Jai Sivananda

Daily Health Gyan : love hormone and u and pills

2012-01-27T22:14:00.001+05:30

Writing a feature on love hormones ( I know, I know, V-day attacks even yoga writers). Read that anti-depressant pills can actually affect the receptor sites of love/reward hormones, contracting your emotions -- meaning you may feel like NOT loving any more!! Terrible!! Seems out of the frying pan, right into the fire!! Avoid pills guys.. do yoga:)

Ajna chakra: answer and query

2012-01-27T21:51:00.000+05:30

ANSWER: Even I have forgotten my own query! This is what happens when readers's response is lukewarm! Nevermind... I am a yoga enthusiast, not a profitmonger. So, lukewarm or not, I continue spiralling in my circle of love for yoga... So will answer the query... Ajna chakra, when it is mismanaged, can cause delusion and illusion (euphemism for being lunatic!). On the physical side, when flowly wrongly, it can cause eye problems, headaches and nightmares!

QUERY: What are the problems of the love center/anahata overflowing?
Everybody wants this center to flow... but what when it overflows... (In certain asanas, u will find people start crying .. wheel, locust have that effect! Yoga nidra can also do that).

Prahlada, Sivananda asana guru, to be in Mumbai this month! Sign up!!

2012-01-27T21:04:00.001+05:30

Prahlada, the asana guru and head of the Montreal Sivananda center, will in Mumbai on Feb 24, for a special Yoga session and Satsang. We will fix up a hall in Bandra for the event which will be in the evening of Friday. Time will be fixed, depending on his flight. Please jot the date down on your calender. He is the best asana guru (for me, in the whole world). His energy is electrifying.
All are welcome, including non-Sivananda students. The asana session will be based on the classic Sivananda style. U will need to

Bring your own mat.
Wear comfortable yoga clothes (We will ensure a changing place for u to change, if u are coming from work).
And sms me your email, name on my 9833109909 number. U can also email me on yogaenthusiast@rediffmail.com .. We will register u in and send u the update on the exact timing, etc.

Be there. This is the only second time in Sivananda tradition that a yoga session/satsang is being organised. Last time, it was at Kandivli, for which we had hired the terrace on our sprawling complex. It was a fantastic gathering and everybody was in a yoga zone:)

Om shantih!!

Goddess Saraswati's vehicle and your breath and wisdom

2012-01-25T19:59:00.000+05:30

Above you see disparate images -- seemingly unconnected -- one an image of the Goddess Saraswati (of wisdom and learning) and then the pose hamsasana (swan) pose, and the last one, a translation of a treatise on liberation that is said to be part of the Bhagavata Purana.

The swan is seen as an ideal of the self-realised person (the ideal for real yoga practice and its only raison d'etre for the practice ctually) because it is seen in Indian symbolism as the perfect detached creature -- it is in the water, yet its feathers are not we. It also can walk, fly and swim. The word ham-sa when transposed sounds so-ham -- this is the sound of your own breath, according to yoga. It is the sound that is manifest in the body, psychically experienced by it. It may explain why when people meditate on this sound (which is called the nirguna mantra, or the chant of the formless) they feel as if they have entered a trance state (one contemporary guru uses it as part of his practice and some silly followers actually think he made up the sound. One such follower once sent me a threatening letter when I wrote a yoga column on this sound and its meditation, which btw is called ajapa japa famously in all of yoga and does not belong to any one group, or its leader!!).

So, so-ham and ham-sa mean the realised being -- it is an experience of the ultimate one which even Patanjali says is why nature conjured us up, and gave `a vague nothing a local habitation and a name' (as Shakespeare talks, in Midsummer's Night Dream). So this sound is also the sound of your breath.
That it should be the vehicle of Saraswati means that wisdom rides on your breath (your awareness of it)-- more on this later:)
Interesting thing is that when u do the hamsasana (a preparatory pose to the peacock) your breath stops altogether!!

Bhringi rishi, ardhanareshwar and understanding yoga

2012-01-24T22:52:00.000+05:30

(Image from this site: a temple fresco in Karnataka, India)
I read this story first in Devdutt Pattanaik's 7 secrets of Shiva(Published by Westland) .It is a story of how Rishi Bhringi (he is the shrivelled man, all bones, standing on Shiva's right, his hands folded in respect) would not worship Parvati though Shiva himself made it clear he was incomplete without his wife. Parvati sits on Shiva's lap to show her proximity, but Bhringi turns himself into a bee to try to move between the close-knit couple. Then Shiva shows his Ardhanareshwar form, where he is both man and woman, and as incomplete without Shakti. But the rishi is still adamant. An annoyed Parvati then curses Bhringi so that he loses all that comes from a mother's body (as the belief goes) -- which includes tissues and blood (the father is said to be responsible for bones and nerves). So Bhringi is reduced to bones and nerves and cannot even stand. A compassionate Shiva then gives the now-remorseful rishi a third leg on which to stand... Hence Bhringi is shown as the tripod in Shiva's depictions...

For me, this story is very expressive of the idea of yoga as something that will not be complete without accepting the human angle to the divine. Or the physical aspect of the mind. Or vice versa. Or the philosophical and theological in relation to the mundane living... That both are tied... to run after one, without understanding that it is tied to the other... then, u may trip, either way.. arrogant philosophers who are delusional; or bhogis for whom the idea of the spiritual seems cheesy or too mystical...

Yogic thought for the day

2012-01-24T17:16:00.000+05:30

When dealing with women who are trying to control their weight, I often find they blame external factors -- the usual target is a vague general thing they club as hormones. However, a lot of control comes from taking responsibility for oneself, including for what is happening inside your body... It is not something I make up, as a smug, know-it-all yoga teacher:) Here is what this book on yoga says -- from the Yogic management of common diseases by Sw Karmananda (Bihar school):

One of the most prominent precipitating factors in states of thyroid imbalance is long-term suppression and blockage of emotional expression....
Balancing of the emotions, and giving a suitable outlet for their expression is an important part of yoga therapy for thyroid disease.

Daily Health Gyan

2012-01-24T17:04:00.000+05:30

Having olives can help u lose belly fat.. a few -- five to six daily will do the trick... try it and let me know:) It has MUFA which helps reduce belly fat...

Yogic tip for today

2012-01-24T17:03:00.000+05:30

When trying the crow and if nervous here is a tip: Don't keep moving back and forth from the base position. It is a sign of nervousness and that the body feels it is not ready for the pose. Instead, get strength and confidence by just staying in the base position and moving up from one toe to another. Do not swing the hips back. Stay with the weight on the upper arms (mid arm lock) and shuffle from one toe to another. The body will get used to the weight needed for the pose. Beginners move the hips back, lose the lock at the arms and ruin the chance to gain strength and confidence... if you keep moving the hips back, u may take forever(never) to get the pose...

Yogic thought for the day

2012-01-21T16:01:00.001+05:30

Tada drustuh Svarupe avasthanam.. Patanjali in his Samadhi pada..

This line, in essence, is all what yoga is supposed to be: Then the seer ( abides) in itself.

U can understand why Yoga or Patanjali are perplexing. It is always an experiential thing.. yet, I notice that unlike other sutras of Patanjali where the interpretations can be confusing if you do not practice yoga (and just talk of it as do a lot of stupid people and no, I am not being bitchy, merely objective, who talk down to me, they do, because apparently they are all scholars in Patanjali and flaunt some certificate form some local insti to prove it:) this sutra gets an uniform interpretation by all `real' scholars which shows its meaning is rather clear...

When you practice yoga and feel it in the poses (only when you hold them long or try difficult poses and practices that demand attention and endurance from your mind) then only can u understand this sutra...
Suddenly, there is the awareness of two minds -- one absolutely alert and the other watching. Both are in tandem, without either subverting the other. Then the mind enters a state of pure awareness... that is called the chidakash -- pure consciousness. The practice of yoga is meant to keep you there for long... then, you reach the more advanced level of yoga of involution, focus, meditation and samadhi (there can be no real translation for this word:)..

