Self-awareness, positive affirmation and more: A workshop on wellness

Apeejay Stya University (ASU) recently organised a workshop on “Enhancing Wellness” for its students. The event was held as part of ASU’s value added certificate programme, which aims to impact the personalities of young learners through value-based education. The 10-part workshop series was held in association with VNAND-The Learning Academy, an effective English learning platform.

To raise awareness about the importance of well-being, ASU invited two eminent speakers — Dr Ravi Gaur, MD, Pathology, founder, DRG Path Labs, and Poonam Bhargava, certified holistic well-being therapist, career counsellor, mindfulness coach and founder of VNAND-The Learning Academy —who shared their experiences and insights with students. Among the other esteemed guests were Raj S Dhankar, vice-chancellor, ASU, Dr Vimala Veeraraghavan, dean-academics and emeritus professor at ASU, and Dr Varuna Tyagi, deputy registrar-academics and associate professor, School of Management Sciences, ASU.

The workshop was convened by Professor Sanjay Ahirwal, dean, Students’ Welfare, ASU, and coordinated by Dr Vijay Kumar, programme coordinator, NSS, ASU.  

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Positive mindset is key to well-being

In his inaugural address, the vice-chancellor said, “Health is the most important factor for anybody to survive and prosper. We keep organising such activities at the ASU campus.” He talked about the importance of teaching the young generation about health and wellness right from school to enable them to leave a positive impact on society. He motivated students to believe in their potential to achieve success. He also urged them to have a positive mindset, be humble, free their minds and let go of emotional baggage.

“One can easily focus on enhancing wellness provided they have the right mindset to do that. Get up early, go for a walk and do some physical exercise. It must become a part of your body system. Follow a simple lifestyle. You have to strongly believe in the importance of wellness too,” he added.

Highlighting the need for wellness, Professor Ahirwal said in his opening remarks, “Being a teacher, I have come across a lot of students and parents who were going through a lot of distress. The workshop is aimed at understanding what we are going through in our own lives and others. This is a very important issue especially in the times of COVID-19. It is important how you deal with adversity with positivity and what are the strengths that help you deal with whatever comes your way.”

‘Wellness is an integral part of health’

COVID-19 indeed brought home the need to teach wellness to people, emphasised Dr Gaur in his speech. Earlier, health was all about prevention or cure for illnesses, but it is wellness that “should be an integral part of health”, he said, reiterating the importance of an evolved mindset for one’s well-being.

Dr Gaur, who has more than 35 years of experience in pathology and healthcare management, also serves as the chairman-Advisory Board, Unipath Specialty Laboratory Ltd, Ahmedabad, chairman-Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Healthcare & Wellness – Delhi Chapter, a member of Federation Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) Healthcare committee, and member -Advisory Board, Health Reach, among other roles.

Meanwhile, Poonam Bhargava, engaged the students in an interactive exercise to reinforce the power of positive affirmation, and to “find themselves” or in other words, become self-aware. She also conducted an exercise on guided meditation and one on regulating emotions.

A member of the International Association of Therapists (IATH) with over 22 years of professional experience, the coach talked about the different sides of one’s personality—”open self”, “hidden self”, “blind self” and “unknown self”— and helped students get acquainted with their various sides of self through interesting exercises. “When you are not self-aware, you are all over the place. With self-awareness, you become calm and composed and have direction. When you have understood yourself better, you will also learn to deal better,” she stated. Sharing tips to create more awareness around oneself, she also introduced students to the value of “Thinking, Voicing, and Implementing (TVI)” and shared some helpful exercises to master them.  

Through the 10 workshops, students were introduced to some of the key ideas around wellness including “Self-awareness”, “Journaling”, “Sustain your Self-worth”, “Embrace yourself as you are”, “A Flexible Mind is an Angel’s Workshop”, “Boundaries”, “The Art & Science of Conversation”, “Successful Habits”, and “How to Never Give Up”. The workshop ended with a final assessment and upon clearing it, students were awarded certificates. 

The students not only enjoyed the workshop and grasped new ideas but also went home with renewed motivation to work on themselves and evolve as self-aware human beings.