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It’s interesting to know about writers Prachi Gupta and Dhruv Gupta’s book on the topic of weight loss-‘Loosing It’.The contest organized by them for sharing of different experiences related to journey in weight loss is good chance to know about real life stories regarding weight loss efforts.Visit http://www.losingit.fitho.in/the-losing-it-contest/
to know more about the contest.

I was never fat! But married life and motherhood gave me reasons to enhance my awareness regarding ways to control my weight and be fit.The thing which I always resisted was spending money in the gym for weight loss. Therefore I was alert, always, to take a note of weight loss method which can be carried from home.  

Motherhood experience brings the major change in any woman’s body.I also put 10 kgs extra weight after my first pregnancy.I was not able to take it. My inner soul was desperate to try all lovely dresses and get back to my previous jeans as soon as possible. Because somewhere I had a feeling if once I put on weight it will be very difficult to get back to normal. So I had to act instantly.First of all, I started having a vision of the shape I wanted for myself. I strongly believe in the concept of visualization where you have to create a vision of your dream in your mind. I have been working from home most of the time, this gave me the right time to devote for my fitness regime.Then I focussed what things can I follow regularly to keep a strict discipline for my weight loss regime. I started walking and made sure that I was listening to music during my walks… It gave me immense relaxation. Slowly I observed that the more I was relaxed the more mindful I became about my eating habits. Yoga came as a blessing to me for getting more relaxation in life.  As I started getting mindful, it helped me in positive parenting too.

Being an Indian I love Indian food.I just can’t resist fried food. After being mindful I got back to my normal food habits. I never curbed my desire to eat my favorite food, but I focussed on the quantity. I experienced that the more I curb my desire to eat my favorite food, the more fat I was putting on, because though I was not eating but I was visualizing fat food in my mind, so this affected negatively for my weight loss efforts.I got back to my normal weight in 6 months time.It requires discipline, and the only discipline to lead a healthy life. My discipline helped me to adopt healthy lifestyle forever.

Being slim not only helps me look better but I feel active too. Its all about that feel which gives me confidence and motivates me to take care of my family with passion!

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting Excellence in Women!

“I have 2000 friends on my facebook list!”, one of my friends boosted during our coffee meet. She was glowing with confidence that she is socially so well connected that she doesn’t need real-time friends and is really happy in her virtual world. “Who has time?”She reasoned out.Office, kids, husband, home, relatives, so many things to attend already in life. In such scenario virtual world of Facebook is really giving satisfaction to her  as it is satiating her desire of having lots of friends.

I am not in authority of any psychologist that I am questioning about the reliability of online friends. Initial pleasure of people getting added to my facebook list gave me a social boost and perhaps to my business but somewhere I was missing personal touch of chai sessions of my friends. I mean, how can you enjoy friendship virtually by just liking one friend’s status, or photographs or sharing about whats happening in our life. Social media sharing appeals to me as I am living in a foreign country and it gives me a feeling of being in touch with people, friends, and relatives whom I am not meeting regularly. I really admire Mark Zuckerberg creation which has made the world smaller.But he himself must be having his closed friends group with whom he must be meeting personally and not virtually:).

Friendships cannot be carried virtually. The personal touch of gossip, leg-pulling, sharings cannot be compared with online sharing of friendship. As it is said, “True friends are like jewels, precious and rare, false one are like autumn leaves found everywhere.”Don’t take your real friends for granted. Give them your time because they deserve it.At the time when you require your friends most then only real friends come to you and not your virtual friends.

Don’t let your real friends go away from you because of your virtual friends. You are a living being. Start living your life in real terms and not virtually!

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting Excellence in Women!

“Meditation is defined as a practice in which an individual trains the mind or induces a mode of consciousness either to realize some benefit or as an end in itself!”

