Effective Parenting in Challenging times - The EPIC Program

On July 29, the Love to Share Foundation held a Parenting Workshop, exploring how to effectively parent children in challenging times and situations. The goal of this workshop was to illustrate the various factors involved in the relationship between parents and their children and how to enhance the connection and bond between both sides of a family.

Although there were a plethora of topics and ideas covered, one of the main points made was the role and importance of parental communication in building a strong and long-lasting connection with the child. Communication is an extremely broad term, and this workshop went into detail about the systematic
process of communication that is necessary from the parents to the child so that the message reaches the child in a way that does not impact the child’s self-image or confidence. The main steps to communicate in a way that builds healthy relationships within families are as follows: observing actions/words, recognizing the feeling with regard to the observations made, identifying what the ultimate need is, and communicating the need through these observations and feelings in the form of a request.

As described in the workshop, being able to communicate in such a systematic, compassionate, and empathetic way will foster the relationship between parent and child while also resulting in the child responding in the proper way, as opposed to an argument that damages the connection within a family.

Although we all enter this world as infants, it is essential to realize the importance of strong familial relationships and connections, as these connections are the building blocks for the future of the family, especially the child. Not only did the workshop contain the blueprint on how to maneuver through the intricacies of effective parenthood, but also provided hands-on exercises for the audience to employ each of the methods and processes described throughout the presentation for all of the topics such as Children’s Challenges and Parental Roles, Compassionate Communication, Connecting Empathetically, Goaded by the Past or Guided by the Future, Focusing on Strengths and Praising Wisely, and Keeping an Eye on Purpose and Valuing Values. This workshop was a huge success and was extremely rewarding and useful for all parties involved.

Love to Share Foundation focuses on self-improvement and personal development, which led to the emergence of the EPIC Parenting Workshop which focuses on building a congenial environment for positive, honest exchanges in a household leading to the all-round development of a child. This EPIC Parenting Workshop falls under the Building EPIC Relationships Module(registration link at end of article), which consists of in-depth sessions (extending till Fall) revolving around building strong interpersonal relationships at home, work, or a nonprofit one volunteers for. One of the many ideas demonstrated in these sessions is the PERMA model of happiness which conveys how positive relationships are key to one’s happiness. Mr. MK Ramanujam and Ms. Poornima Kumarasami have been working tirelessly on training and guiding the speakers of these workshops.

First Body, Mind and Soul Event in Dallas

Love to share foundation chapter had its first Body, Mind & Soul Retreat on April 28th in the presence of Mr. M.K. Ramanujam at One Eleven Ranch Park in Garland, TX.

The participants were given a warm welcome and a brief note on what to expect in the retreat, by Sriram ji from Houston. The day and place were beautiful, apt to begin the retreat; with birds chirping and greenery all around under the early morning sun rise. The first session was Yoga, led by Smt Priya Mahesh. She guided everyone with Sun Salutation – mantra & stretches and breathing techniques. Next in line, was a Silent-Walk session. Sriram ji guided everyone through this session. Following this, was the Reality retreat -Meditation session led by Sriram ji. Then came the most awaited session of Sri Ramanujam ji’s – “Vital Conversations”. He addressed the participants with more insight on the overall retreat and encouraged everyone to practice it consistently and spoke about the actual happiness and calmness we gain by practicing it regularly.

Around 20 – 25 participants from different walks of life took part in the retreat. The participants enjoyed the retreat very much and shared their individual experience on each session at the end. They also showed their interest in taking part in the upcoming sessions. A satvik lunch was served to all.

Body, Mind and Soul Workshop in Seattle

On Sunday, April 22nd  2018, Mr.M.K.Ramanujam conducted a  four hour long Reality Retreat: Body, Mind and Soul meditation workshop. The workshop had various segments in it including silent walk, yoga, meditation and Q&A. There were 25 attendees at the workshop and all of them went out relaxed and looking forward to more such sessions. The session received immensely positive feedback and hope that with more Reality Retreat classes, it will be able to instill calm and clear thinking for all the attendees. “Life is a lyric” was also released and was distributed to all the attendees of the workshop.

