I was 22 when I moved to a different US city and needed a new yoga studio. I discovered a place that believed in eastern mysticism perfect for an open-minded spiritualist, which was how I saw myself at the time.

I walked in and a young woman was very excited to see me. She paid attention to my every word, making me feel cared about. I then met with a master, who informed me I was in very poor energetic health and needed to sign up right away. The classes were quirky. Wed do 40 minutes of exercise and meditation to a mix of new age flute music and Michael Jackson. It was far less pretentious than the yoga studios I had visited before. I decided to join for the haggled price of $100 (79) a month.

During my second class, the teacher gave me a healing massage, rubbing my chest with both hands. I started to cry. A friend had killed herself a few weeks before and I was probably more emotionally raw than I realised.

As I got better at yoga, the masters told me I had potential. Within a month, my master had personally requested that I attend a weekend retreat the organisation was hosting in the Arizona desert, where about 400 people spent time doing yoga. Id have to pay my airfare, plus fees to the organisation.

The retreat was fancy: lots of rich Californians in a huge house with a pool, gardens and many outhouses. We were well fed. I made close friends from around the world, forging deep bonds with other members, some sexually charged. I had a good time.

After that, I attended two more retreats. At one, the leader addressed the crowd in the manner of a minister giving a sermon. (There was even a special chair that only he could sit on.) Before he was introduced on the opening night, the crowd was whipped into a frenzy as loud dance music played; a rock star entrance.

During that third event, senior devotees tried to convince me to become a healer, their term for someone who teaches classes. They said, Do you want to save the world? Make that happen by teaching. By then Id sacrificed time and money for the group, and made friends. I had reservations, but was too embarrassed to turn back. I paid several thousand dollars to train, maxing out my credit cards.

Healers are a step below masters who are similar to monks, living in small apartments with other masters and turning over most of their possessions. A close friend who joined around the time I did quit university and spent tens of thousands of dollars from her student loan fund to become a loyal master.

After a few months training, I realised I wasnt seeing my friends and family as much as I used to. The organisation didnt like it if I went on a weekend away with friends. I thought about leaving, but had already paid a years subscription and for more Arizona trips. I figured Id stay and gain from the experience.

As time went on, I struggled. I started reading online accounts of others who felt exploited by the group. I wasnt falling in line, either. Once, a master grabbed me by the shoulders, shouted in my face and shook me, because I wasnt doing what they wanted. I was supposed to be an obedient subject.

The tipping point was when I was told I should leave behind my unconscious family (my parents), as my spiritual family (the organisation) was more important. One master hadnt spoken to his parents for five years. It was tough, he told me, but said that saving the world was far more important. I know he believed he was doing the right thing. He was just fully indoctrinated.

I spent six months with the organisation. I didnt want to be convinced to stay, so when I left I basically ghosted everyone. I still felt I owed them an explanation, though. In the end, I sent them a postcard, saying, Good luck on your path, but this is not my path. They never wrote back.

The only time I saw anyone from there again was a decade later, on the front page of a magazine. The article described the organisation as a cult, outlining its brainwashing tactics and speaking to several former members I knew. From some of their stories, Im glad I got out when I did.

As told to Jack Needham

Do you have an experience to share? Email experience@theguardian.com

Continued here:
Experience: my yoga class turned out to be a cult - The Guardian

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Lenovo releases a new video to highlight the features of the upcoming Yoga Duet 7i - MSPoweruser - MSPoweruser

By: Parenting Desk | New Delhi | Published: June 30, 2020 6:00:56 pm At times like these, it is very important to reduce your stress. There are some measures you can take, yoga being one of the important ones. (Source: Getty/Thinkstock)

By Dr Anindita Singh

Thousands of couples grapple with fertility issues across the world today and causes for this are plenty. However, stress being the common factor can adversely affect fertility and, in fact, lack of work-life balance can trigger infertility, apart from other aspects like sedentary lifestyle, eating habits and lack of exercise to name a few. To top it all, we are even dealing with a pandemic now. In such trying times, when your body and mind are both dealing with so many issues and emotions, conceiving a child becomes difficult thus leading to disappointment, anxiety and frustration among couples.

At times like these, it is very important to reduce your stress. Of course it is easier said than done. But there are some measures you can take, yoga being one of the important ones.

Can yoga improve fertility?

