Singer, songwriter and writer Dinesh Moylan is presenting his one-man show about mental health, Under the Bonnet. Photos: Cat Wilson.
When Dinesh Moylan was 10, his mother went into hospital and remained there for eight years until she died.
He found himself without support in a broken nuclear family that had been transplanted into a new city.
After self-harming and suicide attempts as a teenager, he got a glimpse into the benefits of meditation. He travelled to the Rajneesh Ashram in India and experimented with many of the active meditations developed by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, now known as Osho.
Over the decades, Mr Moylan has developed a toolbox of practical techniques that have saved his life.
Based on his experience during the Black Summer bushfires, he wants to share those hard-learnt lessons.
With the amount of natural disasters we are having that are affecting tens of thousands of people, we need to consider developing mental health survival plans as well,” he said.
“People need to realise that their mental health will be affected, as well as the mental health of everyone around them and the whole community.”
Mr Moylan is spreading the word through Under the Bonnet, an artist’s take on mental illness, with stories and songs, plus jokes about the subject.
“I was once told by a GP that I should take anti-depressant medication for the rest of my life,” he said.
”By then I had figured out a lot of things for myself and I wanted to know that when I was going well, it was because of my efforts and discipline, not because a pill had temporarily fixed a chemical imbalance in my brain.
“I see depression less and less as an illness. Now I see it as a natural and predictable response to what I was going through. I think there are a lot of people looking for alternatives to the medical approach.
“I began to imagine my brain like a vinyl record with a deep scratch; when a setback or loss knocked me off-balance, I would slip back into a rut, repeating old behaviours.”
Dinesh Moylan is presenting Under the Bonnet in Wyndham on 8 June and Cobargo on 12 June.
Over time, Mr Moylan learnt he could escape through activities like walking on a stony river bed or snorkelling in the ocean. They made him concentrate on what he was doing and brought him into the present, away from the negative thoughts engulfing him.
“I took up surfing and kayaking, where there is a bit of physical danger that pulls you back into the present,” he said.
“Those sorts of things would change my headspace, then I could meditate. It is using the body’s intelligence to heal yourself.”
Mr Moylan credits those tools that calm his mind and quash negative thoughts with saving him on New Year’s Eve in 2019 when the bushfires crested the hill near his property in the bush at Wadbilliga, south-west of Cobargo.
“Even though it was very harrowing, I found the skills I had developed over the years is what got me through,” he said. “If I had panicked, I would have died because there was nowhere to go.
“It was watching one part of my mind panic and another part of me knowing what to do. You learn not to listen to your thoughts. You have a wisdom inside you if you learn to listen to it.”
When Mr Moylan performed Under the Bonnet in 2023, it was well received.
“Most people seemed to find it interesting, which motivated me to keep going, that it was a useful message.”
Last year, South East Grants gave him a grant to develop the show. He will present Under the Bonnet at the Robbie Burns Hotel Wyndham on 8 June at 3 pm and at Cobargo Commons Lounge Room on 12 June at 7 pm. For more information and ticket links, visit dineshmoylan.com.
