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Helping young minds cope
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Chaya Nair, a paediatrician, was bowled over by the power of NLP and now holds workshops for both adults and children
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Photo: Murali Kumar K.
NEW-AGE APPROACH Chaya Nair uses Neuro Linguistic Programming to help young minds
Age should not be a barrier for educating oneself. One can always learn as long as one is willing, is what Chaya Nair, a paediatrician, believes in. This paediatrician is now passionate not about medicine, but also counselling children and conducting NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) courses for adults and children. NLP is a programming of the brain using language. "NLP is where one can programme one's mind in a positive way to overcome his/her shortcomings and help one think in a more positive manner," explains Dr. Chaya who started off by wanting to be a teacher; but the family expected her to be a doctor.
Despite winning a gold medal for her academic performance Dr. Chaya could never seriously practise medicine, being married to an Air Force officer and always on the move. When she finally made Bangalore her home, she went back to medicine. But soon she found that she was more intrigued by the minds of her young patients.
"It started when most children came back to me as teenagers with their problems and complexes. That's when I did a diploma in counselling skills and post-graduation in adolescent health and counselling. It helped me help these children," smiles the soft-spoken doctor who then joined the Toastmaster's Club where she also did a communication and leadership programme.
"NLP helps in developing leadership qualities and is really good for children who are introverts. Children have such a complex mind. There is always a way to deal with them rather than losing your patience and making things bad for yourself and them," smiles Dr. Chaya, who is now passionate about NLP.
Gradually people were aware of her work with children, and parents were coming back to her with positive feedback. Soon by word of mouth Dr. Chaya was gaining popularity and was invited to various schools in the city to counsel children, where she taught them all about the birds and the bees, besides building confidence and leadership qualities in them. "It's the kind of exposure they get today. With all this visual media bombardment, most of our children are more mature than most parents can accept," adds Dr. Chaya.
To reach out to more number of children she brought out a newsletter called Spandana in 2002, which was subscribed by various schools in the city. The newsletter had articles on self-esteem, careers and also articles by children. "Now I've stopped it as it involves a lot of work and I can't concentrate on my workshops and counselling sessions."
Where does NLP come in? "That's part of most of my workshops. NLP helps you overcome your weakness. Used in an effective way it can also help change your behaviour. It is where you programme your mind in one positive way or the other," explains Dr. Chaya who has conducted workshops for children in schools such as St. John's Medical College, Vidya Niketan, B.C. Girl's High School and Vidyanjali School to name a few.
In fact she has designed the self-awareness and decision-making programmes in an interactive way that include group discussions, role-play and skits. "NLP is so powerful that one can learn weight management, control diabetes or any psychosomatic disorders. NLP helps you deal with life," says Dr. Chaya. But can NLP also be used negatively? "Yes, that's why you have to be trained to programme the minds to delete the negative and feed it with the positive attitude. And being a doctor did help me take to NLP."
Dr. Chaya conducts regular NLP workshops and weekend sessions for children at Chrysalis in R.T. Nagar. She is starting a summer course for children between April 17 and May 2. The focus this time is on improving communication skills, study skills, and emotional intelligence, says Dr. Chaya. She can be contacted on 23333604 or chaya_nair@yahoo.com
SHILPA SEBASTIAN R.
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