Category: Life

Military Technique to help you sleep in 2 minutes

A military technique for falling asleep is seeing a lot of popularity again, and it could be a good idea to see if it helps you with sleep. It’s been reported that it works in two minutes or less.

This technique sounds similar to a Yog Asana referred to as Shavasana. Which is used for deep relaxation.

Justin Agustin shared this. The technique was originally designed for fighter pilots, who need their sleep so they can stay focused.
He claims that the trick allowed soldiers to go to sleep at any time – even in the middle of a fight.

He goes on to explain the technique. You start by relaxing your body starting from forehead. Then your eyes, cheek and jaw. Then relax each part all the way down to your feet. To overcome stresses in the mind one way is to imagine you are lying in a canoe on a calm lake with clear skies, or that you’re in a black velvet hammock in a dark room.

Should you get distracted, by intrusive thoughts or bullets flying through the trenches, you should repeat the words “don’t think, don’t think, don’t think” in your mind for 10 seconds, before returning to picturing your chosen calm scene.

Try this next time you have trouble sleeping.

What India can learn from Qiddiya (the Kingdom’s entertainment city)

Saudi Arabia is a country rich in geographical and cultural diversity. They always try to plan and build things that amaze all of us. In the year 2017, they announced the construction and set up of Qiddiya, also known as the kingdom’s entertainment city.

What is Qiddiya?

It’s one of the most popular and awaited projects of Saudi Arabia. The public investment fund of Saudi has announced plans to construct the Kingdom’s largest sports, cultural and entertainment city for the people.

It is named Qiddiya as it’s situated in Al Qiddiya, which is on the southwestern side of Riyadh. It is also planned that approximately 4000 residential houses will be built by the year 2025 and the numbers will increase every year.

It’s built over 377 square km of land and is planned to have six different styles of theme parks, water parks, an F1 racing track, athletic stadium, creative corner side, artistic activities and many more.

What is the purpose of Qiddiya?

The CEO of Qiddiya stated that this project is one of its kind, with huge investments.

It’s expected to give a boost to the countries economy, which currently depends on oil primarily.

It’s planned very carefully and tactfully. The purpose is not just to attract tourists but also provide a great alternative to the residents, so they don’t leave the country to spend. The Qiddiya construction was planned to direct all the tourism and keep them intact in the kingdom only.

So what can India learn?

  • A similar project can boost the economy, create jobs and opportunities and invite investments.
  • It can also be a good opportunity to showcase Indias rich cultural heritage.
  • It can boost the tourism sector significantly and also inspire youngsters looking to try different things.

Qiddiya can be an inspiration for India, and building something similar can not just boost the economy and create jobs but also boost the sports and entertainment sectors.

Meet Nouf Marwaai : Founder of the Arab Yoga Foundation and Padma Shri Awardee

In a Tweet President Ram Nath Kovind said that Nouf Marwaai played an instrumental role for legalising Yoga in Saudi Arabia. She was born with an auto-immune disease and overcame the challenge through Yoga and Ayurveda. She was awarded Padma Shree in 2018.

She is the first Saudi certified yoga instructor. She is also an entrepreneur who has been travelling between Saudi Arabia and India and founded Arab Yoga Foundation.

In an interview published by Arab News, she says “I was underweight, tired, and suffered from malnutrition due to the extreme diets they put me on for my allergies and digestive problems. Symptoms that I had suffered from were joint pain, weakness, chronic fatigue, skin rash, allergies, loss of focus, sleeping problems and stiffness.”

She started taking organic vegetarian diet and stumbled upon a Yoga book. After which she travelled to India to study Yoga and Ayurvedic medicine.

This helped her heal and become stronger. She loves traveling to India.

Ironies of a Confused Society

As kids we are asked to limit / stop playing. As adults we are asked to go out and play. To have a life !!

As kids we are asked to keep quiet and stay serious (life is no joke after all). As adults everyone recommends laughter therapy. At least once !!

As kids we are asked to stop questioning. And now we are taught otherwise. Develop curiosity !!

As kids we are asked to not break stuff. And as an adult you are questioned if you did break anything. Engineers do !!

There are numerous other scenarios you and I can relate to.

Something is wrong, somewhere. Why not question the normal ?

The “Real Man” decoded – Why some colleges are waking up to the fact that men may need to be taught to think beyond their own stereotypes?

