In 2019, Sagar Dugani, 11-year business and management professional from India, decided to quit his job and pursue his passion for movement. He explored different dance forms, observed animal movements, learned to play various musical instruments, and practiced Breathwork. He eventually combined all these skills into his fire staff practice.

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His background as a data analyst proved useful when he started analyzing his own life and experiences. From starting with just one instrument, the Didgeridoo, he now plays more than 10 instruments, which he learned through consistent practice without any expectations.

Sagar's practice and perseverance led him to perform on stages with well-known artists in India. He played for techno, trance, tribal, classical, Bollywood, and various other genres. He never relied on YouTube or any other sources but relied solely on his own practice, leading to the development of his unique style.

Last year, Sagar traveled across India to perform shows and conduct sessions. Currently, he resides in Dubai, where he plans to continue pursuing his passion for movement for at least the next two years.

Musivv caught up with the maestro with an interview.

How did you get into Sound Healing?

Well this is little intense but will put it across. I come from a lower middle class family and a very traumatic childhood where I had tried to commit suicide at least 5 times before I turned 21! I was born in a small town in southern India which is Karnataka. I moved to Bangalore for my masters which changed my life in terms of moving away from the family and all my trauma was put in my subconscious.

I quit my job when I was at peak of my career because when I started my job I had a vision of reaching a salary of 1 lakh per month which is a lot in India and I reached there in 6 years and worked for another 3 years to realize this is not it and started looking out for something which was missing in my life not knowing what it was.

So when I quit I asked myself the question that I am already 30 years now so I have to speed up and train myself harder than ever to compete against the timelines at least that’s what I had thought back then so I started practicing martial arts, dance forms, animal movements for 8 plus hours a day. This training lasted for 6 months but I was diagnosed with spondylitis because of the intensity in the movements and the doctor told me I can’t move my spine much for at least 6 months so no dance or movements practice! I was devastated and that’s when didgeridoo came to my life as it was introduced by one of my friend. This instrument has the essence of correcting your posture, breath and movements in the body! I started playing the instrument day in day out for hours which led to me investigating the sounds, the breath and my own body! This led me to start visualization practice where I was able to reach deep into my body and source of the pain where I was able to heal my body much quicker than what was told! I was completely healed in less than 3 months! This practice led me to investigate more about sounds and breath so I entered the space of receiving sound healing sessions, I have received more than 50 sound healing sessions myself from different shamans and practitioners where I have cried for hours reached my childhood my past my present and my future and basically answered any question I had in my entire life. After all of the intensity I entered the space of research in terms of what each instrument and sounds are doing to my body and subconscious and how is the healing taking place, this led me to get into the instruments step by step and now I am here with more than 10 instruments and doing these sessions so that they can benefit the larger crowd the research is always on though and I see it’s never ending as it’s infinite.

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What is that one moment that changed the direction of your life?

When I was 27 and reached the peak of my career I wanted to make more money to get out of the working structure of the society and travel! I started investing in bitcoins and business without having much knowledge of the either! Because of which I faced losses and was under debt of more than 40k AED! This led to depression and anxiety and I was completely lost even though I had a good salary but my debts would take atleast 5 years to get over as I lived a lavish life as well! I had really expensive watches, shoes, clothes which I had not taken the tag off and this made me mad of what I had done with my life! I was in Bangalore working at this time and I took a solo bike ride to Goa for a week! I was a shy dancer before so I used to dance in one corner where no one watches me! I went to clubs in Goa danced for more than 6 hours mindlessly for techno and trance and was exhausted! One person told me about ecstatic dance which is an event for 3 hours where you don’t drink alcohol no talking and no shoes and you dance any way you want to! I went for the event, closed my eyes and I started moving and I danced for 3 hours with my eyes closed and there were so many new movements in my body that day that it made me cry and question everything in terms of how didn’t I know this about myself all these years! I sat on the beach the entire night and in the morning the question came to my mind was if I walk in the beach for 30 minutes I will die and my body will be part of the ocean or maybe fishes will eat me! My friends and family will cry for few months and after that they will live their life. So what am I scared of and what do I actually want to do in my life. Is it money I am chasing or something else? The first question after this was do you want to work and the answer was no so that’s when my journey of my quest begun to ask the questions and answer with honesty and take steps towards myself. I came back to Bangalore, i started working out more consciously on my body and mind. I planned my budget! Stopped my mindless spendings and i was able to pay the loans in 2 years time and save some amount to survive for the next two years without a job and finally quit when I was 30 years old!