Here, what he is saying is that the mind abides in itself, and is uncluttered by its afflictions (that includes its thought waves, that shuffle between past, and present). Even in quantum science as one book I read explained, the joker in the pack is Time. So, when you do yoga the sense of time shifts... Past and future blur and there is only a continuum of the now...

This state is yoga....

Why is this pose so tough for us?

2012-01-21T15:48:00.000+05:30

This is a warrior pose variation. I just found it while scanning some books. It looks easy first hand. Also, even most of my students can stay in the basic warrior balance (which is so tough) for very long, some people like Petros, Valerie, Sai, Mini, Sonya, Mayank, nowadays Murthy (whose balance has improved so much since the last few months) and a lot of others. That basic balance itself is rather challenging and its perfect execution -- a T-shape with the body -- is rather tough.. Then to hold it for a minute without topping off, is tough. So yes, it is a basic-tough pose I like to teach my students. Yet this new one, which is just an extension of that, is giving so much trouble to my students. Most of them are unable to lift the back leg off the ground and it hangs timidly towards the floor. The other leg remains bent often. And the wobble factor is rather high:) However, that is the interesting thing about this pose -- though both versions have no hands to guide you or to give a sense of security, in this pose, just the fact that the hands have moved behind (from where it may take a fraction of a second longer to open it, to break a fall) is all that gives so much trouble. Suddenly, you realise that balancing is such a fine art and it becomes a fascinating study in itself.. and how much more the mind can leap, to conquer its fears that are deeply hidden and which we do not even know as fear!! That is what this pose teaches me.. and every pose, is a cleaning up of those things we do not need any more.. then, somewhere between the struggle in the body and mind, the mind becomes even more clean. That is why tough yoga is necessary, for the mind more than anything else. When you hold the pose over the wobble and inner chatter of your mind, including its screams, then that white noise where everything stops and you touch base with a space you never reached in your own mind...chidakash!! Pure consciousness, perfect awareness, unjudging, complete, watching. .. Then, yoga happens to you:)

What you need in this pose?

Constant practice of standing balancers, especially warrior and crane/crescent versions.
A good group to practice in -- it can lift this pose really. .. that is called morphic reasonance... a synchornicity of energy... that still puzzles scientists but which seems to be how nature works...

Happy sadhana!!

Daily Health Gyan

2012-01-20T22:35:00.000+05:30

In Reader's Digest: that pregnant women avoid microwaves, hairdryers and vacuum cleaners because they generate magnetic waves -- may cause asthma in the developing baby...

Yogic tip for today

2012-01-20T22:33:00.000+05:30

REgular practice of Khechari mudra can help control hunger and thirst. I have been practising this since I did my sadhana intensive with my ashram, years ago. Its become a habit when I do my samanu pranayama.. I do this pranayama only about thrice a week.

Yogic thought for the day

2012-01-20T22:20:00.000+05:30

Patanjali's Sutras (Sadhana Pada): For some reason these two sutras below, suddenly make so much sense to me...

The only purpose of what is seen is to serve the self : Tad artha eva drsyasyatma.

When its end is accomplished, it disappears, through it continues to sever others in common experience. : Krthartham prati nastam apyanastam, tad anya sadharanatvat

Here is an interpretation of these, which I like because it is rather precise and simulates Patanjali's own terseness:, I am giving a few paras, By Shyam Ranganathan for Penguin Classics

Nature is goal-directed; its purpose is that of the purusa or self. The goal of the purusa is liberation. Thus the goal of nature is to help purusa gain liberation.

Some Indian philosophies suggest that Nature is an illusion that is constructed out of our ignorance. Patanjali eschews such a perspective. Nature is a real entity that exists whether we are individually liberated or not. When we personally liberated, Nature continues to serve other persons.

Patanjali knows iITTT!! .. He is so dry, logical, clinical in his sutras and something shines through those puzzling words, something clear and lucid despite the various interpretations (I have four versions of the Sutras:) and even he, talks of faith, of another kind.. ..

He talks of Pratibhat -- intuitive insight.. a flash of wisdom.. this beautiful pure language of yoga... in one word, so much meaning...

Big lesson, in a little tale

2012-01-19T22:20:00.000+05:30

(Image from this site: http://www.wisemuslimwomen.org/muslimwomen/bio/rabia_al-adawiyya/)
This is the tale of the Sufi mystic Rabi’a. +
It is a good story that illuminates our relation not only to death but also to suffering in this life. Rabi’a was so immersed in god-love that she did not bother about her material conditions. Some mystics tried to argue with Rabi’a about faith. What is faith, asked one. He answered it himself, saying, “Faith means being patient with suffering that god inflicts.” Rabi’a answered: “That stinks of egotism.” Another mystic argued that faith meant being grateful for suffering that god inflicts. Rabia felt that was not very clear either. She answered from her own experience: “Faith means having such a clear vision of the master that one is oblivious to the suffering he inflicts.”

Mmmm, maybe sometimes, u feel that in a pose, the distancing and indifference to pain -- when the body seems to disappear and with it, its obsessive awareness of itself... then the coin drops, ringing of something more and beyond:)

Reading about Rabi'a al adawiyya is very poignant...If u like mystic stories, hers are fantastic... U must get to know her, to understand the idea of yoga ...and its mystic underpinnings and how the mystic experience is common world around...

Yogic thought for the day

2012-01-19T21:47:00.000+05:30

The signs of progress on the path of yoga are health, a sense of physical lightness, steadiness, clearness of countenance and a beautiful voice, sweetness of odour of the body and freedom from craving. He has a balanced, serene and a tranquil mind:

B.K.S Iyengar, Light on Yoga

Wow Yoga!! Scorpion...

2012-01-19T21:41:00.000+05:30

Thinking of adding a new section... Wow Yoga.. on some wonderful things I learn as I teach...
Swami Satyanandji says though a beginner to scorpion can stay afloat only for a few seconds, adepts may stay up for five minutes... Only today, thot of clocking myself... mmmm... not so hot, maybe one minute at the stretch.. but where there is a will... u know the rest of it...

Yogic tip for today

2012-01-19T21:39:00.000+05:30

In the peacock pose, the big mistake students do is to lift the feet off ... that is an explosive movement and pushes the body forward without giving the body time to adjust to the lift, and often the legs will split mid air and topple u over:) The ideal way, the sivananda way in fact, is to tilt the elbows, so the legs lift up in a soft, floating motion. That gives control in the final hold...

Answer and query

2012-01-19T21:37:00.000+05:30

Answer: For those who did not dare to answer and others who did not know, yes, the crown center sahasrara is activated in the headstand.

Query: What is the danger when your ajna chakra/intellectual center is overflowing? It is an ego problem... Most people don't know, when they talk casually of activating the center, the danger of overextending the effort... and that goes to those gurus who teach these practices for a price:) The ajna chakra activation must be only initiated to a student whom the teacher knows well, personally and whose intentions are pure and spiritual... for others it can cause a lot of stupid things.... so what is the most dangerous part of your ego gets activated with ajna chakra?

Answer tomorrow....

Daily Health Gyan:memory

2012-01-18T17:51:00.000+05:30

Not remembering stuff? Am reading a book on Thinking and Knowling (by Grange, edited by Bridget Giles) which says that memory depends a lot on how much emotion gets invested in the processing of the information. U remember what you connect with. Also,that since information that gets lodged depends on what the mind already has, if you keep adding stuff, you keep remembering more... hee hee, that tip is enough to put off people but actually that means is that if you already know the map of the world, it becomes easier to remember where europe is. If you knew where europe is, it becomes easier to remember where England is. If you knew where England is, then it becomes easier to remember where London is... Memory is both a top-down and bottom up process, it is a live thing and depends on what you feed it with:) Savvy??!!

