“From being a pub hopper, beer guzzler, shop-lifter, self-appointed playboy, arrogant, selfish and insensitive, I find it now very difficult to hurt a fly,'' says Somit Doshi referring to an an ‘unbelievable transformation’ that has taken place for himself and his wife Farzeen. The couple run Strawberry Outbound, a company that’s into corporate adventure sports in Mumbai.

Like Doshi's straight-from-the-heart testimony, many are proudly standing  up in various forums, sometimes crying aloud, deprecating their wasted past and lauding the sea change external forces have brought in their lives. R Vasantha Lakshmi, program director of IBMI, Bangalore says,“When I tried to make money, I couldn't.

When  I tried to get love and harmony, I couldn't. After undergoing this programme and applying the principles and tools, I got everything I have been longing for both in professional and personal life.”

And Ravi Jingade, zonal services manager, Emerson Network Power (I) Ltd, Bangalore, says it helped him to combat “my short temper which had made my life a mess both professionally and personally. Now I am balanced and apart from gaining peace of mind for myself, many are saved from getting hurt through my anger.”

It takes courage to be able to speak like the trio. But they participated in Breaking Boundaries, a series of programmes by the organisation Tad Ekam, for companies or institutions as part of personnel training for excellence, increased productivity and output. Thousands are flocking for the gift of such instant nirvana to spiritual gurus, yoga, meditation, reiki centres and other such classes to get relief from stress. What they have effectively done is help set up a cottage industry  which is spinning big money. Barely a decade ago one did not hear much about people taking help, and visiting a shrink was enough to classify you as “mad or crazy.''

Psychiatrist Dr Yusuf  Matcheswala gives credit to globalisation and awareness through the mass media that has encouraged normal persons to feel the need to stay healthy and fit, physically and mentally and socially. “To tackle the illness syndrome they join mental gyms where you are made to feel better. Lots of people do want to reach out to find solutions to tackle stress in a more constructive way,” he explains. Hence stress is not always bad if it helps you to achieve something positive, he adds.

Nausher Engineer, a reiki teacher and founder of  the organisation Tad Ekam says reiki is a broad platform where a person learns to use energy to empower _ to relax, heal and importantly to balance oneself mentally and physically. “Reiki is one of the components of the course and self-techniques like meditation, mudras, physical exercise, Tibetan exercises are used for the transformation from suffering to solution,” informs Engineer. When asked of the growth of stress management industry, he says, ‘There may be thousands of reiki practitioners teaching the same thing differently. If you don't give results, you lose out. Marketing will carry on for a while but not forever.”

Quality of life

Computer teacher Aditi Mehra, who swears by Isha Yoga (formless divinity), says the punchline given by Satguru Jaggi Vasudev that “the quality of life depends on your well-being” appealed to her .

“The focus is on overhauling yourself, undoing the the wrong things that were uncontrollable. Scientifically the whole body goes through the process of throwing out the toxins,” she explains, recalling the times she drank 15 cups of tea a day. “You realise that what the gurus are telling you is not nothing new but have been there since inception of mankind,” she adds.

Maa Kaajal, an Isha Yoga teacher, concurs with Mehra saying its all about ‘inner engineering’.

“We have no control over our body's inner climate.” Kaajal says Isha Yoga's presentation is straight forward a message anyone can experience and a scientific approach to spirituality. “Where there is demand there will be supply too,” she adds matter-of-factly.

Emotional stress

Psychiatrist Dr Anjali  Chhabria says emotional stress has replaced physical stress and the relationship between the two is now clearly defined. For instance,  the build-up to a heart attack. “People are trying to pack more into a day,” she explains. She says more people are looking to groom themselves in order to look presentable but increasing loneliness sets in. “They look to new age gurus for succour. While there are genuine players, fakes who have barely done a three month courses in counselling  have set shop. Success is short lived as people see through you. Never underestimate your clients,” says Dr Chhabria. Of stress, she says, it is here to stay. “If you can learn to manage your stress, good enough. Unfortunately we had to go to America to learn its importance.”
Psychiatric counsellor Rukhsana Ayaz says the demand to perform and awareness that stress can kill has made people go for help.

The media has been helping form opinion and giving mass publicity to statistics. The competition is with one's self to reach the pinnacle with short cut methods. Illustrating this, she says she was surprised when a child of three and half years was brought to her for personality development by the parents. “I expected an 18-year-old. Children are oblivious of aspirations. I have to be blunt enough to question embarrassed parents on what ranks they stood in school when they expect their children to get above 90 percent,” Ayaz adds.  .  

Ami Patel, an Art  of Living teacher and creative director with a fashion magazine, says she does not look at stress management as taking help but ‘an education which you missed out in school and college’ “While the formula for academic success was given to us, we were not taught how to handle negative emotions like disappointments, frustration, anger which are normal.”

She speaks of the Sudarshan Kriya, a breathing technique introduced by founder Sri Sri Ravishankar. Commenting on its  commercialisation, Patel says AOL is a volunteers based NGO and charity works are funded by it in rural areas focusing on empowerment. Vivek Singh, joint managing director of Procam has the last word on the subject. Singh vouches for AOL unequivocally saying it helps him lead a fuller and content life. He says that in every walk of life there exist those who are not there with the right intentions.

“We have a direct relationship with our guru, a special connect. But if this is becoming an industry the concept, on which it was founded, will be lost.”