I came across this definition somewhere and I was perplexed.  I always wondered how come mind will have time to think to train itself for some relaxation. I have been working from home mother most of the time in my life.At times it’s really challenging for me to manage myself when inflicted with lots of emotions at the same time. As per friend’s suggestion, I thought of trying out meditation to balance myself.Cannot forget the first effort as I simply laughed at myself that how is it possible to sit for a minute also without thinking about anything. How can I even think about it?Our mind is always cluttered with thoughts and idea to make it thoughtless was not digestible to me. But still, I was curious that why it is getting so popular.I started trying and it took few years to have a feel of it.I am still not that good in meditating, but yes I have started having a feel of it.As I am growing, especially after becoming a mother I realize how important it meditates every day. In a way, it should be taken as a regular habit for us and we should not take it for granted. In fact, practice of meditation should be taught in schools so that present generation can become strong enough to face life adversities in future.

In the rat race of life, we almost forget how to live and get used to a robotic way of life. Every individual in a family is running towards his goals to achieve abundance and success. The happiness we want to seek by achieving the material goal is momentary only. Meditation helps us to realize who we are and where are we going, besides it also helps in relaxation.Our life is revolving around digital devices and in a way we have started living in virtual world.24/7 we are thinking about how to win this rat race as if we are going to miss something by not participating in it.Happiness cannot be quantified and we are only happy when we are growing in all aspects of life whether it is physical health, material life and also the most important aspect of our life that refers to spiritual health. As we have become too individualistic and consumer-obsessed it’s very important for us to be in real touch with our true self, and meditation helps us in this journey.The benefits of meditation include better health, higher creativity, and better personal relationships. Meditation helps us to reduce stress by guiding us to switch off from worries. Meditation is an opportunity to spend time with ourselves, and be comfortable with ourselves. Spending 15 minutes in quietening the mind and focusing on the present moment, makes us more relaxed and effective decision makers.In fact, researches have proved that mindfulness achieved by meditation helps us to increase a density of grey matter and thus making our brain more active.Finding from the other research proved that meditation helps in reducing heart diseases.

The healthy body helps in living life happily with passion. So why not try something which helps you to achieve a healthy body. Happy Meditation!

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting Excellence in Women!

It’s my love and full attention I want to give to my baby!

This was the first thought which came into my mind when I  delivered my baby. I never knew that journey will be so challenging. Mindful motherhood talks about being present to needs of your baby and giving full attention to him. Its all about being present for your baby needs and attending to his requirements with the presence of mind. It’s very practical for my mother as she thinks to be a mother this should be my natural behavior. But honestly, it’s not. It’s really challenging to put my all thoughts and attention for my baby as in today’s fast-moving world there are so many inputs and outputs to attend.

Thanks to authors who write parenting books which really guides us about facts of parenting which we can only realize once we read it. “Mindful Motherhood’ is one book which really opened my eyes regarding mindful parenting. Casdsandra Vietan, the author of the book, guides you about practical tools for staying sane during pregnancy and your child’s first year.Casandra emphasizes that “Mindfulness can help you meet the challenge and approach every experience with your new baby with open eyes and an open heart”.

Chapters like ‘The observing self’ and ‘The train of thought’ are amazingly described where you get a new vision about yourself and handful tips provided at the end of the chapter really helps in giving you new insight for motherhood.

Motherhood is a journey of bonding with your babies forever. Don’t miss those precious moments of life in the everyday rat race. The best gift which any mother can give to her kid is ‘ Mindful Motherhood’.

The world is full of distractions and thus its very important to live in present. I am grateful to God that I came across this book while browsing parenting section of a library. The way different topics are discussed and various ways are suggested which can help you to follow mindful parenting are really helpful but only if you practice!

To be mindful always is really a skill which has to be developed by practice.

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting Excellence in Women!

Womenlines is proud to present Women of Substance Ms. KV Godha, Founder-Shubharaagam School Of Music, having 18 years of experience in the field of music. Here is the excerpt from her interview-

1.Please share with our readers a little bit about yourself?
I am a Graduate in Dietetics from the University of Madras and holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration. Married to a very supportive husband Sowmithri and a mother of two lovely boys Tejas & Surup. Music & Interior designing have been my passion. Loves to be cheerful, creative and always enjoy the company of optimistic people.

2.So when did you venture into this field? And what inspired or motivated you to take a plunge into this venture?

