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Samatva - Finding The Balance, Gurugram (2026)

14/11/2025

This memory showed up on social media space… just as I get ready to learn, explore, be part of Peter Levine Somatic Experiencing cohort…it reminds me of my faith and belief that…The universe has my back and

“The famous Hindi dialogue by Shah Rukh Khan “Kehte hain agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaho toh puri kainath usse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai”

Gratitude…small steps in the right direction…when I completed grade 10, the heart wanted to pursue psychology, friends influenced me in a different direction. When I cleared grade 12, heart called out for psychology and I had an offer from a college but again peers dictated a different course in a different highly reputed college… when I graduated … the heart reminded me once again but father wanted me in a different field and I yielded yet again…through work life always played a part, lest I forget and as life is a circle I find myself studying, learning, sharing, facilitating, working for what always was my calling…thanks to Aruna Gopakumar, Navgati, my colleagues, my therapist, my family for supporting me as I find my way back… … happy to be here now.

Thanks to Navgati, Aruna Gopakumar, Sunitha Krishnamurthi, The Healing Circle

13/11/2025

On Gossip and the Quiet Unease Beneath…

Want to talk about my strange relationship with gossip. I do indulge in it sometimes. It can feel like harmless connection, like sharing whispers over chai. Yet, I also feel this subtle anxiety rise inside me when the tone turns malicious or when it crosses into territories that feel out of bounds especially when it is about people I don’t know, like celebrities. There is a part of me that feels complicit, and another that withdraws in discomfort…

Is that hypocrisy? Maybe. Or maybe it’s the tug-of-war between my human curiosity and my deeper values… that I am trying to align with…

Psychologists say gossip isn’t inherently bad infact it’s one of the oldest forms of social glue. Anthropologist Robin Dunbar even called gossip “the human equivalent of grooming in primates” our way of bonding and understanding social norms. But Buddha would probably raise an eyebrow at that justification. In the Right Speech teachings, he said, “always ask yourself, is it true, is it necessary, is it kind?”

When I hear or share something unkind, even subtly, I can feel the dissonance. I believe in karma, in the idea that what we put into the world in words, thoughts, or actions … circles back in some form. So why do I still get drawn in? Maybe because gossip offers a quick, glittery illusion of closeness. Although temporary…

when I do try to gently step away or say, “let’s not go there,” I sometimes sense people looking at me like “Oh, here she goes, the holy cow!” (I say that with humour, but also truth.) The middle ground is hard to find. Maybe the middle path is awareness… noticing when gossip feels like connection and when it feels like corrosion. Noticing the tone in my heart when I speak or listen. The Dalai Lama once said, “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” Even in conversation.

So I write this not as a declaration of virtue, but as a note to self… I am a work in progress.

09/11/2025

A day I will always hold close…Gratitude to our teacher ji and guide, Michelle, who led us to a meeting that felt like grace itself …with Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo at the Dongyu Gatsal Ling (DGL) Nunnery in Himachal…The air there felt washed…verdant, still, touched by prayer. Every leaf seemed to breathe meditation…To sit before Jetsuma, radiant and clear-eyed, was to meet living wisdom. Her story humbles…twelve solitary years in a Himalayan cave, devoted to practice and awakening. Yet her life’s greater work has been to open the path of deep spiritual training for nuns across the tradition…creating DGL as a sanctuary of study, contemplation, and inner freedom…Her words carried warmth and clarity, humour and strength…Thank you, Michelle, for guiding us to this rare meeting…to the light, the laughter, and the quiet power that lingers still.

20/10/2025

With Gratitude 🙏🏽 💛☘️

14/10/2025

I often hear the left arm being called the “dormant arm,” the less dominant, the one that quietly supports while the right takes center stage. But the irony hit me recently…when I was asked to rest my left arm because of tennis elbow, I realized how much of my life it actually carries. From typing to cooking, lifting to holding, this so-called dormant arm was anything but asleep!

It made me pause and wonder…how many things, people, or even parts of me… do I label as secondary, only to discover their true weight when they step aside? The unnoticed is often the indispensable…

Life has this way of revealing the quiet heroes whether in the body, in relationships, or within our own being… What I have dismissed as “lesser” sometimes holds the balance of my existence…

Perhaps that was the real invitation for me…to look again, with softer eyes, at what I take for granted. The left arm. The overlooked effort. The silent presence. They may just be the axis on which my world spins.

“Maybe the left arm is not dormant at all…it is just humble. And humility, like the left arm, doesn’t announce itself. It simply holds everything together until the day its absence is noticed.”

10/10/2025

As a mindfulness coach, I often get asked

“How come you have a glass of wine?”

“You eat non-vegetarian food and still teach mindfulness?”

For a long time, smiling and explaining as my way, it still is but Now, I sometimes pause…because mindfulness is not about perfection. It is about presence.

The awareness of when I am reaching for more than I need, the capacity to stop, reflect, and reset…be compassionate even if I messed up…That awareness, that gentle interruption of an old pattern, is exactly what neuroscientists describe as neuroplasticity- the brain’s ability to form new pathways through conscious attention.

Research by Dr. Sara Lazar at Harvard shows that consistent mindfulness practice can literally reshape regions of the brain linked to self-awareness, empathy, and emotional regulation. This inspires me not toward control, but towards Karuna for myself and my humanness…

When someone points out that I often leave things incomplete, that too is part of the practice. Perhaps mindfulness is not about finishing everything, but about knowing what’s truly worth finishing. Sometimes, letting go is also a form of completion.

