Page 14 - Here and Now June 2022

Another life Another lifetime

Sunita Raut

It was in the year 1995 that I
believe I did my BHLP. Yes, it
was another lifetime. However,
it seems like yesterday as every
moment is etched in my
memory. Perhaps, that is the
greatest advantage of living in
the here and now for me. It has
given me a way to remember
things, something which I have
had a challenge with since my
childhood.

I still remember that I felt like a fish in water. My experience was unlike many others who I have spoken
to over the years for whom T-Group seemed foreign. You see, as I mentioned earlier, I have had a memory
and concentration challenge since my childhood and this translates into learning difficulties in a traditional
setting which, for me, focuses mostly on the adult learning stage of Abstract Conceptualisation. Concrete
Experiencing, Reflective Observation on one’s own lived reality, Active Experimentation which is the
alternative way of learning that ISABS introduced to me was a delightful new world. Throughout my school
years, university and my MBA I had struggled with brain fog, with blanking out, with great difficulty in
holding my attention in class, an inability to read through books and study material. So, of course, I have
been judged as an insincere student who day dreams.

ISABS was a completely different story for me. I went through my BLHP with distinction if one can call it
that. My facilitators told me that I could go directly to Phase A if I wanted. I remember how happy and at
the same time surprised I was. You all can now guess for sure the reasons behind that.

What made the difference for me was that what we had to do in a T-Group was to tap into our feelings as
they were emerging. And this made me alive. I noticed that my brain functioned spectacularly when not
only I but others were in the here-and-now and operating from their feelings. Over the years I have
mapped how precisely those events of my life where I was fully present —- i.e. alive with all my emotions
and completely in the here and now—- are the ones where I have none of the challenges I shared with
you earlier.

I jokingly say that I have an internal ISABS meter. If I feel the drowsiness overpowering me it means I have
moved into my thoughts and am no longer in the here-and-now. As I scan my environment I notice that it
many times is also an indicator of where the people around me— some or all— are operating from. So, if
there is a lot of talk on theories and concepts, information is shared without feelings, when people are
saying something but somehow it seems that they mean something else my brain starts to shut down and
I feel the brain fog and the overpowering sleepiness descend on me like a dark cloud.

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