I served
the Bank for thirty-five years. It provided me bread and butter and gave me a
respectable place in the society. As I was nearing my retirement, a thought of
giving back came to my mind. I wanted to make others happy.
Laughter
yoga generates a lot of feel good hormones, positive vibes, and cheer. It is a
unique concept where any one can laugh for no reason, without the use of jokes,
comedy, or humour. I learned the art and science of laughter yoga along with my
wife and we soon practised it in small and large groups. We conducted laughter
sessions for Nestle, Abercrombie & Kent, Airports Authority of India,
schools and colleges, international students, and, of course, our own Bank. It
gave us great satisfaction and fulfilment.
Positive
psychology is the modern science of happiness. I was always fascinated by it
and studied it in great depth after retirement. It taught me to engage deeply
in work, play and parenting and to devote my life to a meaningful purpose. We
thought of giving even more to the people around us for which we travelled to
the Himalayas to learn yoga and meditation.
The
Buddha always inspired me, and I wanted to go deeper and deeper into his
teachings. It was like a vast ocean and a small drop from the Dhammapada was
sufficient to quench my spiritual thirst:
“Abstain
from all unwholesome deeds,
Perform
wholesome ones,
Purify
your mind.
This
is the teaching of the Enlightened Ones.”
We
conduct sessions on happiness and well-being in the neighbourhood and wherever
we are invited. These sessions include inputs from positive psychology,
laughter yoga, yoga, meditation, and spirituality. We feel happy and content
serving our fellow beings. At the same time, these exercises keep us fit too. Our
gratitude to the Bank that provides us safety and security even at this age.
A
Pathway to Authentic Happiness, Well-being and a Fulfilling Life
Do you want to be happier? Would you like to
increase your well-being and flourish? We help you do that!
Let us begin with a
quick overview by watching this short video:
What is LifeSkills?
LifeSkills
is a pathway to authentic happiness, well-being and a fulfilling life.
Our
objective is to provide skills that make life happier, meaningful and worth
living.
LifeSkills equips you with sustainable scientific
tools to cultivate a happy and fulfilling life with a greater sense of
well-being.
What do you do?
We
conduct:
·Retreats
·Workshops
·Seminars
·Talks
·Trainings
·One-On-One
Coaching
for Individuals, Institutions, Communities,
Workplaces & Organisations.
What are the foundations of your
programmes?
The
foundations of our programmes are:
·Positive
Psychology
·Meditation
·Yoga
·Laughter Yoga
·Spirituality
Our programmes are activity based, interactive and experiential.
What is your
vision and mission?
·We
help you to flourish by enabling you to discover your signature strengths and virtues
and deploy them in three great arenas of life: work, love and parenting.
·Our mission is to
propagate positive life skills to help people flourish.
·Our guiding
spirit is “bhavatu sabba mangalam” which means: May all beings be happy!
What is the content of your programmes?
Our programmes include:
Yoga: Asanas, Pranayama,
Meditation.
Positive Psychology:
The Science of Happiness.
Laughter Yoga:
Group Laughter & Laughing Alone.
Spirituality:
Ancient wisdom of the sages.
We lay special emphasis on Positive Education,
Positive Ageing, Positive Health, Yoga Nidra, Surya Namaskara, Anapanasati and
Vipassana.
Our programmes blend the modern science of well-being
with the ancient wisdom of the sages.
We feel indebted to the teachings and wisdom of
Masters including Martin Seligman, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Abraham Maslow,
Swami Satyananda Saraswati, B K S Iyengar, Madan Kataria, Matthieu Ricard, S N
Goenka, Thich Nhat Hanh and Buddha.
On what basis have your programmes been
created and designed?
Taking care of body, mind and spirit is of utmost
importance. It’s like a tripod. All limbs must be equally strong for balance
and harmony. Hence, we have taken a holistic approach blending carefully the
best of positive psychology, meditation, yoga, laughter yoga and spirituality.
With years of deep research and practical sessions,
we have developed a unique and complete programme for health, happiness and
harmony of the body, mind and spirit. It transforms the entire experience of
life by taking care of all the relevant dimensions – physiological,
psychological and spiritual.
What
are the benefits derived from the various components of your programmes?
Benefits
in brief of various components:
Positive
Psychology: Authentic,
scientific understanding of happiness and well-being; dispelling myths and
wrong notions about happiness.
Yoga:Stimulation of endocrinal systems,
taking care of neuro-muscular systems, suitable for modern day lifestyle
diseases, body-mind union.
Meditation:Calming, concentration and
purification of the mind. Clears clouds and lets you seek wisdom.
Laughter
Yoga:Oxygenation
of the body, strengthening immune system, stress relief.
Spirituality: Provides right view and right
understanding of life. Gives spiritual insight into right speech, right action
and right livelihood.
All
components put together:Complete
transformation of the entire experience of life.
What
are the benefits of your programmes?
Benefits
for individuals, workplaces, communities and institution:
Individuals: Health, happiness and peace.
Workplaces: Stress relief, team building,
higher productivity, leadership and positivity.
