Reflecting on Myself:
Manisha Lohia
Qualified as an accountancy graduate, Manisha with her love for children ventured into the domain of learning the psychology of nurturing children in the right way. She certified with extensive training from the London Montessori Centre as a Montessori Educator and embarked upon the journey of delivering what she had learnt to shape young minds.
The first step for her was when she conceived a baby while she was on the verge of giving her final exams for the International Montessori Degree. A breakthrough moment was when she was studying about THE SPIRITUAL EMBRYO in her certificate course. The child in the womb of the mother picks up every sensation from her and is growing in a dark chamber confined within. What the mother does during this period impacts upon the physical, mental and spiritual being of the growing foetus. This had transformed her completely.
Thus began her first journey of implementation with her own growing foetus. Subconsciously and consciously whatever were the right things she was able for her baby. Physically active with walking, yoga and swimming till the eighth month of pregnancy and eating well not for two (which is the general myth). Mentally occupied with some creative pursuits of teaching, creating, writing, examinee for the ongoing batch of Montessori students. Spiritually aligning herself to playing soulful music for her child and being in groups of right-minded spiritual people on a daily basis. This helped her deliver a world class citizen who was birthed with these values and has grown into aligning himself into each of these parameters.
On the social front she has worked with children from under privileged background in Kolkata Loreto High Girls School, My School Satya Surabhi in Kodaikanal, Bala Vidya Mandir in Chennai and many more NGO’s. On the professional front, she started Vatsalaya Montessori House for children in Chennai (the first of a kind in Annanagar area in 2002), set up the Montessori Department in Lady Andal Matriculation School in Chennai in 2007. As a Kathak Dancer she started training children from the age of 8 to 14 along with her teacher Smt. Jigyasa Giri in Devaniya, a school for aspiring Kathak dancers.
Along with this she initiated an audio video interactive emagazine, “ iSpark Aspire to Inspire” for children emphasizing on India to the world as her key concept for imparting values to children. This was blessed by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam in Rashtrapati Bhavan in January 2014. In 2016 she started iSpark Holistic Happiness Studio in Chennai for children to focus on holistic development aligning them to a healthy body, mind and soul. The vision has been igniting sparks of happiness with a physically active and agile body, strong thunderbolt like mind and peaceful inner being…
Her personal focus is on creating and grooming pregnant women right from the conception state to be able to deliver healthy young babies. She has worked on many such mothers and has received alarming responses, her own self, being the first one in this journey. The Holistic Happiness Studio has trained colleagues who deliver the ideology and philosophy of iSpark through her close mentoring to each one of them. The program ranges for children from the ages of eighteen months to seven years; seven to fourteen years and as they grow older with careful hand holding.
Like her son Vedant who is 24 years and is pursuing his masters in Imperial College London with a scholarship, she aspires to create every child into world class citizens who inspire others to aspire and keep igniting sparks of happiness in all.