I started my music performances in 1993. I was performing in youth programs in AIR Chennai, both Light & South Indian Classical Music (Carnatic). I came to Singapore in 1995 and from 1996, I joined Singapore Indian Orchestra & Choir – People’s Association. Through this, I got many opportunities to perform in several prestigious National and International Festivals. I also started performing vocal Solo concerts in Local Music festivals & temples. As a Music teacher in an esteemed Indian International School, I learned about various genres of music. I also realized people were interested in learning Carnatic Music but wanted classes closer to their homes. This urged me to take PA Trainer’s Licence. All these motivated me to take Music as my full-time profession. This lead to the Birth of my own Music School – Shubharaagam School Of Music, Singapore in 2011.

3.Can you share with us, some of the challenges you faced during your initial days?
Not having a degree in Music, it was first important to make people understand that I was proficient enough to teach good music. Getting chances to perform was not easy too. But through supportive contacts, I started getting chances to judge National Level Music competitions, do Artistic Directions for various shows, a few television projects through which I gained good recognition as a musician.

4. So how do you balance your personal and professional life?

When you are in performing arts, most of the performances & Festivals happen during weekends when you really need to spend the quality time with your family. During the weekdays I teach in the evenings at various CC’s and weekend I work only on Saturdays. On Sundays, I try my best to spend time with my family. But all this would not be possible without the immense support and encouragement I receive from my husband and my kids at home.

5.What would you suggest to other aspiring women who want to venture out on their own?
Every woman has a talent. Just having talent is not enough. You should share it with your family first. Then once family understands your value, I am sure they are there to encourage and support you to venture into your field of passion. Look for the niche around you and you ‘Must’ believe in yourself. Now it’s time to take that very “First” step. And remember, “Dedication” is the Key to Success!

6.Is there any person who has mentored/supported/inspired you?

My first support is my husband. I would like to thank him and appreciate him for all the support given to me all these years. The other one person whom I would like to show my gratitude and thanks is Mrs. Lalitha Vaidyanathan, Resident conductor of PA’s SIOC, who has supported me from the time I am in Singapore and of course my loved ones and friends.

Charu Mehrotra
Promoting Excellence in Women!

Facts you must know about regular cotton/ no.-organic cotton:
* Cotton covers 2.5% of the world’s cultivated land yet uses 16-25% of the world’s insecticides, more than any other single major crop 
* High levels of agrochemicals are used in the production of non-organic, conventional cotton. Cotton production uses more chemicals per unit area than any other crop and accounts in total for 10-16% of the world’s pesticides (including herbicides, insecticides, and defoliants)
* Chemicals used in the processing of cotton pollute the air and surface waters.
* Residual chemicals may irritate consumers’ skin (specially babies since their skin is much more delicate than that of an adult)
* Decreased biodiversity and shifting equilibrium of ecosystems due to the use of pesticides
Surely, this is not what we want for our children, our families. It may be difficult to comprehend how pesticides sprayed onto cotton can stay on it even after its turned into yarn and fabric and then be absorbed by our skin when we wear it. Simple. Think pain relief or nicotine patches. If the ingredients in these patches worn on your skin can be absorbed by the body, travel through your blood stream and affect the target organ (your pained muscle or your urge to smoke), so can residual carcinogens on the fabric you wear. Remember, these fabrics are there on your body continuously, day after day..year after year. Its not the same fabric our parents’ generation grew up wearing when chemical farming was not the order of the day. Unfortunately, our generation and that of our generations to follow, will not be as lucky, if we do not take a stand today. If the demand stops, the supply will too! And don’t think its too expensive to buy organic clothing. Kill your urge to buy 20 cheap and toxic, brightly coloured clothing’s for your babies in favour of 5 quality, organic ones and you will be easy on your pocket! After all, what goes into your child’s blood, into his cells and organs is more important than what you put on his body!
What should you clothe your babies in: Organic cotton or organic bamboo clothing, look out for GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standards) certification
Where can you find them: Aphea Boutique Organique

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Aphea-Boutique-Organique/102393953193980

Sounds interesting!

If its vacation time and you are thinking of doing some activity with kids then make a vision board with your kids?  A vision board is a collage of pictures, words, affirmations, and goals.

