Survival strategy

In Dubai for a workshop, two Indian feel-good gurus describe their stress management programme

Popular Indian feel-good gurus Dr Nalin Nag and Dr Sangeeta Nag were in Dubai recently. Responding to an invitation from Global Training Centre, a group company of Emirates Bank International, the husband-wife duo conducted a successful lifestyle and stress management workshop.

This highly-qualified husband-wife duo helped put important medical facts in perspective with regards to daily life both effectively and efficiently. Having conducted similar courses with the World Economic Forum (Switzerland) and Guardian Industries Corp (U.S.), Dr Nalin Nag is also a medical advisor to several industrial groups of India (Modis, Singhanias, Jaipurias - to name a few).

Dr Sangeeta Nag, besides matching her husband's medical degree, has undertaken several alternative medicine courses in order to understand them in perspective with medical science. She has conducted workshops with American Express, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, ONGC among others.

Answering a few questions on their self-developed programme, the couple admitted that though the course took nearly four years to develop, it is one of its kind and has definitely been worth it all.

Maya Asarpota: What is the basis of your stress management programme?
Dr Nalin Nag: Our ancestors depended upon the 'fight or flight' stress response for their daily existence. For example, when a caveman was confronted by a wild animal he would either fight or flee.

This caveman instinct still remains with us and even today, living in comfortable houses with no imminent dangers, we abuse and overuse this response for day-to-day living. Simple situations like traffic jams, or waiting your turn in a queue become stressful. What began as a basic survival instinct centuries ago in a hostile environment is today a leading cause of disease.

What aspects of daily life do you relate to in your programme?
Dr Sangeeta Nag: We discuss eating habits and the importance of exercising. Keeping in mind that people are busy, our programme introduces small and meaningful changes in lifestyle so that all practical aspects are covered. Two-minute exercises, minor diet changes, posture - all these practical aspects of physical living - are touched upon.

Then we also discuss the mental aspect. We are at all times acting and reacting. And how we act or react depends on how we perceive things. If we perceive negatively, our body reacts adversely. We try to sensitise people with what is happening to their body on the physiological and scientific level.

The fight or flight response in everyday life is good for us provided the body returns to normal within a stipulated time frame. But when the body takes long to normalise and shows prolonged signs of physical, mental or emotional disturbances, then this fight or flight response is detrimental to the human health.

A good way to measure this is to look at the prolonged signs of disturbances. Physical responses include palpitation, sweating, headaches and other similar unhealthy signs. Mental and behavioural signs include numbness and yelling, and emotional disturbances include anxiety, depression and fear. So having understood this we teach candidates to be sensitive to their own signs and symptoms and be knowledgeable about the fact that they can be in control.

Having understood symptoms and our responses how does one react to external factors that cause these responses?
Dr Sangeeta Nag: One has to condition the mind. Almost 90 per cent of the time we can't change the situation. When we realise or accept that the situation is not in our control and we are getting upset over it, then we must also accept that we are also responsible for our reaction. Once we understand this then we can control our reactions.

Our own mind plays games with us, it echoes to us thoughts and reactions due to past experiences. It presses the panic button and the mind reacts adversely. How to control our mind is where the role of intelligence comes into play.

Most of our responses to any situation are reflexive, that is, they are automatic. When anyone is rude to us we become angry and are rude in return. These reflex actions are automated and come from the spinal level. So in actuality we have not used our brain at all. But being human beings and having intelligence we can have control over any situation.

Most of the time, five minutes later, a post mortem of the situation always helps. This in turn motivates you to try and change the echo system that your mind is used to. With the right motivation and enough practice the mind can be trained to respond positively and then over a period of time the reactions change as well as the frequency reduces. We must understand that regular thinking - it is natural human behaviour to react adversely when provoked - is not necessarily correct or true.

Can you explain your relaxation technique?
Dr Sangeeta Nag: There are two types of people - the type who can actually do nothing and relax and others who find this boring and need to do something more physical. So we offer different types of exercises to keep boredom at bay. Keeping in mind that everyone is busy we ask that you make small, positive, effective and meaningful changes to your lifestyle.

But we do insist that you make it a routine since it does not require much change in lifestyle. These small changes energise the body and the mind and also remove the negative impact of over-reaction.

How does your programme differ from others?
Dr Nalin Nag: Our programme is very different from the others because for one, we took three to four years to develop this programme. Besides, being practising doctors we are very sensitive to the medical needs of people.

The medical knowledge has quadrupled in the last 10 years and we find that people are sicker today and health risks are higher. Earlier, heart attacks came after 50, but today, they come at 25 and 30. So the thing to be understood here is that in spite of an increase in medical knowledge and its ready availability, there are gaps in its application. And it is these crucial and vital gaps that our programme wants to fill.