Sunday 26 May 2013

Self-insight to healing

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/selfinsight-to-healing/article4750461.ece?homepage=true

Gautam Buddha discovered the meditation technique of Vipassana some 2,500 years ago. However, it was gradually lost to India. Fortunately, Myanmar preserved the technique through an unbroken chain of practitioners and teachers.
According to its practitioners, Vipassana leads to the development of insight into one’s own nature by which one may recognise and eliminate the causes of suffering.
Taking cue, medical practitioners believe that this development of self-insight helps patients of various psychological and mental disorders to delve deep into their own psyche to discover gradually the root cause of their sufferings within their own minds.
Mumbai-based Dr. Malti Sharan explains, “Often patients come with hallucinatory tendencies. Some are agitated beyond measure, always insecure about their well-being. More often than not the reason for their acute suffering resides outside their control…Through Vipassana, I have observed patients gradually get out of this frustrated attempt to blame other causes or people for what’s happening to them. And once that’s achieved, it is easier for medication to deliver benefits.”
Herself a severe migraine patient once, she shares, “My expanding business took a toll on my health. Migraine became a huge problem until I tried Vipassana. After some persistent practice, I discovered that this disease got cured permanently.”
Its practitioners believe that Vipassana sends message to the brain to calm it down — resulting in reduction of the intensity of mental restlessness or pain.
Dr. Anirban Malhotra maintains that by concentrated and neutral observation one can get rid of mild pains and body aches without any drug medication.
One of the techniques used is anapana-sati. It calls to observe one’s breath without any regulation or self modification over a triangular area between the nose and mouth. This, medical professionals believe, “allows one to sharpen the attention span without any stress”.
Shaswat, a IIT-Kharagpur student says, “With regular practice of Vipassana, I have discovered a huge leap in my attention and concentration span.”
Sonia Mangwana, a psychiatrist based in England and a regular practitioner of the meditation for seven years, observes, “The core philosophy of Vipassana that everything is impermanent, anicca, gradually informs the mind to treat desires and cravings as similar entities. And slowly, The patients who I recommend the same, learn to just observe even their greatest addictions as just a matter of time bound reality.”
What more, Vipassana was even taught to Tihar jail inmates. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has been reportedly planning to introduce the course in all Indian prisons.

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/selfinsight-to-healing/article4750461.ece?homepage=true

Wednesday 22 May 2013

No student is ‘average’

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/no-student-is-average/article4737932.ece

What defines an ‘average’ child? Does academic performance alone reflect the aptitude on every child? How many times does a child’s talents otherwise remain unexplored due to such blanket branding by society?

These issues are often discussed and debated at length by educationists, psychologists, policy makers and innovators at conferences on education across the country.

“The gap between the worlds of a child and an adult is so wide that often the problems of a child go unnoticed. I handle cases where often learning disorders go unidentified. This leads to low performance and the gradual branding of a child as an ‘average’ without realising that the process often leaves out the diverse potential untapped. Slowly, the pressures and the expectations of regular academic performance mount huge and lead to various behavioural problems within a child,” said Dr. Aruna Broota, a clinical psychologist.

Teachers point out the need to realise that each child is unique and that the education system must cater to their individual requirements. “At present, the monolithic model of trying to fit all sizes into one is something that we need to improve on,” said a teacher Rehana Siddiqui.

The importance of teachers and parents alike in helping the ‘average’ child cope with the demands of the time to emerge as successful professionals is paramount.

“The need of the hour is to build modules within the academic circles so as to tackle the twin problems of behavioural issues and academic mishaps,” said Jyotsna Bharadwaj, educator and facilitator at NCERT.
“In our various models in place in different institutions and organisations, we build up a support chain of teachers and psychologists to talk to students, identify their problem areas and tackle their issues at the levels of counselling, providing extra care and attention via tutoring and working with them,” added Deepinder Seekhon, director of Turning Point.

Several educationists feel that the idea of an ‘average’ child is more of a construct than a reality. And that it needs to be dismantled at the earliest.