Creating a vision board is considered better than making resolutions as when you are creating it is going deep into your heart!While creating it you make a list of things to do and things not to do.This helps in motivating yourself to follow your dream board. Vision board for the whole family will be the fun activity which will involve every family member. The board becomes a positive reminder of things like:
What do I want to learn this year? , What makes me smile? , What is a “crazy” fun thing I would like to do? , What can I do to make someone else happy?
How would I like to spend time with family and friends? How can I stay peaceful?What are healthy things I can do?
Don’t you think we tend to forget these important goals of our life while running our daily errands?If every family member jots downs the key issues he wants to improve in his life and starts working on it then it will definitely contribute towards the creation of a happy family.
You can get some glue sticks, scissors, poster board, or any stiff paper or paper plates, markers,  glitter, stickers, and pictures—lots of them. Use magazines or surf the Internet.

Writing  affirmations like-“I live joyfully each day.” “I am grateful for all the blessings of my life.” on your keyboard can be good reminders to make this affirmation reality of life.
Sort through your pictures and begin to arrange them. You can cover up words, add words or do whatever feels creative and positive to you. The vision boards become powerful messengers working on different levels of your mind and being. It can be fun to recognize what you and the kids are experiencing and accomplishing through the months.

So don’t wait for right time, just do it!

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting Excellence in Women

Holistic wellness- The Ayurvedic way

Dynamic, Aggressive and Highly spirited-three words describe Shailu Suresh in a nutshell who established Om Vedic Heritage Centre in Singapore (OVHC), a traditional wellness center to spread the message of Ayurveda, health, and wellness. Shailu was in the list of 15 finalists for SICCI-DBS Singapore entrepreneur award 2011 and this nomination speaks a lot about her hard work and passion for her entrepreneurial setup. Womenlines is proud to share her success secrets, dreams and her visions with its readers!

Om Vedic Heritage Centre is a unique medical spa and is a hybrid between a medical clinic and a day spa that operates under the supervision of a certified Ayurvedic physician. OVHC also offers other holistic services such as Yoga, Meditation, Astrological consultations and more. It is recognized as the first authentic Ayurvedic center in Singapore to be accredited by Case Trust [the accreditation arm of the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE)], for Spa & Wellness Accreditation for good business practices since October 2010.

Mother of 2 girls (18 and 14) Shailu considers her center as her 3rd baby which is 1 yr. and 5 months old now, hence needs all her attention at this stage! Shailja held senior management, administrative and teaching roles at various Singapore Government and Statutory Boards such as A*STAR, NYP, NUHS for almost 13 years in Singapore, in 2009 she quit her role as the Assistant Director of the National Medical Research Council, MOH, to pursue her dream of becoming an entrepreneur. Even though she is a qualified postgraduate in Biochemistry and Biomedical Engineering, she wants to be known as an ‘Ayurvedic Lifestyle Practitioner’. The reason being her upbringing in a holistic environment with a family of Pioneers in Ayurveda. Shailu shares “A strong belief, drive and passion of wanting to spread Nature’s wealth in the form of our own 5000-6000-year-old Indian Vedic Traditions, I started the first One-stop traditional Wellness Centre in Singapore, in 2010 to spread the message of Ayurveda, Health & Wellness.” Currently, she still works part-time at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, helping manage a Government funded research project on Dengue and lectures part-time at MDIS.

OVHC in technical collaboration with the Ayurvedic Trust, Coimbatore, India, brings to Singapore the Pioneers in Ayurveda – The Arya Vaidya Pharmacy (Coimbatore, India)). AVP which was established in 1943 is one of India’s premier multi-faceted institutions in Ayurvedic medicines, teaching, therapy, research and related areas. AVP today has a network of over 1000 agencies, 50 branches across India and more than 25 treatment centers and hospitals in different parts of India and abroad. In a short period of time OVHC has been successful in establishing its credibility among its visitors and has also been featured by Tabla and Channel News Asia. OVC’s clients and customers come from all walks of life, many races, and nationalities with only about 50% of its customer’s beings Indians. OVHC has been successful in managing many chronic diseases. To name a few- Sinusitis in kids and the old alike, skin disorders such as eczema and psoriasis, chronic pain management in chronic pain cases.
Talking about the challenges Shailu comments “Challenges and failures have always excited me and they actually help me strategize and become more creative.”Challenges for Shailu started right from finding an appropriate location for a holistic wellness set-up with close proximity to the Indian cultural belt in Singapore (Little India), with a heritage appearance. This business falls under Singapore’s Spa Service Sector and thus acquiring a Massage Establishment License from Singapore Police Force (SPF), Case Trust Accreditation from Case Trust were her next big challenges. Employing staff (Ayurvedic physician and therapists) with required skills after getting across the many hurdles she faced from the Ministry of Manpower and SPF, WERE and ARE still her biggest challenges in this business.