Communities: Health, bonding and integration.
Schools/Colleges: Creativity, better concentration,
EQ & SQ, all round personality development and strong immune system.
What
programmes are available with you?
We have several programmes:
‘The Wheel of Happiness and Well-Being’ is our
flagship programme. It is a multi dimensional, activity based programme
covering the HOW of happiness.
‘Healthy Happy Harmonious’ is a special
programme designed for women.
“Meditate like Buddha’ is a workshop for happy
and stress free life.
Here is a list of some of our programmes:
·The
Wheel of Happiness & Well-being
·Happiness
Boot Camp
·Meditate
Like Buddha
·Antaranga
·Bahiranga
·Healthy
Happy Harmonious
·East
Meets West
·Positive
Education
·Happy@Work
·Recipe
for Happiness
·Laughter
Yoga
·The
Pursuit of Happiness
·The
Quest of Happiness
·Pathway
to Happiness
·Corporate
Stress Management
Who
conducts the programmes?
LifeSkills
has been founded by Radhika Bisht and Jagat Singh Bisht.
They are on a mission:
MISSION HAPPINESS! Happiness for all!
They
conduct and facilitate our programmes.
About
the Founders:
·Both
are qualified Laughter Yoga Master Trainers of international repute
having rich experience with corporates, institutions and individuals of more
than a hundred nationalities.
·They
have learned yoga and meditation from gurus in ashrams in Rishikesh and
Dharamshala.
·Both
of them were laughter professors at the Laughter Yoga University and
worked closely with Dr Madan Kataria, Founder of Laughter Yoga.
·Radhika
is a Yoga Teacher and has a long experience of teaching Yoga and
Laughter Yoga to women and children.
·Jagat
is an author, blogger, and a qualified Behavioural Science Trainer and Master
Trainer Happiness & Well-being, with a long experience as a Corporate
Trainer with a Fortune 500 Company.
Where
do you conduct your programmes and for whom have you conducted programmes so
far?
We conduct
programmes right at your doorstep – your workplace, corporate office, school,
college, university, club, park, anywhere. Retreats may be conducted in
resorts.
We have conducted
programmes for Nestle, Abercrombie & Kent, State Bank of India, Airports
Authority of India, Hewlett Packard, HCL, schools, colleges, clubs and old age
homes.
Please watch this video to get answers to all
your unanswered questions about us:
How
can we contact you for conducting programmes at our workplace/ institution?
Yoga means to join or unite with a higher power or spiritual force. Join us at Rishikesh for a Comprehensive Retreat on Yoga, Meditation, Laughter Yoga, Spirituality & The Science of Happiness. Be there!
To get in touch, you can call us on: 7389938255 or write to us at lifeskills.happiness@gmail.com.
We are organizing this unique retreat in Rishikesh,
India from October 1 – 7, 2017 that has the potential to totally transform the
way you experience life:
Here are three good reasons why you should go for
this retreat:
1.RICH CONTENTS:
You
will not find a program anywhere that offers you Yoga, Meditation, Laughter Yoga, Positive Psychology and Spirituality in one package along special
offerings of Surya Namaskara, Yoga Nidra, Anapana Meditation, Sufi Meditation and Happiness Activities.
2.DREAM LOCATION:
Rishikesh
is known as the World Capital of Yoga and Meditation. You would have wasted
your life if you did not experience a retreat here. Our program will be conducted
in the most picturesque location on the bank of Ganga in the Himalayas. If you
have time you have the facilities for Ayurveda therapy and massage, river
rafting, bungee jumping, trekking, Ganga aarti etc.
3.NOMINAL EXPENDITURE:
We
have kept the fee nominal - very nominal – for you. The accommodation is good
and you have to pay a very nominal amount for it. The food is simple and comes
at a very nominal cost. No advance payments. You make all payments once you
arrive.
You would have made one of your wisest decisions for
having an optimal experience of life by choosing this program.
Daily sessions – teachings and practice - of yoga, meditation, laughter
yoga, positive psychology and spirituality. The sessions begin at 7 am and
finish by 5 pm every day, with adequate breaks and rest in between.
Morning session:
Divine Bliss
An Experiential session
(90 minutes)
Forenoon sessions:
Learning to Master
Theory & Practice sessions
(2 sessions of 90 minutes each)
Afternoon session:
Wisdom & Knowledge
Developing insight and perspective
(90 minutes)
The participants may also attend the sessions, discourses and Ganga Aarti held at the ashram in the evenings.
Facilitators:
The sessions will be conducted mostly by Jagat Singh Bisht and Radhika Bisht, Founders of LifeSkills and experienced Master Teachers of international repute. Between them, the couple share a deep knowledge and rich experience of meditation, yoga, laughter yoga, positive psychology, spirituality, behavioural science, training and facilitation. Their brief profiles are placed towards the end of this note. We may also invite a couple of guest faculty for conducting special sessions.
Venue:
The venue for the retreat is a beautiful Ashram on the bank of Ganga in Rishikesh,
India. Rooms for stay are available at the ashram and have to be booked online
by yourself, as per your budget. We will provide you the link for booking accommodation. Please reach the venue by September 30, 2017 evening and leave on October 8, 2017 or later.
