How sound healing, meditation, and nonviolent communication, created transformation for women in Ahmedabad's Urban communities

The Sacred Space Where It All Began

There's something profound about conducting a healing workshop at Mahatma Gandhi's first ashram. When I arrived at Kochrab Ashram in Ahmedabad for a three-day workshop with Sanchetna an NGO specializing in healthcare for the slum dwellers, I could feel the energy of the place - the same grounds where Gandhi held his earliest meetings, where principles of nonviolence and social justice took root over a century ago.

The women who gathered there came from Ahmedabad's urban slum communities - Hindu, Muslim, diverse in their backgrounds but united in their search for something more. Some had never experienced meditation before. Most had never heard of sound healing. All of them were ready for change.

Understanding the Real Challenge

When you work with women from underserved communities, you quickly realize that teaching meditation or sound healing isn't just about technique. These women carry the weight of their families, their communities, and often decades of conditioning that tells them their needs don't matter.

Many arrive with what I call the \"victim code\" - a pattern of seeing themselves as acted upon rather than acting. It's not their fault. It's what survival sometimes teaches us when resources are scarce and choices feel limited. But transformation begins when we recognize we have more agency than we thought.

That's why the workshop needed to be more than just relaxation techniques or stress relief. It needed to be a journey of genuine self-discovery.

Day One: Seeing Yourself Clearly

We started with self-awareness because you can't change what you don't see.

I guided the women through exercises to identify their own needs and feelings—not what their families needed, not what society expected, but what they genuinely felt. For many, this was the first time anyone had asked them to pay attention to their inner world.

"What are you feeling right now?" seems like a simple question. But when you've spent years pushing feelings aside to take care of everyone else, the answer doesn't come easily.

We explored how they were the center of everything happening around them—not in an egotistical way, but in recognizing their power to influence their circumstances. When you understand that your emotional state affects your children, your spouse, your community, you start to see yourself as someone who matters.

The meditation practice we did that first day was simple: just sitting with what is, without trying to fix or change anything. Just observing. Some women cried. Some smiled. All of them were beginning to see themselves with fresh eyes.

Day Two: Speaking Truth with Compassion

The second day focused on Nonviolent Communication (NVC)—a practice that Gandhi himself would have recognized, even if he called it by different names.

NVC isn't just about being nice. It's about expressing anger, frustration, and pain in ways that create connection rather than division. In communities where tensions run high between religions, between neighbors, within families, this skill becomes essential.

We practiced identifying feelings versus thoughts. We learned to make requests instead of demands. We explored how to express anger without violence verbally or otherwise.

Day Three: The Power of Sound and Gratitude

By the third day, we had built enough trust and awareness for the deeper work—Sound Healing.

Many people think sound healing is mystical or esoteric. But when you experience Tibetan singing bowls in person, when you feel the vibrations moving through your body, it becomes immediately practical. The sound doesn't care about your religion, your economic status, or your education level. It simply meets you where you are.

We combined sound healing with gratitude practice that day. After two days of looking at challenges and conflicts, we needed to acknowledge what was already working, already beautiful in their lives.

The women lay on mats while I played the singing bowls. The sound filled the space where Gandhi once meditated, where he planned movements that would eventually free a nation. And in that space, these women were finding their own freedom—freedom from old stories, old patterns, old limitations.

When the session ended, several women didn't want to move. They lay there, tears streaming down their faces—not tears of sadness but of release. One woman said it was the first time in years she'd felt truly peaceful.

The Energy of Group Transformation

There's something uniquely powerful about group healing work that individual sessions don't quite capture. When ninety women open their hearts together, when they witness each other's courage and vulnerability, a collective energy emerges that amplifies individual transformation.

I watched women who arrived closed off and suspicious leave with their arms around each other. I saw mothers who'd forgotten how to receive—so busy giving to everyone else—finally allow themselves to be held by the community's care.

Each woman brought her own blocks, her own pain. But in the collective field of healing, those blocks had a way of dissolving faster than they might have alone. One woman's breakthrough in expressing anger gave another permission to do the same. One woman's tears of relief opened the floodgates for others.

What Made This Workshop Different

As someone trained in the method of meditation and sound healing, I could have simply taught techniques. But my journey—from engineering to psychology to working with NGOs to becoming a certified healing practitioner—taught me that transformation requires meeting people exactly where they are.

