The mind Body Connection | Tendai Jambga | TEDxHarare

Transcript

[Music] allow me to reintroduce myself it is not a coincidence that I am standing in front of you today on the TEDx Herrara stage at Allianz francais it was meant to be 1958 my grandfather was a young teacher at Nia Delhi Mission School when he was singing away in the choir and members of the United Methodist Church discovered him they found great talent in him and soon formed a group with three other young men from Mission schools nearby toko simonia in tally they formed the group and it was named the ambassador's quartets 1959 the group was invited on a tour across America and Europe fantastic time they had with their hit African gospel album from darkness to light 1980 Zimbabwe is independence my grandfather received a call that he has been appointed Zimbabwe is first ambassador to the Vatican UNESCO and France my father was called back home to Zimbabwe and sat on the first board of directors for allianz francais it is not a coincidence that I'm in front of you today it was meant to be 2003 my life shifted 11 years old running out of the classroom to see my mother's car she has always 45 minutes early with freshly cut vegetables and homemade dip this day she wasn't there I looked for her car and a water full of sadness engulfed me after some time the driver came to pick me up I arrived home and soon learned from my father that my mother was as she was driving back from a massage client she swerved off into the side of the road because she had lost feeling in her legs it was safe she called my father crying who then contacted emergency services my mother was rushed in for emergency surgery for five hours during that surgery she says that she sat and she thought wow has this happened to me one month later there we were enjoying ourselves at home March 2003 when she bent over brushing her teeth smiling back at us and coughed she slipped more disks in her lower back the neurologists suggested that she takes some time with physiotherapy as rehabilitation she worked hard at her with her physio she ended up being so confident that she could now enter into a swimming pool and actually feel herself walking the same way that she could not on land she got into the swimming pool feeling confident in the morning everyone had gone to work she stayed at home jumped in and could not remember how to get out the anatomy of an injury eats into your mind your body and your soul she was effectively sitting in the injury after 2017 there I was enjoying and looking back on my mother's story and the only thing that saved her was a neurologist suggesting why don't we do yoga as a form of rehabilitation with your physiotherapy she attended and I attended those sessions with her it was fantastic within four weeks of attending yoga every single day my mother was able to sit up straight Yoga had effectively bought her spine back into alignment within this space we were all elated for my mother 2017 sitting by my computer having traveled to so many different parts of the world looking for my why Norway where I met the love of my life Italy the Caribbean Sydney Australia I searched it took me coming back home seated in my room with the computer and I just saw one yoga teacher training i sat and I replied I remember that day drinking ginger tea and meditating right before the interview as soon as I sat down boom Jessa went Daphne who was sitting in India this said no it's okay we get electricity problems here too speaking in that soft low voice that yoga teachers tend to talk in it can be frustrating hey but it is soothing I never thought I would talk like this within a couple of within a couple of moments Jessa came back on we began the interview and she asked me one question she said teen died what would you like to do with yoga I said I would like to take it back to my community demystify it so it is not witchcraft and also I said I wanted to teach the community she said to die what would you do as soon as you get back and I said I would give ten free sessions I didn't have a group yet but I knew that I could do it at the end of the conversation she says teen die I am giving you a full scholarship you know boot Bali roots of yoga journey in and expand outs she then said that there's a lady that was part of her other group and she said teen died I think that she let me contact her and she paid for my tickets to and from ubud bali tizen bar where the kindness of individuals where you give somebody a chance so they can fly up towards their dreams 2019 what am i feeling I look back on the two years and I see so much bliss lists meaning Samadhi in Sanskrit bringing together the eight limbs of yoga which allow you to look at your life not just from one face but as a jewel seeing that time is simultaneous yoga and the eight limbs allow you to look at yourself as a stranger as in a mirror but with this stranger you are able now to sit with yourself calmly you're able to breathe you are able to practice non-violence continence and practicing all of these things that deal with ethical ethical standards of yourself within yoga we are taught self-study self-study could just be used sitting in your living room and gently listening into the thoughts that come through saying which you should pick and which you should not within Zimbabwe we hold our breath so much we receive a wet-nap message and everything goes into chaos we received the same wet set message and now a different group what do we do we hold our breath again how many of you are sitting here and your breath is ending here how many of you comfortable in yourselves I often think how is it possible that we are in this situation the neurologists were able to trace my mother's injury back to 19 years prior when she was pregnant with my brother slipped on a step and injured her tailbone she was sitting in the injury for 19 years before that day where she could not feel her legs where did some Bob wear slip and fall where did some Baba miss a step how long have we been sitting in this injury for I truly believe that we are able to trace back our past and journey into the future so that we can design it's not being in a space where we hold our breath with news but instead taking ownership of your thoughts and gaining control of yourself how about if Zimbabwe did that too tracing back our past to map our future it can be done the past two years have been bliss I have taught classes I've taught on top of number shower at other sacred spaces but my happiest is me teaching at Emerald Hill children's home I've implemented a program 24 months ago for the staff and for the children dealing with yoga and wellness but I call it the self love yoga sessions these children and the staff are able to sit with themselves but also find things within their memory that they hid from themselves they are now able to express themselves I now have over a hundred children that say miss Qin Dynasty and I namaste namaste these are children that have been found in the most disheartening places within bags on the grounds and a street it is terrible but when they do yoga they lights shine and even now they light to shining brighter I asked the other day what would you like to become to my little ones they said Miss Teen die I want to be a pilot Miss Teen die I want to be a soldier and he walks around like this he's my favorite don't tell anybody but he now keeps the other ones in check it's such a blessing to see that yoga can heal and I believe that Zimbabwe can heal as well with some reflection not looking at life from one face but looking at it as a jewel seeing all the facets seeing all the beauty looking at your life simultaneously it is not a coincidence that I'm standing in front of you today it is meant to be namaste [Applause]