In this interview, I go deeper into Ishaa's experiences, her journey towards self-acceptance, and her vision for the future, as she works to break down the barriers surrounding mental health awareness. Join me as we uncover the wisdom and strength that make her a truly inspiring figure. Vinta Nanda writes…

In a world often dictated by a disregard for sensitivity, Ishaa Vinod Chopra stands out as a lighthouse of resilience and creativity. As I spoke with her, it became clear that Ishaa has navigated the tumultuous waters of bipolar disorder and domestic abuse with a grace that belies the severity of these experiences. Her memoir, Finding Order in Disorder, published by Om Books International, is a raw and poignant account of her journey through repeated hospitalizations, heavy medication, and the societal stigmas surrounding mental health.

Art as Healing

Through her narrative, Ishaa doesn't just recount her struggles; she illuminates the transformative power of art therapy, dance, yoga, and self-love. Her candid reflections offer invaluable insights into the challenges of living with a mental health diagnosis while advocating for more holistic and compassionate treatment approaches. When asked to describe herself, Ishaa said, "In terms of an introduction, identity and stuff, I am a BIPOC mad artist, educator, and mental health advocate."  

Future Aspirations

Looking ahead, Ishaa plans to further her education in social justice and establish an NGO dedicated to mental health and the arts. She emphasized the importance of providing creative outlets like dance and art therapy in mental health treatment, reflecting on her own experiences. "In the hospitals, there was art therapy available, and while that was helpful, it was limited. I found that opportunities to dance and express myself artistically were incredibly powerful in my healing process," she shared. Ishaa also expressed her desire to write another book and expand her advocacy through both education and practical support for others. Over to my conversation with her…

Q: I saw a fascinating reel of you dancing with absolute abandon. I also know you teach dance and love performing too. I’m curious to know how dance came into your life and what it does for you as an art, personally as well as professionally?

Ishaa: I was introduced to dance at various points in my childhood, both to Indian and Latin Ballroom dance forms such as cha-cha, in India and Canada. At the time, it was an extracurricular activity which, over time, translated itself into a hobby and finally a passion. I believe dance has a stronger role for me personally than it does professionally. Professionally, I am currently a facilitator for a course titled "Therapeutic Dance: A Fusion of Cultures"—where the focus is not so much on learning choreography and replicating movement through space, but rather on revelling in the joy of art and using it as a means of relaxation, releasing healthy and happy hormones such as endorphins and dopamine. I also have a YouTube channel titled ‘Ishaa Vinod Chopra: Dance Therapy Vlogs’, where I upload improv choreographies to a wide genre of songs.

Personally, dance for me is a form of both medication and meditation. When I dance, it is one of the few times when my thoughts effortlessly come to a stop, and I am engrossed in the moment of movement, while keenly listening to the sound of music from a somatic element. This involves being aware of one’s internal experience and responding to it through the body’s cues and signals, which are intuitive and freestyle, as opposed to rehearsed and emulated. When I relate my lived experiences in mental health to my dance, I realize that it was indeed my dance that kept me in touch with the reality that I had constructed for myself before being hospitalized, and my interest in dance was the one constant throughout the ups and downs of my condition. My confidence, therefore, in the power of dance movement as a therapy is embedded in personal qualitative evidence and seeps through every aspect of my being.

Q: I remember watching and later writing about your mom’s documentary film “Unfinished.” Did the film give you the impetus to write “Finding Order In Disorder”? If yes, how?

Ishaa: I had begun writing my memoir eight years ago, and it was more than halfway complete around the time my mother’s documentary titled ‘Unfinished’ began as a project. A lot of the content, such as the voice-overs of the ‘mad poetry,’ philosophical thought processes, and dance footage shot for my personal use, already existed. However, the form that it took for film varied from my memoir.

