The tagline of Zambhala—India’s yoga, music and life spirit festival that will be held on December 21 and 22 in Goa rightly says many journeys, one destination. It is an annual festival that brings together yoga experts, spiritual teachers, practitioners, healers, musicians and artists from across India and the world. Among them are renowned T’ai Chi expert Sensei Sandeep Desai and life coach Veechi Shahi, who consider this festival as a treat for the soul.
Sensi Sandeep Desai
Desai is excited about sharing the ancient Chinese Tao philosophy of Yin and Yang that is the cornerstone of T’ai Chi at Zambhala. With over 30 years of experience in martial arts, yoga and meditation, Desai is the first Indian toa be authorised by Master Zhu Tian Cai to teach the traditional Chen style of T’ai Chi.
T’ai Chi is based on principles derived from ancient Chinese philosophical texts such as the I Ching and Tao Te Ching.
“T’ai Chi can be picked up by anyone. Even children can reap significant benefits from it. When the art is taught for self defence, children improve their health and their fitness level goes up. The discipline of taking care of their minds and bodies lasts them a lifetime. Apart from increasing their speed, reflexes, power and endurance, T’ai Chi educates them on peace and encourages to foster a spirit of cooperation rather than competition. The art also serves as an ideal outlet for venting their pent-up anger and aggression,” says the 50-year-old martial practitioner, who was introduced to it in 1998.
T’ai Chi involves rotations and not jerky, violent movements, so it can also be safely practiced by pregnant women. T’ai Chi can increase their body awareness and balance, safeguarding them from falls. T’ai Chi can be especially useful in regenerating stamina, health and vitality for people over fifty years of age. It improves blood circulation and yields them restful sleep. It is a boon for people suffering from arthritis or back pain.
To learn T’ai Chi, one first has to learn alignment—the principle of lifting the point (baihui in Chinese) at the top of one’s head and tucking the pelvis slightly forward with the buttocks pulling in, loosen and stretch the entire back of your body. This improves vertebral alignments. T’ai Chi stretches everything inside the body to make it longer and establishes connection between various body parts. This not only relieves the arthritic pain but also makes the back exceedingly strong. T’ai Chi’s gentle motions brings more blood to injured areas, releasing the energy that’s blocked, and help regenerates the muscles, tendons and ligaments. When practiced for an hour, T’ai Chi can burn up to 300 calories. T’ai Chi is excellent for helping in healthy weight loss when it’s combined with the right nutrition plan. The martial art can be a deeply spiritual experience for people who believe in keeping life simple. It can make a dramatic impact on your life though not before one has established the right foundation, which is to learn to live for the moment.
Veechi Shahi
Healer and life transformation coach, Veechi Shahi says that Zambhala is going to be a global gathering of lovers and seekers of love, light and celebration.
“So many lovely people will be together sharing, receiving celebrating. Such festivals are happening everywhere in the West and this is the first time it’s happening in India, the land of origin of yoga. I feel it’s a great opportunity for people and therapists to be part of this community to learn to unlearn and share,” says Veechi.
Veechi has trained with experts in the field of hypnosis, yoga and conducted various workshops in different parts of the world. She has been associated with Osho multiversity and the Vipasana meditation learning and sharing with many therapists around the globe.
Veechi will conduct an orgasmic meditation workshop at Zambhala. It is a technique from Osho’s The Book of Secrets, a meditation described in Vigyan Bhairav Tantra to empower, to reconnect with the sensitivity and sacredness of life energy. The sex energy is the basic energy in all humans. The same energy of sex transforms in super consciousness.
With woman empowerment close to her heart, Veechi specialises in delivering empowering experiences through healing, meditation and celebration. “By energising the inner strength, wisdom and intuition, I help embrace their reality, sexuality creativity and spirituality,” says the 40-year-old life coach.
“For women it’s very challenging to accept herself as she is—to accept her body, energy and feminine qualities. Women have been suppressed and conditioned to not live totally, to be always dependent on man and distrust their instincts. Today’s women are most confused with all kinds of mixed information from society, culture and media. All the ideas never allow her to let go fully. The orgasmic meditation is to empower women to reconnect with her feminine qualities of ‘love, trust, beauty, sincerity, truthfulness, and authenticity’, and they are far greater than any qualities that man has,” adds Veechi.
She says that sex is a taboo in our culture and it is not considered natural for sophisticated society women to address their sexual needs. Women have suffered and lived in frustrations, confused, condemning their fire, judging their desires to express freely. All result of unawareness and lack of information about their own vital energy. “The orgasmic meditation will help women to collectively acknowledge their sexual energy and need, and will clear their individual confusions and doubts. This will not only support women to liberate but also create more liberated and sensitive male, creating more natural relaxed and loving individuals, families and universe,” signs off Veechi.
Zambhala, December 21 and 22, Bardo, Morjim Ashwem Road, Goa. www.zambhala.in