The health of both the body and the mind was the overriding theme on the morning of the
, Business Today's two day conclave of ideas held at The Oberoi, Gurgaon.
discussed ways to achieve spiritual and mental well being, Seth focusing particularly on mindful eating.
They were followed by innovation expert John Kao and leading gamer Alok Kejriwal, Founder and CEO of Games2Win, whose sessions too sought to stimulate the brain to perform better.
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MINDRUSH 2013 "Before you can hit the gym, run or swim, it is important to get selfish," said Dhupia. "You are doing this for yourself, to look good, for your mental well-being. You can't make excuses." She elaborated at some length on the energizing qualities of plain water, calling it the best stress buster. "Drink water to beat stress. Rub golf balls under your feet. Drink chamomile tea," she added.
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev also discussed how to de-stress. "Our problem is that our minds and bodies are not taking instructions from us. If you are suffering in your daily life it is because you are allowing situations to make choices for you," he said. "Perspective is very important to fix your problems. Life is not suffering. It's your choice, make it fantastic or miserable."
Shantum Seth too discussed stress and harped on the importance of being in control of one's life and the direction in which it is going. Noting that the Buddha was one of the most successful CEOs in the world, he underlined the importance of 'mindfulness', a key Buddhist concept. "Eating is a mundane activity. But mindfulness makes it a miracle," he said. "Anything can become your bell of mindfulness. Even the act of inserting the key in the lock of your door can be your bell of mindfulness." In his own case, he added, his telephone played that role.
John Kao of the Institute for Large Scale Innovation* noted that there had been over two billion searches on Google in the last few months with 'innovation' as the search word. "Innovation is about technology, talent, processes, perceptions, business models, and emerging opportunities," he said.
Some setbacks were also inevitable, he noted and America's advantage was that it allowed people to take risks "If you fail, people cheer but if you have not failed once or twice, you are not trying hard enough," he added.
December 14 also happened to be Kao's birthday. He was presented a birthday cake on stage and obliged the MC by playing Happy Birthday on a piano.
On the eve of the lunch break, Alok Kejriwal presented the audience a business case study and threw the floor open for solutions.
The pre-lunch sessions covered health, body, mind, mindful eating and innovation tools over beats of the piano that John Kao played.
* An earlier version had the name of John Kao's institute wrongly named 
Actor and fitness enthusiast Neha Dhupia opened Day 2 of MindRush 2013. She took to interacting with members of the audience and shared her fitness mantras, including 'rubbing golf balls under your feet' 
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