Interview: Meditation, Healing and the Arts

This is a summary of a 4-part series interview by the Self Awareness Society Singapore in November 2020. We spoke about how meditation has helped me in healing, acting and writing over the last 20 years.

I participated in the Self Awareness Centre's 7-Day Transformation Journey (7DTJ) programme in the year 2002 and have benefited from it immensely. Therefore I am sharing this here, so that you too may benefit from it. The 7DTJ is a time-tested and money-back guarantee programme. Over 40,000 attendees have benefited from the programme over the last 26 years.

See Soar Above the Clouds.

This is the playlist:

PART 1:

- What is your aspiration? Is it very different from what you are doing every day? - How does meditation help you in acting? - What is success to you? - When you quit, that means that your passion is not strong enough? - Street fighting analogy to fearlessness.

PART 2:

My novel "Maid In Singapore"

- Writing it amid the silence of the Covid-19 Lockdown.

- The inspiring maids behind the story.

- Why it is written as a romantic comedy, instead of a social realistic drama.

- The difference between a novel and a movie in storytelling.

- 1 in 5 homes in Singapore has a maid - very alien to US, Canadian and European cultures.

- The difference between a theatrical release and a video-on-demand drama series.

See the concept video trailer is at Maid In Singapore trailer.

To buy a copy of "Maid In Singapore", go to Facebook Maid In Singapore Group.

PART 3:

The 7-Day Transformation Journey Programme

- That leap of faith.

- The mental growth by multitudes of intellect.

- The heart feeling light like a feather

- The beautiful aura after the programme.

How I heal my excruciating chronic back pain through meditation.

- Coping with life in pain

- Encounters with charlatans, conmen, quacks and naysayers.

- How I could possibly have forgotten about pain during a TV shoot.

Also see How I Overcame my Chronic Pain.

PART 4:

- Why I have meditated regularly since the year 2002.

- Why busy people need to meditate more.

- Why we should always be vibrating at the highest level even in the bleakest of times.

- How meditation keeps you looking young. - Meditation helps me to get into character more easily in acting.

- How I navigated myself in the TV and film industry.

I have also appeared in other interviews in the past. Click here.

THE SELF AWARENESS CENTRE (SAC), since 1988, is an institute for Human Resource Development and Spiritual Upliftment. It is a non-religious, non-communal and non-political organisation. SAC conducts transformational, motivational and spiritual programmes. The core to its programme module is the 7-Day Transformational Journey (7DTJ).

http://www.selfwareness.com.sg

Self Awareness Society (SAS) Singapore is formed since 1996 to support the attendees of the programmes conducted by the Self Awareness Centre (SAC).

Maid In Singapore Follow-up

 

We have been making various videos following "Maid In Singapore" release as a novel. 

Extra hard to shoot it during the pandemic!!

 

Behind-The-Scenes...

Media Interviews:

Radio FM 973

 

There will be more events coming up...

Have a Merry Christmas!    

Sounds of Our City Episode 6 Podcast

Click here

Thank you Pitch Media Asia for having me as a guest in Episode 6 of Sounds of Our City Podcast to talk about "The Languages of Singapore".

The interview location was at Swiss Hotel Merchant Court at Clarke Quay, Singapore River. My father's shop was just across the road at New Market Street and the hotel location was where my father's godown (warehouse) used to be. Read Bridge connects the hotel side of the river bank to the other side where my father used to live. He lived in a tiny room in a shop house with my mum and six of my siblings. We lived there until we got a two-bedroom flat at Redhill Close. Then, it was such a big relief in terms of space by the standards of those days. However by today's standards, we were still cramped up like sardines.

The hotel area is where the Teochew quarters used to be. Teochews are seafarers and traders and we are used to live near rivers and ports. So once upon a time, you would find Teochews around the Singapore River and Hougang (the river behind). There are still more Teochews living in Hougang till  this day.

For more about how Singapore used to be in the 1960s, click here (warning: a very long, but worthy article to read.)

To get enough gigs as an actor in Singapore, one has to be multi-lingual. I act in English, Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese and Teochew. I have also acted in Malay, Japanese and Thai. The same act delivered in a different language evokes a different emotion. I don't know why it is so exactly and can only guess that subconsciously there must be a powerful association among the sounds, meaning and memories that results in the different emotions.

It is an advantage to be able to speak different languages. When I speak the language native to the place, the locals lean towards me and I often get away with a lot of things. :)


UPDATE:





To know about languages of Singapore and listen to the full interview, click here.

https://soundcloud.com/soundsofourcity/languages-of-singapore-part-2-mandarin-teochew

For other media interview posts, see:


For my interview by "A Hero's Journey", click here.


For my interview by Lush Magazine, click here.


For my interview by Internet Radio 988, click here.


For my interview by RSVP, click here

The Hero's Journey

For the full interview, click here.

The Oxford Dictionary defines a hero as: "A person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities."

So it is an honour to be interviewed by The Hero's Journey's Peter Kuster.

The Hero's Journey is a guide to people who makes money doing what they love, living in various great cities around the world.

I would also like to take this opportunity to send my tributes and love to the many unsung heroes out there. Particularly those who have taken the plunge to live their passions in the arts: to be a professional singer, musician, dancer, actor, sculptor, painter,...etc. I understand the hardeous, but satisfying journey that you are undertaking.

For the full interview, click here.

For the other interviews I have been in:

Asia?" Lush The Magazine.

Radio Inteview at 988

Interview by RSVP Singapore

Financial Action Thriller

We are very flattered to be featured in the lifestyle magazine Lush. Thanks so much.

Currently, we are in discussion with a studio to produce the film. The responses have been very  positive and it is progressing very well. I think it is because there are relatively few financial action-thrillers around, especially one set in Asia, written by a real Cybersecurity consultant and inspired by real incidents. This is probably the first one.

We will post more about the production as we progress. So watch this space!

To read the article in The Lush Magazine, click here.

Interview by RSVP Singapore

Alright, they found out that I am old enough to be their interview subject, and so here I am, being interviewed about my life, particularly about my earlier years performing on stage to recruit student volunteers for welfare homes and my entry into film acting, script writing and standup comedy.

RSVP is an organization of senior volunteers that serves the less fortunate in Singapore. By 'senior' I assume they mean 'more experienced'. Much has been promoted to encourage senior citizens to be more active and healthy, but I find the often touted 'Active Ageing', an oxymoron. I do not believe that one has to necessarily grow old, sick and invalid. There may be some who will challenge this belief, but hey, to each its own. It is all in the mind and everything starts with a belief.

Ancient Tibetan scriptures and the Bible mention about human beings living a thousand years. There are also researches and practices that claim that it is possible to regenerate our cells better and live young to the norm of a healthy eighteen year old till the day we die. Why not? Try it!