Harnessing the power of the mind, getting into the habit of breaking fear, communicating with authentic confidence and more such sessions dominated the mental wellness and self-improvement space hosted by Mindvalley, at the two-day Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival (SEF 2021), which concluded yesterday (Tuesday) at Expo Centre Sharjah.

Vishen Lakhiani, founder of Mindvalley, visionary and best-selling author delved into how the power of visualisation can make one’s dreams come true. “Using the power of our mind, we can harness all the positives in ourselves, influence our health, and turn on our creativity using the right techniques,” said Lakhiani during his session ‘The Power of Your Mind’, on the festival’s main stage on Tuesday.

Illustrating the examples of tennis player Bianca Andreescu, who defeated Serena Williams at the 2019 US Open finals, and best-selling author Richard Bach of Jonathan Livingston Seagull fame, Lakhiani said that practicing creative visualisations paved the way for their success.

Elaborating on José Silva’s Ultramind ESP System, Lakhiani noted that the specific series of self-management techniques prescribed by it had helped millions around the world by changing their mindset to overcome physical and mental barriers. “Through the four steps of 1. Know the states 2. Accessing the alpha 3. The mental screen 4. Utilising the power, you can gain an understanding of the four primary states of consciousness the human mind operates in: beta, alpha, theta and delta, and channel these abilities at will to transform your life,” said Lakhiani.

The motivational ed-tech expert guided the audience through a visualisation exercise involving “the three scenes” technique involving imagining a situation involving pain or frustration that each person wanted to change, then seeing a symbolic action taken to resolve the situation, and finally seeing or feeling a positive end result – allon a giant screen in their mind.

The X factor: Breaking fear

Global coach and NLP practitioner Lu Xanne Boon similarly guided audience members through a fear-breaking exercise in her session ‘The X Factor: Breaking Fear’. Categorising fears into warranted and unwarranted ones by recognising the triggers and past experiences that set them off, Boon advised participants to look for a deeper purpose that would help navigate and alleviate fears.

In an earlier session by online entrepreneur and public speaker Jimmy Naraine, the educator focused on the art of communicating with confidence, authenticity and charisma, particularly in a post-Covid world. The personal development expert and author touched on the importance of pushing oneself out of comfort zones, the importance of taking one’s reality and designing it to their liking, and how to overcome the impostor syndrome.

Other key sessions on the SEF 2021 Mindvalley stage included health and fitness expert Ronan Diego’s strategies on integrating mind, body and soul, through the peaceful warrior morning routine; the biology of high performance; and an introduction to holistic entrepreneurship.

Serial entrepreneur and abundance coach Regan Hillyer delivered a session on abundance reprogramming. Mindvalley’s head of community, Eni Selfo, offered perspective on how to build relationship capital by harnessing the power of community, while Lakhiani conducted two more powerful sessions on identity shape-shifting and levelling up.

The fifth edition of the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival (SEF), one of the largest events for entrepreneurs in the region, organised by the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center (Sheraa), witnessed the participation of 55 speakers, including influential regional and global entrepreneurs, industry titans, and young creatives from social, cultural and sports sectors, and more. The two-day event brought together more than 4,000 entrepreneurs and founders of startups across sectors on one platform, who discussed ways to make a meaningful impact and promote positive change in the local and regional entrepreneurship sectors.

SEF 2021 was organised in partnership with the ICT Fund – an initiative of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority and the Digital Government of the United Arab Emirates, Sharjah Media City (Shams), Alef Group, and the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority.