T he NGO GRAM works in Nizamabad and Adilabad districts of Andhra Pradesh.

In its work with

Children affected /infected by HIV/AIDS GRAM has taken a new challenge of rekindling hope and
self-help among PLHAs as benefactors beyond service recipients. Two days training was attempted
(23-24 January 2009) towards this objective facilitated by M.R.Arulraja an NLP expert.

• Help victims out of trauma/stress related to infection

• Build hope in life
• Equip with information, knowledge and skills to build up immune powers
• Learn to live with hope and enthusiasm even as they wait for a cure to be invented
• Discover a purpose to life: contribute to society a valuable product or service

• Conduct two days training

• Impart skills in NLP: Amplify good feelings; remove stress; Dream/plan for three years
• Introduce Zen meditation
• Teach Massage as therapy
• Inform how to boost immune power: home remedies; turmeric, garlic, pepper

We began training by building awareness of the inner power we have that protects us from
infection… the automatic system that leads us… called as ‘unconscious’, ‘Athma’ the soul… etc… This
inner source is one that protects, nurtures life.

Even without consciously knowing the scientific need for oxygen, we breathe. We did an exercise to
see how long we can stop breathing, and found there is something in us that forces us to breathe!

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We can’t stop breathing… the inner force is more powerful… preserving us! A candle was lit, and
then covered with glass. It got puts off; it needed oxygen.

We, too, need oxygen. And, let us celebrate the fact that we have this power in us that ensures we
have oxygen, even when we sleep; let us celebrate that power that protects and leads us. Let us
learn to tap into that power. That power is not in our conscious awareness; and we need to go
deeper into our self to tap into that power. It requires skill to go deep into the action of our brains.

How do we use our brain to think, or when we think how do we do it? We discuss and we are not
able to find, since for the most part, what happens inside is not in our awareness!

Doing an exercise, we could discover how: The trainer asks them to think of a monkey, climbing a
coconut tree… and they say they could do that thinking. Next, asked what happened when they
thought of the monkey, they realized they were creating pictures, and called it thinking.

Next, we proceed to learn that pictures in our minds influence our body chemistry, instantly! “Think
of eating your favourite curd rice with mango pickles… and you salivate. Saliva is a chemical
response, created by image.

Similarly, think of a tiger entering your room, you may feel fear and sweat. A sexually provocative
image causes physical responses in men like what Viagra does, or symptoms of arousal in women.
That is, image causes transformation of body chemistry, instantly!

We need to create/maintain right images in mind to have a healthy body. Particularly, if you imagine
dying of AIDS you create chemicals that destroy your immune power. If you kept imagining success,
achievement, living long, you give different commands to your brain, which produces different
chemistry!

Depression reduces count of white cells in body; depressed people are susceptible to infections!

The equation goes like this:

1. Thinking = making pictures in mind

2. Pictures = creating feelings/emotions
3. Emotions = boosting or destroying white cells!
4. Right pictures = greater resistance to diseases

HIV/AIDS is not a diseases; it is the destruction of your power to resist diseases. Learn to make good
pictures, big, and keep them as you go ahead in life.

NLP Exercise to amplify happiness: relax… become aware of sounds… your body… your breathing…

As you reach alpha state, remember a very happy event in life; make it big, like in a theatre… and
experience ecstasy… future pace, imagining you go ahead in life with this sense of joy…

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Let us learn to relax, get out of pain and suffering, by keeping our painful memory far away, making
them small…

Relax… reach alpha state, and think of an experience that made you feel pain and suffering…

Stop that movie in your mind; make it a poster; you see that experience as a wall poster… no
sound… no movement… now it rains, and washes off the colour of the poster… its bleached… the
picture is shrinking… becoming in your memory an old photograph… and you blow it off… seeing it
go away from you to your left… below… to the far end … and put a glass wall between you and the
picture… realize how your ain has drifted away! You feel peace; relief… you are out of that old
feeling of anxiety and worry, and into a new space of relaxed feelings…

We tend to live in memory; remembering the past… few have a clear idea of what they want to
achieve, and are anchored in to their vision of the future; these are the achievers, winners!

