The topic for the English Satsang on Sunday, 29th September, 2013 was ‘Tension and Relaxation.‘
Following is the transcript of the Q & A between the audience and Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra and Smt. Hansaji Yogendra.
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Listen to the audio:
Q. In corporate jobs, the deadlines never end. Sometimes you cannot avoid stress. How to deal with it?
Dr. J: Don’t extend yourself into corporate business. If you get into corporate business – more stress. If you remain at a lower level – less stress.
Smt. H: Dr. Jayadeva’s philosophy is very clear – more and more promotion, more and more stress, so don’t accept promotion. It would help to learn the art of management. Any work can be done with or without stress. So we have to learn how to enjoy the work and not get tense. Tension comes when we are result oriented. There may be a fixed target, but what can you do? You can only plan and work every minute. Tension will not help meet the target. If the target is not met, reorganize and try again. Plan and systematize your work. The mind should be work oriented, not result oriented. And if you could concentrate more on the work, everything will fall into place.
Q. Can you share some suggestions when there is emotional stress when there is disagreement between two or more people?
Dr. J: Walk out from there. It would help.
Smt. H: Learn to listen.Tell everyone, ‘You are right.’ There is a famous example: President Roosevelt, after he was elected, was swarmed by the people from the opposition who gave him a list of decisions they expected him to implement. The President listened to them and said ‘You are right.’ His own party people came and told him some more things that should be implemented. He told them also that they were right. His wife was sitting near him and asked him, What kind of man are you? You are telling both parties they are right when they are talking such contradicting things. He told his wife, ‘My dear, you are also right.’ Everybody is right. So there is no tension. You do what you have to do.
Q. How to successfully come out of the habit of perfection?
Dr. J: See, life is imperfect. Nothing goes according to your wishes, your own ideas. So in a way, acceptance would be your best answer. Accept life and start working.
Smt. H: That’s the wisdom a person should have – Acceptance. Here God helps. Now we have a time pressure; just concentrate on what work you want to complete in a given time. Do how much you can, leave the rest. Perfectionists extend the time limit and till they complete it, they are not happy and they create a hell for themselves as well as others. It brings all kinds of diseases. Also, don’t be happy or unhappy if someone did their work nicely or not. Learn to ‘leave it’.
Q. Stress caused cancer to a friend. Chemotherapy is only hurting further. Can only de-stressing with yoga help?
Dr. J: Well, general words like ‘de-stressing’ is alright but stressing will go on even in the treatment and even in trying to understand the diagnosis. I think, less thinking will help.
Smt. H: Let the medical profession do its job because they have been successful in many cases when it comes to tension. What we are supposed to do is, don’t bring cancer in your mind. Don’t keep thinking that ‘I am a cancer patient’. You are a human being and some of your cells have become very active, so medicines or therapy are going to handle that.We have to see that we don’t become negative. In fact, common cold is more irritating than cancer. We tend to ignore common cold. The point is, we have to learn how to relax well. Cancer patients should not get fatigued. Happily engage in activities, eat and sleep on time and disease will be managed well.
Q. Should we expect less from everything to reduce tension/stress? In other words, high expectation is the reason for tension/stress?
Dr. J: Let us stop expecting and it will help.
Smt. H: Expectation creates all the problems. Accept, don’t expect. If there is no expectation, there will be no stress. It is very clear.
Satsang is an open meeting held every Sunday from 9:30 to 10:30 am at The Yoga Institute, Santacruz East, Mumbai. It involves an interesting presentation to the public, made by the students of the Teacher Training Course. Each week, a new presentation of a Yogic concept is made in a simple way through skits and decoration for the general public, followed by a short speech from our Gurus, Dr. Jayadeva and Smt. Hansaji Yogendra.