On yoga, namaz and surya namaskar

2012-01-18T17:42:00.001+05:30

In response to my fb link on my mid-day article on the fuss over surya namaskar, one yoga teacher Siddhartha Shankar Mishra posted the following. I am using it here, as he presented it, including a detailed account by one swamiji from his ashram.. Is interesting reading for those who like to create the atmosphere of integration and peace:) .
.........In Arabic, namaz is known as 'salaat', which is derived from 'silaa' meaning 'meeting'. Thus namaz is a means for meeting God; that is, during namaz man's submission and God's acceptance take place. This na...maz, formulated by the great Prophet Mohammed (Peace be on Him), under the inspiration of God, has to be prayed 5 times a day: before sunrise, at noon, between noon and sunset, just after sunset, and before bedtime.
Namaz consists of rakaats, each rakaat being a series of 7 postures. For example, before sunrise, 2 rakaats or 14 postures must be performed. Thus each Muslim is under obligation to perform 119 postures per day, that is 3750 postures per month and 42,840 postures per year. Suppose, if we live up to an average of 50 years, namaz being obligatory from the age of 10 years, we would have performed 1,713,600 postures compulsorily in this lifetime.
Thus, if a Muslim practises namaz strictly and properly, he will be automatically fit and sound physically, mentally and spiritually. In this respect Al Quran (29:45) says: "Innas Salata Tanha Fhasyaye. Valmunkar," which is rendered in English as: "Neither ill feeling nor unhealthy thought can occupy the mind of a namazee." Unity in Diversity.

Swami Pragyamurti Saraswati (England)

In recent years Paramahamsa Satyananda has opened the gates of the Alakh Bara where he lives for about nine days during an auspicious time in November, so that his many disciples from all over India and the world can come and see him and participate in various celebrations.
In the neighbouring pilgrimage town of Deoghar every hotel is full and buzzing with excitement and the hum of dozens of different languages. The drivers of various forms of transport, from ancient buses to cycle rickshaws, ply the few miles between Deoghar and Rikhia many times a day.
Inside the akhara, the organization is incredible, and the largest vote of thanks must surely go to the kitchen staff, who prepared us excellent food for breakfast, lunch and dinner and copious cups of tea, all served up on easily disposable leaf plates and earthenware cups – an ecologically sound wonder. On enquiring from one of the kitchen swamis how many people were sitting down for food, he said 750 (on the first day) and this rose to over 2,000, with never a visible hitch and a lot of good humour.
On the other side of the road, mats were laid out daily, beneath huge canopies to protect us from the sun (and occasional rain) and there was a beautifully decorated stage where the various activities took place – music, lectures, dance, religious ceremonies – and a special raised structure for the havan (tantric fire ceremony). As well as the hundreds of visitors from India and abroad, there were also crowds of people from the surrounding villages, many of whom are being directly helped by Paramahamsaji, with gifts of clothing, tools, bicycles, wheelchairs, and the wherewithal to earn a living.
Sita Kalyanam was this year's celebration of the marriage of Sri Rama and Sitaji and this was reflected in the daily chanting from the Ramayana, kirtans and lectures.
This year I came to Rikhia solely to have darshan of my Beloved – the various 'entertainments' on offer did not tempt me in the least. So when it became apparent that Paramahamsaji was not going to give his usual wonderful and lengthy satsangs, I was, briefly, disappointed. However, guru's grace comes in many shapes and forms and I was quite happy practising trataka on the back of his head or on his profile during the endless lectures on Ramayana. There were, however, a couple of events which touched me deeply – events which could only have been thought up and organized by Paramahamsaji and Swami Niranjan. These significant events will have long-term repercussions in India and elsewhere.
Along with many people (especially women I daresay), I have been somewhat 'Islamophobic' for a number of years, in the sense that I do not approve of the expression of Islam by its followers, so I was most interested in the presence of the Imam of the Munger mosque, Abdullah Bukhari, and only regretted my poor understanding of Hindi as he expressed the pure and sublime teaching of Islam, together with chanting from the holy Koran. It was an extraordinary experience to practise namaz under his guidance, with half an eye on our two Swamijis, dressed in white and looking for all the world like two perfect Muslims, as they too followed his movements.
I was privileged to meet the Maulana after his talk and I asked him for a message for my Muslim yoga students in London, and the message is that namaz and yoga are one. I am sure that the Imam was both surprised and delighted at the respect and warm welcome accorded him by so many Hindus and other non-Muslims both at Rikhia and on his later visit to Ganga Darshan, and I hope that he and Swami Niranjanji will be able to continue working together to heal the divisions that still cause so much chaos and pain.
However, my Islamophobia was nothing compared with my deep dislike of almost everything Christian, thanks to being educated for a short time in an Anglican convent school before being expelled. The abuse I suffered there made me a devout atheist for many a long year; so I was prepared to have a few buttons pushed at the Mass being celebrated at Rikhia, although the fact that the priest was a woman was of some consolation and encouragement. So, imagine my horror when I was told that I was to be one of the swamis actually participating in the Mass, and not only participating, but also giving the consecrated bread to the people! Hmmm, I thought, both Paramahamsaji and the Reverend Antoinette Schoenmaker are taking the joke too far this time! But once again my doubts were gently smoothed during the rehearsal by Antoinette's warmth and understanding, and when the day dawned I was actually looking forward to the celebration.
And what a celebration it was! Being given the bread by my beloved guru was a wonderfully healing experience and once again I was almost overwhelmed by the power and love flowing through him. Words can never adequately describe this experience of shaktipat, and as I write this my heart is full of love and gratitude and my eyes are full of tears and I shall never forget it. What seemed like a lifetime later I moved along the rows of people with my little leaf dish of wafers, which they received in their hands or mouth, and it seemed the most natural thing in the world to make the sign of the cross on each one and to wish that the presence of Christ be with them. And as the Lords of the Dance brought the Mass to a grand finale the swami priests danced and laughed and bathed in the light of their guru's eyes and marvelled at the wonder of it all.
As I prepare to return home now I must find a place in my bag for two large books, the Ramayana and the Koran, both received as prasad and neither of which I had ever intended to read other than very superficially. So thank you for the many gifts, the endless prasad, thank you for the lessons learned, the healing received, the opening heart, the experience of oneness. And although I don't hope to be a religious person, I am aware of new depths in my spiritual life and quest thanks to this Sita Kalyanam 1998.

Query and answer

2012-01-18T17:36:00.000+05:30

ANS: The pose (of the three mentioned) that helps release all tension is the halasana/plough.

QUERY: Simple all you Watsons.. which center is activated, spiritually, for the headstand ?

Today's yogic tip

2012-01-18T17:31:00.000+05:30

To extend bhramari's humming sound, do not exert from the throat -- lot of people puff the throat out.. Instead, draw your stomach in as you make the sound -- it becomes naturally long for two reasons --
1) You are involving the diaphragm -- the main muscle for breath 2) the drawing-in motion and its continuity stops the distraction and exerting effort from the mind, creating a focus which helps extend the effort, effortlessly:)

Today in class: headstand and more

2012-01-17T21:30:00.000+05:30

Bharat tried the scorpion, and could hold it well for long. Khusboo came back after a long time, but still held the headstand for so long. Almost three mins. Abhishek btw is doing the headstand on his own. Others are being taught the headstand and show promise: Sharnae, Aman and Arindam in the morning class.. today put the second Amrita into the headstand,and she went up rather lightly into it... all seem not so confused when they went up the last few times, so it means mostly the pose is there for them:)
Arunima is back, after motherhood and other yoga schools(Bikram too, she tells me:). In form, I should say. I remember, though she may not remember that, that when I did that Carter Road experiment (yoga class at the waterfront, at Carter Road, for a few months:) she would come for every class she committed -- all the way to Bandra from Kandivli(these two suburbs are so far off each other) ... this, though she would bunk the Kandivli classes where she lived. I used to be touched at that, that someone who found it tough mornings to do a local class would take the extra effort to travel to Bandra (from Kandivli!!) just to support me in my mad experiment:) So, yes, I remember all my students always with love... even the ones, like these other former students, who suddenly resurfaced to do walk-ins, then ran off without paying:( It is not about the payment really. Now see this contrast with my other, fav student: Jit after shifting to Vashi, came and forgot also because he was rushing thru, but then though he shifted to Cal, sent the money thru a friend of his!! It is a small amount either ways, however for me that gesture too is yoga. It is not really about the money, but the gesture of that ... the small ones define us so much:) Hey Jit, if u are reading this, don't let it go to your head:) I rather u did the scorpion then paid me for that walk-in!! :)

Daily Health Gyan

2012-01-17T16:06:00.000+05:30

Yesterday I think TOI had a news item that those who exercised earned overall 9 per cent more than those who did not... It was not they seduced the boss with their great, gym-toned (maybe yoga toned also) bodies, but that those who exercised were more efficient, more organised etc... and that is why they exercised, Watson!

