An internationally acclaimed Ayurvedic and India’s first Westerner to be licensed practicing Ayurveda in India, Dr. Robert Svoboda (PhD) unfurls at The Oberoi Sukhvilas the ‘Concept of Time’.

At The Oberoi Sukhvilas Spa Resort, New Chandigarh, a 3-night 4-day ‘Concept of Time’ retreat will be held from 11th to 14th February 2020.

Gracing the event will be Dr. Robert Svoboda – an Ayurvedic PhD and the first Westerner to graduate from the college of Ayurveda along with a license to practice the same. He’s an author, and has served as Adjunct Faculty at the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque (USA) and at Bastyr University (USA).

As GlobalSpa gets in a colloquy with Dr. Robert, here’s what the maestro has to share on the importance of Ayurveda and conceptions of time:

1.) You’re the first person outside of India to be licensed practicing Ayurveda in India. Tell us how did your connection with Ayurveda begin in the first place?

Fortunately for me I was good in school, and graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree at the age of 18. The next step for me seemed to be to study medicine, and after getting admitted into a medical school I decided to go traveling in Africa, to see some of the rest of the world. After joining the Pokot tribe in Kenya and getting to know a couple of its healers, I realized that there was more to health and healing than modern medicine could provide, so I started looking further. I first heard about Ayurveda in Nepal and was extraordinarily fortunate to be introduced to Pandit Shiv Sharma, who was at that time India’s most eminent Ayurvedic physician. Thanks to Panditji I got admitted into the Tilak Ayurveda Mahavidyalaya of the University of Pune, from which I graduated in 1980.

2.) Personally, why do you think it’s so important to spread the message of Ayurveda?

The fundamental message of Ayurveda is very simple: pay attention to everything in your life, determine what supports your health and what damages it, and make healthy choices for yourself. Ayurveda is an excellent tool for learning how to navigate human life, which is anything but simple, especially today.

3.) The concept of time varies for everyone. But do you think it’s pre-determined for each one of us or is it something we create as we live?

The concept of time varies in two ways: for everyone according to the natural aging process, and individually according to our personal constitutions, how we are brought up, and how we live our lives. Since a significant proportion of each‘s individual time sense emerges from how we perceive both the world in general and time itself in particular, we do have some ability to shape that sense of time to our benefit.

4.) What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about time, and how do you suggest we change that?

Possibly the biggest misconception that people have about time is that “past” and “future” actually exist and that time “flows” from past to present to future. In fact, though the concepts of past and future are very useful for many living beings, humans, in particular, only the present actually exist.

5.) There are so many people, especially the youth who fear that they don’t have time or time is constantly running out for them. How do you suggest we keep time from killing us this way?

A high school friend provided me with a very useful saying: “It is either never too later or it is always too late.” Either way, you keep in mind the fact that even if you lived forever you would never be able to accomplish everything that can be accomplished, and you can let go of the fear that you are out of time.

6.) What do you think would be the scenario if we all simply shun the concept of time?

It would be lovely to ignore the concept of time altogether, except that both the world and the human body do not and cannot ignore time. What we can and should do is to ignore the various human misconceptions of time, i.e. that we have all the time in the world (which permits us to procrastinate indefinitely) or that we are always running out of time (which keeps us in flight-or-flight mode perpetually).

7.) Lastly, please give us at least 5 tips on how we can make the best of our time we have in hand.

• Remember that time is fleeting, and try always to make the best use of the time that remains for you,
• Live in the present, not the past or the future,
• Neither kill time nor let time kill you,
• Make sure to set aside some of your time for your self, and
• Make sure to invest some of your time helping others.

Image credits: Oberoi Hotels & Resorts