The ways winners use their brains differ from the others; they use dreams to imagine their future.
Future is not there yet. So it can only be imagined. We shall learn the way that successful people
dream; the differences between their dreams and ours…

In fact, eye movements can show you how you are seeing pictures…

A group exercise shows them that visualization takes place somewhere above…

And feelings, self-talk take place below… (Eyes go down).

A successful person, too, goes through pain, suffering, loss, but they keep it down, far away, to their
left. You notice that when you talk to them; soon their eyes move to the right, brighten up, and they
talk of the future they want to create. They are winners.

The ways of winners:

A long term (3-5 years) dream of a winner typically is:

1. Specific, to the right. 2. Filled with Self Confidence: “I’ll make it” feeing
2. Does not break legal barriers; and is fine-tuned with family’s dreams
3. Experienced in one’s senses as visuals, auditory cues, touch, smell and taste.

Expand your horizons… when you dream… Have a larger canvas to paint your dreams… You are
privileged people. Having had a taste of death, having lived with a feeling of death staring at your
face… you know that life here passes away.

You could avoid the foolishness of people who accumulate… who end up in jail… you could
cooperate with each other better than anyone else in the world!

I dream of a group of HIV infected people going for a group loan, and having a common diary.

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If you show to the world that the poor can cooperate at the level of production, you will have the
whole world coming to you to learn how to do it.

It’s a question of learning to organize operations; to manage; to supervise… Once you make your
rules, you are through. You can also write into your rules the procedure you will follow to resolve
conflicts like, for instance, we will abide by the decision of these three or four people in case of a
conflict!

You will produce more milk, with less work, and make more money. Imagine, you are able to make
beyond Rs.10000 income per family of this producer’s cooperative, you will become a role model for
the whole world!

After a relaxing session in Zen, you go and dream, and come and share … Introduction into Zen: sit in
Vajrasana, back straight, hands in Zen mudra, and become aware… that you are breathing in and
breathing out…

Sitting like mount Everest… you may watch the thought clouds come and go… emotional storms
blowing… but you sit unmoved, uninvolved into thoughts and emotions… letting them come and
go… just being aware you are breathing in and breathing out.

As a front runner to takes the dreams of future generations, Sunny was called to chair the session,
and he graciously obliged:

Women shared their dreams. Some wanted to go and educate children in schools about the
need to dream; to keep their body chemistry similar to winners…

Some wanted to do business…

Some wanted help from Gram to build houses; or get lands…

• No one bought the dream of the trainer! Subanreddy who was there said may be these
women came from different villages, and hence could not think of doing group dairy. That
means, we could plan for a village with large enough number of HIV infected people – say 5
or more – start an experimental dairy.
• Some were not able to get out of DWACRA/VELUGU mould of mind-set! They are seeking
doles! The damage done to the poor by their projects is defying all attempts to reinstall
dignity into the life of the poor by training… The power of government to destroy was so
clearly manifest in their sharing session.
• Sunny summed up saying “My name is Sannihita; a friend of all; want to help everyone; and
all are always welcome to approach me!” Sunny was very personal in his approach, sharing
his own depressed feelings and how he overcame them by his dreams and activities for a
bright future.
• Subanreddy shared his life struggle to study and come up in his life by his own efforts.

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We began the day with a brief review of what they gained from the training of the first day. One
after the other spoke of how she felt “Happy” and “Courageous”. It was encouraging to see their
face beam with joy, radiating hope about life after the trauma they were into.

Particularly, they mentioned that the NLP exercise of making images big/small in mind helped them
to increase joy and decrease pain.

As feedback on the previous day’s final session of sharing, the trainer spoke to them of how having a
mission in life gives a purpose, which instructs their unconscious minds to organize life energy
towards reaching that goal. And it was very encouraging to see how some of them spoke of their
desire to give life to others: go from school to school, assisting children to dream a bright future, as
Dr.Abdul Kalam does.

Some others wanted to continue with their studies. That again is a great sign of faith in self, hope in
future.

