Bhaskar Goswami on Mindfulness

Bhaskar Goswami is a certified hatha yoga teacher and a specialist in employing the principles of yoga for the modern lifestyle. On top of being a yoga and meditation teacher, public speaker, retreat facilitator, naturopath, social entrepreneur, and the founder of BODHI and daana (a contribution-based wellness organization), he sat down to give us a unique perspective on how he views mindfulness. 

Read on below to see how he defines and utilizes mindfulness in his own life. 

BSE: Starting off with the big question: what is mindfulness to you

Bhaskar: To me, mindfulness is ultimately self-realization through self-observation. It is the experiential exploration of the philosophical teaching of Socrates, 'Know Thyself'. Therefore, a necessary prerequisite for mindfulness is a natural curiosity. Asking ourselves, ‘what is this 'I' that likes, dislikes, wants, does not want, needs, does not need, agrees, disagrees’, and so on? 

It so happens that this practice also has profound healthcare benefits because so much of our suffering is caused by a misunderstanding of who we truly are. 

BSE: You've led multiple retreats, put together an entire wellness organization, and have won awards as ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’. How do you balance entrepreneurship and mindfulness? 

Bhaskar: For me, the two have a symbiotic relationship. Mindfulness helps me to be clear about what my organization is about and what is ours to do, and it offers deep insights into the root cause of the challenges. The vicissitudes and challenges of running a wellness organization conversely provide fertile soil for me to cultivate mindfulness as an informal practice.

BSE: Why do you consider mindfulness to be such a successful tool for overall health and wellness? 

A mindfulness practice heightens your understanding by diminishing your emotionally reactive patterns. We are often mesmerized by our external, objective reality, and this makes us quite blind to our internal, subjective reality of thoughts, emotions, and body sensations. 

The ability to experience both offers more data points for every situation. The more data points we have, the more options we have on how best to respond. This has profound implications regarding our personal and professional health and wellness!

Until next time,

The BSE Team