Yogic tip for today

2012-01-17T16:03:00.000+05:30

Placing the hands on one top of the other creates a meditative mudra. According to the Bihar school mudras redirect the prana back into the body and mind. Most of us suffer from dissipated prana. This contains such wastage. This mudra is used for meditation. If the left hand is on top, it becomes bhairavi. If the right hand (as in ths pose) it is bhairav. The left hand on top is the female energy (cooler) and the left hand on top is the male energy (pingala nadi or solar energy).
It does not matter if you are male or female. U can choose the nature of energy (cool or warm) depending on what you are feeling for the moment and whether u want it accentuated or reduced. All of yoga must be practiced only with such intense and refined awareness...

Mudra cure for tinnitus

2012-01-17T13:14:00.000+05:30

Not many alternative sciences offer much help with tinnitus. I found this wonderful little booklet on mudra which is THE book for cure and also, the only book I know in mudra which gives contraindications also... all other mudra books completely ignore this big issue with mudra, that it can be dangerous if overpracticed.

For tinnitus, the mudra to be held, according to the book Health at your Fingertips, by Dr Dhiren Gala, is the akaash Shamaak mudra (decreasing the element of space in the body)

Press down middle finger till it touches base of the thumb. Do for each hand. For chronic problems, u must hold it for 45 minutes daily (if unable to do this at one go, to break it up into three parts, 15 min each). To be held anytime other than 2 to 6 am in the morning.

Why the fuss over suryanamaskar?

2012-01-16T20:22:00.000+05:30

Why the fuss over suryanamaskar?

My column in Sunday Mid-day, over the sun salute (following the fuss in MP over the government request to schools to organise a state wide sun salutation programme)

Yogic thought for the day

2012-01-12T18:53:00.000+05:30

Often we think a lot of crappy things. Then we brush it off, thinking these are just thoughts, and we are not doing these crappy things. That thoughts don't matter, only actions do. But, all your gurus will tell you and Sw Sivananda definitely says that thoughts are the most live things. They float about you, creating you as a person.... Below is a quote that corresponds to this...

One assumes the form of that which is in one's mind: Maitri Upanishad.

Today in class

2012-01-12T18:50:00.000+05:30

Bharat has returned after a month -- his scorpion needs to be relearnt. But otherwise the headstand has improved, surya namaskar seems fine, and he's a bit wobbly with the standing flexibility poses -- one month could do that to one whose practice is rather strong, then think of those whose practice is wobbly what would happen if they take a long break? That is why from this year I have decided not to take in walk-ins, not good for the student, the teacher, and the rest of the class. Gaps don't help u on the mat at all... yoga is not for the commitment phobic. So, yes, it is good Bharat did not go the way of most twenties who come and disappear, seemingly confident yoga will be there for them when they turn forty:) The class is happy to have him back:)

Otherwise, many are in the headstand -- Vishwas, Neha, Valerie.. Puujaa is almost there..

Sonya has gone to the ashram for TTC.. the week before she left, we saw that she held the headstand for 10 mins. When I went to do the TTC I was rather raw... unprepared:) Oh, and I did not even have a yoga mat. I bought that dhurrie like thing they used to sell as a mat those days at the ashram boutique, for Rs 100 I recall. I used to be broke those days, having given up my job and funding all my yoga adventures by myself (yes, I never depended on my husband for my dreams, though a lot of people think that his presence is why I can chase them:) and used to make money by writing articles for a foreign mag over the night ( whose editor left a few months later, still owing me over Rs 30000 in collective article payment) so I would be sleeping by four am, get up by five to dash off for a yoga training programme with asana andiappan in the morning, followed by another training, then a swimming session with my baby, and then evening another training. Then exhausted, sit at the computer, typing crazily! That I was, a crazy, yoga mad person:) Phew! I get tired thinking of that phase even now:) So, then, after these two trainings in Chennai, and still unsatisfied with either, I decided to do the Sivananda TTC... It changed my life! So many of my students/workshop attendees have since gone there -- RJ (though she left me in a huff later and thinks I am egotistic:), Keshavi, Tammy, Nausheen ... Some even don't want to say they learnt with me, or attended my workshops... mmmm, each to his/her own...

And so, yes, when I went to the ashram, I had only that dhurrie yoga mat -- which was just a dhurrie really -- I used it for everything, including surya namaskar that dhurrie mat:) That may be why I have no fear of falling -- the door matty thing is the most slippery, slidey thing you ever practiced on!!

Daily Health Gyan

2012-01-11T21:13:00.000+05:30

While learning something new, using positive reinforcement is a surefire way to ensure learning. I wonder at how self-critical people are when learning something difficult like a headstand.. the more self-critical they are, they more difficult they find to get it right fast. U see this in several poses, where the assessment -- after a fall or a botched attempt -- is so negative that it rustles in the air, around the person, sinking him or her further. I myself prefer for the mind to just watch, instead of criticising, when learning a pose ...

Yogic tip for today

2012-01-11T20:58:00.003+05:30

For fight wrinkles the pose to do?
The scorpion:)

Yogic thought for the day

2012-01-11T20:58:00.000+05:30

The study of someone lacking in wisdom is like the mirror image of a blind person.

Lord Shiva, discoursing with Parvati, on real wisdom.

Kula Arnava Tantra

Kurma nadi: the serentity center

2012-01-11T20:50:00.000+05:30

Though the Sivananda tradition, as well as many schools, suggest that you meditate at the heart or the eyebrow center, suddenly yesterday discovered that for me it was more soothing to meditate at the throat chakra. Wisdom after I get serenity, I thought. And serenity, so I can appreciate love.

The ajna/eyebrow center is the wisdom/intellectual center (jnana margis) and the heart/anahat center is the love center (ideal for bhakti margis). Since I am seemingly neither, and only struggling with communication yet:) I thought I can shut down the constant blah by focusing on the throat center. For me at least, it is like coming home. I have tried the heart and the ajna and occasionally succeed to stay at the eyebrow for a milliionth of a fraction of a millisecond. But at the throat (actually the hollow at the throat), that feels very soothing. While at either of the centers to be calm is frightening, and immediately the mind shakes and flutters into inner chatter, while at the throat center, all the voices in the head clam up. Quiet seems possible, and acceptable and not frightening (Most people get `bored' with meditation because they cannot bear the inner silence:)... And so, yes, there must be something there!

Chakra master Harish Johari, whose book I immediately plumbed for more insight, says that this is the kurma nadi, the tortoise center. (Even Patanjali says that samayama on the throat center gives steadiness). That meditating on this center ushers serenity and calmness. Communication skills are channelised spiritually. The awareness to read other's thoughts and communicate without words. The person who meditates on this center gains control over the self... It seems to be a `sensible center' to focus on, since I am such a chatterbox (this blog, my classes) and I hope it will shut me up!!

Though the chakra at the throat is vishuddhi (which means to purify), the nadi that is activated by the attention -- and which is at the hollow at the throat is kurma/tortoise nadi. For those who are confused: the difference is that is a one is a charka which is a plexus/vortex of nadis -the other is a single channel of energy)

The kurmasana, as I have executed above, extends the neck, so though the pressure is all over the place (ask those who are still struggling with the first stage of the pose), there is also a continued one at the base and the throat center. I think that may be why Sw Niranjanananda in one of his book says that this is a spiritual pose that can create the state of mind involution that everybody struggles with..

