It is not about the destination, it is about the journey! This site is a collection of some magical moments that have made my life worth sharing!
Combining my experiences as a professional classical dancer of over 35 years, a powerful orator transforming lives, a spiritualist published writer, an inspiring actor, an international award winning director of Television serials, a fitness professional with several international certifications, an educationist with a novel curriculum for children and the business acumen gained as CEO of Maverick, I present my holistic approach to living life.
5 hours of exercising followed by 163 hours of haphazard eating, lack of movement and unconscious behaviour will not lead to holistic wellness. Our first sense of identity as the self comes from this body. Therefore it is our primary responsibility to take care of it. As a Holistic lifestyle coach, it gives me great joy to share my understanding of the miracle of our bodily existence and bring our everyday waking minute to conscious holistic living thru’ THE COACH (0→∞) – assessments and principles for holistic living.
The holistic approach to fitness by the CHEK institute (USA) has always appealed to me. This was reiterated and enhanced in a big way at the Holistic Lifestyle Coach seminars I attended in New Zealand and Toronto. As I completed several certification programs from the CHEK institute (including the Holistic lifestyle Coach Level 2 and Equal but not the same program for training females), I realised how fitness is not a far away goal, but something that can be achieved in the here and now by one and all. As India’s first Metabolic Typing advisor from Health Excel (UK), I learnt from the best nutritional biochemist William Wolcott, that you really are ‘what you eat’. As each one of our biochemistry is unique, metabolic typing helps identify your exact fuel mix to keep your body healthy. Today, I truly believe every morsel counts…
Just like learning the alphabet and phonics are the fundamental skills needed to eventually read and write, or identifying numbers and learning to add and subtract are the fundamental skills needed to earn and pay, the development of fundamental motor skills is critical if children are to be motivated to move with confidence and competence in a wide variety of activities and environments developing them as a whole person. And although many children develop good physical skills on their own, there are many who do not. It’s a myth if you think ‘it just happens!’ Physical literacy is cultivating the motivation, confidence and competence in children to stay active for life.
Maverick Fit Kids is a physical literacy informed curriculum designed by me, based on the scientific foundation of motor cognition and neuroplasticity, to groom the multiple intelligence in children and enhance their rhythmic ability. Our children deserve to be physically literate. Recognised by the International Physical literacy association (IPLA) as the first Indian physical literacy curriculum in schools since 2014, the Government of India has made Maverick Fit Kids the only approved curriculum and the NATIONAL KNOWLEDGE PARTNER of the Sports Sector Skill Council of India. I have been made the NATIONAL HEAD of the SPEFL-SC for their Physical education program for Schools (PEPS). Let’s join hands to make their dreams come true…
My magic moment as an administrator was when I was given free reign as CEO in October 2009 to re-define MAVERICK FITNESS STUDIOS from a mere exercise platform to one of holistic health and wellbeing. I owe it to the confidence my husband R.Krishnaraj (Founder-Managing Director of Maverick) has in my professionalism, that has resulted in the innovative spread of fitness solutions at Maverick.
Winner of the NDTV award for Best Gym, I received Rotary international’s Vocational Excellence Award on behalf of Maverick in 2011. My answer to a friend’s question several years ago was validated ! I was asked when we launched Maverick in 2003 and I took the role of financial administrator, “What is a creative person like you doing in administration?” I had replied “O! Running a business is certainly very creative.”
Daughter of the Internationally renowned Documentarian couple Dr.S.Krishnaswamy & Dr.Mohana Krishnaswamy of KRISHNASWAMY ASSOCIATES and grand-daughter of the Indian Film Pioneer Director K.Subrahmanyam, it is no surprise that visualising written words into visual delight is one of the most enjoyable things I do.
Some of my directorial ventures include VISAALAM – a 52 part Tamil TV series tracing the matriarchal lineage of a family; AADELLENUM JEEVANADHI for Singapore TV-12 featuring star dancers from India – winning for me the prestigious CERTIFICATE OF CREATIVE EXCELLENCE AWARD from the US international Film & Video festival in 1999; OORARINDA RAHASIYAM which included several short stories penned by be, wielding the microphone over several stalwarts of Indian television; and the most recent 52-part drama series on the life of SWAMI VIVEKANANDA – the impact of living so closely to his life has been a cleansing experience, transforming my life in the way I think & act.
I have always been dramatic. It comes as no surprise that my parents encouraged me to direct that talent towards donning several roles. Living the thoughts and feelings of the characters I emoted, resulted in the maturity to see the world from a wider framework. Some of the roles that in many ways reflect who I am today include:
- Performing as Kannagi in the Hindi TV serial UPASANA based on the Tamil twin Classics Silappadhikaram and Manimegalai. Silambu Chelvar Dr.Ma.Po.Sivagnanam commended my performance as Kannagi by saying “Kannagi means one who laughs with her eyes, emotes with her eyes. After seeing your performance, I wonder if the original Kannagi had eyes as expressive as yours!” It also gave me my first visit to the Rashtrapati Bhavan! President H.E.Dr.Shankar Dayal Sharma honoured me with a shawl for my performance.
