I was born in Tarn Taran in 1981 in State of Punjab in India which is primarily an agrarian society. Its small state with mere 2 percent agricultural land mass of India but it generates 60 percent of the food grains like wheat and rice for India. Basmati rice from Punjab is well known across the world. But what is not well known is the severity of the ecological crisis this Basmati has brought to Punjab.
I was born in the time of civil war which has been attributed to the green revolution model. Green Revolution Model is an agricultural model which uses hybrid seeds,high amount of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides to maximise production. It needs high amount of water. It was considered necessary to increase food security as India was facing famine in the 60s. Punjab became the first state in India which was used to experiment this particular model. It raised the production and incomes of the farmers. India was able to feed its population better .The farmers were able to do 4 crops a year up from the traditional 2 crops a year. It was generally believed that the more fertilisers and pesticides you use more will be the yields. Green revolution raised output for around 20 years and then productivity started stagnating. It changed the social dynamics rapidly and already divided society was further fractured. The agricultural heartlands of Punjab where Jats Sikhs were dominant rose in revolt against the Baniya Hindu Business community and called for creation of a separate state of Khalistan. The civil war lasted from 1980 to 1991 leaving behind a trail of human rights violations. As the civil war ended the health impacts of green revolution started becoming more evident. Cancer started becoming a household name. In 1997 my eldest cousin Indergurdip Singh Sandhu was diagnosed with a rare colorectal cancer. He was a final year medical student 24 years old when he was diagnosed. He was studying in the Faridkot Medical College, this is in the Malwa belt where cotton farming is done. In the late 90s cotton crops had failed in the region and heavy amount of pesticides were used. Many of these pesticides were known carcinogens.Indergurdip was a brave soul but Cancer was too powerful and consumed him completely. It was painful slow death. He asked of me to work hard and be a doctor and find solutions to this disease.
Spirituality is not separate from the struggles of our life. In year 1999 I got selected to study medicine in India’s best medical college, hospital and research centre called AIIMS.
It was in this university I got interested into various different traditions of Yoga and Ayurveda. The physiology department had a dedicated centre to Yoga research and its applications in different Chronic Diseases. AIIMS had studied Yogis in very low oxygen states and found them able to achieve remarkable states of physiology. This created an interest in me to learn about Yoga and Indian spiritual traditions.
I am now a practitioner and teacher of Sooryayoga, Naad Yog and Naadi Healing living in Saint Paul de vence in France since 2015 . Its been an interesting journey of self realisation to achieve this stage of my life.
Sun has a special importance in Indian Spirituality. It is considered to be a Guru Or a Master. There are different spiritual and yogic practices and living traditions which are connected to the Sun. I discovered one such method called Sooryayog in 2004. It was being taught by Surya jowel and his followers. Surya Jowel was a philosopher from Kerala who had learnt this method from Yogis in the Himalayas. Sooryayoga is a method of combining Sun gazing at sunrise or sunset, pranayama , asana , meditation and music. This process brings in intuitive understanding of the basic unity of all life and the energetic connections that exist in this multidimensional reality. This process has been the building block to my transformation into a intuitive healer far away from the mechanistic modern medicine. It changed my perception of the world around me and gave me a sixth sense.
As my spiritual understanding grew the technological trends in medicine didn't make much sense to me. Heavy reliance on machine diagnostics made me feel disconnected from the patients and thus myself . I felt there has to be an easier way to diagnose and treat patients. I finished medical school in 2006 with a degree and certification but I didn't feel like doctor .I worked as a Junior resident in Dermatology and then Nephrology departments in AIIMS. Both the wards were full of patients of autoimmune diseases and end stage renal diseases . Either they were on corticosteroids or received renal transplant and were on dialysis. I had a burnout one night as I was taking care of 3 renal failure patients who were on extended life support. It was clear that they were already dead and these machines were not helping but my Senior resident was not willing to pull the plug. It felt wrong to me. That night made me question many things, and I decided that I didn't wish to be part of this system anymore.
In 2007 I chose to go to Kerala to witness the different healing traditions being practised. I worked as a teacher and researcher for Sooryayog foundation which focussed on spreading the knowledge Sooryayog .While working here I met Rajeev from district Kannur in a workshop. He taught me about a technique which combined Sujok and Naadi healing. It was touch based diagnosis and treatment by application of pressure. It was a rather simple method which I picked up easily.
From 2009 - 2011 I started learning Dhrupad from Ustad Asad Ali khan who was a master of Rudra veena in India. Dhrupad is very ancient music school designed for meditation and healing. In my first concert of Ustad Asad Ali Khan in Delhi , half way through his recital I had a burning fever and then in the other half my fever disappeared . It had a tremendous healing effect on me . When I went to ask him as to how this was possible, he explained to me that he was actually a music doctor and his style of music is meant to cut through the layers of matter and removes illnesses . This was the start of new chapter of NAAD YOG or Yoga of sound . Over the years I have learnt to combine the practice of Naadi healing and Dhrupad singing into a form of Music therapy.
Sound is the core of all life, consciousness depends on our understanding of Sound. Sound happens to be the core teaching of all religions which for me are basically methods of living well and in harmony with those around us , as long as we are not militant about them .My healing Sessions last usually an hour , they start with diagnosis on the hands of the participants, as and when an energy block or pain is felt by me, I apply pressure to manipulate that particular point. Along with this manipulation i advise the participant to sing with me particular notes. The process is quite intuitive and is dependant on the physical condition of the participant. From the hands the entire body/mind/spiritual condition can be diagnosed and healing process can be started. Singing makes it easier to connect to disturbed parts of the body and mind. I advise Sooryayoga to all practitioners as an important building block to wellness.
Having mastered these arts in 2011 I returned back to Punjab. By this time the environmental health crisis had reached massive proportions with stories of the cancer train express and ecological genocide becoming part of every household. I started spending times in river Beas close to my hometown and to my surprise I discovered river dolphins called Bulan in the river. With their presence a hope was kindled in me for my region. I decided to work on their conservation . I composed a song , organised workshops and started ecotours . The program was a success and it lead to creation of Beas conservation Reserve in 2017, many pesticides have been banned , organic farming is growing and ecotours are also increasing.
The path of the Sun is to give light to all beings and its necessary for a pracitioner of Solar Truth to work actively for the restoration of ecosystems. Earth will not survive if we dont take drastic steps today . Species are disappearing at a rapid pace and climate is changing. In the past 30 years the sperm counts have halved globally making humanity borderline infertile and if it continues next 50 years will see population growth going into the negative. At the same time Artificial Intelligence is increasing in strength. Many scientists predict earth being uninhabitable for Humans and Machines will be left . Is that the future we want to leave for our children? There is still time for us to make amends and make a balance with our technologies and their usage .