Other poses which in my mind extend the neck in a similar fashion and hit upon this nadi is the

Scorpion
Locust (classical version)
Dhanu (If you lift you head up, to look at the ceiling)
Poorna cobra (where the head has to be thrown back)
Ushtrasana (Camel)

Holding such poses for long can mean spiritual growth in this center -- serenity, is def worth investing in:) Intriguing to me that these poses are rather difficult to hold, or if you can, for long, na?!

Happy sadhana!!

Answer and query

2012-01-11T15:00:00.000+05:30

Answer: Seshnag -- simple connection, see that flexibility...

Query: Which of these poses release tensions completely? One is the correct answer...

Sarvangasana, sirsasana, halasana?

Answer and query

2012-01-10T16:55:00.000+05:30

Answer: Sigh, either nobody knows or nobody dares or nobody cares.. to answer I mean:) Any case, Jalandhara bandha, the chin lock, is used to open the upper back muscles and neck which are accesory muscles in respiration. Plus the make the neck strong and open to the nine major energy channels running through it. Plus, psychically, said to prevent the flying off your nervous energy.. which far me means, it calms you down (tones nerves which are stressed -- which is possible because of the scrunch at the neck -- the spinal nerves there service the hands, etc... so possibly, something there...)

Query: Who is Patanjali, the sage who is famous for his yoga sutras, said to be the avataar of? Some suggestions below ... choose the right one!

Lord Vishnu -- Lord Shiva -- Lord Hanuman -- Seshnag

Yogic thought for the day

2012-01-10T16:50:00.000+05:30

Kyougen Osho said: "It is like a man up in a tree hanging from a branch with his mouth, his hands grasp no bough, his feet rest on no branch. Someone appears under the tree and asks him, "What is the meaning of Bodhidharma's coming from the West? " If he does not answer he fails to respond to the question, if he does answer he will lose his life. What would you do in such a situation?"

That is a Koan... a Zen puzzle.

For me, it means you cannot talk of That, in any case:) It would be as foolish to talk of That... How many gurus nowadays, talking talking talking.....

Daily Health Gyan

2012-01-10T16:00:00.000+05:30

Here is a tip from the book Yoga for Digestive System (Bihar school).
Avoid restaurants where toilets are dirty. If the toilet is dirty, the kitchen will be more dirty, he says!
Tummy upsets, as we Mumbaikars take our laissez faire attitude too far... :)

Yogic tip for today : for nerves

2012-01-10T15:57:00.000+05:30

Brought this book Yoga for Healing by Dr P.S. Ventkateswaran ... It is by Jaico, and a simple, inexpensive book, but rather an eye-opener as far as yoga therapy is concerned. He suggests that matsyasana, the fish pose, may be used to tone up the nerves. I myself feel that in that pose. It is easily the most soothing of all poses... once it has been mastered you feel you can rest in it forever:) And it is indeed deeply relaxing, and works the whole body too, and must be impacting the nerves. Did you know that the thymus -- your immune gland -- is covered with nerves -- which means that what you feel is being transmitted to your immune -- this may explain why you fall sick when feeling something negative:( So, yes, I always say to my class that matsysana can prevent casual sickness... and now I feel I know why... the pose is soothing stressed nerves...
It is a nervine tonic.

Daily Health Gyan

2012-01-09T17:45:00.001+05:30

I am reading a book on belly fat...(how to lose it, of course) and the author Liz Vaccariello writes that using sugar substitutes may be ok for cal counting, but bad for belly fat since these cause flatulence, stomach reactions because your gut cannot absorb most of them! So much for healthy alternatives promoted by some celebrity chefs:)

Yogic thought for the day

2012-01-09T17:42:00.000+05:30

At this stage, the warrior's journey is based on resting in the state of warriorship, rather than struggling to take the next step. The warrior experiences a ssense of relaxing in his achievement, which is not based on ego-centered concerns but on resting in unconditional confidence, free from aggression. So the journey becomes like a flower unfolding -- it is a natural process of expansion.

From the book Shambhala: The sacred path of the warrior by Chogyam Trungpa.

Yogic thought for the day

2012-01-06T15:18:00.000+05:30

To hold the mind still is known as concentration(dharana).
The pure exclusive thought "I am He", pure consciousness, is called contemplation (dhyana).
When the very thought of contemplation subsides, this is known as absorption (Samadhi)..
Trishiki brahmana upanishad

I have always been amazed about how some yoga schools think they know all about yoga without having the steadiness or discipline of practice on the mat. You would think they are all self-realised, they way they run down a good asana practice:) I doubt they understand discipline or stillness of the mind. If sitting still is self-realisation, then every buffalo would be a jnani, na??!!

Daily Health Gyan and your toilet seat

2012-01-06T15:13:00.000+05:30

Covering the toilet seat after crapping, to flush will prevent the spread of the Winter Vomitting bug. So many of my students took off over the last two weeks, due to a bad tummy ... and it could be this virus. Apparently passed on when the shit flies up or aerosols (drops of water carry the virus) settle down on to the objects in the toilet, which then are touched by others and passed on... Ideal way to safeguard yourself:

Keep the toilet seat on while flushing.
Wash your hands thoroughly after handling either the door knob, basin etc in a toilet, especially strange toilets as in hotels (which may explain why a lot of women get it ..esp ones having little kids -- those tykes must shit when momma is eating!!!).

Symptoms include nausea, and upset tummy. Rest and liquids is the only way to survive the bug.

The virus incubates for two to four days, so u now know which toilet got you in trouble.

Yogic tip for today

2012-01-06T15:07:00.002+05:30

Standing poses help reduce hyperanxiety. You need to build endurance in them for them to heal u:)

Answer and query

2012-01-06T15:06:00.002+05:30

Answer: Jalandhara bandha.

Query: What does this practice do, while locking the chin between the collarbones? What are the benefits....

Answer and query

2012-01-05T17:30:00.002+05:30

Answer: All obviously:) It is the master lock ...

Query: What is the sanskrit name for the chin lock?

Urdva mukhapaschimottanasana: forward bend with a difference

2012-01-05T17:29:00.000+05:30

This is the spicy version of the paschimottanasana.. /and the plough and something I have not myself held for long in my personal practice. So, I thought this week will start on it. This photo was shot without warmup and after a full meal:) So, yes, it is not what I would want as the end result in this pose!

When I show it first, lot of students, including advanced ones, mistake it for halasana (plough). There is a huuge difference between the two. In the plough the legs do not make contact with the face, as here. The legs are also more closely hugged to the torso in this one -- in the plough the torso and legs are apart. If the hands are released that tension will release the legs, so the hands are also fully engaged in this practice, unlike in a plough. It also definitely demands more in terms of flexibility than in both the poses -- be it the seated forward bend or the plough. It is an advanced variation of either, in fact. And I am sure will prove to be difficult to be held longer -- which I am going to `test' soon...

In an ideal pose, the hips should be closer to the floor. The legs straighter. The chin, rather than the nose should be in contact with the knees. And the hands should be more over and behind the feet, instead of just clasping it... We all have so much scope to grow, in yoga:)

B.K.S. Iyengar says it prevents hernia, shapes the legs and removes severe backache (but catch telling that to somebody having a backache, in my class:)!!

What you need for this pose?
A confident paschimottanasana which means it must be held effortlessly.
A confident plough (same description)
And ability to withstand the `good pain', that happens when a new pose is attempted.

Happy sadhana!

Yogic tip for today

2012-01-05T17:04:00.000+05:30

If you are doing the wheel variation u will find that unless u learn to keep your hands straight, you will not be able to push up into single leg/hand lifts. That is because the body knows that you are stiff at the upper back which needs to be supple to take the shift in weight as happens in a variation.