There are many studies that show that yoga provides benefits to women who are trying to bear a child. Other research studies indicate that yoga can really help couples who are undergoing fertility treatments. That is why, there are many fertility clinics who offer fertility yoga as one of their services. Fertility Yoga consists of a certain set of yoga asanas that will help in improving the chances of conceiving. There are many benefits of practicing yoga while trying to get pregnant, some of them are:

ALSO READ |7 important things to understand about your fertility

Reduces stress

The most important benefit of yoga is that it relieves stress. Stress is a known cause of infertility in many people. It is known that women with higher levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) have a lesser chance of getting pregnant than others. Cortisol interferes with ovulation that leads to reduction in chances of conception. Many couples who are struggling to conceive or are undergoing fertility treatments tend to be anxious/stressed, which is of course natural. The process is all about waiting and when they fail to conceive, even after trying a lot, people tend to get even more anxious and depressed. Many times, people even get angry at their bodies for failing to do what they want.

Yoga helps you lower the stress levels and help you achieve the necessary physical and mental peace that is important to increase your chances of having a baby.

Improves circulation

There might be certain blockages in your reproductive system that may be hindering your chances of getting pregnant, yoga helps in increasing the blood circulation in your body as it flushes out all the toxins from your blood. It helps you detoxify and prevents any health issues that may arise.

ALSO READ |As lockdown eases, can you resume IVF treatment? A doc explains

Hormonal balance

Hormonal imbalance has become a common cause for problems related to fertility. A healthy endocrine system (a network of glands that produces different hormones which includes thyroid, adrenaline and sex hormones) is essential to achieve optimal fertility. Yoga helps you keep your hormone levels under control.

Reconnect with yourself

In the hustle and bustle of our daily lives we forget to take care of our health. Yoga is a great way to step away from everything else, all your worries and try to focus on just yourself. Listening to your body while trying to conceive a baby is highly important. Whenever you fall sick, both your body and mind are telling you to stop. It is very easy to be frustrated with your bodies when you are dealing with fertility issues. But you have to remember that your body also has certain needs and you need to listen to it, if you want to improve your chances of having a baby. Yoga helps you do exactly this. It will give women a sense of connect with her fertility cycle and find a sense of empowerment.

Yoga asanas that will help you boost your fertility:

Yoga poses when combined with deep breathing are a great way to help you conceive. Some of the exercises you can try are:

ALSO READ |Pregnancy myth vs fact: Does IVF yield better results in summers?

Paschimottasana: This is an asana done to stretch your lower back muscles, hips and hamstrings. It reduces mental stress and is good for parts of your reproductive system like ovaries and the stomach.

Janu Sirsasana: Also known as the one-legged forward bend, this asana stretches the calves and the hamstrings and also relaxes the muscles of your body.

Baddha Konasana: Commonly known as the butterfly pose, it helps in stretching the muscles of your inner thighs, hips, knees and genitals. Practicing this regularly can also help in smoother delivery process when the time comes.

Bhramari Pranayama: A great yoga asana to improve your breathing. This asana is a must for people trying to reduce their stress levels.

Supta Baddha Konasana: This asana helps in opening up the hip area. It strengthens your inner thigh muscles and helps to reduce bloating and stress.

Balasana: Also known as the childs pose, this asana resembles a foetal position. It is helpful in stretching the muscles of your thighs, knees, back and hips. Remember to do this one on an empty stomach.

ALSO READ |Shilpa Shetty says she has the APLA disease; find out what it is

These are just a few asanas that will help you enhance your fertility. Of course, one should remember that yoga is not a one-stop solution. It does not guarantee a baby, but improves your chances of conceiving. It should also be coupled with accurate and proper diagnosis by a doctor and a healthy balanced meal coupled with good sleep hygiene as well. So have a frank discussion with your doctor about your fertility issues, start the necessary treatment and along with that start practising yoga so one day you can enjoy the joy of motherhood.

(The writer is Fertility Consultant, Nova IVF Fertility, Kolkata)

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Yoga and fertility: Asanas to help boost fertility in women - The Indian Express

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Bringing our city to your living room

Weve all been dreaming of a holiday while stuck inside over lockdown, but Londoners dont have to escape the city to hit the beach.

A pop-up is coming to Fulhams Neverland next week, welcoming guests to take part in new socially distanced yoga sessions on the sand, surrounded by palm trees and beach huts.

From July 11, the venue is hosting classes at the riverside spot every weekend from 10.30pm with Pop Up Yoga Club founder Cassie McClements and other instructors. Spaces will be limited to five people under current Covid regulations, with a range of different sessions catering to experts and beginners alike.

