In today’s fast-moving world we tend to get lost in the hustle of day-to-day life that we forget to step back and breath consciously. We’ve narrowed down our idea of wellness to avoiding the hospital; if one is not physically impaired, then they are considered necessarily “healthy”. Our personal lives have been intertwined with our work lives that most city folks can’t tell where one ends and the other begins. That is where khul wellness center comes in. Understanding and noticing the lack of mental and physical health in the city, the center set out to help the community find its center through acts as simple as breathing and staying still.
Khul world wellness center was established by the certified yoga teacher and meditation instructor Yoftahe Manyazewal commonly known as happy. The center’s doors are open to anyone looking to better themselves through easy-to-follow courses. When asked what the goal of the center is, he claimed that they envision a Khul World, where humanity falls in love with life, by driving wholeness & transformation through the systems of health, education and work. He aspires to establish World Institute for Self-Engineering (WISE) and Self Engineering Universities (SEU) to unleash higher human integrity, connection and inclusiveness.
When asked what community wellness is to khul world, happy stated that it is a process-oriented program that encompasses community-based program planning through facilitating interventions based on an assessment of community-specific health needs that encourage empowerment of the community and develop a community-wide support system.
The center believes in starting with the individual to eventually impact the community as a whole. Towards that end, happy said “In order to impact others and build strong communities, mindfulness must begin with us, as individuals. Mindfulness is expressed through our body, mind, spirit, and emotions. When we are mindful, we are more likely to be objective, non-attached, non-judgmental, non-defensive, and non-violent in our interactions. Through this stance, we are better able to connect with others. And through those connections, difficulties are weathered and community is formed and strengthened. Trust among community members grows. All of these consequences are natural byproducts of living with mindfulness.”
Courtesy of the institution’s active efforts, international yoga day has picked up speed over the past couple of years except for the past year when the pandemic prohibited the gathering of individuals. This year’s international yoga day took place on the 21st of June and the center collaborated with the Indian embassy to organize an event open to everyone. Other than that, the institution hosts an array of events where strangers and khul family members gather to work on themselves and their interconnectedness as a whole.
The institution didn’t have the reception it has now when it first began. Happy remembers a time when people had misconceptions about yoga and meditation to a point where they would make generalized assumptions that kept them from fully accepting the practice; but the pandemic and other issues have shed light on the growing need for holistic wellness and paved the way for the institution’s acceptance by the public.
Khul works tirelessly to achieve a joyful society capable of listening to themselves before reacting to their outside stimuli. However, the ultimate goal goes even further. Happy stated: “We, at Khul world, don’t just consider joy or success the destination or result of work but rather a fueling element we take with us before, during and after what we do for a living. We believe work should evolve to be as fun and exciting as one’s favorite game. At Khul we love spicing up our work environment with games, music, art expression, jamming and dancing nights, family trips and retreats. We would like for these practices to pick up speed in other institutions too.”
The center is stepping out of the stereotypical work environment to promote activities that benefit the community; like for example if one is a full time Khuler, they have a paid day off every month, to go and volunteer anywhere or any community they would like to serve. The move seeks to promote the volunteer culture that will eventually help shape a better community, city and country as a whole. The center hopes to impact as many people as possible to a point where holistic wellbeing becomes a common practice among individuals of the city.
Khul World claims to believe in the transformational power of connection. That is “when people with like minds and like hearts come together, magic happens in their lives which extends to their surrounding as well.” The center was started as a community with people who felt like they had a common idea, where they felt like they could join hands, minds and hearts; which the center believes is the most powerful thing that can happen to individuals and to our planet.
The community is ever growing with local and international members gradually increasing. Happy claims: “At Khul, we attract people who try to bring the best versions of themselves, their community and the world. And our culture is fueled by appreciation and celebration of each other.”
Happy believes that “Community is what we are about and community is what we keep to attract as life enthusiasts, teachers and partners, with whom we dare to create and engineer the better of our future that would make our children’s children thank us for.”
The future looks promising for the center and happy believes that their aspirations will be reached step by step. He claims that they aspire to gather visionaries, dreamers, leaders, innovators, authors, designers, entrepreneurs, passionate artists, transformational teachers, parents, social change, wellbeing and voluntarism advocates to bring about a revolution of love, revolution of Peace and revolution of Consciousness.
Contributed by Yosthena Aynalem
