Ashok Dixit
Winning hearts and minds of the young, innocent, inexperienced, or even adults is something Tokyo-based motivational speaker; yoga and meditation expert Nupur Tewari loves doing with all the passion at her command.
She has taken it upon herself to deliver special talks on Finding the Purpose of Life from time to time, leaving her audience, comprising primarily of students, mesmerized, inspired, and motivated.
Nupur’s USP is and has been to share vignettes from her life to convince and enthuse those she interacts with to believe that failure and rejection can be converted to one’s advantage with determination.
“If we invest in our inner lives, rather than on money and machines, and use the power of the mind, we can bring about the much-needed changes in our lives,” she emphasizes.
Tokyo-based Tewari has been making frequent visits to different parts of India over the last couple of years to tap into the minds of talented young Indians, to see how and what they are thinking; what are the issues they are wrestling with, what are the solutions to the many challenges we face as citizens, and look for ways to channelise their energies in directions that could help them realise their goals for a better India.
One of Nupur’s recent visits was to the Kashmir Valley, where she met students, who were overwhelmed by her motivational and inspiring thoughts.
For a majority of students, the interaction with Nupur left a feeling of Yeh Dil Mange More. A couple of them described Nupur as “so inspirational.”
“You are actually the first speaker we have got motivated by. This is the first session we have liked on home counselling. We have had a lot of counselling sessions, but this one was most enjoyable,” one of them said.
Participating in a radio programme some time back, Nupur revealed, “As a student, I had to walk to a school that was four kilometers away from my home. There was no road. It was particularly difficult during the monsoons, the road was full of muddy slush and we had to wear chappals (slippers). There were many occasions when I had to abandon my chappals and come home barefoot.”
Hailing from the small village of Pratappur in West Bengal’s Murshidabad District, Nupur Tewari moved to Japan over two decades ago after completing her studies and acquiring some experience in the hospitality industry.
Today, she is the founder of Heal Tokyo, a yoga and meditation programme, which has acquired a huge following and popularity for providing healing touch to tens of thousands of stressed-out people across the globe.
Nupur spends her earnings from these training sessions to help children in India, who are in dire need, or are desirous of getting education. She is into building schools; in fact, one has already come up in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.
She is also an inner transformation and mindfulness coach. Over time, she has acquired fame as a yoga and meditation practitioner.
Talking of her family, Nupur describes them as quite traditional land owners, but a family that places great emphasis on acquiring education and donating to charitable causes.
“My parents are no longer alive, but they have imparted to their children good values and life lessons; placed the seed of inquisitiveness and knowledge in us. They would be very proud of what I am doing today and what I have achieved. I still feel their presence and that they are smiling with me,” she says.
The journey from Murshidabad to Tokyo, Nupur reveals was actually a twist of fate and luck. She says there was a company in the hospitality sector that had advertised for a temporary vacancy because one of their staff had gone on leave for a month.
“I called to enquire about the vacant position and they told me if I wanted to join I could come. I went home and in a very emotional and determined sort of way told my mother about the opportunity and my absolute desire to take it up; I did not have the courage to tell others in the family though. All my mother said was ‘Ja’ (Go). That ‘Ja’ was the turning point in my life.”
Nupur says she has had her fair share of struggles to reach where she is today but adds that if it helps others to aspire and strive for excellence, it would make her happy and satisfied.
“Corporate life was tough, but I learned to deal with the challenges, with people of all kinds, made the best of the opportunities given to me, earned well, and earned respect, before moving on. Somewhere in my mind, I was always thinking of my father and from somewhere that Vedic chant Ya Devi Sarvebhuteshu Vishnumayati shabdita, Namastasya, Namastasya’. I just told myself that I won’t subject myself to any kind of negativity from any quarter and move ahead in a positive manner.”
Nupur now visits cities and towns in India to hard sell the advantage of doing business with Japan, where the focus is now on outsourcing material from other parts of the globe.
The Japanese, she claims, believe in “growing together – as an individual, as a team, as an organisation and as a country. “We in India need to imbibe such values of growing together,” she adds.
“We have to ensure quality. We are the new India, a new generation. We need to be brave and innovative…. We need to grow as a nation,” she states.
India certainly needs inspirational personalities like Nupur Tewari to inspire Gen Next.
Image courtesy: www.nupurtewari.com