It was a means of catharsis both for me and my mother, especially during COVID when the entire globe was dealing with the pandemic, and within that chaos, we were dealing with my mental health as a family. Reading poetry and my writings and recording gave my entire family a purpose during those times. Our creative and curious sides were explored, and as there was content that was filmed and edited, the process of watching it challenged me to dive further into my lived experiences, not only as an artist, but as someone who had to deal with mental health issues since a diagnosis at the age of 16.

The boldness of the film and the courage and blatant honesty with which my mother portrayed our story did give me the impetus to write “Finding Order in Disorder” with the treatment I applied to it in the final version. Thereafter, the various film festivals that we attended together and participated in panel discussions, including two prominent Mental Health film festivals in Toronto, Stella’s Place: ‘Get Reel’ and Workman Arts Organization’s ‘Rendezvous with Madness,’ provided both of us a much-needed platform for our voices and opportunities for in-person interactions with patients, families, and allies of individuals coping with mental health, which was true mental health advocacy in action. This is where my passion for being an advocate was further ignited.

Q: How do you separate yourself from the chaos around you in the world?

Ishaa: On many levels, I believe that we have the power to influence most of the immediate environments that surround us, and then moving outwards to the other systems, in my case through my work and art forms such as writing, documentary and dance projects, communities, and finally society. Having said that, if I am not strong enough to cope or separate myself from the chaos that surrounds me, it is very easy to drown in negativity and misery. This sometimes happens with me when I go into a dark zone and see the worst in people. However, if I hope to imbibe one learning from my father, that would be that there is enough good in this world and we have to recognize it and hang on to the positivity.

A major part of that is controlling what content I expose myself to, and that extends to the quality time I choose to spend with people. This includes limiting social media influences and being extremely conscious of what I let into my system. Our minds have to be on a healthy diet too, much like our bodies, for us to function optimally.

Q: It’s been a while since your book was published. How have you processed the response to it and where are you headed from here as an author?

Ishaa: My book was published on June 17th of last month; however, various versions have been ready and worked upon for the last two years. I am still to completely process the responses to it. However, where reviews are concerned, even if approached, I do not indulge in any paid or fake reviews because that would taint my artistic integrity. The response to this book so far, however, has been extremely positive, and I would like to thank my family for this, particularly my father, for having nudged me slightly in the direction of making it a more positive and inspiring read, instead of a long list of complaints with the universe.

Q: What are you seeking? How would you explain life as a continuum of discovering different things over time?

Ishaa: I am constantly seeking a purpose and doing activities that provide me with sheer joy and happiness. I constantly seek to work on quality relationships as I believe it is these bonds that will lead to longevity. For me, it is always quality over quantity, so even if I were able to count my friends on my fingers, I would not require more than two hands.

Life as a continuum of discovering different things over time can mean a lot of things. Personally, for me, I enjoy discovering newer facets of my relationship with my partner Biswarup and how to water that plant on a daily basis to keep it from fading. Next would be professionally, in discovering newer research in association with mental health, particularly a whole world of ideas that I have been exposed to with my internship with professor Dr. Adam W.J Davies, such as ‘mad poetry’ and concepts such as ‘sanism.’

Finally, the last area for discovery is through various art forms, such as writing, continuing my learning in Kathak, practicing dance, and teaching dance for the purpose of joy. Through all these channels, the scope for discovery is eternal and never-ending.

There is always something new to be discovered, and the motivation to be a curious and creative human are of utmost importance to me. Having said that, there are times when days do not pan out the way I would have hoped for, whether that be due to outcomes or my moods, but not letting that get in the way of achieving and continuing to seek and discover in life is my motto.

Q: What are the things that attract you? Do you look at things you’re drawn towards as distractions or adventures of the mind that slowly take shape as your reality? Explain…

Ishaa: I am naturally attracted to the arts such as dance and writing. I enjoy listening to music and dancing to a wide variety of genres. I also enjoy immersing myself in community interactions, whether that's participating in George Brown College's early childhood advocacy club or attending community-driven organization events hosted by Stella’s Place, Workman Arts, and, more recently, Reset.

