The answer to the question: yoga nidra, which side to turn before sitting up

How do u know which side to turn on during yoga nidra, and was I right on suggesting right side while ending the sadhana for the day?

You can deduct the answer from what I found out today:

If you press on the right side, you activate the left nostril or ida nadi. It is the sattvic nadi, cooler and calms and centers you and ideal for mental activities, including a meditative temper.

If you press on the left side, you activate the right or the pingala nadi, the rajasic nadi, which is good for stimulating physical activity.

If you still cannot make up your mind, let's make it easy for you:

So, when winding up your yoga it is best if you turn over to your right to get up.
If you are just starting the practice, and were in the shavasana prior to it,  then it is better for you to get up from the left side to activate the nostril which will keep your zest for the activity ahead:)

Daily Health Gyan

Oh, found out that fluorescent lighting may cause depression. I did not know that... apparently the full-spectrum lighting (which is another term for old-fashioned lighting) is better for emotional states. Articificial lighting is known to cause attention deficit and learning problems in kids (and surely in adults, because that may explain why I am so jumbled these days).

Yogic tip for today

For knee problem (though every physio is going to arch their eyebrows at me) supta baddha konasana (with yoga blocks at the knee if u wish) is very soothing. I should know:  since the knee injury, I found out how  how silly and misinformed (tho well-intended) the medical advice for bed rest is
When  your knee is hurting the last thing u want to do is bed rest: When you lie down, in whichever direction or on your back or your stomach (this is best of the worst) the legs hurt like crazy -- from the ankles up to the hips and at the knee itself of course. Even shavasana hurts. Supta baddha konasana releases the contracted nerve, so something soothing kicks in. Soothing is healing, na?

Nirlamba sirsasana: advanced hand variation

Below the easy version, with the fingers pointing towards the head. Above, the more difficult version, with the fingers pointing backwards. Also, in the easy one, the hands are spread wide, giving a stronger base. In the advanced one, the hands, esp elbows, are very close as to scrunch the base and make it tougher to go up and stay up.

I picked up this version from the Light of Yoga by B.K. S. Iyengar. This version,the top one, is still not as perfect as the master's. His elbows are practically sticking together. I fell down about five to six times trying that way, and realised that I had to practice with hands closer before I became overambitious for his version. This too gave me a lot of trouble. But now I am able to hold this one for a minute up to two or more. And that will create the subtle and different focus and strenght needed for the more intense lock .
What u need for this pose:

• First, a perfect and confident easy nirlamba sirsasana.
• Second, the ability to do the hands out variation, which is an advanced hand variation of the above.
• Then only u can move to this, since there is a lot of pressure on the wrist and crown and neck to be able to lift up and stay aloft in this version.
• Also, of course, no fear of falling in the headstand because it is very unstable, since the pressure on the crown and wobble effect finds not much support from the shoulders which are too squeezed in to give the base other headstands enjoy..

Happy sadhana!!

Yogic thought for the day

Hey, how do u know That which is traceless, and cannot be seen like the path of the birds in the sky?

That which is untouched by the six-fold wave (this refers to the sense organs); meditated upon by the Yogi's heart, but not grasped by the sense-organs; which the buddhi (intellect) cannot know; and which is unimpeachable -- that Brahman, art thou, meditate on this in thy mind.
Vivekachudamani.

Mmmmm, this where yoga is supposed to take u:)
Buddha's words on That:

I experienced the supreme peace of an ego-extinction not affected by decay... disease... death.. and defilement.

Daily Health Gyan

I find that so many people suffer from constipation. I mean my daughter tells me that some of her class mates do not even visit the toilet for two-three days!! It can lead to dangerous fall-outs later on, in life... colon cancer, gallbladder distress, to name a few. It is also a highly toxic condition; plus constipation draws water off from the rest of the body and can be distressing by limiting the urinary flow also. It is just so easy to release, mann!! Fiber food, isabgol, badam oil are some easy remedies. A few drops of geranium oil, added to any carrier oil, and rubbed on the stomach is also a soothing way to get rid of the muck.. geranium is very soothing to the nervous system, has a heady floral aroma, and is an aphrodisiac (gives you a high)... so it is rather safe...

