Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Side crow, by Sonia

This is Sonia, my student,  executing the side crow. How well she does it... she has been with me for two years now.. on and off, but always loyal. Hey Sonia, reading this?

 Sonia wants to become a yoga instructor, and I have told her this, that amongst all the students I have encouraged to attend the Sivananda courses (Keshavi, Rakhi, Helena.. ) earlier  and now others in the current bunch with me  in Bandra, she has the most potential ..

Because, she has used yoga to break patterns, kick out ailments, talk back to herself (mostly where she tends to be a hypochondriac:), be steady in her practice, and tell people who ask her about her transformation (from  a roly-poly 67 kg to this svelte 50 kg flexible stuntwoman) instead of giving a wishy-washy gym-yoga routine as the cause (some Sivananda instructors even ran about trying other weird schools without attempting to practice the basic set, so u know what I mean!), taught her friend Mayank most of the poses to near perfection, is mostly regular with her practice, will hardly miss class even during the `female' time (which I regard, when I hear potential instructors give as an excuse for not attending class,  as absolutely silly. Imagine smsing your students you will not hold class today because you have periods!!)..

So, yes, I hope to see her progress into  an instructor! She already does a lot of poses which can be challenging even to those who attend the advanced course -- she walks in the wheel, can hold the headstand steadily up to five minutes, does a lot of variations there, and is now moving into the scorpion .. And I know, she will be thrilled to read this, and yes, I also hope it does not go to her head (as it has, with some of my other fav students:)

Happy sadhana Sonia:)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Few of sivananda instructors may have gone to learn yoga from gym-yoga type schools. But, i do not think they might have degraded or spoken ill of sivananda style (irrespective of whether or not they practise sivananda yoga). The gym-yoga style teachers may be the real culprits. Just to promote their style of yoga, they talk nonsense.

Geeta said...

That's great! Happy Sadhana and All the Best to Sonia! (and she is blessed that she has you as her Guru, Shameem! )

Love,
Geeta Ranalkar

sonia samtani said...

Yes Mam reading tis(wit such joy cannot put it down in words).also wanted to tell you that I have stopped my thyroid medicine as you suggested, wit absolutely no weight gain or any other issues
So the final so called ailment is out of my body thanx to yoga n thanx to YOU.for me now ur officially Dr.Shameem Akhtar :)
Mam thanking you for ur trust and confidence in me.My dream wud be to assist you some day(hopefully soon)!!
Won't let tis go to my head(even though hav been roaming arnd like a zoombie wit joy since morning)and won't disappoint you with anything ever.
Love sonia

sonia samtani said...

Thanx geeta .I truly am blessed :)tons of good karma over past births I guess to get her as my guru!!

YOGA IN EVERYTHING said...

Mmm, there is no point whether u talk nonsense or do nonsense -- same thing! I am talking of instructors who do not practice Sivananda as a matter of belief -- how can they teach the style? I know quite a few, for ur info -- they may not say anything bad about it, but they don't do anything great to promote it either -- and there is more I have to say on that attitude later!

Anila said...

Hi Sonia,
I used to be a 'rolly polly' 73 kg-er too :-) Thanks to yoga, though not 'slim and lean', I'm a healthy,knee pain free,energetic,always feeling great 57 kg-er today! By the by, I really envy you for the wonderful guru you have!Like shameem always says 'May your Sadhana rock!'

Regards
Anila

sonia samtani said...

Hi Anila,
Isn't it wonderful how yoga cures you on a holistic level,no medicines ,no doctors,no tests n VOILA!!ur in best of ur physical n mental health
I am aware n thankful of this fact every minute,how lucky I am to have her as my GURU!!
As I mentioned earlier tons of good karma over several births :):)
Thanx for the lovely wishes n wish you a very happy and fulfilling Sadhana
Love
Sonia