Why do we continue to limit the emotional lives of males when it serves no one?

A recent New York Times article takes a dig into the Male psychology and why it’s so hard for them to emote there feelings, unlike Females.

Being a “Male” I can relate to the findings. If you consider India for instance, then from a very young age boys are conditioned (by their families and societies) to become “Strong”.

Being strong means that you should avoid public display of your emotions. You are supposed to be the head of the household. If you cry you will be reminded that  you are a Man, and a Man need not cry.

The emotions dry up gradually only to erupt in other forms. And anger becomes normal.

“Boys’ underperformance in school has more to do with society’s norms about masculinity than with anatomy, hormones or brain structure. In fact, boys involved in extracurricular cultural activities such as music, art, drama and foreign languages report higher levels of school engagement and get better grades than other boys. But these cultural activities are often denigrated as un-masculine by preadolescent and adolescent boys.”

“Bro Code” – The survival kit of many middle-class, white male students: online pornography, binge drinking, a brotherhood in which respect is proportional to the disrespect heaped onto young women during hookups, and finally, the most ubiquitous affirmation of their tenuous power, video games.

Surprisingly what studies have found is that from infancy through age 4 or 5, boys are more emotive than girls. But we socialize this vulnerability out of them.

The Article is worth reading and pondering on. We need to reevaluate things that have become normal and question if it’s of any benefit.

News Source : New York Times

Why do you want to Learn something ?

“If you can explain the WHY of things then that makes a huge difference to People’s Motivation. They understand Purpose. Process of Learning and how it should be. Make it interesting.” – Elon Musk

As Elon Musk has rightly said answer to the above question can be very useful to build and keep your interest to Learn something.

Elon also mentions the use of Gamification to make learning fun.

Here is a video in which Elon Musk talks about this and more at the Khan Academy.

http://swf.tubechop.com/tubechop.swf?vurl=vDwzmJpI4io&start=2171.64&end=2388.81&cid=7818654

Image and Video Source – Youtube – Khan Academy

I wrote a whole Post on this topic sometime back. You might benefit from reading that.

Shamsia Hassani prefers the medium of graffiti art and often paints over bullet holes

A burka isn’t a cage, if you take off a burka it isn’t freedom. Freedom is in the mind.

Here is a wrap up of great articles I found worth reading from the internet this week

First of a series of conversations with some of the world’s most prominent experts on the global fight for free expression and the role that technology plays on both sides of the struggle.

Read about Shamsia Hassani who prefers the medium of graffiti art (a term no one has heard in Afghanistan before), and often paints over bullet holes.

View at Medium.com

Read  Google’s Eric Schmidt exclusive article on how he sees artificial intelligence developing, why it is experiencing such a renaissance and where it will go next.

Read how a principal -Nancy Hanks – met a student she expelled, and it changed her approach to discipline.

//www.washingtonpost.com/video/c/embed/f97352c6-e552-11e5-a9ce-681055c7a05f

Image Courtesy

Thoughts on Freedom, Being Skilled and the quest for Meaningful Work

If you are not a Slave to someone or something then you are living in Freedom.

Freedom is the ability to live and work on your own terms. The Courage to stand up for your Ideas and Views.

Look around and you will find Slaves. It’s hard to break the conditioning that our Society has sold us. That Money is everything. Which means everything else takes a back seat.

People live in fear. What if I loose my Job, what if I am unable to repay Loans for the lavish Bungalow I brought recently? What if my Company doesn’t make Profits ?
What if my work is not Appreciated ?

The word Startup is also over hyped and lot of folks are running behind it. Most of them are running just for the same reason we have been running behind Engineering and MBA degrees. The idea being sold is the freedom to work for your self, but is Startup the only way ?

If you are someone who is solving a Problem then it calls for an initiative and funding. But not many are solving real problems. Be it Traffic, Pollution, Farming.

So most of the Startups are venturing in the same field. Be it E-commerce or Food delivery.

Not to say its wrong. It’s helping our Economy and creating Jobs. But Startups are not the only way I think. You can contribute in your own way also.

Speeding in the Wrong direction will take you nowhere.

Being skilled in something allows you to do meaningful work, maybe earn less but enjoy the stuff you do.

Continue reading “Thoughts on Freedom, Being Skilled and the quest for Meaningful Work”