Yogic tip for today

How to hold the headstand for different personality types, Dr David Frawley

• Hyperactive, excitable vata: Strong, moderate holds, with the sense of groundedness as predominant reaffirmation.  
• Competitive, fiery Pitta: Short holds,  with sense of lightness, as affirmation.
• Grounded kapha: Long holds, with many repetitions.

Note that the competitive Pitta who actually strain a lot at the poses are advised to hold the headstand for shorter duration.

The headstand grounds and harmonises the vata.
Overexcites Pitta (so they should restrain from their natural competitive spirit and resist that element on the mat)
The kapha people who actually, I find resist headstand the most, need to hold for long with dynamic variations (catch them leaving the ground, so willingingly:)

Today in class: chill teacher chill

Free MySpace Animations!

Many new comers in various batches, some with hang ups that really blocks them, more than me... could I be the chilled out teacher who lets them be where they are, and not prod them out of their inhibitions. Should I wait, or go on my instinct... this is so much work for me, u have no clue... I suffer this part of teaching most:( and every student has some hang up if not in one pose, than in another... and I am exerting and exerting, from some place that does not seem to show the exertion:)

Also, as usual, some kitpits (bickering) about the  fee. Petros, who has become rather chilled out now that he is doing scorpion (:) advised me that though I am indifferent to money, maybe I should become chilled out and relaxed about some people's  hangups about paying a teacher... mmmmm. And not feel guilty for charging for my teaching...  I get the point Petros... I usually get  that terrible urge to tick off or lecture students who have an issue about paying the piddling amount I charge... and the fact that I am indifferent to the money is lost, of course, totally  in this irritation that rises up ... because what I intend to convey is that " hey, u, I am indifferent to the money, u also learn to be... " However, because of my irritation towards the other's attitude I come out as if I care a lot...
 Ha, ha, so the joke is always on me..

Chill, teacher, chill!!

Free MySpace Animations!

• New comers Puja and Zara held the difficult leg raise for two minutes, each leg, upping the ante!!
• Tried a new way to put the backbends into surya namaskar because otherwise we seem to miss it altogether due to limited class timing. And managed to do all the backbends in the six rounds tho the whole set cost us 20 minutes... But good and hot.
• Trying to get the class to do the headstand cycling... but needs a lot of focus and attention and strenght, And everybody is still doing it gingerly, which is ok, I guess, as long as they are game to try it. Imagine if I had students who would not do the headstand... Not only will I be a poorly paid yoga teacher, but also a very bored one!!
• A new girl went on about injuries happening in yoga class. I am gritting and grinding my teeth at the fears some yoga teachers bring into certain poses ... Halasana is such a big issue that way. And of course, teachers who cannot do surya namaskar and headstand will also claim, the former is not yoga and the latter is very very dangerous!!!
• Working on the headstand chapter for my third book and finding out some lovely stuff about the pose...

Yogic thought for the day

The real sage again becomes like a child. The circle is complete. From child back to child. But the difference is great. The first is the birth of the physical body. The second is of the consciousness.

Osho

Daily Health Gyan

Do not take anti-depressants unless it is due to a personal trauma from which u seek a temp relief. Long term abuse of anti-depressants does what it should not do... feel suicidal. That is the dirty well-kept secret behind this so-commonly prescribed medication...

Yogic tip for today

For the half lotus shoulderstand, u may clean up the pose, by shifting the weight on the hands, and pushing the knee back. Most people hold their folded  knee sloppily in this posture... and this is one thing u need to constantly correct, to open the hip up, which is what the pose is originally meant to do:)

In class today

Oh yesterday did a speed round of surya namaskar with the early morning class. In the crescent  bones at the knee seem to scrunch sickeningly together... and the nerve whips with pain that shimmmers from ankle, to hip to knee and back to calf, like a lightening whiplash that is meant to jolt me back to sensibility. But I am an idiot yoga believer, I believe movement heals, so I trudge on... fast rounds of surya namaskar, feeling the knee where I never felt it before, wondering .. still
Today, managed to jump from the wide-legged forward bend to the standing position. First time was a wonder to me. Second time, the knee kicked in with a whacking pain... but hey, u don't show that in the class and collapse, what?!! So, I sat down for nidra, and led it, totally nauseated by pain... but it has since gone. Which just goes to show that between wisdom and folly there is a very thin line indeed....:)!!!

