Konark Center For Stress Management

          The Konark Center for Stress Management (“Konark Center” or “Center”) was established in 2005 as a branch of BGI, dedicated to the development, implementation, study and scientific evaluation of the effects of various methodologies for stress management, utilizing biometric measurements and analyses. These methodologies include, but are not limited to, music (learning and/or listening) and music therapy, yoga and meditation, time management, relaxation, laughter yoga, diet and exercise, biofeedback and autogenic training to re-establish  homeostasis.

          Homeostasis is the system’s ability to maintain physiological and psychological stability or equilibrium. In the context of health, homeostasis is an optimal balance of mental and physical well-being of the body. When the body loses its normal homeostasis, adverse symptoms and problems start to manifest themselves.  Symptoms are not the cause of health problems but rather indicators or expressions of the body’s efforts to defend its weakest and vulnerable areas and of the body’s efforts to bring it back into balance.

Statement Of the Problem

          Stress is the "wear and tear" our bodies experience as we adjust to our continually changing environment. It has physical and emotional effects on us. In medical parlance, “stress” is defined as a perturbation of the body’s homeostasis.  Stress can be generated from attitudinal, situational, and environmental stressors.    

          Stress, whether it is at the workplace, on the road or at home, has become a part of American life and has become a major health concern.  Such stress frequently leads to severe, debilitating and often, life-threatening consequences. It also poses an economic threat because it leads to higher incidences of medical intervention and hospitalization for various stress-related ailments, with associated high costs. Stress can also result in feelings of distrust, rejection, anger, depression, and alcohol and drug abuse, which in turn can lead to health problems such as headaches, upset stomach, diabetes, obesity, depression, skin problems, insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.  These in turn increase health care costs, lost time at the workplace, and personal psychological and family problems.

          Stress is in large measure the result of our emerging, fast-lane life style.  Some of the factors that contribute to high levels of stress include large populations working long hours to make ends meet; increasing acquisitive tendencies; long, bumper-to-bumper commutes; aggressive and creative marketing and sales  techniques by manufacturers of consumer goods; more billable hours in service-oriented professions; a cultural environment that rewards competition of all kinds; and so on. Deadlines, competitions, confrontations, and even our frustrations and sorrows are also contributing stressors.

      What is Karoshi?  Karoshi is a Japanese word for “death from overwork.”
Job stress has become a common and costly problem, not only in the United States, but in Japan and other industrialized nations as well. A 1996 World Health Organization Survey cited job stress as an international problem and labeled it “The 20th Century Epidemic”

          According to Medical World News, the price tag for U.S. industries is estimated to exceed $300 billion annually due to employee accidents, absenteeism, employee turnover, diminished productivity, medical, legal and insurance costs, workers’ compensation awards, tort and FELA judgments – all attributable to stress factors at the work place. Americans are working longer and harder. They are working at a very high speed an under tight deadlines.  Heavy workload, infrequent rest breaks, long work hours and long shifts, hectic and routine tasks, fear of lay-offs – all contribute to stress in the work place.  The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work reported that over half of the 550 million working days lost annually in the U.S. from absenteeism are stress related and that one in five of all last minute no-shows are due to job stress.  Unanticipated absenteeism is estimated to cost American companies $602/worker/year. The price tag for large employers approach $3.5 million annually. A three year study by a large corporation found that 60% of employee absences could be traced to stress-related psychological and other health problems.

          The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine reports results of studies which show that job stress can result in cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disorders, psychological disorders, injuries, suicide, cancer, ulcers, and impaired immune function. [Encyclopedia of Occupational Safety and Health.]  Workers’ compensation claims based on stress related injuries have quadrupled in recent years and many courts in the U.S. have been awarding substantial damages to workers based on stress-related injuries on the job. In 1994, Scott and Jaffe reported that stress-related disability claims more than doubled in the preceding ten years.  In California, the average cost of each claim in 1990 was $73,270  (California Workers’ Compensation Institute, 1990.)  That figure has more increasing at an alarming rate since then.

Prior Work In The Reduction of Stress At The Workplace
          Modalities suggested by experts for stress reduction include balance between work and family or personal life; a support network of friends and coworkers; and a relaxed and positive outlook. (“Stress AT Work” A Report by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 1999).

          A study conducted by St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance commissioned several studies on the effects of stress prevention programs in hospital settings.  Employee and management education on job stress; changes in hospital policies and procedures to reduce organizational sources of stress; and establishment of employee assistance programs, were activities included in the program.  After program activities were implemented, one study showed that the frequency of medication errors declined by 50%. Another study showed a reduction by 70% in malpractice claims in 22 hospital which implemented stress prevention activities.

