Meet an innoFaither is our series to introduce the inspiring optimists in the innoFaith world and what they’re working on and thinking about. We hope it helps you find and engage with each other across the network to advance faith-rooted social innovation and interfaith collaboration for social impact. Or just meet some cool people.
Meet Bela Shah, former director of the Dalai Lama Fellows program, social impact professional, and contemplative life coach. Bela’s mindfulness-rooted journey has recently led her to find passion and purpose in coaching. Changing the world is difficult work, and we could all use a guide. We’re glad Bela is bringing her experience and compassion to supporting other leaders along their own inner and outer journeys.
What faith(s), if any, do you practice? Is your faith or practice bringing special inspiration or insight for you in this current pandemic moment?
I immigrated to the United States from India with my parents when I was two years old and grew up in a very religious Jain family. Principles of ahimsa (nonviolence) and anekantavada (multiplicity or relativity of viewpoints) were core to my upbringing. Being Jain influenced my early life choices such as being a vegetarian, and later a vegan, but it wasn’t until later in life that I really began to understand the depth of ahimsa. I think what helped me to begin grasping its depth was sitting silent, ten-day meditation retreats in the Vipassana practice. In these silent retreats, completely disconnected from external distractions and given the opportunity to focus my attention inwards, I began to observe the chaos of my mind. How could I live in the world through my actions if the roots of these actions - the thoughts - are muddled and unclear? So ever since I’ve been on this journey of self-awareness.
In this current pandemic, I’ve noticed the tendency to want to be more productive in order to take advantage of time that is freed up by not commuting or socializing. Sitting with this question of what it means to “be productive” has been interesting for me.
Where do you live?
I currently live in Berkeley, California.
What's your favorite pastime?
When I have free time I love becoming lost in and discovering a new part of myself through a thoughtful article or book or taking a walk in one of the beautiful Bay Area trails.
What are you working on currently?
I’m currently completing my training as a meta coach with Goleman EI, facilitating mindfulness, awareness, resilience, and self-compassion workshops for universities and fellowship programs, and also coaching next-generation leaders, social entrepreneurs, and young professionals in cultivating skills to increase their awareness, emotional balance, resilience, and influence.
What question are you thinking about these days?
What would it look like to not be productive? What might this open up that I’m currently unable to see or understand with my limited and filtered perspective? What if living a life of meaning and purpose is different from what I crave for or imagine? What would unfold if I truly lived my life with love at the center?
How can people find you?