Guests will each have a socially distanced mat space for classes. Tickets cost 20 and can be booked here.

McClements said: Pop Up Yoga Club is all about people experiencing yoga in a totally unique location, bringing it out of the studio, and in this case, onto the beach.

"Theres nothing more grounding than sand between your toes, and I cant wait to get stretchy with everyone this summer.

For more information, head here

View original post here:
A pop-up beach with socially distanced yoga is coming to London next week - Evening Standard

The police booked two other women were also part of the NGO (Representative Image). |  Photo Credit: iStock Images

Ahmedabad: A 35-year-old woman was allegedly raped and confined to a room for over one year at an ashram in Gujarat. Three persons were arrested over their involvement in the incident and soon after, the police also arrested three other people who allegedly blackmailed the rape accused.

Three men, identified as Raghuram Bhagat, Jagdish Bhagat and Bhavesh Bhagat were nabbed for raping the woman on multiple occasions and confining her to a room in Sat Devidas Ashram in Amreli for one-and-a-half years.

Days later, the cops arrested- Pravin Rathod, Ramesh Maru and Jigyesh Manvar for attempting to extort money from the rape accused using a video of the survivor and for defaming her. Pravin, Ramesh and Jigyesh claimed to be members of an NGO. The police also booked two other women were also part of the NGO. An investigation revealed that the NGO was unregistered.

On June 20, a rape case was filed by the Damnagar police. During the investigation, the police identified the accused who claimed to be 'Sadhu Bhagat' or devotees of a sadhu. The three men told the police that they were members one of Swami Narayan's sects and stayed in Sat Devidas Ashram in Amreli.

As per the police complaint, the three accused brought the woman from Botad to Amreli for labour work. Following this, the accused raped her on multiple occasions. The accused also threatened to frame the survivor in a theft case, warning her against sharing the incident with anyone, The Indian Express reported.

After the accused were arrested, three persons claiming to be members of an unregistered NGO approached the woman and offered to help her. The three NGO workers recorded a video of the woman and uploaded it on social media without her permission. After uploading the video, the three men asked the rape accused to pay Rs 45 lakh.

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The accused arrested the three NGO workers and also booked two other women in relation to the case. The five persons were booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Excerpt from:

Woman raped, confined for over 1 year in Gujarat ashram; accused blackmailed by 'NGO workers' - Times Now

By Express News Service

KURNOOL: Armed with just his courage and willpower, a 10-year-old started walking from Hyderabad to Bengaluru, pushing a wheelchair with his physically- challenged mother and oneyear- old sister. His goal was to reunite with his three siblings, who were sheltered in an ashram in Bengaluru. He was found near Kurnool, about 350 km from Hyderabad. The tale of this child, Shah Rukh, came to light after Veldurthi Sub Inspector T Narendra Kumar Reddy went to help him on hearing of his plight from the locals on Saturday night, and shifted the family to Bengaluru with help from Dhronachalam Seva Samithi, a voluntary organisation.

Speaking to The New Indian Express, Narendra Kumar said Shah Rukhs mother Haseena is a native of Uttar Pradesh. After she lost her husband, she went to Hyderabad with her five children, and was eking out a living by seeking alms. Before the lockdown was enforced, three of her children were taken to an ashram for orphans and destitute people in Bengaluru by an acquaintance. She too was to go, but was forced to stay in Hyderabad due to the lockdown.

During the lockdown, Haseena found it hard to survive and was eager to be reunited with her three children in Bengaluru. However, as transportation options were limited and she did not have enough money, she and her son Shah Rukh managed to get a foldable wheelchair from a hospital, and decided to head to Bengaluru. Their journey began in the first week of June, when the lockdown restrictions were relaxed. Shah Rukh managed to push the wheelchair with his mother and sister till Veladurthi, near Kurnool town, which is about 350 km from Hyderabad. When locals noticed them at a roadside dhaba on National Highway 44 on Saturday night, they alerted Narendra Kumar Reddy, who went there, took them to a local shelter, and gave them food.

Shah Rukhs courage in wheeling his mother and sister has greatly moved me. Though he is 10 years old, his determination to help his mother reunite with her other children is moving, the sub inspector said. To help the family, members of Dhronachalam Seva Samithi were roped in and the family was taken to the ashram in Bengaluru on Sunday night, he added, and thanked Dhorachalam Seva Samithi and two youngsters - Shiva and Ravi Teja - who alerted him.