The positive thing about the knee injury is that my arm balancers have improved... for some reason... side crow, glavasana are feeling quite light. Maybe I lost muscle, not doing kick boxing.. this body, strange thing....

Daughter has been attending classes... and cleaned up her headstand, I am happy to say. Headstand is a real wonder healing pose for knee problems. As a dancer, she has quite a bit of that, tho only 18
--
Many students dropped out, some very quietly, guilty. Why I wonder they feel guilty:) This month no dramatic exit. Jit has shifted, so he is also out of the class... but Rujuta has returned, nice to have her back:) And some new comers Chinmayee and Indu, her mother. I am focusing on Indu... she relates to the idea of yoga ... I chatted a lot in class with her today... Happens everytime other students don't turn up. A huge vata problem, talking. Am trying to muzzle that!!!

Yogic thought for today

The most frightening part as u go along, is this sense of  being outside of everything... If u do not surrender to that feeling, but worry that something is wrong with you, then u feel out of whack spiritually... the last hold, where the soul wails, and worries, if this out-of-all-that-feeling is where one was meant to be headed...

I like this quote from Osho: the coin drops!

Remember one basic law; anything that is complete drops, because then there is no meaning in carrying it; anything that is incomplete, clings; it waits for its completion.

And this existence is really always longing for completion.


He explains that the constant internal monologue we all carry and with which we seek to entertain our shifty mind, that is the sign of incomplete living.To enter real silence, we must complete everything...  not leave anything incomplete. Live in the moment, be saturated. The first thing to do is to break the monologue -- to do this we must live right. The internal monologue is a sign of wrong, incomplete living.

Cat stretch: the simple tough pose

As I grow in yoga practice, and that includes recovering from self-inflicted folly like the knee injury I just sustained, I begin to appreciate simple poses like the cat stretch.
Amazingly, after the knee injury, using yoga to heal, I found I could take on the difficult poses-- headstand, scorpion, difficult variations of the headstand -- with control. But found it so immensely difficult  to do basic things like the cat stretch, fish, locust (I had to use a bolster under the thighs for the locust since lifting the legs scrunched my knee painfully), double leg drops, leg cycling; even the cobra gave me immense pain. I still cannot do the surya namaskar and restarted it slowly only  last week;  I cannot sit cross-legged or even dream of lotus for at least a few weeks:( Sudden movements jerks the knee,wrenching it with a shock. Walking on Bandra's potholed, up-down pavement challenges it a lot; but I do it deliberately  to see that the leg does not lose its ability to take on that special challenge; I restarted balancing poses only this weekend, holding the warrior, crane for half a minute. Even the simplest of poses, the one-legged prayer pose, hurts the knee quite a bit, but I am extending the time in these...
So, yes, I am revisiting the sweet simple poses and find that not just for me, but even those without any knee issue, some cat stretches are giving trouble. None of my group is able to still find the balance in the leg holding cat stretch... Same side. Here I am trying holding the opposite leg with opp hand. That will be even more difficult to teach:) Yes,simple is tough...

Cat stretch advanced version: Reaching the opposite hand for opposite leg... Can be very very challenging in terms of balance and body alignment, and also intensifying the pose by lifting the chin up.
What u need for this pose: the ability to do the basic lion-roaring version of the cat stretch, then moving to the single arm-leg out balancing versions of that before moving into the leg holding variations.

Most important: Balance, balance, balance....

Daily Health Gyan

Hematite is used in crystal therapy to calm anxiety attacks... It is an exciting metallic black silvery gemstone that is heavy, to feel, can cold to touch... lovely, solid stone.

Today's yogic tip

Leg raises work on the problems of the lowest chakra -- self-preservation and anxiety -- greed. Leg raises, to heal yourself from such emotional issues:)