Date: June 20, 2025
Venue: Online
Management Development Institute (MDI), Murshidabad invited Dr. Beloo Mehra, Director, BhāratShakti, Sri Aurobindo Society, to be part of a special Faculty Research Seminar Series on June 20, 2025. The Faculty Research Seminar Series aims to bring forward conversations that help faculty members and research scholars connect timeless traditions with the future of education and leadership. The purpose is to engage the educators in a reflective process to explore how the insights shared by the invited speakers can guide them in developing responsible, adaptable, and human-centric business leaders.
The special online event organised by MDI, Murshidabad on June 20, 2025, also marked the International Yoga Day through a panel of speakers who explored some deep connections between yoga, wellness, and leadership.
The session brought together Mr. Eddie Stern (Founder of The Breathing App & Broome Street Yoga), Prof. Sat Bir Khalsa (Harvard Medical School), and Dr. Beloo Mehra (BhāratShakti, Sri Aurobindo Society) to share their perspectives on how yoga can foster inner quietude, influence mental health, and shape responsible leadership in a rapidly changing world.
The talks provided valuable perspectives from neuroscience, physiology, yoga psychology and Sri Aurobindo’s wisdom, offering a comprehensive view of how the practice of yoga can empower future business leaders to make decisions with greater awareness, compassion, and integrity. Each speaker brought extensive expertise and a deep understanding of the role these practices can play in developing a more balanced and purposeful approach to leadership.
In her talk, Dr. Beloo Mehra briefly discussed what is meant by Sri Aurobindo’s insight, ‘All Life is Yoga’ and what are its possible implications on the world of business management and leadership. Integrating traditional Indian wisdom and insights from Sri Aurobindo, she also shared a few specific points which throw light on the rightful place of business and money in the larger collective life of humanity.
Highlighting that Yoga is practical psychology, Dr. Mehra spoke about how all life and work can be seen as means for inner growth and progress. In this regard, she brought the audiences’ attention to some of the insights from Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s guidance on cultivating right attitude towards work if it is to be done in a yogic spirit. She also discussed briefly the yogic spirit in which we should look at money, and its effectiveness in creating a more harmonious outer life on physical and vital planes.
Dr. Mehra also highlighted a few points about psycho-spiritual insights on who is an effective leader. Pointing out some of the inner qualities a leader must cultivate in order to purposefully guide the overall growth of the organisation as well as ensure the holistic well-being and effectiveness of the people working in the organisation, she suggested that the four-fold approach of integral development incorporating Wisdom, Strength, Harmony and Dexterity can be incorporated as a leadership framework.