United Kingdom
Seva: Healing members of the public in London, 13 Nov 2011
By Mala Tolia LHSG UK
With all the LHSG Anniversary celebrations happening internationally, we, in the UK were scratching our heads and thinking how we could contribute!
Several attempts later, along came an unexpected opportunity to do Seva; Anita Raj (LHSG UK) had a telephone call from the Oshwal Community UK to invite us to participate at The Hook House in Potters Bar on 13/11/11 where they were holding a Health Awareness Fayre.
Last year, during one of Kamal Tolia’s visits to the UK ,when she created exposure for us we had participated at a similar event .
So, on 13/11/11, we set off full of excitement and anticipation on a bright and very sunny (very British) morning: Bena Shah (our leader), Neha Mamtora, Bijan Popat and Mala Tolia.
Upon our arrival to the venue, we were amazed at how well organised everything was! They had the Fayre open on two floors: the first floor for stalls such as Mental health organisations, Cancer Research organisatons, Hospices and Hospitals. The ground floor was dedicated to Doctors, Consultants, Opticians and Dentists. Here they were carrying out health checks from Asthma to Tumours! You name it, they were testing for it!!
We had been given a ‘stall’ on the stage on the first floor; it was a large cubicle with several chairs and a background of beautiful bandhnis in relaxing colours to create a calm quiet ambience and very private.
Next to our cubicle were placed stalls for Pranic healing, Reflexology and Indian Head Massage. The atmosphere, even at 10am was electric in the entire Hall! The entire place was packed early on a Sunday!
We had been allocated two volunteers to look after us -the healers-and they made sure we had everything we needed; they were at our beck and call, literally. They made us feel very welcome and comfortable.
Our first thoughts, in spite of the warm welcome were, ‘how will the public find us?’ Though we had a prominent position on the stage and of course we had our LHSG banner screaming our presence for all to see!, we were ‘tucked away’ to give us and our clients the quiet and privacy required.
We were then told that the Committee had set up a table at the heart of the hall where people would register to have the treatment and pay £5.00, they would then come to us with their receipt be seen. This worked really well as the clients were paced out and kept coming through in an orderly fashion.
Savita Karekar and Bhavna Dewji joined us to assist in the healing as did Chandan, one of the Oshwal volunteers who has done Reiki level 3; all were a great help especially after Chandan had been initiated in our LHSG healing protocol by Bena.
Our clients varied from people just wanting healing for peace and relaxation to suffering from cancer. Some were exposed to Reiki for the first time and found it very relaxing.
Bena Shah was approached by a couple of group leaders from other organisations who would like us to commit to dates in the new year to give healing to the elderly group etc. again great exposure and opportunity to do more Seva.
My highlight was making a breakthrough to St Luke’s Hospice and Macmillan Cancer Research. We have been trying for a while to get approval from such organisations to allow us to heal their patients but not had any success due to the tight laws and legalities in this country.
In the new year, we will be able to give healing to focus groups locally to Cancer research, Mencap- organisation for the mentally ill-and the Hospice.
So, all in all, it was a very rewarding day; we gave healing to some 45 people and raised £225, half of it was given to the Oshwal Centre, as previously agreed, so LHSG collected £122.50 after Savita’s husband donated £10.
We all felt very elated and satisfyingly tired at the end of the day. Job Satisfaction knew no limits!!!!
Bijan said she felt she was very privileged to be a part of something that made a difference to people’s lives. Neha felt it was an altogether humbling experience as all her clients were glowing after treatments from her!! Bhavna Dewji said she couldn’t believe the vibrational energy that was going through her and into her clients, who also felt it!!
We can’t wait to do more of this in the New Year and expand the group’s personna at the same time.
