CORPORATE WELLNESS

Music and movement can bring about change if we change the way we look at music and movement. This singular motivation unites the multiple roles Pragnya Wakhlu plays as a professional musician, sound alchemist and founder of Mousai. Her passion for working with music and people led her to quit her successful career in I.T. in the US and return to India to delve into research on the healing powers of music and movement. Pragnya founded Mousai India in 2009 in Pune after extensive experiments and research on the effects of sound and movement on the body-mind. Since 2009, Mousai has been facilitating transformative sound and movement workshops for corporates, women, children, schools and AIDs patients. Pragnya was recently awarded the prestigious ‘Dadasaheb Phalke Award’ for her music. In an exclusive tête-à-tête with Corporate Citizen, she talks about her holistic wellness philosophy and more

Corporate Citizen: Firstly, tell us about your training in sound healing.

Pragnya Wakhlu: I completed my advanced Indian sound healing course under the guidance of sound healer, Shruti Poddar where I learned about the ancient healing powers of Vedic sound and mantras and their effect on the human bodymind. I completed my Tibetan Bowl Practitioner Certification under the guidance of Russian Physicist, Vladimir Skaska. I hold a Level 2 Certification from the ‘Training in Power Academy’, USA and am proud to be a Certified Interplay Trainer (USA) and a member of the Creative Movement Therapy Association India.

CC: Your philosophy on wellness?

Wellness to me is alignment and balance in all aspects of one’s life right from our emotional health to our physical and mental health. It is a state of not being aware of the existence of the body or the mind. When you don’t feel the body, it means you are free of pain and everything is flowing with ease. When you don’t realise the mind exists, it means you are living in the present and your thoughts are neither in the past nor the future.

For my holistic well-being, I focus on eating healthy vegetarian food, exercise every day, do what I am passionate about i.e. making music and working in the areas of music, healing and practice gratitude.

CC: How do you deal with stress and anxiety?

I am quite a peaceful person by nature and don’t generally get stressed or anxious easily. Sometimes certain circumstances leads one to an angry or distressed emotional state. In such cases, I take a break from whatever I’m doing and put on a playlist that motivates me. I take a little while to move and shift my energy while listening to the music. A shift in the body’s energy really helps the mind to shift gears as well.

A lot of songs that I’ve written have also been borne out of adverse situations because they make you feel emotions very intensely. I’ve turned to music every time and I’m found it very healing to play the guitar and sing or just play my Tibetan bowls and healing instruments.

CC: Your mantra about keeping fit and well?

Do things that make you happy and that you are passionate about. Eat consciously and exercise regularly. Have a daily self-love practice. A lot of issues that we have, stem from not finding ourselves worthy or denying ourselves selflove. It’s important to recognise that and talk to ourselves kindly. Feed your mind with positive thoughts. You have the choice to choose your thoughts and the company you surround yourself with. Choose both wisely.

CC: What keeps you fit and healthy?

My secret of keeping calm and cool is living in the present and recognising that everything is in life is transient. Whenever a stressful situation occurs, instead of blaming people-(Who is responsible? You did this!) or getting into victim mode about the situation (Why does this always happen to me?), I see it from the lens of what steps can I take to resolve this situation right now that are in my locus of control. Taking action always helps to shift you from a state of feeling helpless to a state of action and the mental state follows. When you take back your power, you are not letting situations or people dictate how you feel and that is the key to a centred inner state.

Wellness to me is alignment and balance in all aspects of one’s life, right from our emotional health to our physical and mental health

Participants of a custom corporate woman’s day session
participating in a song

CC: Your stress busters?

I listen to music and dance... free motion with no fixed dance steps. It really helps the energy flow. I love spending my time with nature because it really grounds me. I sing, play music on the guitar, spend time in the company of people I love. I started a self-care Sunday ritual and I sometimes get a massage on a Sunday, which is very relaxing!

CC: Your food philosophy?

I used to be on a vegetarian ketogenic diet for a while to explore its benefits and I have also explored intermittent fasting. I think any diet one decides to follow can work for you if you are consistent. Consistency is really the key to anything working for you successfully.

CC: What about your exercise fundamentals?

I exercise twice a day. One cardio workout (walk/run/HIIT) and one strength workout each day. I use resistance bands and a kettlebell at home to add weights to the workout. A good balance of strength and cardio is a must to maintain good body composition. I also practice breathwork and yoga on some days. It’s important to warm up and cool down after each workout and work on flexibility as well.

CC: Tell us about your association with Holistic Wellness and Resorts Council at WICCI.

It’s been great being a National Council Member of WICCI (Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry). Each of the ladies of our community is so inspiring and are contributing to the world of wellness in undertaking path breaking initiatives around wellness.

CC: How do you set out your priorities to keep your work and personal life balanced?

I am currently balancing a lot of things that I do; taking music classes for students, writing, recording and releasing music, taking sound healing programmess for companies as part of my Mousai work and actively performing on stage. I’ve made a six-month plan and then a drilled down six week plan for my three goals for the year in the areas of health, career and relationships to keep them on track. At the beginning of each week, I have three critical tasks for the week that I need to accomplish. In a day, I make a power list of five tasks I need to complete before the day ends. These five tasks also include prioritising time for exercise, catching up with friends, me-time etc. I think a human being is capable of accomplishing a lot of things in a day if he/she manages his/her time well. I keep one of the days of the week as a self-care day where I prioritise meeting friends and spending some me-time doing things that I love.

CC: Give us five tips that work the best for you to maintain work-life balance.

CC: What can others learn from your learnings?

Wellness starts from the mind. What you think you can or can’t do and what your beliefs about yourself and the world are. While we nourish our external body with good food, it’s equally important to nourish the mind with good thoughts. It’s important to address and release emotions associated with experiences in your past, otherwise, it leads to dullness and energy gets stuck in the body in the form of energy blocks. You can release emotions through sound, movement, crying, journaling. Let it out. After the completion of the process, meditate afterwards with peaceful music and nature sounds.