So move your awareness towards the arms -- trying to straighten them. Initially, for most people this may seem rather tough. But constantly trying this creates what is called the transition phase, in any learning -- suddenly there is a leap towards the goal that needed to be reached:)

Daily Health Gyan

2012-01-05T17:00:00.000+05:30

A head and neck massage back can help keep the eyes clearer. I have always wondered how the drainage works in the face.. the large lymph vessels are along the neck and the ears. Massaging them --moving the hands towards the heart (most untrained masseurs do it the opposite way!!) clears the lymph. The lymphatic drainage has no pumping mechanism. It will flow only when muscles around it move... which may explain why yoga makes you feel fresh -- by pushing into the large lymph vessels to clear your insides --

Yogic thought for the day

2012-01-05T16:45:00.002+05:30

Everyone is conquered by the body. But the yogis conquer the body. Hence how can the fruit of karma, such as pleasure and pain, affect them?
This (yogi's) body is like space, even purer than space, more subtle than the subtle, appearing coarse yet not coarse, insentient yet sentient.
There is nothing left for him to do, nor is he affected by what he does. Having become liberated in life, he is always transparent, free from every blemish.

Yoga Shikha Upanishad.

Today in class

2012-01-05T16:35:00.000+05:30

Mmm, trying some flexibility poses. The full "Indian toilet squat" is giving a lot of trouble, and not just to foreigners. Petros not only squats, but was also able to wrap his hands around the knee in the ardha malasana twist:) New students.. in the therapy class... that is always the toughest class I will ever do, therapy... since there has to be healing, but it also is up against a lot of resistance to that... and then I have to mow through that without seeming to be heartless:(

Have hiked the fees to Rs 3000 from this month...

Murthy is away for a week... Though he won't believe it, he is missed in the class. Always, whether it was the morning or the evening class(which he does five/six days a week depending on his shifts), there will be somebody bothered that he has not come in that day... He has that sort of quiet, supportive energy.. In fact, he is the only one who I often `use' as an assistant in the class because his energy is non-interfering. I can order him to put on the fan, demo a pose etc without him demurring one bit ... and he has the way of stepping back, which is the required attitude for assistants. I remember when we were assisting Prahlada, we were all over the place, full of ego... I can see that now, the stupidity of that, in retrospect ... and realise and appreciate why an assistant must come with an energy which is supportive, but non-interfering.. That is why I wonder if I can ever run an institute... who will be in that mode naturally?

Been trying new poses -- always not so satisfactorily. Plus in those poses, if I have not warmed up, my healing knee gives a `kick' so, yes, tough ...

Mind, empty mind, pure mind, impure mind, and yogi mind

2012-01-04T20:21:00.000+05:30

By Osho, in his book Yoga: the supreme science:
The original mind (of the pure yogi) is not a mind. It is neither the mind of the sinner nor the mind of the saint. The original mind has no mind in it. It has no definition, no boundary. It is so pure that you cannot even call it pure, because to call anything pure you have to bring it in the concept of impurity. Even that will contaminate it. It is so pure, so absolutely pure that there is no point in saying that it is pure.

Only the original mind which is born of meditation is free from desires.

(He then explains that this is the mind that rishis spoke of -- tatra dhyanajam -- a mind reborn out of meditation.)

Your own mind is already there. You just reclaim it. It is eternal, always and always and always.

The original mind is unmotivated.

The mind is blocking the path to the inner. Whenever you go within yourself, again, you find some layers of mind..

That is what the original mind is: with no flicker of thought, no cloud in sight, no dust around you. Just pure space.

Only the original mind is free from desires.

Karmasuklakrsnam yoginas tri-vidham itaresam.
The yogi's karmas are neither pure nor impure, but all others are three fold: pure, impure and mixed.

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Whatever ordinary people are doing .. By ordinary I mean people who have not attained to their innermost core of being. People who are living with their minds are ordinary, who are living with their ideas and thoughts and ideologies and scriptures are ordinary: whatsoever they are doing, either their actions are pure or their actions are impure, or their actions are mixed, but their actions are not spontaneous or original. They react, they do not act. Their response is a reaction. It is not an overflowing of energy. They are not available to this moment, right now.

Query and answer

2012-01-04T17:56:00.000+05:30

ANSWER: The neck lock opens the upper back and neck muscles. These muscles are accesory muscles for breathing.. and hence improve your entire respiratory mechanism.

QUERY: THE Moolabandha (what Dr Kegel conveniently named after himself, and thus became a byword with women who wish to regain their lost pelvic tone) works on which of the following:
1) impulse control b) pelvic tone c) keeping you younger d) Spiritual growth

Answer tomorrow:)

Daily Health Gyan

2012-01-04T17:44:00.000+05:30

Aw, so many contradictions where health is concerned. Just learnt, after reading an article in rediff.com on flat belly, that eating raw foods like salads makes the belly bloat. One is because raw food takes up more space in the gut.. Other things that other people say are good is also out.. dark chocolate, brussels sprouts, sprouts, legumes, cabbage etc.. what???!!

Yogic thought for the day: Ramana of self-realisation

2012-01-04T17:42:00.000+05:30

So sorry guys, feeling a drag... lazy, I mean. So just let it be...
Am back, and hope to be around as regular as before a few months:(
Number of classes have increased, so managing that on my own... and every month new students... seriously, that is very demanding, mentally, to have... some of them run off, or I chase them off, so the cycle goes.. and I sometimes I feel myself in a whirlpool I did not wish to be rolling about in, like a rag doll. Let me tell u, unlike others who want to be yoga instructors, I always always only want to be a practitioner, even today... I never get bored when I get on the mat..and so, anything that interferes with that.. including teaching, is too intense a demand for me..

That is because I am far off from my target:) Here is what my most fav guru on this subject, has to say.
Ramana Maharishi on jnana (words in bracket, my own):

LIke sleep, that is right. It (jnana) is the natural state. Because you are now associated with the ego, you consider that the natural state is something which interrupts your work. So u must have the experience repeated until u realise that it is your natural state. You will then find that japa (dharana, or focus .. in this case a chant) ) is extraneous but still it will go on automatically. Your present doubt is due to false idenity, namely that of identifying yourself with the mind that does the japa. Japa means clingling to one thought to the exculsion of all others. That is the prupose of it. It leads to dhyana (meditation) which ends in self-realisation.

From The spiritual teaching of Ramana Maharishi.

Answer and query

2011-12-28T21:29:00.001+05:30

Answer: Yes, my dear students, thymus is located at the chest which explains why some poses, practiceed (regularly -- some of my students can do superb backbends, but they are always sniffling -- reason? They don't come to class regularly:) regularly can prevent chronic colds, amongst other problems, including degenerative arthritis... etc (auto-immune disorders, u know?)

Query: Why does the neck lock (jalandhara bandha) during retention actually improve your breathing long-term? How?

Yogic thought for the day

2011-12-28T21:20:00.000+05:30

For me, as I keep repeating, the only purpose to getting on the mat is to get through to that place...
That is why, when someone says I have difficulty in my personal practice, I don't relate to that. The whole purpose is to say it does not matter what I like, or what I like... that is where you destroy the mind, which is the purpose of pure yoga:)

Like one iron shaping another iron, the pure mind of a person which makes efforts on the virtuous path should correct and mould his own impure mind.

... If doubts vanish when spiritual knowledge arises the meditation on jnana in the heart, then the mind will be destroyed. ...

Differentiations of ` that' or `this' person, or `I 'or `thou', or `that 'or `this ' objects are, or pertain to, mind only. May you put an end to that mind with the sword of Abhavana (non-thought).

Like thick clouds which are dispersed by stormy gales, the mind is absorbed into cit (absolute consciousness) through the extinction of kalpanas (thoughts).

If the lower mind is annihiliated through the higher mind then one will become his own Self and perennial happiness will flow.