‘Yuva 2018’-Youth Leadership Workshop in Seattle

On Saturday, April 21st  2018, Mr.M.K.Ramanujam conducted the youth leadership workshop, Yuva 2018, for children 10 and above. This was conducted at YMCA in Sammamish and had very good attendance by about 25 children.

The talk walked the children through various stages that one goes through before having an emotion. Through this process, the children became familiar on how to deal with these various stages and how not to end up in an emotion without understanding why they are experiencing it. Through these types of workshops and through the teen Gopa Kuteeram classes, our hope is to instill self-confidence, clarity of thought and love for life with the generation next.

Work Life Balance Workshop at Microsoft Seattle

Mr.Ramanujam started out his visit in Seattle with a talk to the DevDiv Women Leadership Council at Microsoft that was attended by around 50 Microsoft employees. The talk covered work life balance and how one should look at work as a means to enrich life and not as something to be at odds with. His talk received very positive feedback with many wanting the presentation materials. This one hour talk happened on Thursday 19th April 2018.

Empathy for Leadership Workshop in Atlanta

On Friday March 16 2018,  a wonderful corporate event led by Mr. MK Ramanujam on Empathy for Leadership as part of Love To Share Foundation America initiative was conducted at Roam Perimeter, Dunwoody, GA.  Mr Ramanujam conducted a thought provoking session on the importance of Empathy in the corporate world and brought different perspectives with practical anologies on how to apply Empathy on different situations understanding the opposite party’s needs without compromising our need. The event was well attended; very interactive and over 60 software professionals attended the session. The audience were requesting for a longer workshop-kind session in upcoming year. Thanks to Mr. Manohar Ashwath for organizing the program.

Empathy for Leadership Workshop in Atlanta (Copy)

On Thursday March 15th   2018, Mr. MK Ramanujam addressed a group of medical professionals – doctors, nurses and Medical graduates as part of Wellness Program facilitated by Emory Hospital Wellness Program. The program was organized by Dr.Subra Kugathasan, MD.

Mr. MK Ramanujam talked about mind dynamics and how mindfulness techniques help improve listening skills, decrease professional burnout, improve workflow and help efficiency at work. He expounded various kinds of techniques that are widely followed for mindfulness and what benefit we can derive out of it. At the end of the session, Mr. Ramanujam also did a demo on the Mantra meditation technique which all the audience participated and experienced it firsthand. Over 30 Emory Hospital medical professionals attended the session. Thanks to Mr.Sabari for coordinating with Emory team.

‘Body, Mind, and Soul’ Retreat in Tomball,TX

By the Master’s Divine Plan, more and more seeking souls continue to find the path of happiness through the Body, Mind and Soul Retreat. On February 24th 2018, the retreat was an extra special one as it was conducted by Sri Ramanujamji.

About 30 registrants assembled at the beautiful Burroughs Park in Tomball, TX and started the day on a silent walk for 1 hour led by Ravi ji. This was followed by Yoga – exercises for the Body and the Breath, conducted by Malathi ji. The group then gathered for Reality Retreat meditation guided by Sriram ji. Sri Ramanujam Ji then gave a key note group motivational talk on the greatness of meditation and silent walk. How being on a path is so vital, but observing and enjoying the walk regardless of the chaos around is such a fascinating take-away. The day ended with harmonious lunch supported by Yen ji.

Future retreats will be planned on a once in a quarter basis to continue to motivate all in the pursuit of happiness.

‘Building Inner Strength’-Workshop for Students in Bay Area

MK Ramanujam (Ram) held a youth workshop on Jan 15, 2017 in San Ramon and it was attended by 25 middle and high school students as well as many of their parents.

The workshop encouraged students to first develop one’s inner strength by understanding one’s feelings and needs. Then to build close relationships with others by understanding their feelings, actions and needs. Relationship building will become particularly important as the student transitions into college and work environments.

Needs are expressed through feelings. Reading one’s feelings correctly is key to analyzing the underlying needs. Ram stressed the importance of distinguishing ‘wants’ from ‘needs’ in order to build inner mental strength and to empathize with others’ actions. The message to students was that more one is open to understanding and fulfilling others needs, more they will be willing to connect and reciprocate to fulfill one’s own needs.

Students were grouped in small teams and given an exercise to act out feelings for their teams to correctly guess them. To wrap things up, each team had a chance to share three things they learned from the workshop with the rest of us.