          Many companies are providing stress management training and employee assistance programs to cope with difficult and stressful work situations.  Stress management raining may reduce stress symptoms such as anxiety and sleep disorders, and may have the advantage of being relatively inexpensive; however, these benefits are short-lived and treat the symptoms.  They often ignore the root cause of the problem and identify the stressors because they focus on the worker and not on the whole environment. A combination of organizational change combined with stress management training is a useful approach for preventing stress at work.  Workers and employers alike need to undergo awareness as well as stress management training. 

          Yoga exercises, meditation, music therapy, aroma therapy, acupuncture are some of the modalities suggested and/or tried by various groups and organizations but most of these studies are empirical and no statistically significant data have been obtained using any of the methods identified.  Camps and institutions operate these facilities like recreational country clubs or dude ranches and seldom tailored to individual situations or needs to modify behavioral patterns and prepare participants to deal effectively with stressful situations.
 
          Konark Center proposes to use yoga, laughter, meditation, and music, in different combinations, along with dietary control and an exercise regimen to study the effects of these regimens on stress management and conduct quantitative analyses of bio-responses utilizing various evaluation parameters.

The Konark Center’s Stress Management Project Objectives
The objectives of the Center’s Stress Management project are to :

• improve the physical, mental and emotional well-being and the quality of life    of participants, both workers and employers;
• enable participants to reduce the intensity of emotional response to stressors;
• teach participants how to moderate physical and emotional reaction to stressors;
• build bodily resistance to environmental stressors;
• teach participants stress management since most stressors may not be avoidable;
• provide adults tools to enable them to identify and cope with stressors encountered in daily life;
• introduce biometrical monitoring at specified intervals and autogenic training    to measure and document improvements in physical, mental and psychological    well-being and health maintenance;
• enhance employer awareness of stressors in the workplace and to work with employees to alleviate those conditions; and
• Improve communications to reduce uncertainty about career development   and future employment prospects.

 
Approach

          A structured retreat environment in a pastoral setting will be provided for participants in one week-end or one- to six-week stress reduction, time and stress management experiences. Participants, selected on the basis of certain qualification criteria, will be provided tools with which to manage and cope with stress factors. These factors will include behavior modifications, life style changes, and cognitive insights to help reduce the intensity of their reactions to stressful situations. The center will have a meditation hall, a yoga classroom, music hall, a common dining room, kitchen, and sleeping quarters with adequate facilities for the participants.

          A structured environment will contribute to the quality of transition into new behavioral responses to stressors. Work sessions lasting about one-half hour each, and comprising a combination of soothing flute music, meditation and breathing techniques for deep, rhythmic breathing, stretching yoga exercises, relaxed walking, working in the garden etc., will be conducted by trained professionals at regular intervals three to four times each day, for stay periods ranging from one week-end to six weeks. Participants will be placed on a carefully planned, nutritious, vegetarian diet, plenty of water and plenty of rest. 

          The programs offered by Konark Center are open to the public.  In addition, the Center will also conduct structured programs for scientific studies of the efficacy of the various modalities used in stress management. Volunteer participants for these studies will be selected on the basis of several criteria – the state of participant’s health (to ensure that no participants have special medical conditions that could render him/her unsuitable for the program), attitudes toward the modalities or methodologies used in the program (which could adversely affect outcomes), the participant’s willingness and ability to make the time commitment to the study etc. There will be daily lectures on various health-related topics, music instruction or listening sessions, yoga and meditation workshops, exercise routines, etc.

          The participant group will be randomly divided into several subgroups of at least six members in each.  One group will be designated the control group. This group will not participate in any of the special programs specifically set up for the study but will carry out their normal activities. The other groups will participate in structured working sessions, each session consisting of a set time for each selected activity. Some parameters will remain constant while other will change in pre-determined variations.  Some of the variable parameters will include listening and/or learning music, instrumental and/or vocal music, yoga exercises, meditation for varying lengths of time, meditation at set times and duration, etc. or different combinations thereof. Constant parameters will include exercise regimens, types of exercises, attendance at lectures, seminars, workshops, class-room teaching and other activities provided at the center.

          The studies will be conducted by a team of professionals which include: music instructors, yoga instructors, meditation instructors, a cardiologist, a biochemist, a biostatistician and a neurologist, assisted by staff paraprofessionals such as nurses’ assistants, and biometric technicians. Other professionals may be brought into the study as needed.

Evaluation Plan

          Three major measurements of clients’ stress hardiness will be made: at the beginning of the retreat, at the end of the retreat, and three months after completing the program. All participants will undergo initial physical examinations onsite by qualified physicians, including biometric measurements such as blood pressure, adrenaline levels, pulse and heart rate, temperature, other indicators of vital functions under normal conditions and at various stress levels.  Thereafter, such measurements will be repeated for each group separately and tabulated separately, twice a week, including an exit exam. Follow-up data collections would be conducted remotely, with results communicated through telecommunications. The data so gathered will be analyzed for statistical significance of variations in the parameters and the methodologies used.