Food:
The canteen at the ashram serves food, snacks and tea/coffee at
reasonable rates. Please order as per your requirement and pay for the same.
You also have the option of dining out when time permits.
Items to bring along:
Please bring along with you a notebook, pen, water bottle, yoga mat and comfortable clothing for yoga practice. Or, these may be purchased from the local market after arrival.
Course fee:
Payable in cash during the first day of class.
The fee does not include food, accommodation or any other expenses. We will advise you the fee amount by email.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any query:
Is it possible for us to develop a simple
routine that can keep us charged throughout the day?
Can we prevent stress from
arising in our daily life?
Is there a way to be child-like once again in body,
mind and spirit?
These are some of the questions I have been pondering
over for more than two decades now. Not just pondering but researching and
experimenting. I feel happy and fulfilled that years of hard work has borne
fruit and I can now share something worthwhile which will be of great benefit
to many.
I began my journey as a behavioural science trainer facilitating people to discover their
real self. Sometimes I was with them for long hours and felt satisfied that I
was able to help them. But when I went back home, I found it difficult to share
the experience I had had during the day with my wife. It felt sad as some of
them were valuable experiences indeed.
We, therefore, decided to take up an activity that we
could do together. It proved to be our wisest decision ever.
Laughing together
We went to learn laughter
yoga and thereafter conducted sessions to bring smiles on the faces around.
It was our way of giving back. We had never imagined that we would go so deep
into it and engage with participants coming from almost the whole world.
Laughter yoga is one of the happiest activities that
one can imagine of. It generates a lot of positivity. It is good for health and
generates instant joy. Unconditional laughter many a times leads you to a deep
meditative state freeing you of all stress and worries of life. It is also a
sweet spiritual experience when you can make the depressed ones laugh and the
tough ones crack like kids.
Despite numerous positives, we felt that it had its
own limitations. It was like a pudding and human beings need wholesome meal for mind and body, heart and soul.
We started exploring yoga nidra – a systematic method for inducing complete physical,
mental and emotional relaxation. As we went deeper and deeper, we unearthed
hidden treasures. That lead us to the ancient techniques of meditation and
subsequently to Buddha’s mindfulness and insight meditation.
The Science of Happiness
Concurrently, I was following the latest developments
in positive psychology. Per its
founder, Martin Seligman, the five elements of well-being are positive emotions,
engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment. Being a student of
science myself, I have all the reverence for Seligman but, having delved a bit
into spirituality, I believe that well-being is not only a construct but is
multi-dimensional and much more complex.
Sonja Lyubomirsky, professor of psychology, describes
the most effective happiness activities in her book entitled ‘The How of
Happiness’. It is interesting that these activities include: practicing
religion and spirituality, taking care of your body (meditation), taking care
of your body (physical activity), taking care of your body (acting like a happy
person).
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, psychologist, finds great
similarities between yoga and flow. He considers yoga as a “thoroughly
planned flow activity” as both try to
achieve a joyous, self-forgetful involvement through concentration, which in
turn is made possible by a discipline of the body.
Stephen Covey, Daniel Goleman, Matthieu Ricard and
Richard Gere, to name just a few of the luminaries, practice meditation and have
deep faith in meditation as a contributing factor for enduring happiness.
Experiments with happiness
Based on our study, we carried out some experiments
with happiness. We created and administered four programmes to different sets
of participants in different environment.
The first programme is named ‘The Wheel of Happiness and Well-Being’ for participants in a formal
set-up like workplace or educational institution. It includes inputs of
positive psychology, meditation, yoga, laughter yoga and spirituality. The
sessions are well appreciated and the audience find great value in it.
Some people seek peace and serenity. For them we
conduct a programme named ‘Meditate like
Buddha’ once a week early in the morning. It’s only ingredient is
meditation - pure meditation, nothing else. All the participants desire to have
the programme daily.
We conduct ‘Happiness
boot camp’ on weekends for families in a park. It includes yoga,
meditation, laughter yoga and fun activities. The response has been getting
better and better.
Then, we also have a longish, multi-dimensional
retreat of a week’s duration named ‘East
meets West’ which blends the best of modern science with ancient wisdom.
Here you learn to make your life happier, meaningful and worthwhile and also
train to be a versatile and multi-faceted Happiness
and Well-Being Facilitator.
It has plentiful inputs from Positive Psychology,
Yoga, Meditation, Laughter Yoga and Spirituality along with special offerings
of Yoga Nidra, Surya Namaskara, Anapana Meditation, Sufi Meditation and
Happiness Activities.
We have planned one such retreat on the bank of Ganga
in the Himalayas at Rishikesh, India from October 1 – 7, 2017. Please get in
touch with us at lifeskills.happiness@gmail.com
in case you are interested.
Having conducted sessions and interacted with
thousands of people for years now, we feel that we have the recipe for
happiness and well-being with us. Being able to touch lives is the ultimate fulfillment.
