Bell the Mind is the brainchild of Subbalakshmi Kumar who has been practicing mindfulness for over 10 years now. She did her Vipassana – the 10 days silent meditation retreat in 2008 after which she did several courses in demystifying mindfulness, Buddhist meditation and psychology.
She has developed programs that help you to be mindful, productive and enjoy better relations with your boss, spouse or friend. These are neither religiously inclined nor having that ‘keep-away-from-religion’ format.
Subbalakshmi has developed a psychological approach, in first understanding how and why the mind works in this way, then what we can do about it and finally how to go about being mindful. She also stresses on the point that being mindful is not a solution to problems but a way of dealing with them. Subbalakshmi has a doctoral degree in education for sustainable development and believes that practising mindfulness helps in converting our good intentions of saving the planet into actions that save the planet.
In her past life, Subbalakshmi had been a country project manager for India with over 12 years of experience in leading, designing and implementing projects related to sustainable development, child rights and global issues in over a hundred schools and colleges in Mumbai and Pune in partnership with universities and organisations in the United Kingdom and Kenya. Before that she was a teacher educator with a short stint as principal for 10 years in a reputed teacher-training college in Mumbai.
Subbalakshmi also applies her mindfulness to teaching, conducting workshops, coaching, writing, healthy eating and relationships. She is mindlessly nuts about chocolates and offsets all those calories by hiking up the Pashan Hills or golfing.
Archana Devar Verma
Archana has worked for early-stage companies and plays many roles as most early team members do. She is passionate about user centered design and brings in her expertise to help develop and co-create programs centered around people.
Archana has been a Project Manager with over 8+ years of experience in designing and implementing impact focused programs in India and Africa. She has extensive experience in leading the management of global projects with international teams and budgets.
Archana believed in multi-tasking and delivering projects at high speed in tight timelines, all great for work but this led to her eventual burnout. She had to take a step back and evaluate what was important for her and practice being present in her everyday life.
Archana, like most new mothers, took a sabbatical to be present with her newborn in his early years. Being around a toddler gives her very little time for herself, but she still manages to read books (which take half a year to complete) and is passionate to save the forests of the world.
Bell The Mind 
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