Shailu is big-hearted in giving credit to her supporters in her entrepreneurial journey. She says “Fortune of being born into a family that spreads the message of Indian Culture and Heritage, my passion, drive, support from my family, good service oriented staff, 7 decades of reputation from the family business in Ayurveda back in India, a good network built up over 14 years of having stayed in Singapore and a great country (Singapore) are some of the many reasons to get us to where we are today.” Family support is a big support for any women entrepreneur and Shailu considers herself very lucky to have such a supportive family, especially to her husband who provides IT support for her business too.

Any entrepreneurial setup grows well it is backed up by a big vision which aims to provide a strong basement to the setup. OVHC is also backed up by a big vision by Shailu “To see ourselves Leading the Wellness Revolution” in Singapore, by innovatively coupling our ancient and rich Indian traditions, heritage and culture with modern day people-oriented practices and technology and set foot on other shores in the region (SE ASIA) with confidence. I intend to diversify further and offer services in the areas of Ayurvedic Education, Ayurvedic/Healthy Diet/Food, and an in-patient facility either in Malaysia or Singapore.”

Shailu believes strongly in giving back to the society and also being a global citizen. Hence, organizes the Charity Drive twice annually where she collects toys, stationery, winter clothing etc. for the poor in India and sends the collection to GOONJ, an NGO in India founded by Mr. Anshu Gupta (based in Delhi).For the go green campaign what she loves to promote is ‘recycle used cooking oil’, and Om Vedic Heritage center is one of the collection centers for alpha biofuels.

It’s just not only about having vision for her business set up ,Shailu’s next big project in the pipeline, is to launch a “Heritage Library” with books on topics ranging from theology (Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism etc.) and complementary and alternative medicine (Ayurveda, homeopathy, reiki etc). She has an excellent collection of about 1000 books already, donated to her by a Singaporean Chinese couple who spent about 20 years learning Indian Philosophy and Vedic Literature and various other complementary sciences and philosophies.
Om Vedic Heritage Centre

Shailu is an extrovert by nature and loves making friends. She considers TV as an idiot box in the true sense and loves spending her time reading books. An ardent fan of Carnatic music and old Hindi Songs Shailu loves spending quality time with her family. Shailu’s advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is “If you have a DREAM (that’s been haunting you for years) and a strong desire to make it a REALITY, ACT on it, not fearing the possibility of the obstacles that might arise enroute!”……and of course, if you need a mentor, do feel free to approach other successful entrepreneurs and I am ready to help too.”

Womenlines wishes best of luck to Shailu for her future endeavors!

Visit http://www.omvedicheritage.com.sg to know more about Om Vedic Heritage Centre or email at om@omvedicheritage.com.sg.

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting Excellence in Women!

It matters to me!

At times I find being a woman is not an easy job and definitely not to mention to be an Ideal woman. I wonder where those ideal women reside who perform all roles of being a wife, a mother, an employee, a daughter and a DIL, sister, friend and so many not to mention, with perfection. Will really love to meet one if she really exists in today’s  complex world!

World in which we are living today is though a blessing for today’s women. I am not talking about women liberation or equal right distribution for women in our society. I want to focus on the multitudes of spheres in one life where women have to focus and work upon. As technology is making our life easy we are having other constraints to manage our lives in an orderly fashion. In the whole world around women issues start from the talk about being financially independent, she studies hard, builds a space for herself in society and gets married and becomes responsible for the welfare of the new family she has entered.Then starts her life managing herself, her office, her husband, her family and going forward kids come in picture.