Many parents also attended the workshop and in the end were able to share their learnings with the students as well.

Empathy Workshop at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

Lawrence Berkeley National Lab invited Mr. M K Ramanujam again this year on Tuesday January 10, 2017 to conduct a workshop on the topic “Empathy: A building block for Inclusion”.

Mr. Ramanujam covered harmony filters from last year’s training at Berkeley Lab and then delved into detail on how to use those filters to empathize with others. He also showed examples of typical empathetic responses in different situations and also showed how typical empathetic conversations get sidetracked by well-intended but wrong responses.

The workshop concluded with participants working on exercises in groups followed by a debrief.

About 40 employees of Berkeley Lab participated in the workshop.

The workshop was followed by a Q&A session where participants discussed about challenges and issues they faced in implementing inclusion strategies in their groups.

Overall, the workshop and the Q&A session were well-received by the attendees.

Workshop on “Happiness and Inner Transformation” at MD Anderson Cancer Center

MD Anderson Cancer Center (one of the most prestigious cancer hospitals in USA) invited Mr.Ramanujam to deliver a lecture on “happiness and inner transformation” on December 29 2016. The lecture was attended by around one hundred Doctors, Surgeons, Nurses, QA Experts from the Hospital’s anesthesia department. Mr.Ramanujam dwelt in depth the need for focusing on the need rather than just judging and blaming. The key highlight of the one hour lecture was the way he articulated a complex idea “how to accept without agreeing”. The audience enjoyed the lecture so much that the Hospital already invited Mr.Ramanujam for a similar lecture next year. The Management felt the lecture was a key in the overall learning process of the medical professionals and therefore awarded one hour credit to each of the participants towards “ethics continuing medical education”

‘Happy and Harmonious Living’-Workshop for Acton-Boxborough Community in Boston

On the 1st December 2016, Love to Share Foundation America conducted a program for teachers and parents of the Acton-Boxborough (AB) community on “Happy and Harmonious Living” at Conant School in Acton MA.  This session was led by Mr. Ramanujam who talked about the paradigm of acceptance.  A happy and harmonious family can definitely influence a society to live in harmony.  Highlighting the difference between the terms ‘agree’ and ‘accept’ he underlined the fact that though we don’t agree with each other every time, accepting one as they are helps in a happy and harmonious community. For the teachers, if they have succeeded in installing the ‘eagerness to learn’ in a child then they have done their job successfully.

Prior to Ramanujam’s talk, special invitee, Ms. Susan Reynolds, a social entrepreneur and educator from West Concord, laid the foundation for the evening by talking about the behavioral issues that the youth today are facing that lead to various mental ills like depression.

About 50 adults participated in the program.  The program was facilitated by parents from the Acton-Boxborough community.

‘Benefits of Mindful Mediation for Busy Professionals’ – at MD Anderson

The Benefits of Mindful Mediation for Busy Professionals – a mantra meditation workshop for the faculty and Staff of MD Anderson Cancer Center was held on Nov 13, 2014 at the Pickens Tower. Mr. M. K. Ramanujam, Lead Speaker and Trainer of Love to Share Foundation America was invited by MD Anderson’s Faculty and Well Being Department Director – Dr. Warren Holleman, for a one day event of leading the meditation workshop.
The event was attended by over 50 physicians, physicists, pharmacists, therapists, faculty and other staff members. Mr. M. K Ramanujam was introduced by– Dr. Radha Arunkumar, Associate professor, Department Anesthesiology. Mr. Ram instantly struck a chord with the audience who were captured by his lively cadence, simple language and the striking examples he used from everyday life. With a passion to help people rise above the mundane and a deep understanding of mind matters, Mr. Ram led the audience into the complex process of meditation with seeming ease. He navigated them through the states of meditation, preparatory process and significance of using a‘mantra’, finally leading up to 10 minutes of wholesome and crisp ‘Mantra Meditation’.
This is what Katrina Wright, (Project Director, Academic Affairs) had to say about the session: “It was certainly a pleasure and a breath of fresh air! It was nice to experience mantra meditation and I’m sure everyone who attended loved it. Thanks for including us and we hope to work together again!”