Excerpt from:

10-year-old pushes mom and sister on wheelchair for 350 km - The New Indian Express

Rihaan* came out to his parents in the summer of 2008 three days after they created a profile for him on a matrimonial site. His conservative upper-class family in Pune reacted badly. There was confusion, rage, tears. My father begged me to meet a psychiatrist, who instantly diagnosed my condition as mother-fixation. Rihaans treatment started the same week. First it was coercion and counselling; then he was given medicines and dragged to brothels.

Then came the final sitting to reverse my orientation and cure the disorder. I was locked into a room wallpapered with pictures of nude men and they gave me some injections that made me throw up. I retched the entire day, collapsing in between, then waking up covered in vomit. Two days later the session was repeated and I was shown gay porn. Within a couple of weeks Rihaan was a defeated man. Panic rose in my chest even at the mention of same-sex attraction. My parents were summoned and officially informed that my conversion was complete. I lived like a zombie those days. I was heavily dependent on medicines and each time I tried to stop, I was ravaged by withdrawal symptoms. I contemplated suicide. Then, before I knew it, I was married to a cis woman.

Rihaans marriage lasted five months, but more than 10 years later, he still gets panic attacks. He has no career or confidence. I am unable to have a meaningful relationship and at times the shame and pain are unbearable, he says. Now, Rihaan is finally on the road to recovery.

Curing queerness

Not everyone is so lucky. Anjana Harish, the 21-year-old queer student from Kerala who was found dead in Goa last month, was also subjected to conversion therapy. Her friends say that Harish live-streamed a video revealing the torture she had to endure from pseudo-therapists.

Disturbingly, it looks like the discredited concept of conversion therapy is still being practised. Claiming to cure queerness, it can involve everything from shock treatment to exorcism and hormones to psychotropic drugs and kindling a sense of shame. According to medical experts, it causes irreparable damage to the mental health of victims.

Members of the LGBTQIA+ community say conversion therapy is practised in stealth. The patients are taken to psychiatric wards in hospitals or de-addiction centres with falsified files. When Jay*, a trans man from Ahmedabad, consulted a psychiatrist at a government facility for sex reassignment surgery, the doctor insisted that he go through conversion therapy first. I am a 43-year-old gazetted officer and I went there with some community members. If they could try to coerce me, think about what they must do to younger people with no support, says Jay.

Quacks and clerics

This so-called therapy is dished out not just by unscrupulous health professionals but also by preachers, naturopaths, shamans, and religious establishments. When Marie* told her parents in Coimbatore that she was a trans woman, they asked her to attend a course at an ashram the family used to frequent. On the second day of the course, I woke up in another place where I was held prisoner for two months, she says. I was slapped, body-shamed and sexually abused for being a sinner and acting against the divine plan.

Realising there was no point in fighting, Marie stopped reacting and convinced them that she had changed. I was sent home where I continued the charade for two more months. At the very first opportunity, I fled and never went back. Marie has since undergone sex reassignment surgery and works as a doctor in a hill station where nobody knows her past. I survived because I stayed vigilant from the beginning. Once they break your spirit, there is no going back.

Salmas* relationship with another girl became a scandal that rocked her hometown, Lucknow. It was a cleric who advised the family to keep her in isolation; she was raped multiple times by a close relative, a man she called kaka (uncle). In India, religious institutions and representatives play a big part in promoting conversion therapy. In the West, groups like Exodus International openly promoted conversion therapy across nearly 20 countries, but it has been more hush-hush here, with saints, pastors and babas doing it on the sly. Organised groups operate as de-addiction centres, prayer groups or ashrams.

Against the law

We condemn conversion therapy. Its unlawful, says P.K. Dalal, President, Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS). IPS has taken a strong stand against it. We have a protocol when it comes to such cases and we will soon be coming out with a statement, he adds.

Although there is no specific law prohibiting conversion therapy, legal experts emphasise that the practice violates the Right to Privacy enshrined under Article 21. If sexual abuse is involved, its an IPC offence anyway and now we have the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, that gives a lot of agency to individuals, says Sandhya Raju, an advocate at the Kerala High Court and a member of the Human Rights Law Network. Once mental health review boards are constituted as part of enforcing the law, the community can use it to protect their rights.