These women didn't need perfect meditation postures or advanced healing protocols. They needed:

- Self-awareness that honored their reality without judgment

- Communication tools they could use immediately with their families

- Healing practices accessible enough to continue at home

- Community support that reminded them they weren't alone

The workshop wasn't about creating dependency on a healer or a practice. It was about awakening their own capacity to heal themselves and each other.

Beyond the Workshop: Ripples of Change

Three days isn't enough to completely transform decades of conditioning. I don't claim that it is. But what three days can do is create a shift—a moment where a woman sees herself differently, speaks differently, breathes differently.

That shift ripples outward. The woman who learned to express her needs clearly goes home and models that for her daughter. The woman who experienced deep peace for the first time knows it's possible and begins creating small moments of stillness in her daily life. The woman who felt truly heard in the circle starts listening to others with the same presence.

This is how communities transform—not through dramatic interventions but through individuals awakening to their own power and potential.

Why This Work Matters

In India's growing wellness industry, healing practices are often positioned as luxuries for the privileged. Expensive retreats, exclusive studios, premium pricing that puts these practices out of reach for the majority.

But meditation, sound healing, and nonviolent communication aren't luxuries. They're essential tools for human flourishing that every person deserves access to—regardless of income, education, or social status.

Working with organizations like Sanchetna allows these practices to reach communities who need them most. Women facing daily stresses that would overwhelm many of us, yet still showing up with open hearts ready to learn and grow.

This is the work that excites me—not just helping individuals find peace, but democratizing access to healing practices that can strengthen entire communities.

The Questions You Might Have

Do I need prior experience with meditation or healing to benefit from such workshops?

Not at all. In fact, some of the deepest transformations I witness come from people completely new to these practices. Beginners often bring more openness and fewer preconceptions about how things \"should\" feel.

Can sound healing really create change, or is it just relaxation?

Sound healing works on multiple levels—physical, emotional, and energetic. While it does create profound relaxation, the effects go much deeper. The vibrations from singing bowls can release stored tension, shift emotional patterns, and create new neural pathways. You don't have to understand how it works to benefit from it.

How do you adapt healing practices for diverse groups?

The beauty of these practices is their universality. Sound doesn't care about your religion. Your breath doesn't check your economic status. The key is creating a safe container where everyone feels seen and respected, then allowing the practices to meet each person exactly where they are.

What makes group healing different from individual sessions?

Individual sessions offer deep personalization and privacy. Group sessions offer the power of collective energy and shared witness. Both have their place. Many people find that experiencing group work first helps them understand what's possible, then they seek individual sessions for more specific work.

Bringing This Work to Your Community or Organization

The Sanchetna workshop demonstrated what's possible when healing practices meet community needs with intention and respect.

If you're part of an NGO, educational institution, women's group, or community organization wondering whether meditation, sound healing, and conscious communication could benefit your members, I'd welcome a conversation.

These workshops can be adapted for:

- Corporate wellness programs seeking genuine transformation

- Educational institutions supporting student mental health  

- Community organizations serving underserved populations

- Women's groups exploring empowerment through self-awareness

- Any gathering of humans ready to experience deeper connection

The specific practices, duration, and approach can be customized based on your group's needs, experience level, and goals.

An Invitation

Gandhi's vision of transformation was always rooted in individual awakening creating collective change. He believed that we must "be the change we wish to see in the world.”

The women at Kochrab Ashram taught me that this vision is alive and unfolding still—one moment of self-awareness at a time, one honest conversation at a time, one shared healing experience at a time.

If you're curious about bringing similar workshops to your community, organization, or group, I invite you to reach out. Let's explore how meditation, sound healing, and nonviolent communication might serve your specific context and needs.

Because transformation isn't a luxury. It's our birthright—all of us.

About These Workshops

I offer customized group workshops combining meditation, sound healing, and conscious communication for organizations and communities across India. Each workshop is designed specifically for the group's context, needs, and goals.

To inquire about bringing a workshop to your organization or community:

• Email: kritimathur.lifecoach@gmail.com

• WhatsApp: +91 9783315663  

• Visit www.kritimathur.com for more