Laghu Yoga Vasistha (Translation by K Narayanaswami Aiyer)

Stomach and u

2011-12-28T20:57:00.001+05:30

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Lord , so much to learn in yoga. I am rereading the Bihar school book of yoga on Digestive health with yoga and it is full of psychosomatic connections between emotions and gut problems. Not surprising, seeing that the stomach alone has one of the largest clusters of nerves, next to the brain! (Btw our nostril also has a huge cluster of nerves -- which explains a lot of things about emotions and colds etc:)

But before I start yakking about the Bihar school book, let me skim through what Louise Hay has to say about stomach and u.. as u can see, in her lexicon there are so many shades to fear and how it can hit u!

Abdominal cramps: Fear, of the process of life etc..
Excessive appetite: Fear, guided by emotions.
Lack of appetite: Fear, not trusting life.
Car sickness: Fear, of being trapped.
Colon: Fear of letting go of the past
Diarrhoea: Fear, wanting to run off
Dysentery: Fear, feeling oppressed. They are out to get me.
Stomach problems: Inability to digest the new...

Fear it seems not just governs our life, but also our health. Hey, both are the same thing any case....

Have u people read the book Fear is the Key... In our time, Alistair Maclean was big...

Acupressure for loose motion

2011-12-28T20:42:00.000+05:30

Inside of the ankles, behind the shin bone, rubbing it firmly, can help settle a nervous tummy. Acupressure is amongst the few rare alternative therapies with no contraindications ... most alternative therapies, u really need to use expert advice because each cure comes with some contraindication or the other. Alternative therapies are powerful, so u cannot use them casually. But acupressure leaves no problems behind...If there are short term or weekend courses, you may want to attend them, just to learn the tricks for urself. I have done a few courses that way:)

Daily Health Gyan

2011-12-28T20:38:00.000+05:30

I love using geranium per se because of its heady smell. Mostly I use it in diffusers. But also add to massage oil or bathwater... it is a super-duper intoxicating smell. But geranium has other uses too. A bit of it rubbed on the wrist or in your kerchief can keep u cheery (it is an aphrodisiac too, that's why). A few drops added to a carrier oil, rubbed on the navel, can settle an upset stomach...

Daily Health Gyan

2011-12-27T18:12:00.000+05:30

Reading a book on the Ageing Brain, by Lawrence Whalley. He writes that unlike the old fashioned way of thinking which assumed that brains aged naturally due to biological aging, nowadays studies indicate that brains age when there is no mental effort, social isolation, bad diet (including nutrient deficiency in vitamin B, fats, and other stuff on which I will blog later, as I finish the book).. Social isolation and being cut off could well be a marker for dementia he writes. More, as I finish the book...

Swara yoga, the yoga of your breath flow

2011-12-23T12:37:00.002+05:30

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I remember when I started to get intoxicated with yoga and its amazing intricacies, I would take a book and read it non-stop, underlining the points that gripped me. Most pages were underlined simply because so much of yoga gripped me. I could not get enough of it. That is why, when people tell me they want to become instructors I wonder if they have that same fever I had, to know and know about this amazingly deep science.

Now, while organising my thousands of books on this subject I am revisiting some of these books and find I have, heavens, so much more to learn!!

So, here a bit about nostril flow. In the class sometimes during pranayama some students will stop practice because they will indicate, with desperate finger movements miming their predicament that one of their nostrils is blocked. Though I tell them they should continue to practice, they will look at me blankly, not understanding how I can suggest something `violent' like that.. Really, yoga is about balancing the flow of energy through both nostrils. If the technique is followed, it will get you there, sort you out and your nostrils.

Remember it is not, as these chakra charlatans keep promising you, to have the energy flow up the sushumna. That flow should be contained and directed (if we beginners in the practice can even dream of that) towards meaningful activity, such as meditation. (Only the Bihar school, esp Sw Satayanandiji's books, warn against the sushumna flow, since it also happens with terrorists and criminals! Because it confers complete control of both nadis and the entire body-mind complex such practices were called secret practices by the masters. Only the pure souls were initiated into some practices... so there, Chakra healers!!)

So, yes,otherwise, each nostril will flow its course, switching every 90 to 120 minutes. The danger lies only when one nostril flows.

Today and a few days hence, will blog on the left nostril flow (if doing jal neti or anulom vilom, you can immediately sense which nostril is dominant). Later on the right nostril...

When the left flows, these are the features which are awakened

Citta -- awareness
Activities are more mental
Intuition (Feelings)
Passive
Subjectivity (I sense)
Parasympathetic nervous system (Repairing part of you)
Subconscious mind
Planning (as opposed to actual action)
Mind involutes (Overflow could mean lack of sensitivity)

When teaching u can make out which nostril is flowing for a student too, at how they function:)

Yogic thought for the day

2011-12-23T12:19:00.000+05:30

Lord Krishna, talking of real type of yoga, to Arjuna, in the Gita:
O Arjuna, this yoga is not attained by him who overeats nor by him who fasts. Nor by him who oversleeps, nor by him who keeps awake. This yoga which BANISHES PAIN is attained by him who eats and behaves properly, whose actions are led by reason, whose sleep and wake are regulated.:

Are any of us there, already;) ??

Yogic tip for today

2011-12-23T12:15:00.000+05:30

For ulcer cure, use soothing pranayama such as ujjayi, seetari and bhramari ...

Daily Health Gyan

2011-12-23T12:13:00.000+05:30

According to the book Yoga for the Digestive System (Bihar school, by Dr Swami Shankardevananda) ulcers are common in fiery, dynamic people who tend to suppress anger. Aggression, according to studies quoted in this book, increase gastric acid secretion, leading to ulcers eventually.

Answer and query

2011-12-23T11:58:00.000+05:30

ANSWER: Seems like only my students will dare to answer my queries:) Both Sonia and Pallavi, right! Hey Pallavi, I make u do sit-ups in my class?!! Great suggestion... But less focus on the palms in the basic headstand really. It is entirely elbows, shoulders and the head. The neck is, as Pallavi says, released in the headstand of a really good student...

QUERY: Hey, where is your immune gland? Why I ask is because in the backbends, such as the fish, bow and wheel, your immune system becomes super strong... So, it happens due to the massaging effect on the thymus, which for latecomers, is the immune gland...

Today in class

2011-12-21T21:23:00.000+05:30

First stage of the peacock pose to Petros who, I guess, once he masters it will make it his FB profile pix:) Three people are doing the scorpion will style and without support -- Bharat, who has temporarily disappeared. Petros and Mayank. Three beginners have got the headstand -- a few months delay, but yes, Sneha, Valerie and Vishwas are now doing it on their own. Sweta is getting there. Abhishek, after a long gap is back in class, and doing the headstand for long, tho with a little help here and there. Arindam, just a few days into yoga, has got the crow basics and is aloft tho, intriguingly the shoulderstand wobbles him up thoroughly:)!
The Monday early morning batch today did, just for a lark (early in the morning, with the sluggish wintry weather) did 25 rounds of surya namaskar -- 50!! Naina, just a few months into yoga, also did it, despite having broken her thumb last week!
Yes, such things do make me feel it is worth being a teacher:) These kids, they make it worth my while.. and spur me to clean up my practice!

Daily Health Gyan

2011-12-21T17:58:00.000+05:30

For insomnia the best oil is lavender oil -- a few dabs of it on your pillow will set u snoozing... I have my night-vigils when sleep can be elusive-- but must sleep because of the early morning classes. So, I resort to lavender a lot:) It always works!

Colors and u, according to a master

2011-12-21T17:55:00.001+05:30

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Was cleaning up my books -- in this new house (not so new now!) -- the books were all stacked up where I could not reach to them due to lack of space:( Now ordered a few shelves from Fabindia and finally began to stack them up so I can rediscover. I found that since I was so out of contact with my books I had two of some! Can u imagine that!