Time Line or Projected Milestones
          During the Spring of 2007, Konark plans to bring a well-known yoga proponent from India to the U.S. to conduct several lecture/demonstration workshops, in various cities throughout the country and to raise funds for the acquisition of land and building for the Konark Center in California. Lectures and workshops will be held in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston, Atlanta, New York area, Chicago, and other places.

          During the year 2007, Konark plans to raise about Five Million dollars ($5,000,000) from corporate sponsors and other interested individuals for acquisition of suitable land and buildings in California, reasonably close to the San Francisco Bay Area. Konark has identified two or three properties which would be highly suitable for its operations. The most ideally suited property is a twenty-eight acre parcel of land, with a planted vineyard which would cost in the neighborhood of Three Million Dollars.  Construction of buildings on the property, such as class rooms, meditation and yoga halls, living quarters, and the like is estimated to cost about Two Million Dollars.  This property will also generate and income in the range of $25,000 - $30,000, which will be used to cover a good part of operational expenses. The balance will be covered by the fees charged to participants of the workshops.

          Starting in the Spring/summer of the year 2007, Konark will offer classes and programs for stress management in rented quarters until such time it is able to acquire land and complete construction of the buildings.  Konark expects to be fully operational in its own buildings by the spring or summer of the year 2008.
         
          BGI is conduct a capital campaign to raise the necessary funds for the buildings and equipment.  BGI is thus seeking donations both from corporate sponsors and individuals towards this worthy cause. All donations, in cash and/or kind, are fully tax-deductible in the U.S.
Project Executive Board

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia: As the Founder/CEO of BGI, the parent company, Pandit Chaurasia is actively involved in the operation of the Center and its various activities.  He heads the music programs of both BGI and the Konark Center and will direct and guide all activities related to music teaching, training, therapy and workshops.

          Pandit Chaurasia is considered the greatest living master of the bamboo flute and performs extensively throughout the world, winning high acclaim from audiences and fellow musicians like Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Jean Pierre Rampal, Egberto Gismonti, John McLaughlin, and a host of others. Pandit Chaurasia heads the World Music Department at the Rotterdam Conservatory. He was invited to perform at the Nobel Peace Prize Award ceremonies in Oslo in 2002.  He has also performed at the Festivals of India in Russia, France, Germany and the U.S. He was awarded the highly prestigious title of “Padma Vibhushan” (national treasure) by the President of India.

Dr. Naras Bhat, M.D., F.A.C.P.: Dr. Bhat is the director of all medical programs.  He oversees the establishment, of approaches and practices of various programs instituted at the Center and will follow the reactions and progress of participants in terms of their biometric responses.  He will also conduct seminars, lectures and demonstration workshops on time management for effective stress control, reversing heart related-problems and general health maintenance.
          Dr. Bhat is a physician, board-certified in Internal Medicine & Immunology, and is also certified in Metabolic Cardiology and Stress Management. He currently teaches at the University of California, Berkeley and was a professor of behavioral medicine at Rosebridge College of Integrative Psychology. Dr. Bhat is the author of the internationally known book, How to Reverse and Prevent Heart Disease and Cancer. He also wrote a course book for his U.C. Berkeley class, Unlearning Test Anxiety and Stress and produced two popular videos, Uprooting Anger and Meditation Prescription.
          Born in India and educated in the West, Dr. Bhat connects Eastern disciplines with Western high-tech medicine using computer feedback systems known as cybernetics. Dr. Bhat is the founder and director of the Cybernetix Medical Institute, located in Concord, California. His active stress and heart disease reversal clinic has training programs for patients, physicians, and health care workers.
          Dr. Bhat has done extensive research on how stress affects the heart from the perspective of heart-centered physiology, called cardio-neuro-immunology. This work focuses on how the heart rate and blood pressure are changed by emotions, such as anger or loving kindness. To further his research, Dr. Bhat traveled to the Himalayas to study the physiology of spiritual sages during meditation by utilizing biofeedback technology. Dr. Bhat is president of The Biofeedback Society of California (2002) and a board member of the mind-body organization, Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (www.aapb.org).
          Dr. Bhat's work has been cited in Time Magazine, Cardiology Today, Business Week, The Contra Costa Times, and The San Francisco Examiner. India Currents also published an article about Dr. Bhat and his healing work. His photo was featured on the cover of the magazine. Medical Economics featured Dr. Bhat's approach to stress control in Strategic Medicine.
          Dr. Bhat has conducted more than 500 seminars on "Do-able Stress Control for the 21st Century" and "Time Management by Attentional Intelligence." Through these seminars, he has shared his wisdom internationally with over 100,000 people. His "Doctor's Doctor" Program has taught thousands of physicians in North America, Europe, and Asia how to recover from the "wounded healer syndrome." In 2001 at England's Cambridge University, Dr. Bhat's presentation: "Time and Focus Management Tools for Stress Control," earned him the honor of being recognized as one of The 2000 Outstanding Scientists of the 21st Century.
Dr. Kusum Bhat, Ph.D.: Dr. Kusum Bhat is the director of psychological evaluations and studies on the effects of stress and the effects of the Center’s programs on the psychological aspects of stress management and health maintenance. Dr. Kusum Bhat is a certified Biofeedback specialist and physician assistant, with a doctorate in Clinical Psychology. She is currently the clinical director of the Cybernetix Medical Institute, as well as a mental health clinical specialist at the Contra Costa County Hospital in Martinez, California. She has also previously interned at the Children's Hospital in Oakland, the Battered Women's Alternative, the Hume Center in Concord, and the Contra Costa County Hospital Psychiatric Emergency Service.

