Stories have known to be powerful tools when it comes to healing the mind and soul. Recent research has shown stories to be a highly effective medium to counter depression and anxiety. And Secret Passages is right on track, telling stories to nourish the hearts of the young and the old. We spoke to Geetanjali Shetty Kaul of Secret Passages about her tryst with the mystic, stories and storytelling.
How do you define the storyteller in you?
The storyteller in me is someone who dreams in stories and lives in dreams. Each living being interests me – birds, insects, plants growing, busy bees and fluttering butterflies, to the sweeper and the watchman, to a little child carrying her school bag and waiting for the school van – all of these act as fuel for my curious mind helping me build stories. In my narrations, I try to carry the power to touch hearts.
What influenced you to become a storyteller?
I guess the credit goes to my Shetty surname; the voice, the gestures and my past integrated to make the storyteller in me. As a child, I was fortunate enough to be surrounded with storytellers. My Grandma would churn butter from the curd and would narrate a parable, along with singing a kannada melody. My mom would iron clothes every evening and narrate tales. These would invariably end with a “to be continued tomorrow”. My paternal Uncle came up with ghost stories which he made us believe to be his real experiences, and my maternal Aunt told stories in the balcony under starry nights. I heard mythologies, fables and all these stories still exist in my mental diaries of childhood. After completing B.A in English Literature, I chose to be a teacher. Right from day one, as a trainee teacher and then as a class teacher, stories have been my subject of interest. They made me feel accepted in the company of young children sometimes adults as well. At first, my stories were generally spun around characters – Coro the lion, Cheeku the monkey, Tweety the bird and Dondo the Crocodile. They lived in the forest and learnt many things from each other. For example Coro, the lion, takes care of everyone in the forest but never brushes his teeth and no one can withstand his long speeches. Spinning tales to teach concepts became a habit. Stopping at a problem and prompting children to finding resolutions was a trend in my creative thinking club.
How was Secret Passages born? Tell us its story.
Being in Education for two decades and constantly exploring how children learn, I 
came to a conclusion that in spite of the fast pace of modern education what seriously matters, and works, is a nurturing environment at home and the skill to develop insightful teachers and caretakers. Secret Passages helps parents and teachers build a future for the child by molding his/her personality with 4 strong pillars – hope, truth, belief and love. While working with children there are times when we face stumbling blocks, wishing answers miraculously appeared in front of us. The aim of Secret Passages is to help you rediscover the wisdom within you and connect to your inner self. To understand that our children have come to us, with their destiny as baggage that needs to be honored, and also to respect the extraordinary power of less. Through my workshops I do hands on, hearts on and minds on activities to make upbringing a joyful experience.
Storytelling and therapy sounds like an interesting match. What is the philosophy behind it?
Secret Passages meditation story stands as a salient feature – it heals the listeners. The muddy street ….crossing the river …the treasure that guides you ..the road of trials before victory, is the thread to the Hero Path.
“Where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a God.
Where we had thought to Slay another, we shall slay ourselves.
Where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence,
Where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world”
– quotes by Joseph Campbell inspires this story.
Participants are taken through different passages – dark tunnel, dense forest with flesh eating animals, to a bridge, followed by a rainbow sunshine, majestic mountains, gurgling streams, then climbing the steps to a temple, collecting your seeds of change. Along with this guided meditation the journey continues by returning to the forest and tunnel with changed perspectives, soon building a community with an awareness of our rhythms and experiences that come to go. This exercise is sensorial, adding feelings and imagery. Participants are then told how the brain is hard wired for storytelling, also how each of us are on different paths, and the need to respect that. The importance of closures and going back to stories in our tree of life, that are left unfinished, is another aspect that is addressed through the feel of gratitude and blessings. In our guided meditation, participants are trained to discuss dreams and nightmares developing visualization.
This program is profound and playful giving light to the spirit over any matter through rapturously telling curative stories.
This is indeed very fascinating. How have the stories in your life influenced the way you place stories?
Stories need not have neat endings or be preachy, in that way the stories I tell are unique. In my experience, the way stories influence the psyche is more spiritual and ancestral. I have mentioned the stories I heard as a kid. These stories have existed from time immemorial, and we hold on to those virtues and some animal traits in us even now. A strong voice, the right pauses, building imagery, and then adding a story twist are some of the story-crafting skills I use. Connecting to the audience, making it interactive and touching souls is of utmost importance.
Tell us more about the audiences you work with. How different is the experience between different kinds of audiences?
It has been a pleasure meeting people in my career. Being an educator, I learnt my best lessons when I became a mom and saw the power of stories. Most of my clients are mums and their interest lies in parenting through storytelling. I have been surveying the current standards of parenting where some believe in keeping children busy by sending them to classes and few want to choose the alternative path by upgrading their own knowledge base and polishing their skills on ‘how to teach without being preachy’. A lot of teachers who run after-school centers have been reworking their planner after attending Secret Passages workshops. My next course has participants with varied interests, one of whom has a background in account and finance, but wants to unleash her creative self through storytelling. Another participant is a handwriting analyst who believes in telling people stories after reading their handwriting.
Any particular incident/anecdote from your sessions that you would like to share with readers?
For me every session is unique. Personally I have been into meditation since the age of 18 and an early interest in occult science, mythologies, biblical stories assisted me in my spiritual growth. The first storytellers knew that these stories bring humans back to their spiritual self adding purpose to existence. I tell a pack of over forty stories and have seen participants change during the course. They open up during personal narratives and go through healing. Their vision develops and they recount how their life experiences from childhood to teenage years has influenced their personalities now and then. There are times when I am able to see my participants glow and feel empowered. This is exciting and makes me want to continue doing things.
Any suggestions to our readers and other storytellers on how they can use stories to rediscover themselves?
It is important that we meditate everyday for a few minutes in the morning and evening and observe silence. This way we awaken the spirit that connects to the audience so that your stories heal and transform the listeners.
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Don’t Miss: We love storytellers as much as we love storytelling. On Tell-a-Tale, we’ve featured a lot of talented storytellers, in the past.
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