It’s the matter of justifying all roles together.As an ideal woman, she should be a great cook who can prepare awesome lunch boxes, dinner, and snacks for the family. As an employee, she should be giving her best performance in office, prepare all reports timely, prepare excellent presentations and above all reply to all her emails…..wink wink:)! As a DIL  she should be taking care of her in-laws, respect them, follow all family rituals, fasts, attend all function and entertain all guests with perfection. As a mother she should be always playful, ready for arguments, should always listen to her kid and spend quality time with him.Then as a friend, she should spend take out time for her friend, go for outings, shopping, movie time, invite for dinners, and much more. And mind you all roles have to be delivered in 24 hrs duration.

Hey, I forgot to mention the role of being herself. As an individual, she should be spending time with herself, take care of her health, body, exercise, eat healthy food, watch her favorite shows and movie, meditate, go to spas and lots more.

Is this job easy?I wonder!

But I enjoy being women.There is so much to do. Let’s not focus on ideal clause for being a woman then you won’t be under stress and enjoy your womanhood more. Its all about time management which we learn slowly by practice. Its also about taking one step at a time and multitasking those steps together. Balancing can only be achieved with a calmer mind so every woman on this earth should exercise and meditate to discover herself. Think of at least 15 mins my time in whole day schedule where u do something for just your own happiness and I think it can do wonders in any women life.

I strongly believe that any family’s happiness lies in the happiness if the lady of the house. If she is not happy, unwell, frustrated then side effects start appearing on the whole family. If we love our family then we have to take care of ourselves and start trying to find ways to make ourselves happy.

So cheer up my fellow women, don’t stress yourself to be an ideal woman. Have a vision for yourself and multitask allyour roles with perfection!

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting Excellence in Women!

As it is said by famous Harvard College Professor and experimental psychologist, Steven Pinker- “Babies are born with the instinct to speak; the way spiders are born with the instinct to spin webs. You don’t need to train babies to speak; they just do. But reading is different.” Very True! Reading Ability at an early age is a precious gift given to kids by their parents which can change their world forever. Through books, we get knowledge and knowledge is power.

Pic credit clipartxtras.com
Books always help us in enriching our mind and enjoying life fully. Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget, who was known for his Cognitive Development theories, says that a little child knows more than he can verbalize. And in his Cognitive Development studies, Piaget discovered that by the age of one and half years old, a child develops what he refers to as mental representation which is “the ability to hold an image in their mind for a period beyond the immediate experience.” During this phase, especially between the ages of one and three, kids make big leaps in vocabulary, letters, shapes, and colors. Reading to toddlers at this age is imperative. When a toddler hears a new word, he may not understand it but he may absorb some meaning from the context which will deepen his understanding of the word the next time it’s used. Parents should focus on active reading with their kids. There are various stories in books which provide great lessons to kids like proper behavior and thus help in building their character. If we help our kids in becoming a good reader then it will help them in long run. First five years are critical in any kid’s life and in that period the active reading atmosphere which we provide him in the home is going to help them to be a better reader. There are certain ways through which parents can make reading a fun activity for kids- Read them aloud-Kids will always enjoy listening to their parents. This reading time will be quality bonding time with their kids while they are looking into parent’s eyes when listening to stories and it will also help kids developing listening skills. Once they start enjoying story time with parents then learning to read will be as easy to them as of how walking and talking is. Use the cover-up: For many kids, the words on the page run and blur together, to overcome this problem parents can use a three by five index card to cover everything except the sentence that your child is reading. When they finish a line, they move the card down and repeat the process Add emotions to your reading- Enjoyment is must in the process of reading, it helps a lot when we make an effort to create a spirit of joy and fun, adventure, and wonder, while we read with our children If as a parent we involve our self in our kid’s reading process then our kids can grow into adults who love reading and also respect the value of printed words. As our kids will be growing up to teenage then it will be difficult to inculcate reading interest in them so don’t let the time go from your hand and have fun in story time reading sessions. As per saying by Charles W. Eliot- “Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. ~” Let’s strive to make our kids a better reader for their better future.

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting Excellence in Women!