If the practice is used against children below 18, the law is even more stringent. Parents can be booked under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. Prijith P.K., president of the Thiruvananthapuram-based Queerythm, which operates a 24x7 helpline for LGBTQIA+ people, says, Very often parents are involved, and doctors claim the treatment is for depression or schizophrenia. He thinks new legislation is needed to address the issue. While transpersons are protected under the NALSA judgment, other segments including gays, lesbians and bisexuals have no legal support. Same-sex marriages are still not legal in India. We talk about inclusivity and awareness, but legal backing is very important to achieve that goal. When the discrimination ends, the rest will follow, he says.

While most such practitioners are quacks, there are some who strongly believe they are offering a service. A Kerala-based psychiatrist who practises conversion therapy said, on condition of anonymity, that his patients undergo the treatment willingly as its easier to live as a heterosexual individual.

According to him, many of his patients now have a family and children. But he admits that many of them return due to marital discord and are on endless medication for depression.

A Hyderabad-based sexologist is equally confident. He offers different programmes tailored to the severity of queerness and says, You can fix most homosexuals with hormone therapy. Psychiatric interventions have been successful in most cases Ive treated. For example, testosterone injections can reverse same-sex desire to a great extent while some people respond to behavioural therapy.

He refuses to share his methods and says sexual deviance often springs from childhood sexual abuse and conditioning. He believes he is helping queer people by reaffirming their real orientation or gender identity, making them acceptable, and protecting the honour of their families.

Hypnotised, lobotomised

The origins of this clandestine practice date back to the 19th century, when deviant sexual orientations were considered sinful or criminal. One of the first documented cases comes from the accounts of Albert von Schrenck-Notzing, a German physician who reportedly used hypnosis to cure homosexuality in the 1890s.

By the early 1900s, practitioners worldwide began to use hypnosis as well as electroconvulsive therapy and sometimes surgical procedures like lobotomy. People were tortured, castrated and subjected to sordid corrective measures. Aversion therapy, of the kind Rihaan underwent, was portrayed in Stanley Kubricks 1971 film A Clockwork Orange.

In India, the Department of Psychiatry at AIIMS, New Delhi, conducted a study to reverse sexual orientation between 1977and 1982. The subjects were six homosexual people, who were administered electric shocks using an aversion therapy apparatus set at 50 volts to control their homoerotic fantasies. The report claimed that four persons were successfully reoriented. By the 2000s, several doctors and healers had popped up across the country.

In May this year, the U.N. published a report cataloguing the severe and everlasting impacts of conversion therapy. The report says, Attempts to pathologize and erase the identity of individuals, negate their existence as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or gender diverse and provoke self-loathing have profound consequences on their physical and psychological integrity and well-being. It urges governments to ban conversion therapy. So far only five countries Germany (for under-18s), Malta, Ecuador, Brazil, Taiwan have drawn up bills making it illegal, but efforts are on in other countries too.

At the most basic level, conversion therapy is unethical and a human rights violation. Even after the Supreme Court decriminalised consensual same-sex relationships by striking down Section 377 and came out with the historic NALSA judgment to protect transgender rights, Indian society is far from queer-friendly: LGBTQIA+ individuals still face violence, hostility and stigma. And a very real threat to their mental and physical health.

The Turing Effect

In January 1952, English mathematician Alan Turing, who played an important role in breaking German war codes during WW II,

was charged under the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1885 for being in a sexual relationship with a man. Turing, who would later become famous as the father of modern computer science and artificial intelligence, was convicted. He was made to undergo hormonal therapy or chemical castration for one year, which reportedly made him impotent and led to the formation of breast tissue. Turing was also barred from continuing his government work.

In June 1954, two weeks before he turned 42, Turing was found dead at home, by apparent suicide, although subsequent reports claimed his death may have been due to accidental poisoning. Turings path-breaking research and his persecution were the subject of the 2014 Oscar-winning film, The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. In December 2013, Queen Elizabeth II overturned Turings conviction. And in September 2016, the U.K. government said it would extend the retroactive exoneration to other men convicted similarly, under a new Alan Turing law.

*Names changed to protect identity.

More:

Shock treatment, exorcism, psychotropic drugs: behind conversion therapy for queers - The Hindu

From Malaika Arora To Karanvir Bohra TV & Film Actors Laud Government For Banning Chinese Apps (Pic credit: Vishal Dadlani/Karanvir Bohra/Facebook )

The governments decision to ban 59 Chinese applications, including TikTok, has been lauded by a lot of celebrities from the film and TV industry.

