Love Heals: We all know this, but Sunil Shah has taken this message to an unusual place where it was much needed.  Founders of the company Love Heals, Sunil and his partner Dr. Deval Doshi, recently facilitated a full day workshop in New Delhi, India for 50 inmates convicted of violent crimes. The goal was to encourage the men to let go of what has been done in the past, and to help them recognize that they are paying their penalty with their sentence, hence there is no point of continuing the punishment with negative self-talk.

The Love Heals team covered HYL points of philosophy, mirror work, inner child, forgiveness and mind-body connection. The participants were most impacted by the mirror work. Sunil observed, “They had never looked at themselves in a mirror with love before, they began to see the light within them. What a phenomenal experience they had when they visited their childhood through inner child meditation and realized that they too, (in spite of all that happened) were little children who needed love. In that moment, they could forgive the past and all that happened and could lovingly sing affirmations to that young boy inside!”

Undoubtedly, many of the in-mates had been thinking the same negative thoughts over and over for years. The good news is that the men have now been taught that their thoughts create their future, and changing their thoughts will result in changing their lives, regardless of their incarceration.

Sunil indicated that the men were very inquisitive and seemed willing to accept that they could have a good life ahead of them. When I asked him what most impacted him on a personal level he stated, “Our personal transformation goes to the next level every time we do this type of work because there is always something we need to learn or work on. If we are too sympathetic we can’t empower, if we are too judgmental, we can’t be compassionate.”

Sunil and Deval are planning to continue Love Heals work with inmates, and have already been invited back. Dr. Doshi observed  “As we facilitated the session, we realized that we are all one in spirit. They at some point couldn’t handle a situation and reacted differently, and hence are on the inside of the prison. That’s all there is to it. All our emotions of sympathy, fear, anxiety, and judgment were put to rest; we were one more time reminded of how we all have just one need….to love and to be loved.”

Love Heals also works with the blind, and those with dis-eases like HIV, in addition to their regular events. “Every time we do this kind of workshop people are blessed, we are blessed, and we know that we are making a difference.”