5 Ways To Develop Serenity During Anxious Times, With Dr. Bindiya Gandhi
Be kind to those around you. You don’t know what people are going through, but if you offer kindness and compassion, it goes a long way. People always remember how you make them feel!
As a part of my series about the things we can do to develop serenity and support each other during anxious times, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Bindiya Gandhi.
Dr. Bindiya Gandhi of Revive Atlanta MD is double-boarded by the American Board of Family Medicine as well as the American Board of Integrative and Holistic Physicians. She completed her family medicine training from Georgia Regents University/Medical College of Georgia in June 2014. Her interests include integrative, holistic and functional medicine, women’s health, preventative medicine, international medicine, and health care reform.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?
I am an integrative and functional medicine doctor. I have been practicing this way for the last six years. I got into Integrative/Functional medicine because I knew the current health care system was not working. I knew early on there was more to medicine than just medicine and prescriptions. It also took a personal health toll to validate why I needed to go down this route when I was suffering from a rash and conventional medicine wasn’t able to help.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
Since I started my career, helping people get better has been a priority so watching patients improve and autoimmune issues reverse and all over lives improve are all interesting and wonderful to me. I see so many patients and have watched them all improve over the years from helping people get pregnant, to helping people come off of medication. There isn’t one story that sticks out for me, but collectively they all are great achievements.
What advice would you suggest to your colleagues in your industry to thrive and avoid burnout?
I would say learn to manage your stress before stress takes over your life. Incorporate yoga, meditation, self-care to name a few; just do things that bring you joy. If you don’t experience joy, you won’t appreciate your job or what you’re offering to patients.
What advice would you give to other leaders about how to create a fantastic work culture?
That’s a great question. I am still trying to figure that out personally. Having a balanced life as a mother, physician, wife, daughter, and sister would be the ultimate work culture and that is often a daily struggle. I’m always curious to learn from others since I, too, am learning every day.
Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
I recently read Gabby Bernstein’s “Super Attractor,” which resonated with me a lot. I love how she teaches you to manifest your dreams and troubleshoot why things are not working for you since you become your own enemy. I also love how she discusses the other energies out there that are far bigger than us that we need to call upon to help us with our lives.
Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. The past 5 years have been filled with upheaval and political uncertainty. Many people have become anxious just from the dramatic jolts of the news cycle. The fears related to the coronavirus pandemic have only heightened a sense of uncertainty, fear, and loneliness. From your experience or research what are five steps that each of us can take to develop serenity during such uncertain times? Can you please share a story or example for each.
1) Learn to remain calm. Don’t overreact. There’s a lot of uncertainty out there and we have to just trust our higher power and go with the flow and trust there is a far greater reason for this than we will ever know or reason. If we start panicking and overreacting we are just heightening our stress hormones which negatively impacts our immune system and subconsciously manifesting the virus and sickness.
2) If you can’t go outside, learn to go within. Get to know yourself better. Work on some things and take this opportunity to improve aspects of your life of what you want to improve, in general. Don’t just live with the status quo. At the same time, learn to meditate and find a practice that best suits you.
3) Move a little more. Stay active during this time whether you’re going outside for a walk or even finding some movement at home. Not only is this a good time to reconnect with your soul, but your body as well.
4) Enjoy your family! Even though most people are stuck at home (or *gasp* even with their kids), take this opportunity to enjoy time with your loved ones and family. Go back to basics. You won’t be given this opportunity again, so make the best of it.
5) Head back into the Kitchen and learn how to cook and eat nourishing foods for your soul. This is the best time to take control of your health, and the kitchen is the first place to do so. Just because we are quarantined doesn’t’ mean we need to stay inside and eat unhealthy junk food. Take this opportunity to experiment with recipes, try new foods and get more in tune with your body and how to nourish it appropriately.
From your experience or research what are five steps that each of us can take to effectively offer support to those around us who are feeling anxious? Can you explain?
1) Be kind to those around you. You don’t know what people are going through, but if you offer kindness and compassion, it goes a long way. People always remember how you make them feel!
2) Do something nice for someone. Offer someone your generosity by bringing groceries, dropping off dinner to them. Do something sweet for them that they will appreciate. Make them something that can be useful in their day to day life.
3) Talk about what’s going on. Just have a conversation about what’s on your mind or bothering you goes a long way. Express your feeling and listen to what others have to say so you can troubleshoot and learn from each other.
4) Help someone with their “to do” list. Help them fix things around the house that they keep putting on hold. Maybe help start a garden, or change light bulbs — things that often get put on the back burner.
5) Teach something new to someone like teaching them how to cook, teach them how to do pottery, learn to play the piano. If you have a skill set that you can teach someone, that goes a long way!
What are the best resources you would suggest to a person who is feeling anxious?
Right now, Health Journeys is offering free meditation for kids and adults. Take advantage of this: https://free.healthjourneys.com/.
I’m also a huge fan of Dr. Weil’s “4–7–8 Breath” approach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8fjYPC-k2k&t=25s.
Lastly, Dr. Anne Marie Chaison’s Heart-centered meditation is helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBYFzEuDECs
These powerful tools go a long away.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?
I love Mahatma Gandhi’s, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
We are our own reflection. So, if we want to change the world, we need to change ourselves. We can’t expect things to happen for us if we don’t change and are first the catalyst for that change to occur. Often we want things to be different and we expect everyone and everything around us to change but we fail to look within. Remember we have to put the effort first and put the work in and then everything around us will slowly follow suit.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I always say a little goes a long way. Something is better than nothing. So it’s better to do a little movement than none at all. It’s better to eat healthy 10% of the time than to completely eat unhealthy 100% of the time. Over time, a little goes a long way and eventually you will realize that five minutes of meditation you’re doing, your body craves more and you are able to do 30 minutes of uninterrupted meditation effortlessly.
What is the best way our readers can follow you online?
Visit my website: www.DrBindiyaMD.com
Follow me on Instagram: @DrBindiyaMD
Follow me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/drbindiyamd
