Nature Cure Self Study Program Editon 2

I would like to share my learning experience with Nature Cure Self Study Program, Edition 2. I’m sharing it here as a small token of gratitude towards Nature and wellness seekers.

For people who are hearing about Nature Cure for the first time, one of the ways of defining Nature Cure is:  “Every organism is endowed with self-repairing, self-rejuvenating and self-regulating. Total reliance on this creative intelligence is Nature Cure.”

This 21 day Online Course was hosted by aKarma Life from October 2^nd over 3 weekends with continuity on weekdays.

We opened with an Orientation meet-up where the course structure for the next 21 days was laid out and expectations were set. We had a great opening circle with all participants chiming in.

Over the next 3 weekends, we met early in the morning in silence and proceeded to the Topic of the Day. Six Nature Cure Topics were chosen to be explored over six 90 minute online sessions.

If you were expecting some kind of PowerPoint driven webinar course, then I’m sure you would totally be surprised with the overall holistic design of this study circle.

We started by sitting in silence for 30 minutes (optional).

Then we had those PowerPoint presentations, but they were only a part of the whole. All six presentations throughout the course were so genuine and shared from the real time experiences of six different facilitators. And that’s what made an impact in receiving it so beautifully.

The Questions and Answer sessions brought out many connected questions,

And after the QnA, we gathered in a Circle of Sharing relevant to the topic at hand where we heard from every participant. It was so helpful and reassuring to hear the real-time experiences from the participants. Followed by this, we practiced Pranayama for 10 minutes which was rejuvenating.

And as a standard feature, we had a session on Methods of the Mind which was a theory, a practice, a game and experiential understanding, all at the same time. These were truly therapeutic, much needed practices to find balance among all the wellness dimensions. And Trupti came in as a guest in one of the sessions and we explored the theme of “shifting from the mind to the heart through Art”.

Towards the close of the live session, we walked through the topical assignments waiting for us so any doubts can be clarified. We all had our own private spaces to share our assignments.

Post that, we had a bio-break and a wonderful Yoga session giving a great start to the weekend. Though Yoga session was optional, most of us did not want to miss it.

We had 6 days time to turn in 2 sets of our reflections, assignments and feedback every week. and it was sufficient.

And the assignments designed by each facilitator were all geared towards strengthening awareness & understanding, self-reflection and sharing forward in circles where participants contributed so much that the lines between facilitator and participant blurred/in meaningful ways.

On every topic, we had exciting quiz questionnaires which I totally enjoyed. Those questions helped me evaluate the depth of my understanding at the end of every session.

And each of our assignments was reviewed by facilitators with attention to details and sometimes the comments were questions.

It was not just a learning course but each and every session was a powerful self-discovering tool. For me this overall course was a catalyst to activate my self-learning, and the title “self study circle” was so apt that I did feel the petals unfolding from within.

It was during this aKarma course that I learnt what the meaning of the term “Holistic” is all about. In the search of reversing many of the health crisis in my family, I have deeply explored the roots of quite a few famous alternate medicinal systems. They were helpful in many ways but I personally felt the “Poornatvam”(Wholeness) only in the Nature Cure lifestyle.

“There is only one entity. Sometimes we see it as health, sometimes we see it as disease.”

Knowing what is happening within greatly helps in creating a balance, as it is under our control unlike the other external factors.

For the final session, we had a  guest speaker and friend of the eco-system, Gauri Akka, who navigated us through “Yoga and Mental Wellness”.

After 21 days, we had a closing circle where highlights from our assignments were shared by different volunteers. And one of the participants interviewed all the volunteers so we got to know about what happens behind the scenes.

And the Self Study Program came to a close with that.

The beauty of the aKarma community is that, the sharing does not stop at the end of the course but it is always open to support with further meet-ups and a Self Study Continuation Program.

And the biggest gift is that aKarma also feeds the spirit of volunteering and generates volunteers from people who are overwhelmed with gratitude. That all the volunteers for this course were participants from the previous Self Study Program is a case in point.

Much gratitude to the volunteers of the earlier program and our volunteers Purna, Kritika, Kannipriya, Thangamani, Saee, Rachna, Sankar Anna, Ananth Anna, Roopa, Raghu Anna and Nishakka. And much thanks to my fellow participants from whom I learnt so much!

I would also like to offer my gratitude to all my earlier teachers who have guided me on this path.

And I’m truly amazed at how gift ecology works, similar to the roots of trees getting connected to each other and strengthening one another. It was a blessing for me to witness “dedication” in all the facilitators and volunteers where money is not the driving factor. Sending lots of gratitude to everyone involved, for their unconditional contributions.