Meeting My Self at Anahad Space
I, Hemakshi, had been struggling with my health and relationship with food for almost a year. I travel a lot for work and wasn’t able to eat healthy or pay attention to my health.
It was under these circumstances that I registered for the Nature Cure camp by Dr.Arun Sharma at Anahad Space situated near Hyderabad and Vikarabad. The camp took place from the 23rd to the 28th of March 2020, and was hosted jointly by aKarma Life and Anahad.Space.
And the entire camp – food, stay, classes, consultation session and therapies were offered in the model of a “Pay It Forward” gift. We could contribute from our heart at the end of the camp and didnt have to pay upfront.
My experience over the five day camp has truly shifted the way I look at health, as well as the lack of it. I now have a much more refined, and at the same time, expanded definition of food.
Food, I have come to understand, includes ether, air, sunlight, water and plants. It was amazing to understand the body and its composition, the multiple forms of food ,and to be in touch with the simplicity and sheer beauty of our body-mind system.
The day to day routine began with observation of the breath and bo dy upon waking at 5.45AM . This was followed by group Yoga practise, sun-gazing and enjoying a glass of green juice. We then went on to experience different kinds of therapies, after which a breakfast of mono-fruit would be served.
The rest of the day would be spent learning the theory of Nature Cure with Arunji. There were dedicated time slots every day for hands on learning of salad making basics.
In the early evening we would work with our teams on activities such as farm work or cooking.The day would end with a warm cooked meal and a music/dance filled Satsangh. We had many excellent singers and dancers in our group, starting with Arun Sharmaji.
Greater information on the daily rhythms of these camp can be found on the many wonderful entries in this blog, so I am focusing on the shifts I went through.
These are five shifts that occurred in me as I learnt Nature Cure:
- Ownership – My body contains the doctor it needs
- Simplicity – Value of doing a few things but consistently
- Gentleness – To listen to my body
- Letting go – Just be and be aware of doership
- Inter-connectedness – Disease and the many labels we have given it feel like unnecessary cosmetics. My body, like the universe, is interconnected and one.
My deep gratitude to Arun Sharma ji for facilitating these shifts in me and many others. My route was intellectual and experiential.
After the camp closed officially, Shabbar, one of tthe Anahad residents arranged for about 20 construction helpers, mindfully addressed as artisans, on site to meet Sharma ji. Though they were experts in eco construction, they did not take good care of their own eco (meaning home) and most of them had the habit of chewing tobacco in one form or the other.
Sharmaji spoke to them about perils of tobacco for sometime and then approached their heart space directly with a humble request to give up the habit. That left most of them in tears, Sharma ji included. And most of them gave up tobacco immediately. And they haven’t gone back to the habit in 6 weeks. Two of them that persisted with the habit, gave up after few weeks with continuous support and nudging from Shabbar.
I shared this wellness journey with 35 co-participants, and many of us experienced the connection with such divine healing as Nature Cure teaches as an evolution of the whole. It is heartening to see many of them following a good measure of the camp routine even after 45 days since the camp ended. And it feels good to be connected to most of them through the online Sangha.
Our heartfelt gratitude to the organisers for the loving, compassionate and excellent manner in which all the arrangements had been made, and for opening up the space that is Anahad to us.
If you would like to see some more pictures from the camp, here is the link,