Yet, unfortunately, some were very vague in their dreams, in spite of being taught that they need to
be specific in order to be able to instruct their minds. A few were asking for doles from GRAM! And
no one spoke of organizing milk production at the production level, which is disappointing to the
trainer... And the women replied that since they were each one from a different place, they could
not dream of collective farming.

The need to dream big was reiterated to them, once again.

Once you have your dream in place, then you only need to take two simple steps to reach the goal
you dreamed about.

1. It’s like this: You have a peak before you that you want to scale. That’s your dream. Then, all
you need to do is to take your steps, one at a time. Chunk your large goal into a small piece
that you can swallow today. Trainees were told of the importance of moving out of their
homes, looking around to see if they could plan some activity, even if they are not able to
plan the step immediately.
2. Next, they need to appreciate themselves every once in a while for having taken the steps
they wanted to. Particularly at the early stages of one’s struggle, there is no one going to
encourage you. You need to celebrate your success every week or two, by doing something
you like: buy sweets and eat? Go for a movie?

Next, the group took a walk around the campus to look around for what things they could do. They
saw the goats, azolla cultivation, vermi compost pits, drip irrigation of Jatropa, vegetables like
brinjal, cucumber, cabbage, chilli, ladies finger etc.

Trainer encouraged them to dream big. Like, wanting to generate an income of Rs.10,000 per
month…

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Next, they could see how many goats, or cows or buffalos they will need to generate that income.
Then, they may look around for fields that have water, and available for lease…

Next study the fodder you could grow… then study about dairy …

Make a budget, for the lease expenses; construction of sheds, and purchase of animals…

work your way backward to make your big dreams come true.

We had specially brewed flavoured milk, made with turmeric, black pepper and garlic to help build
immune power. The process was explained to trainees. Also, the importance of eating fruits
vegetables of different colours were explained to them.

Massage is known to increase immune powers.

1. Also, “Whether your client has cancer or AIDS, you are touching more than the body - you
are also touching his or her soul.”
2. One lady volunteered to be massaged so that others could learn. She was massaged on the
head, face, neck, shoulder, hands and back. The nerves and muscles that were twisted due
to tension were identified and tension released. The tension she carries on her shoulder
provided a learning point to others who came forward and to feel with their fingers the way
to identify tension and to relieve the same.

The head, neck shoulder and hands massage is something they could do on themselves! Only the
back massage will require assistance!

It was a very happy experience of relief and it was evident of the glow on the face of these victims of
stigma.

Further, a second session on Zen meditation was held, so that trainees learned to do it themselves
when they go home. After introduction of a simple technique of counting the breath, we sat for five
minutes in meditation. Trainer also spoke briefly of www.ishafoundation.org who conduct training in
meditation on invitation. The trainees were eager for such a course from the foundation.

We then wound up with Ms. Uma Sarswathi from Lepra Society doing the ‘non-formal’ evaluation. In
the course of the evaluation they expressed their great joy for having attended this training. Ms.
Umasaraswathi wanted them to draft their follow up, region-wise… which they did immediately
afterwards, and submitted to the organizers.

We had lunch and bid good bye after a group photo by Sumi.

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This is a privileged group of trainees. They have ‘realized’ the fleeting nature of human life; and, in
that sense, they are enlightened beings. Being enlightened, more than anyone else, they could see
clearly what is proposed to them. They are more ready, willing and eager to achieve transformation
than the rest of humanity. That’s my personal belief.

Here, GRAM has put its belief in people when, for instance, it promoted dairy cooperative/company.
Years of problem to sell milk could be solved cooperatively, and income could be doubled or more
than doubled!

The next generation of development is round the corner: large scale dairy units. Such units will
provide greater level of income. But, for the poorest of the poor, large farms will be possible only by
cooperative dairy farming. Victims of AIDS, or the physically disabled might be the right group to
how the way to those free from AIDS and those physically abled.

It’s in them that the prophesy of the stone rejected by builder becoming the corner stone will be
fulfilled!

GRAM has done well in getting them round, to give them a sense of a mission to the society. These
trainees who are going with a sense of purpose, particularly the leaders among them will certainly
be the torch bearers of larger society in the days and moth and years to come!