          Dr. Bhat has repeatedly demonstrated her expertise in the field of Biofeedback and Applied Psychophysiology. Her doctoral dissertation was on The Role of Biofeedback Assisted Anger Control in Reversing Heart Disease. Moreover, she has taught at the University of California, Berkeley, and has held workshops all over the world on heart rate variability and anger control, "Emotional Intelligence by Self-disclosure", and "Do-able stress control for the 21st century".

Dr. Shyamala T. Rajender, Ph.D., J.D.: Dr. Shyamala Rajender is the Project Coordinator.  She has had extensive administrative and management experience both in an academic and public service setting. She holds a Ph.D. degree in chemistry and a doctorate in jurisprudence (J.D.) She has been practicing law for nearly thirty years, specializing in intellectual property, immigration and general business litigation. After a brief stint as an associate with the law firm of Townsend & Townsend in San Francisco, CA, she served as Assistant Laboratory Counsel for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for nearly fifteen years dealing with construction contract disputes, intellectual property issues and government procurement. She is a member of the California Bar, the Minnesota Bar, the Patent Bar, Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court, the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association and the American Patent Lawyers’ Association. She serves as a Judicial Arbitrator for the Counties of Alameda and Contra Costa and also as a Judge Pro Tem.  She also served on the California State Bar’s Committee on the Administration of Justice. She is currently a practicing attorney, with offices in San Francisco and Danville, CA.

          Dr. Rajender, is also a musician and a music lover and has made the preservation and promotion of Indian classical music her life’s mission. Along with Pt. Chaurasia, she is a co-founder of BGI.  She also serves as the President, General Counsel and Program Director for BGI.  She often accompanies Pandit Chaurasia on the tanpura in his concerts.

          Dr. Rajender was employed as an assistant professor of chemistry at the Universities of Wyoming and Minnesota for about ten years before she decided to take up law as a career. She has several publications to her credit. She served as the faculty advisor to the Indian Students’ Association at the University of Minnesota and hosted several visiting musicians from India and other countries. She currently devotes most of her time to the promotion of Indian classical music. A few years ago Pt. Chaurasia called upon her to help him in the realization of his dream – the establishment of a gurukul in the U.S. for the promotion, presentation and teaching of his music, and for the achievement of world peace and harmony through world music. She has undertaken the responsibility for that project at BGI. She has recently become heavily involved in expanding the role of music, especially bansuri music, meditation and yoga into the realm of stress reduction and management.
 
          Dr. Rajender also serves as Legal Counsel/Advisor for the Samskriti Society for Indian Performing Arts, based in Houston, TX, the Pandit Jasraj Schools of Music in New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Florida, California and other places and the Vedic Heritage, Inc., in Hempstead, N.Y.  She’s listed in Who’s Who in America, and her monumental success in fighting discrimination in academia has been touted as one of the “Historical Moments in America.” She recently received the “Bharat Gaurav Award” by the International Friendship Society, under the aegis of the Government of India.

          Other musicians and yoga and meditation instructors will also be selected and trained  in conducting classes, supervising and monitoring instruction sessions and programs at the Center. In addition to the luminaries listed above, Konark is further supported by a highly qualified and well-trained technical and administrative staff and technicians to carry out and monitor the various phases and stages of the different programs and planned activities at the Center. The Center also has a well-equipped kitchen, a community dining hall, and a team of trained chef and cooks. The Center will include fully furnished cottages for residential quarters of the participants and staff, central meditation and yoga halls, a library, music rooms and a central auditorium furnished with state-of-the-art audio and video equipment.