When there is a sense of undercurrents in interactions, relationships…what Transactional Analysis calls game playing, agin I try (not always perfectly) to stay silent and observe instead of reacting. In that pause, I often find clarity and kindness.

Like everyone else, I am a work in progress not above or beyond anyone. As my teacher Nithya Shanti says, “Teach what you most need to learn.”

Evolving, observing, softening… again and again … maybe that is mindfulness to me…

01/10/2025

“Grief and gratitude often walk together… and somehow, both feel sacred.” These Navratri days felt heavier than usual. I found myself missing Papa in the smallest of ways. He was the one who always sent the Ashtami prasad, who reminded me of the rituals…even though he knew I rarely followed them to the letter. Somehow, his reminders felt less about rules and more about love. A safety net. A kind of protection.

It’s strange, how for over a decade I was more a parent to him than a daughter, caring for him through his health struggles. And yet, despite the role reversal, he still gave me that sense of being looked after. A presence I leaned on, even when I didn’t realize it. Now, in his absence, the silence feels loud.

But alongside the sadness, there is gratitude. Gratitude for the memory of him, for the rituals my grandmother followed with such faith and discipline, for the thread of devotion that runs through generations in different forms…

I may not do it the way they did, but I am finding my way of connecting with the goddesses…with my Creator. My prayers may dissent in form, but they meet theirs in spirit. In belief. In love. In a quiet faith that continues to hold me, even as I miss them.

These days, I carry both…the ache of loss and the comfort of knowing that the ones I loved and who loved me deeply are still here, in rituals, in memory, in the rhythm of devotion that beats on in its own gentle way…

And when, some friends and neighbors send me prasad when I couldn’t perform the pooja myself. That too felt like being held, like being carried in a safe, unseen space…Pc: prints of Dithi Mukherjee

27/09/2025

I am fascinated by the mind, how it shapes our behaviours, our choices, our patterns…the past decade has been a slow but steady dive into psychology, neuroscience, neuroplasticity, meditation, mindfulness…

This curiosity has made me aware how full our minds are of shortcuts though useful at times, but also sneaky in how they mislead us…sharing a few…

Confirmation bias – noticing only what proves me right, missing what doesn’t
Dunning-Kruger effect – when a little knowledge makes me overconfident
Negativity bias – how the one harsh word lingers longer than ten kind ones
Recency effect – giving weight to the last thing I heard, even if it isn’t the full picture
Anchoring bias – letting the first impression quietly shape everything after
Social proof – the pull of the crowd, even when my inner compass says otherwise
What helps me is pausing… Noticing… Mindfulness gives me that gap… my breath…between thought and reaction…sometimes in that space I find clearer choices, kinder decisions, and more empathy for myself and others…(used this picture from a retreat I attended in Mulshi to reflect on the vastness and beauty of mind, nature, and how little we know)

22/09/2025

As we step into these days of the divine feminine, of goddesses, of rituals wrapped in meaning and mystery, I find myself pausing again…with questions, with curiosity, with a desire to build my own relationship with my Creator, my God… I ask what does my relationship with the divine really look like? Do I follow the rituals I grew up watching as a child? Do I carry forward what society and tradition tell me is the “right” way? Can I have my own path to rituals, prayers, worship?

Reflecting that in a vast place like India, with so many diverse cultures, norms, traditions for the same religion, same festivals… like in the North and the East, we pray to the same Goddesses…Maa Durga, Maa Kali, Maa Saraswati yet the rituals differ so much. Some are simple, almost austere. Others are grand, abundant, and indulgent. Which one is truly mine?

Can I choose from both? Can I create my own rhythm of worship, my own ways of connecting with the Goddesses, festivals, rituals I love? May I have my own rituals? Then again who am I seeking permission from?

For now… May we all be blessed by the Goddessess, our faith, our love 🙏🏽

21/09/2025

Today is Gratitude Day—a perfect moment to slow down and savor what’s good in life. Sometimes, just noticing what I am thankful for shifts the entire day’s energy.

Journaling prompt-What’s one small thing I often overlook that truly brings me joy?

Take a minute, write it down, and let that feeling of gratitude grow…Sharing or keeping it private, this simple practice can brighten perspective and anchor us in the present.

Gratitude is the little spark that lights up even ordinary days. What’s lighting up yours today?

13/09/2025

Some days, life feels like one long blooper reel😅

Tripping as I walk into a room

Wave back at someone who wasn’t waving at me

Say the wrong thing in a party

Get left out of a conversation

Hear words spoken to me more sharply than needed…feeling cornered

Cue the self-berating voice, ready to turn a moment into a full-length drama…

That’s when I remind myself…of my teacher Nithya Shanti’s mantras

✨ Rule No. 6- don’t take yourself so seriously.

✨ “Bring it on.”

✨ “How wonderful.”

Not because every moment is wonderful, but because welcoming even the awkwardness makes life easier, lighter, happier.When I soften into that, the fizz of discomfort pops like soda bubbles, and what’s left are glimmers…

☀️My dog sunbathing like a little emperor

☀️The first sip of hot chai

☀️The fragrance of champa at night

☀️Laughter drifting from a balcony

☀️A stranger holding the door

☀️The quiet just before dawn

Mindfulness doesn’t delete the cringe or the sting…it reminds me that everything -the embarrassment, the exclusion, the joy, the chaos is impermanent…

When nothing sticks forever, it’s easier to laugh, breathe, and notice the sunlight again…

Samatva - Finding The Balance

14/11/2025

13/11/2025

09/11/2025

20/10/2025

14/10/2025

10/10/2025

01/10/2025

27/09/2025

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