culture and heritage to a higher level.

3. Kathak, from Uttar Pradesh

Esha Chakraborty is a Pharma professional working at Novartis Healthcare Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad. She had started her journey of dance at the very young age of 4 years. She is an elegant and trained dancer in various Indian and Western dance forms like Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Rabindra Nritya (Bengali Folk Dance Style), Contemporary and Hip-Hop. She has been part of various dance performances and various competitions across the country. She had got the privilege to perform for Tedx and Global Entrepreneur Summit 2017. She is one of my close friends and an amazing mentor in my passionate journey of dance in recent times. She had always encouraged and supported me and I had a great privilege to perform in her choreography for many dance performances. She is a bunch of talent and the best example of the Dance fusion styles with rich exposure in Indian and Western Dance styles.

4. Mohiniattam, from Kerala

She is a passionate dancer and daughter of one of school teachers Mr. Rajan Achari. She has started dancing at a young age and enjoy the art form very much. She has performed in various occasions and contribute towards showcasing the loveliest form of Mohiniattam from Kerala, which is known as one of the best and elegant dances of India.

5. Odissi, from Orissa

Kelucharan Mohapatra was a legendry Indian classical dancer, guru and exponent of Odissi dance. He was the first person to receive the Padma Vibhushan from Orissa. He led a 20th – century revival of Odissi, a centuries-old style of dance associated with temples of Orissa and one of the principle forms of Indian classical dance. He stood as an inspiration to many people, especially male dancers to live their passion for dance and accept the art as their careers with a positive spirit.

6. Kathakali, from Kerala

Guru Chandrasekharan was an Indian classical dancer, choreographer and instructor of Kathakali. He was born in Trivandrum and practiced Kathakali under Nedumudi Narayan Kurup, who was also an artist under the patronage of the Royal Palace of Travancore. Later he organized his own troupe and conducted performances in major cities of India. He stands as an inspiration to many dancers, who are passionate towards this dance form.

Kanak Rele is an Indian Dancer, choreographer and academics best known as an exponent of Mohiniyattam and Kathakali. She was born in Gujrat and had started her journey of dance at the age of 7. She is the founder-director of the Nalanda Dance Research Centre and the founder-principal of the Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya in Mumbai.

7. Manipuri, from Manipur

Elam Endira Devi is an Indian classical dancer and teacher, known for her expertise and scholarship in the classical dance form of Manipuri. She started learning Manipuri dance at the early age of eight years. She secured her BA and MA in Manipuri Culture and Literature, in 1979, from Guwahati University. The Government of India honored her, in 2014, with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for her services to the field of art and culture.

8. Sattriya, from Assam

Krishnakshi Kashyap is an Indian Sattriya Danseuse, cultural ideapreneur and a social entrepreneur. She is trained in two classical dance forms of India, Bharatanatyam and Sattriya. She now engages herself in the promotion and propagation of Sattriya dance, the living tradition of Assam. Krishnakshi is the disciple of Sangeet Natak Academi awardee Shri Ramakrishna Talukdar in Sattriya and trained in Bharatnatyam under Sangeet Natak Academi awardee Smt. Indira P P Bora. She had started her dance training at the tender age of six years .

Indian Folk Dance – India’s rich diversity

Indian folk dance is a simple dance, which is performed to express joy and happiness among themselves. It is performed for every possible occasion in all parts of India as per their respective cultures and traditions. Folk art is the common procession of a group of people or a particular locality. Each state has its own set of traditional folk dance forms, which has a specific costume. Folk dances are proudly knows as the hidden treasures of India, which is absolutely true. The simplicity and the beauty in each of these traditional folk dances is exceptional in its own way. Every Indian state has more than one folk dance forms based on the culture and tradition of the districts and villages of the states. I, personally, had a rich and an amazing journey with the folk dance styles as part of my dance life. I have got an opportunity to learn and enjoy the experience of various Indian folk dances like Garba, Bhangra, Rajasthani Ghoomar, Bihu, Sambhalpuri, Lavani, Koli and Bonalu.

Dance – The new gimmick for fitness!

The new mantra in today’s world of fitness is “get fit the dance way”. People are seeing dance as a whole body workout that is full of fun. Dance, in a form of exercise is good for our heart, it makes us stronger and can help with balance and coordination. A 30-minute dance fitness session might burn between 130 and 250 calories. Many dance enthusiasts believe that it can benefit both the physical and mental health and subsidizes social communication. Dancing has a wide range of physical and mental benefits including improved condition of the heart and lungs, increased muscular strength, improved muscle tone and strength, weight management, agility and flexibility and many more to be added to the list. One might feel the science behind it is too technical but the facts remain that these are very minute yet important aspects which we neglect in our day to day life. I am one amongst the people who believe that dance can be one of the best form to get yourself on toes with a healthy and fit body. I personally feel, any type of exercise, if done with love and passion, helps your body to get the expected results. I have had been part of few such dance fitness routines and observed the process closely. It is one of the most happening fitness routines across India. A single dance fitness routine includes warm-up, cardio (main workout) followed by the cool-down or stretching session.

My Fascinating Dance Journey – Pictorial Way!

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The Way Forward!

It’s been nearly 30 years since Dance has been part of my life in various ways. The common thing in all these years is the happiness which it has given me and helped me become a strong and better person altogether. I started to enjoy this wonderful art of dance as a hobby during my childhood and moving forward it turned into a passion. To keep the passion alive and to keep motivating ourselves, I along with my bestie Swapna Soma have started a dance YouTube channel named “Just Naach”. The main purpose to start this channel is to just share our passion with the world without any commercial aspect of it. I have always believed if we follow our passion, it will lead us to our purpose. For a short period of time, I had experienced Dance as a profession by sharing my experience and learnings with the school children, which further gave me a wonderful exposure. As the age goes up, it started helping me as a therapy for my medical concerns both physically and mentally. In the present scenario, dance is helping me to be fit in all ways. Further going, I want to enjoy every bit of my passion for Dance till the end in whichever way possible. I dance not to impress but to express. For me, Dance is just not an art or a passion, it’s a never ending journey of my life and I wish this journey continues till eternity!!!

Thanks for being with me in this first step of my passionate journey. Looking forward for your support and encouragement in having a wonderful journey here. Please share your feedback and observations in the comments. Cheers!