I believe that if I require a distraction at all times, it could be a cause for worry. There is no place to escape our body or mind. I have written in my memoir as well that no matter how far we go running to distract ourselves, our body and mind will follow us. Adventures of my mind that take shape as my reality is a more realistic explanation of my experiences. However, my reality therein is directly influenced by my perception of what is taking place and my responses to it. These changes are forever constant, and being in control of my responses, as opposed to being controlled by my environments, is something I work on constantly.

Q: Tell me about your memoir, what it’s about and what the process was of writing it?

Ishaa: My memoir dives into my own life of 33 years, beginning from my early childhood experiences. It is almost as if I am dissecting myself for analysis and self-evaluation in a way to arrive at some conclusions and solutions to daily problems. As I began writing, the content would flow and there were a lot of ideas that I did not hold back on. So initially, I did not prevent myself from hiding or holding back at all. One has to keep in mind that as I was writing the book, there were various variables in play, such as the fact that my life was constantly unfolding as I wrote the memoir. So, the Ishaa that existed five years ago had not only evolved but had more lived experiences, thus considerably adding to the possible content to be written about.

Also, the way I perceived the events that took place in my life also changed over time. In the beginning, I was drawn towards each and every possible negative factor in everyone that surrounded me, but as the years passed, I tried my best to view each life event without bias and judgement and with a neutral lens. This was difficult.

However, I knew that the focus was not on me, or my story, it was much larger than that. It was about smashing mental health stigma and helping to open conversations that get pushed under a rug because we as a species are not built to naturally be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Anything that is awkward or pushes us out of our comfort zones, we try to avoid. I realized, as written in my memoir, that this process may be like walking on eggshells; however, once completed, the fear of breaking any eggshells is eliminated, and that is where I experienced both empowerment and freedom from the baggage I carried from childhood.

Q: Please share an extract of roughly 500 words from your book and explain why you chose this particular passage.

Extract:

Acceptance of Others Unlike Us and Ourselves

‘Serenity comes when you trade expectations for acceptance.’—Gautama Buddha

If we function from a place of acceptance, most labels in the world would cease to exist. If we accepted women loving women, men loving men, all the derogatory terms used to categorize same-sex relationships would cease to exist. Similarly, if we accepted certain behaviours that stem from genes or behaviours rooted in a person’s upbringing, we wouldn’t need to single out some people and categorize them as different, like we do now. Most labels, especially in mental health, arise because of some notion of abnormality which is defined by society to be wrong or not in sync with ‘perfection’. But who determines what is ‘normal’ and what isn’t? The term ‘normal’ is in itself harmless, but to imply that it is the state that everyone should identify with is assuming something that is not only impossible, but unfair to the minority.

If we believe in a God or a universal power, we can certainly reflect on why certain people are born a particular way, but how can we give ourselves the power to exclude, shame, punish and ignore those different from us? How do we as a society hold that right? The problem lies with us and our inability to accept other people and their personal choices. To rob someone of their freedom, or to make them live in fear forever for the rest of their lives, just so we are comfortable, is more than cruel.

We all have our own normal. Everything is ‘normal’ and acceptable until there is a conflict of interest, such as when we witness something that goes against our beliefs, values or morals. What is normal and acceptable to one person may not be so to another. This point can be extended to a larger group of people and, finally, society as a whole.

We should embrace this gracefully, because we are unique as individuals and we owe it to our DNA. How monotonous life would be if we were all the same! Difference of opinion is the only thing common to all of us. The rest is academic. Once we come to accept this and question ‘normalcy’, we will also learn to accept ourselves.

Each one of us is worthy of acceptance, and we must start with ourselves. We owe ourselves love and respect, and we must give ourselves our due because if we don’t, we won’t notice the difference when someone disrespects us.

Self-love is of utmost importance.  

You can buy the book by clicking here