Jim Carrey's Commencement Speech at MUM

Jim Carrey, along with other celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston, Kristen Bell, Paula Abdul, The Beatles and dozens more, practice Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation.  It was an honor to have Jim Carrey speak at the commencement ceremonies for MUM’s graduating class of 2014.

Click on the link below for a glimpse of his speech.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V80-gPkpH6M

www.seemasahani.com

Why India Is The World's Fastest Growing Wellness Tourism

Even before the Beatles went on their famous pilgrimage to Rishikesh with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1969, India has been a popular travel destination for American tourists seeking serenity and spiritual growth. But in recent years, wellness travel to India has exploded.

Mia Farrow, Steve Jobs, and Oprah are just a few of the many Westerners who have flocked to India for life-changing trips to visit meditation retreats and spiritual sites. Now, the southeast asian country is the fastest-growing wellness travel destination, with a projected 22 percent annual growth rate. In comparison, the United States -- the leading country for wellness travel -- has an average annual growth rate of 5.8 percent.

Wellness travel -- any tourism associated with the goal of maintaining or enhancing one's personal well-being -- is now a $439 billion industry worldwide within the $3.2 trillion global tourism industry, representing 14 percent of all tourism spending. It's estimated to have a trillion dollars worth of economic impact.

"As more people embrace overall healthier lifestyles at home, we are now seeing those behaviors translate and be integrated into their travel and vacation habits," Susie Ellis, Chairman and CEO of the Global Spa & Wellness Summit, said in a statement. "For others, vacation provides an escape from the non-stop activities of their daily lives. As these two trends converge, we are seeing many people commit their vacation time and dollars to wellness travel, as evidenced by their increased spending and specific global destination choices."

Spa experiences, healthy eating, opportunities for personal growth, yoga and meditation, fitness, stress reduction and holistic health are among the experiences sought by wellness travelers, according to the 2013 Global Wellness Tourism Economy Report.

Ellis explains that the recent mindfulness boom may be playing a part in attracting more visitors to India.

"India's wellness offerings are very understandable -- they have yoga, meditation and Ayurveda," Ellis tells the Huffington Post. "Right now, those are things that are really resonating with people... the kind of things that people want and need are the things that India is offering."

Since the 2002 "Incredible India" tourism ad campaign, travel to the country has been on a fairly steady rise. The campaign sought to bring higher-yield tourists to India -- the country had long been attracting hikers and travelers staying at low-cost ashrams, but the tourism board knew that if they attracted wealthier tourists, the rest would follow.

And they were right: Using bright colors and promising "thousand-year-old recipes for eternal youth," the campaign generated a 16 percent increase in tourism in its first year.

The country's latest high-profile wellness travelers are Prince Charles and Camilla Duchess of Cornwall, who are currently on their first nine-day tour through India. The British royal couple will be touring some of the holy cities and spending time at an ashram in Rishikesh.

Visitors going to India for wellness-based trips will often spend a fair amount of time visiting there, learning about the ancient arts of yoga and meditation, as well as Ayurveda (the Indian "science of life," a system of traditional medicine) on an extended week or two-long trip, according to Ellis.

"To go to India and detox and spend a week and really feel what it's like to be in a state of mindfulness, that's life-changing," says Ellis. "And it would attract the people who have the time and resources to do that."

Several upscale destination spas in India that have become popular among such travelers are Ananda in the Himalayas (a palace that was formerly home to the Maharajah of Tehri-Garhwal) and the Soukya Holistic Health Center in Bangalore, says Ellis.

A growing number of wellness retreats and spas are cropping up across India, from Dharamsala to Mysore, to accommodate the growing demand for holistic health-based travel. Lonely Planet event ranked Sikkim, India one of the top 10 travel destinations for 2014.

Along with India, China, South Korea, Russia and Germany are some of the other top wellness tourism destinations. Still, the U.S. remains the top destination for wellness travel, with $167.1 billion in expenditures and a total of 141.4 million wellness trips taken annually (followed by Germany at 49.3 million).

Health Benefits of Singing

Greetings.

I received an email today which I thought was interesting and I'd like to share it with you all.

Have you experienced any of these?

Health benefits of singing:

• Reduces stress 
• Improves mood
• Lowers blood pressure
• Boosts the immune system
• Improves breathing
• Reduces perceived pain
• Improves a sense of rhythm
• Promotes learning in children
• Forges comforting memories
• Promotes communal bonding
• Provides comfort
• Motivates 
• Empowers 

Sounds can influence brain wave frequencies and promote well being.  

We all have a specific kind of music or sound which brings chills throughout our entire bodies.  But is that music or sound triggering anything in your body?  Is that music or sound bringing you overall bliss?  

Gandharva Veda is part of the Forty Aspects of the Vedic Literature.  Gandharva Veda is the melodious expression of the self-referral mechanisms of the Unified Field of Natural Law.  It is the direct reflection of the cycles of rhythm in Nature, thus having the power to bring our physiology and environment in alignment with Natural Law and having direct effects to our psycho-physiology.  

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says that Gandharva music is the music of the universe or Nature which governs the universe from point to infinity.  This melody is highly integrative with everything else in the universe.   

Ayurveda - the science of life.

Ayurveda is a science which can be defined in many different ways but has one meaning - a holistic approach that takes into consideration all aspects of the body, mind and soul.  Ayurveda maintains the balance between the body and its own inner intelligence and between the inner intelligence of the individual, cosmic intelligence of society and the cosmic intelligence of the universe.

Ayurveda is a basis of intelligence or consciousness, rather than matter.  Ayurveda has its importance on mental, physical and behavioral factors.  Rather than looking for disease, Ayurveda uses a holistic approach to bring the physiology back to its normal intelligence. 

'Ayurveda Mritanam' - 

'Ayurveda is for those who desire immortality'

It is a completely natural, effortless and holistic approach that takes into consideration of the mind and body together.

'Sharira, Indriya, Sattva, Atma, Samyoga' - 

'The conjunction of the body, senses, mind and self'. 

As long as they are held together, there is life.

Ayurveda is now the world's oldest scientific system of natural medicine originating over 6,000 years ago in the ancient Vedic tradition of India and it is the most complete system of natural medicine which has helped man to cure disease and maintain perfect health.

Perfection of life is in complete clarity of experience in any individual.  An example of perfection given by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is of the sap in the tree.  The gardener waters the root, it supplies nourishment to the sap which therefore enlivens that sap and makes every expression enlivened or brighter.  Everything becomes better only if the sap is lively.  Like the sap in the tree, Atma or consciousness has a place in the life of everyone.  Perfect health means perfection in every field for everyone.  A perfect person is a balanced person, a perfect person always acts in the best possible way for himself and the society.  With the practice of Ayurveda, we all can achieve perfect health.