Giving
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SERVICE IS THE ROOT OF PURPOSE
Giving holds one of the greatest secrets of life. It takes us away from a vision of our limited personal needs to a broader unlimited mindset. Service opens the heart to fulfillment and a deeper purpose in life.
Shobha's life has centered on service through numerous initiatives primarily with The Art of Living and The International Association for Human Values of H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. The experiences that she nurtures with clients have an important service component. She believes that through service we can transform ourselves and those around us.
STRENGTH
OF
WOMEN
enablING women to contribute their full potential in society
Female Foeticide
Shobha organized conferences and educational campaigns with the United Nations to prevent female foeticide in Rajasthan India. Some communities prefer to have boys and abort female pregnancies. Because of that, in India, it is illegal for doctors to communicate to parents the sex of the child. Unfortunately, there are still illegal means to find this out and female foeticide continues to be a problem. A lot of work still needs to be done in this regard to eliminate this practice and bias.
Prevention of Early Child Marriages
Shobha worked with Unicef for the eight Millennium Development Goals to prevent and stop early child marriages. In some communities marry their children as early as newborns. Many times young girls or babies are married to much older men. She organized a stakeholder meeting with UNICEF and other community groups to make a strategic plan to stop this practice. She then led the plan's execution in Rajasthan, teaching courses on human values and coordinating campaigns, marches, and events with local community groups to end this practice.
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Women Education in my village
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These were one of the first service projects of her life and is very dear to her because it primed her inspiration for service and women empowerment. She mentored a group of girls from her community and advocated for them to study beyond eighth grade, which had not been done in her village before her. After she broke the tradition by studying beyond eighth grade, many girls followed.
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When she was in tenth grade, as part of a national literacy campaign, Shobha coached a group of older ladies to read and write, which went against cultural stigmas.
United
nations
development
goals
HIV Awareness
She organized and rallied a delegation of 35 spiritual leaders from Rajasthan for an HIV awareness conference in The Art of Living Headquarters, Bangalore with multiple international stakeholders. She coordinated the logistics for all of the leaders and their entourages.
reforestation
Worked in numerous reforestation campaigns with The Art of Living Foundation and the Millenium Development Goals.
PublicSector &
Military
INCREASING ENDURANCE &
STRESS MANAGEMENT for the public sector & military
The public sector is a vital part of our society. I taught the Art of Living breathing and leadership courses on leadership and stress management for government secretariats, departments, paramilitary forces, army, and air-force groups in India and Latinamerica.
trauma
relief
Natural Disasters
I decided to dedicate 100% of my time to service after living first hand the earthquake in Gujarat, India in 2001. I felt my life could end at any moment and I should dedicate my life to what could bring the biggest change in society. I organized and taught over 100 trauma relief courses within a few months. Since then, I have worked providing training and fundraising support for numerous natural disasters.
ORGANIZATIONAL
Performance
TEAM & executive flow
Organizations around the world want their teams to perform at their peak. However, in doing so they often drive their teams to burn out and increase high turn-over. Shobha has worked with the TLEX Institute and SMEs, and multi-national companies to equip executives with tools to deal with stress and pressure, increase communication and effectiveconflict resolution.
YOuth
Programs
Purpose from the start
Youth are a fundamental part of society. Teaching them tools and ways to handle their mind, emotions and challenging situations from a young age is a fundamental part of their growth. These tools build their capacity to deal with pressure, rejection, others' opinions and develop immense resilience.
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Through the IAHV and The Art of Living Shobha taught thousands of children, adolescents, and youth in schools, high schools, universities, and educational centers in multiple countries.
general
Public
for the mainstream
We often ​think that the general public is not part of the service. Because the general public is composed of the majority of the population, Shobha thinks of her main focus of service. In 20 years as a volunteer, she taught hundreds of thousands of individuals The Art of Living programs through group and personal training and mentoring.