Malaika Arora considers the move as the best news she has heard in lockdown so far.

Finally, we will not be subjected to peoples ridiculous videos, she wrote on Instagram Stories.

According to Shararat fame Karanvir Bohra, blocking of Chinese applications is a great start.

Happy with the step our government had taken.people wonder what they can do for their country? Id say every bit counts, this is a good start.#DELETE #ChineseAppsBlocked, Karanvir said.

Actor Kushal Tandon is extremely happy. For the uninitiated, Kushal has been protesting against the use of Chinese applications, especially TikTok, for a long time. Finally some good news, he wrote.

Actor Ashmit Patel too called it the best news

It made my day, Ashmit added.

Thank youu for saving our country. This Virus named TikTok should never be allowed again, Nia Sharma tweeted.

Actor Nikitin Dheer shared advantages of banning Chinese applications.

A start to cutting off revenue, spyware, malware etc. And m****s asking why dont we attack China it just shows how ignorant you are, army doesnt need our advice on how to , if you have not read, a lot of industrial contracts have been cancelled, he wrote.

However, it seems music composer Vishal Dadlani is not impressed by the governments decision.

He tweeted: Banning Apps is to China, what Taali/Diyas were to coronavirus.

The Narendra Modi government on Monday banned 59 Chinese applications over national security concerns amid strained India-China relations after the death of 20 Indian soldiers in the Galwan Valley clash with Chinese PLA troops in eastern Ladakh. The apps banned include TikTok, WeChat, WeSync, SelfieCity, Helo, UC Browser, Shareit, Kwai, Likee, and the game Clash Of Kings, which were popular in India.

Android & IOS users, download our mobile app for faster than ever Bollywood & Box Office updates!

The post From Malaika Arora To Karanvir Bohra TV & Film Actors Laud Government For Banning Chinese Apps appeared first on Koimoi.

Original post:
Tamannaah Bhatia Shares Fitness Tips With Fans & It's All The Motivation You Need Today | Ydraft - Ydraft

The impact of the coronavirus epidemic on the workplace has been far-reaching with many employers discovering that while there were certainly benefits to working at home, there were also a number of setbacks.

In fact, a recent survey conducted by digital marketing agency BlueGhost Czech polled team members across a number of sectors who said that working from home presented challenges: no overview of who is working on what, long energy-sapping virtual meetings, and an overall lack of productivity.

Nothing can hinder engagement like uncertainty and nothing can lead to low productivity and heavy losses like a lack of engagement says mentor and coach Rainer Bach, the founder of MyFeedBach, a company that specializes in helping frontline managers increase team motivation and engagement.

Bach says that a strong focus on the motivational aspect of leadership and a people-centered approach is now more important than ever.

The basic needs of employees autonomy, competence, and connectedness have not changed because they work from home, but the circumstances under which to satisfy them have, he says.

Bachs newly launched five-step mentoring program D.R.I.V.E. is a unique blend of coaching and training that combines his research and extensive experiences in leadership roles, particularly in the IT sector. It aims to help frontline managers who are experiencing low engagement in their teams.

Bach, who held a leadership position at Deutsche Telekom for more than two decades, started his freelance consulting career in 2014. During this time he helped a number of large clients in Prague lead digital transformation programs.

It was then that he realized how those in the project management roles were struggling to get things done in cross-functional teams.

They were feeling overloaded with functional and administrative tasks, he recalls. Project Managers typically didnt have time to care for the needs of the experts doing the actual work, and that had an immediate impact on those peoples engagement.

Bach discovered that a lack of care and the resulting frustration of employees needs also led to disengagement.

The line managers I observed didnt intend to give their direct reports a hard time. Being under pressure themselves, they were often failing to care for and motivate their people, he says.

One common problem he witnessed, particularly in the IT sector, was that those in charge often viewed themselves as subject matter experts above all.

Getting deeply technically involved, their analytical brain was operating at full capacity while their social brain, shut down. This makes sense because science shows us they are mutually exclusive, says Bach whose science-based D.R.I.V.E. program incorporates his studies into the psychology of employee engagement.

Bach, who has led popular seminars and workshops at co-working hubs around Prague also stresses the importance of helping those in leadership roles to understand their employees basic psychological needs and how to cater to them and in turn unlock their employees hidden capacities and talents.

Unawareness of what truly makes people go above and beyond and trying to approach motivation in a costly hit-or-miss kind of way often results in employee dissatisfaction, he says.

