Bharatnatyam An Apt Stress Buster

Dr. Shikha Sharma proves Bharatnatyam an apt stress buster

At a time when the stress of managing deadlines and achieving success is weighing
on everyone’s mind, it becomes even more important to find ways to reduce stress
and anxiety of work, towards finding peace despite the pressures of everyday life. 

Recently, Dr Shikha Nehru Sharma, a renowned doctor turned nutrition expert,
proved the traditions right and showed that dance has the same powers of
healing and is also a major stress-buster. 

Dr. Shikha Sharma, demonstrated how the power of dance can overcome the
stresses of life with her debut Bharatnatyam performance. The occasion also saw
the release of her book titled “Arangetram of Dr Shikha Nehru Sharma” Health,
Stress management and Fitness via Bharatnatyam.

Doordarshan’s Additional Director General and senior Indian Broadcasting
(Programme) Service officer, Ms Deepa Chandra presided as the chief guest while
renowned danseuse who has excelled in Odissi, Chhau and Manipuri dance forms,
Sharon Lowen was the Guest of Honour on the occasion. Members of Dr. Shikha
Sharma’s family and Ms Rani Shingal, a proud guru of Dr. Shikha Sharma were also
present to encourage her in her new endeavour.

The program started with Pushpanjali which is a traditional offering to flowers to
lord Ganesha who is the remover of obstacles. It is the salutation to the lord of
dance Nataraja, the Guru, the Musicians and the Audience by the dancer. It was
followed by many other performances on Alaripu, Shri Ramchandra bhajan in
Yaman Raga, Mahalakshmi Ashtakam in Hindolam Raga and Saraswati Stuti all in
Misram Tala, by the dancer. The program was concluded with the last performance
on ‘Tillana’ in Dhanarashree raga at Mishram tala, in which the virtuosity of the
music was reflected in the complex footwork and captivating poses by the dancer.

The audience was awestruck by her beautiful makeup and costume, while her
energetic performance with her ever smiling face motivated them to follow their
dreams just like her. Guest of honour, Sharon Lowen praised her for her courage
to fight stress in the most beautiful way of art while chief guest Dr. Deepa Chandra
was astonished to see that after doing a full course of medicine, how someone
could take up dance. She quoted, “after watching this performance we can be
sure that one can achieve anything, at anytime or at any age, one just have to
listen to one's heart and look forward to their calling”

As Dr Sharma and her team at NutriHealth are dedicated to spread health
consciousness, so, she decided to share her experience with Bharatnatyam
through her book “Arangetram” Health, Stress management and Fitness via
Bharatnatyam. The book has shared various benefits of Bharatnatyam. It explains
how dancing to the intonation of ancient mantras and shlokas is like praying in
motion. It also explains how foot tapping movements are like acupressure and
help to press all the points of the body connected to the feet. This also helps in
increasing concentration power, as the dancer needs to have sheer concentration
while dancing.

An alumnus of Maulana Azad Medical College, Dr Sharma is a notable nutrition
expert who has been working hard in the area of preventive medicine and weight
loss for several years. Her focus and dedication to her work helped her to scale her
organisation “NutriHealth” from few nutritionists to 200 full time employees. Her
unique model of using Remote Nutrition Advisory using a Tele-Nutrition Centre to
deliver Nutrition advisory and compliance monitoring to clients globally has helped
her to draw international Venture Capital funding.

But the stress and pressure of work began to show on her health and she had to
find a stress-buster. She tried every possible solution to keep away from the
pressure of work and even tried her hands on yoga, meditation and aerobatics.  
But only the combination of Meditation, music and dance - Bharatnatyam – gave
her the much needed break.

‘Natya Sudha’, a Delhi-based school of performing arts headed by Ms Rani
Shingal which is dedicated towards imparting quality training in the field of ‘Bharat
natyam’ helped her through her journey. Without diluting the intensity and pure
form of this performing art form, the school also teaches the internationally
respected ‘Kalakshetra’ style.

Dr Sharma found that Bharatnatyam not only helped her to manage stress but
also improve concentration, memory, build flexibility, and strengthen her spine
and back. This improved her mind and body coordination and fitness levels and
she discovered that it may have application in learning subjects like geometry and
maths via the beats of rhythm. In fact, this is the subject of research in many
Universities for teaching geometry.

        

As Dr Sharma says “As my work grew and the mental pressures of following my
dream with passion and determination took its toll on my health, I found I could
treat myself with the correct Nutrition and Ayurvedic medicines but the stress
was getting difficult to manage .Once while searching for solutions to fight stress,
I stumbled upon the word “Natya Yoga “, also known as Bharatnatyam which
was a combination of breathing, Exercise, meditation and music. My intuition
told me “I have found the antidote! .This was that Eureka moment for me and
over time it proved right.”

   

With such a program, Dr. Shikha Sharma has set an example in front of the society,
that dance knows no age and if you follow your dreams nothing is impossible.