The Heart is the seat of all emotions. The influence of emotions on the body and mind cannot be underestimated. It can completely control both and can either galvanize or paralyze the two. Work done by social scientists on the subject (Daniel Goleman, Dr. Paul Ekman) have revealed the crucial place of emotions in the functioning of the human being. This merely ratifies what spiritual masters and many spiritual traditions from time immemorial have been emphasizing. The spiritual heart is given a preeminent status asĀ  a point of contemplation and meditation for the advancement of the spiritual aspirant.

Emotional Quotient is given as much, if not more, prominence than IQ in the world currently. How high or low is the EQ of an individual really determines their ability to complete a given task with the least amount of disturbance. Globally, societies have woken up to the necessity of emotional well being. For only emotionally intelligent and aware human beings can establish a harmonious environment that fosters creativity and the drive towards excellence.

Conventional educational systems that have been built around the supremacy of the mind followed by the body have not accorded enough importance to the heart or the emotions. No true learning can happen until a child is in an emotionally stable state. Most often the child is held hostage to a whole range of emotions and impulses owing to various stimuli from the external environment. This impedes their learning process and makes them susceptible to laziness, procrastination, prevarication, forgetfulness, distractedness of one kind or another.

At Imara, the endeavour is to first make the children aware of the play of emotions within them. From there, the next step is for them to be able to control the emotions and then, eventually, to master them. When the heart is calm and quiet, the mind and the body are freed to do their work to the best of their abilities.