Tell us one story about someone who benefited from sound healing.

I have giving sessions to more than 1000 people in the last 3 years as most of my sessions have been on donation of whatever people can pay! As I understand the impact of sound healing session and I want everyone to experience them and connect to themselves to find who they are.

In Dubai as well I do sessions at my home which are on donation and I collaborate with venues which are paid events.

One story which comes to my mind is there was one person who came to my session a year back who had depression and anxiety and this was the first time I was dealing with someone with these emotions! I told myself that I have helped me to come out of it so I can help this person help herself! I gave her the space in my every session which I was doing and told her that one spot is always reserved for her and she need not worry about money. First few sessions she never spoke and was only crying and we sat together for hours without speaking a word. After that she started opening up and we were able to go deeper with what was holding her back! We did more sessions together and fast forward to the present she is a hip hop dancer with amazing presence and movements! She is a good friend now and she is still in Goa and she does classes for kids who can’t afford to dance and she is also into events and competitions! This makes me put more effort in what I am doing and the effort is always on!

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What is your biggest dream as an artist?

I have a vision which is divided into 3 goals right now!

First one is I always want to keep learning more about my practice and whatever comes along the way! I want to share my practice through the world and be able to play and collaborate with as many artists as possible do a world tour but first establishing myself in Dubai as I am 3 months old in Dubai and am I already enjoying exploring here and doing sessions with venues like TODA which was my dream and vision when I started doing sound healing sessions!

Second is I want create a self sustaining art community where I hire a team of agents, top marketers, content makers and analysts to be able to give space to the artists to practice and create as much as possible without having the pressure of money or work or social media presence! So the space would be in terms of creating individual content for the artists, finding them work while giving them freedom to create their own art and be able to provide all this for free as a commitment for a year or more. So even when the artists are out of the organization they will have work on their own without much struggle as I understand the pressure it takes for an artist to do all of these things on their own!

Third goal I have is to make so much money through art that I am able to eradicate hunger and poverty to anyone in need through the world and give the individuals the space to have more creativity and conscious living!

What is your most memorable performance?

When I started my journey of movements and sounds, I had visualized me playing with few artists on stage as they were my inspiration and I was invited by a band of artists on the new years of 2021 in Goa who had travelled across 18 counties and have immense knowledge of art through music and singing! I played didgeridoo with them did a dance performance and also performed fire staff so it was like an amazing end to the year where all my practice and effort was recognized by the people I adored when I started my journey! It was goosebumps moment and was like living the dream!

Any advice to people who want to pursue the same passion as yours?

Be kind to yourself, always ask for clarity and strength to yourself to be kind and the rest we’ll be taken care by itself!

We are 8 billion people on the planet right now and the only person who knows more about you is you! So the only person who can heal you is you so never stop asking questions to yourself and answer with utmost authenticity and you will get the answers and the process will start! It’s more of a internal process which is then seen in the external! The physical reality is byproduct of your inner work!

Always remember it’s a step by step process so no hurry no rush, we all are there for each other but the top thing is you have to be there for you first. So the practices are there where we facilitate for people to heal themselves and in the end it’s everyone’s individual journey!

When it comes to practice I tell to people that it’s really simple, you give yourself 100 hours to any practice and the practice is yours!

I am able to do what I do is only because of this I give myself 100 hours with any instrument or art and the art becomes mine and it starts to show more! Now how much time you take for the 100 hours is up to you! If you invest one hour a day then it will take 3 months if you invest 3 hours a day it takes one month! After that it’s the follow of the universe and you where things will start happening because of your discipline!