- Queen of Indian music M.S.Subbulakshmi saw my performance as a singer in the Tamil TV serial OORARINDA RAHASIYAM. With enormous enthusiasm she said “You know I have done both – singing and acting! In my opinion it is easier to sing than to give lip-sync for a song! You have done that exceedingly well…” When I responded “Mami, I wish I could really sing!” she promptly replied “That is easy. Shall I teach you?” Feel so humble having experienced her modesty…
- Performing the lead role in the Hindi remake of my grandfather Director K.Subrahmanyam’s tamil classic movie THYAGABHOOMI with Bharath Bhooshanji was an immense experience…
- After seeing me act as a blind girl in the Tamil TV series SUYAROOPAM, a little girl of four insisted on coming home the very same night to ensure my sight was not really lost. My very first fan…
I wonder how my teachers made me perform my arrangetram at the age of nine! Shri Narasimhachari & Smt.Vasantalakshmi are not just my dance gurus but my mentors in life.
Dancing for H.E.Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam, President of India at the Rashtrapati Bhawan was perhaps one of the highlights as a dancer for my sister Lata and me! “Thee Vallarthiduvom” of Subbramanya Bharati saw us figuratively lighting up the stage with a fiery dance that prompted our revered Rashtrapatiji to comment later “I could feel the sparks flying in the air…” Adapting Shri Aurobindo’s English classic SAVITRI, my father Dr.S.Krishnaswamy’s Tamil lyrics immensely helped Lata and me in our first choreography, also winning for us our first international award from the United States. Other dance productions choreographed and performed by Lata & me include VAIBHOGAME – re-creating four celestial romantic weddings; AVADARITHAN SIDDHARTHAN based on the life of Gautama the Buddha; BHARATIYIN VISWAROOPAM expanding on Mahakavi Subramanya Bharati’s vision for a new humanity; ROSE OF SHARON on the life of Jesus Christ; PATHARAVINDAM THUNAI a collection of devotional songs by my grandmother & poet Meenakshi Subrahmanyam; KABIR a sampling of his inspiring dohas and several more…
And life moves on… At one time donning the roles of Buddha and Savitri, feeling the pains of separations and bliss of reunion, the trauma of death and the joy of birth, the jealousy of mortals and dignity of the Gods, the wrath of immaturity and the poise of the mature, feeling those million emotions and projecting them through my dance was a satisfying, even exhilarating experience. Seeing my Bhava kindle the right Rasa in my audience always gave me a sense of purpose. But today I want to be just ‘me’. Now I prefer to dance in communion with the divine rather than as communication to an audience; I prefer the moonlight to the glaring spotlights; I love the silence rather than the applause; somehow celebrating life seems to be the only expression I want to express. Actually I prefer not to dance but simply let the dance happen… As tears trickle down my cheeks, I simply witness with awe the dance of existence unfold…
To be honest I never thought speaking as a skill for I am the most talkative person I know and love to hold a mike! Yet it was through the sessions of SUBJECT PLUS, an initiative of infinitheism to train and send speakers to deliver talks to children in over 150 schools on the ways to right living (in 2008) that revealed this facet of my personality to me! A big thanks to the team and coordinators of Subject plus…
I conduct several workshops on health, fitness and holistic living. Some topics include ‘The art of listening to your body’ – my way of reaching out to everybody to motivate them to take care of their body; Your body never lies, Your mind often does addressing students to highlight the principles of body-mind integration; Why exercise? motivating adults to opt for a gym membership over health insurance policy for health insurance does not guarantee health; Body, Mind & Soul – my attempt at trying to present the integration of the physical body, the aspirations of the mental persona – our memory, intellect and emotions – with our spiritual source. Not religious or ritualistic in any manner, it simply highlights my understanding on how to become a self-actualised individual. Indeed, I am indebted to my Guru Mahatria and the path infinitheism for even giving me the audacious opportunity to understand these intricacies…
I owe it to my Guru Mahatria Ra… for showing me that I can make a difference to this world through my writing. My first article was published in infinithoughts (earlier called Frozen Thoughts) in October 2002. In November 2008, the 100th issue carried from the editor’s desk the following words – “From Spirituality to science, to relationships to language – you can write on every subject Gita. A circle has only one centre and no matter what you write on, God will be the central pivot of your articles. In surrender and faith Gita Krishna Raj…”
A friend reading my article series WHEN SCIENCE MET GOD (published since October 2008 in infinithoughts) asked me “How do you have the guts to write about such abstract topics with so much clarity and authority?” I replied “the courage on display comes from my Editor’s faith in my articles.” But for Mahatria, I might have never known that I could enjoy Science as much as Spirituality. Truly in surrender and faith…
KAIVALYA is truly an inner journey – my inner journey – trying to understand life the way I experience it. All of us go through challenges in life that invariably define who we are. Kaivalya was born in 2004 as my way of facing the challenges life presented. I feel truly blessed that a creative expression worth sharing with others evolved from a painful personal process. Indebted to GIRI TRADING for publishing Kaivalya (Liberation) ten years after it was originally written! Available in book stores from September 2014…
Albert Einstein’s words ‘The most incomprehensible thing about this universe is – IT IS COMPREHENSIBLE’ sends waves of awe and gratitude in every cell of my being every moment of my life! Einstein confessed to have constantly combined and recombined ideas, images, and other various thoughts into millions of different combinations. He referred to his thinking process as “combinatory play.” In Einstein’s famous equation, E=mc2, he did not invent the concepts of energy, mass, or speed of light. He simply found a connecting thread to combine these concepts in a novel way which restructured the way humanity looks at the universe.
I have merely identified apparently unconnected areas of passion, become proficient in each of them and allowed them to flow into each other’s domains to find new creative avenues. It is not about being passionate about something I learnt from the outside. It is the manifestation of something that has grown so much in me, that now a part of me is in it.
The differences are disappearing; new expression grounds unfold…
© Gita Krishna Raj | gita@maverickfitness.net