For knowledge workers of the digital age, Bach says opportunities for meaningful and challenging work, task ownership, and personal growth drive motivation not bonuses, incentives, gifts, or awards.

Bach recalls seeing people feeling bad despite having received a bonus because they were the only ones considered, even though the success was a team effort. On the contrary, he vividly remembers people around me having been on cloud 9 for days simply because they made progress on their work which they truly felt attached to.

He believes that motivationally savvy team leaders understand what people are intrinsically driven by and support them in getting there. Less skilled leaders run the risk of thwarting peoples needs and drive employees into disengagement.

There is the old saying that people leave managers and not companies. It rightly suggests that the direct manager takes the lion share when it comes to influencing the well-being and, therefore, the engagement of the individual, says Bach, whose program encourages managers to value their peoples daily needs, while interacting with empathy.

When people give reasons for their frustration or for leaving a job, it almost always starts with My manager and continues doesnt support my growth, doesnt give me meaningful work, ignores my ideas for change, or micromanages me, Bach adds.

He is convinced that when you listen and act upon your employees needs, you engage their competencies fully helping them develop into proactive problem solvers who ensure the smooth flow of business operations and ultimately contribute creatively to your firms innovation and success,

In the end, Bach believes that team leaders whose teams lag far behind in their targets due to low employee satisfaction will benefit greatly from his new program, which ratchets up leaders motivational skills while ensuring learning retention and goal attainment with follow up coaching.

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People want to help each other, even when it costs them something and even when the motivations to help dont always align, a new study suggests.

In research published earlier this month in the journal Science Advances, sociologists found that people overwhelmingly chose to be generous to otherseven to strangers, and even when it seems one motivation to help might crowd out another.

It is the first study to examine how all the established motivations to be generous interact with one another.

We wanted to do an exhaustive study to see what the effects of those motivations would be when combinedbecause they are combined in the real world, where people are making choices about how generous or kind to be with one another, said David Melamed, lead author of the study and an associate professor of sociology at The Ohio State University.

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The study involved more than 700 people, and was designed to help researchers understand prosocial behavior.

It means doing something for someone else at a cost to yourself, Melamed said. So one example would be paying for the person behind yous order at the coffee shop. Or right now, wearing your mask in public. Its a cost to you; its uncomfortable. But you contribute to the public good by wearing it and not spreading the virus.

Scientists previously had determined that four motivators influenced people to behave in a way that benefited other people.

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One: The recipient of a kindness is inclined to do something nice for the giver in return. Two: A person is motivated to do something nice to someone that she saw be generous to a third person. Three: A person is likely to do good in the presence of people in their network who might reward their generosity. And four: A person is likely to pay it forward to someone else if someone has done something nice for her.

Those four motivators had all been studied isolated from one another, and some had been studied as a pairbut until this experiment, scientists had not conducted a comprehensive study about how the four motivators might affect one another in the real world, where the motivation to be kind to others might be influenced by multiple factors.

In the real world, the conditions under which people are nice to each other are not isolatedpeople are embedded in their networks, and theyre going about their daily lives and coming into contact with things that will affect their decisions, Melamed said. And these experiments show that all the motivations work. If you want to maximize prosocial behavior, it was a really great thing to see.

CHECK OUT: The Science of KindnessBiology Proves How We Are All Connected

For this study, which was done online, participants had to decide how much of a 10-point endowment to give to other people. The points had monetary value to the participants; giving cost them something.

Then the researchers created different scenarios that combined one or all four of the potential motivators for giving.

Melamed said that prior to the experiment, he thought the motivations for kindness might crowd one another out. For example, a person may be less apt to indirectly reward anothers generosity toward a third person when he is focused on directly giving back help that he received.

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People have a self-bias, he said. If you do something nice for me, I may weigh that more than if I see you do something nice for someone elsebut we found that all the motivators still show up as predictors of how much a person is willing to give to someone else, regardless of how the differing motivators are combined.

This research helps us understand the remarkable quantity and diversity of prosocial behavior we see in humans, Melamed said.

From an evolutionary perspective, its kind of perplexing that it even exists, because youre decreasing your own fitness on behalf of others, Melamed said. And yet, we see it in bees and ants, and humans and throughout all of nature.

Reprinted from Ohio State University file photo by Toa Heftiba

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People Try to Do Right by Each OtherNo Matter the Motivation, Says New Scientific Study - Good News Network