Any case found this intriguing book by Harish Johari Tools of Tantra, which I think I ordered online. And he talks of colours and their impact on us -- so here goes, some nuggets

RED - Stimulating, vitalising
ORANGE -- Cheering
YELLOW - Arouses love for knowledge
GREEN - Refreshing
BLUE - Serenity (for those who have an excess of it, it could cause insecurity!)
VIOLET -- Increases resistance and acceptance (I guess depending on where u are)
GOLD - Knowledge
SILVER -- Life-giving

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Yogic tip for today

2011-12-21T17:46:00.000+05:30

If u use yantras, for gazing or meditation, according to Harish Johari, Tantra master, if the lines are uniform in thickness they produce an uniform response. It is therefore best to use yantras with uniform thickness throughout.

Answer and query

2011-12-21T17:40:00.000+05:30

ANSWER: Yes, Sonia, right said!
Static poses are very difficult. In fact, even if you practice regularly, but take a gap and return to the mat after a few weeks, they become challenging. Fast-paced ones are used for beginners, so they can do the pose thrice, to get the form and stamina in place before moving into the static holds. This may explaint the peculiar culture of the misnamed power yoga in Mumbai, where people are made to do asanas fast, just to keep them happy, but they never reach the stamina that real power yoga -- as the term is used abroad. Power yoga abroad is normally associated with ashtanga yoga, which is difficult even for advanced students. So, this power yoga in Mumbai is a bigtime sham and scam.. :)

QUERY: What forms the tripod in the shoulderstand? I mean which of the three parts of your body create the tripod -- which, incidentally, is the same for the headstand?

Today in class

2011-12-20T11:30:00.000+05:30

Finally after tearing up my left knee (kickboxing, without warm-up:( I am able to do the sun salute without pain. Though I started on the sun salute a while ago, with the pain et al, now for the first time I am surprised to find the pain has receded. Otherwise, at the joint, esp in the ardhachandrasana on the knees, while rising up I would get the oddest pain, as if the bones were knocking together without the cushion to break the impact... which possibly they were doing, rubbing together! Now that pain has gone.. which just proves my point, that we need to move on, from where we fall. However, backbends in the standing position still give me trouble and surprise me, quite a bit, so I am taking them warily... but can see it is another place I want to move into, this month. Lotus is happening comfortably, but still the knee feels stiff, like it is in a super-tight wrap and won't move as I wish it too. So clearly,there has to be more healing there, yet. So many simple poses gave me trouble immediately after the knee crack -up -- supta vajrasana, wheel, dhanu, even the cobra. Now am getting back into the body once more, loving the relearning. Healing is an intriguing, and a gripping place, in yoga:) This month, more of that relearning...

Daily Health Gyan

2011-12-20T11:22:00.000+05:30

Apparently, using a toothpaste which foams a lot could create canker sores. That has to do with some chemical agent in the foam that the paste whips up. It can erode the soft gums at the root of the teeth... Aw... we know so little about our `hygiene products'! Toothpase that contain some sulphate thingie SLS (Sodium lauryl sulphate) are mostly dubbed the culprit.

Today's yogic tip

2011-12-20T11:12:00.000+05:30

To develop mental stamina and `clean up' your nerves use balancing poses, standing for long in each, starting with 15 seconds, and working up to a half minute or even one minute.

Answer and query

2011-12-20T11:11:00.000+05:30

ANSWER: Both are actually very similar posesso both help the kids grow taller. One is supine and other is standing, that is all:) If you want your kid to grow tall, then tadasana in a dynamic form -- walking on toes, with arms extended overhead -- is better.

QUERY: Which sort of poses are difficult to execute -- fast paced ones, dynamically. Or static ones, where you hold a pose for half minute or more?

Yogic thought for the day

2011-12-20T11:09:00.000+05:30

Liberation is when the mind does not long for anything,

grieve about anything, reject anything,

or hold on to anything, and is not pleased about anything

or displeased about anything.

Astavakara Gita, by Sage Astavakra (after whom the crooked, eight-limbed pose is named).

Answer and query

2011-12-18T16:02:00.000+05:30

ANSWER: Yes Sweta u are right. Higher advanced variation of crow is held from the hips and of course the knees.

QUERY: Which of the following poses can help prepubescent students into growing a little taller according to some yoga schools?

A) Yastikasana (Stick pose) b) Tadasana (Palm tree)

Daily Health Gyan

2011-12-18T16:00:00.000+05:30

I realise that often when u take tough moral or spiritual decisions which may not seem right you are the one wrought with tremendous guilt feelings. I realise that this feeling sets off other feelings of anger, resentment and hatred if you are not aware its source is originally a very high moral one, where you punish yourself for your choice or decision. If the awareness is refined, and you know the choice was right 100 per cent, and you stop feeling guilty and therefore forgive yourself, you actually become lighter in spirit body. Then is when you feel healthy. Self-forgiveness could be the key, for a lot of ailments! I really believe that we need to track our negative emotions, get to the source and clean it up where it hurts us, because when we allow it to fester, with our self-doubts we call sick... any ways I will tell u what Louise L. Haye says about self-forgiveness and illness tomorrow:) Till then, love yourself. Only those who can be good and gentle with themselves can expand to hug the world ...

Yogic tip for today

2011-12-18T15:56:00.000+05:30

The squat crow and some other variations which involve you to lift off both legs -- they use the chest muscles are lot.. It is tremendous to experience that drag as gravity pull u at the hips. You need to focus on chest, and upper back, plus neck to stay in place... It is not so much wrist work from here on!

Just now, firefly..

2011-12-18T15:43:00.000+05:30

Just this week started to think of cleaning up my firefly pose. Pallavi does a good version of the dwipadabhujasana -- double legged pose that is almost a firefly -- high and good and steady.

So, I want to be able to tell her how she can build it into the firefly... here is where I learnt how to enter this pose higher up. Also, something of how u need to hold the pose fell into the place finally -- so much involvement from your neck, upper back, knees and hips for this pose. Muscles you have never used, even in yoga.

So, yes, I hope to clean it up by next week:)
Will post a better version soon, for those of my students who want to catch it up. First clean up your dwipada bhujapidasana -- squatting crow, from standing position. Only then, this... one of the most exciting poses for sure:)

Happy sadhana!~

Today's yogic tip

2011-12-17T13:46:00.000+05:30

Squeezing the knee close to your chest in the half spinal twist enhances the squeeze at the pelvic region. That is why most people avoid doing it properly, because that feels uncomfortable. But if you learn to get this right, the benefits of the pose are enhanced. The squeeze works the urogenital system, keeping you hormonally, emotionally toned!

Daily Health Gyan

2011-12-17T13:44:00.000+05:30

Avoid eating just before exercising. Most likely you will get a cramp (or if you have given too big a gap too, interestingly). This is because the muscles need blood flow to ferry blood glucous. But since you have eaten, the blood flow gets directed to the stomach -- and then a cramp results, when u have eaten too close to exercise time. When u have not eaten for long, again the cramp happens because the blood sugar is dipping.

Answer and query

2011-12-17T13:41:00.000+05:30

Ok somebody asked me about the Brahmari and rashes... I would not think there is much of a connection that way... usually, when we talk of such reactions it is either for rank beginners to yoga or to very advanced students with excessive practice thrown in suddenly, without having phased it. Hope this answer suffices. You need to check your diet for other provocations. Also skin eruptions and rashes according to alternative therapists could be triggered by inner, unexpressed anger, often at oneself ... or someone very close!

ANSWER: Yes, the answer is right. In the crow we look up to avoid the drag of gravity and prevent a fall, especially on the face. Often people can fall directly on the forehead or the mouth/chin when they jump into the pose.

QUERY: What muscles are used to stay up in the crow for long ... this is only for those who can stay up long and feel the pose, clearly! Options below --
1) forearms b) shoulders c) hips d) thighs

Answer tomorrow!

Daily Health Gyan

2011-12-16T21:10:00.000+05:30

Reading up on green tea... my daughter swears by that for weight loss... tho she sips it and sips through the day when she decides to shed the weight.. but found that five cups, you create a cal deficit of 90 daily.. apparently to really lose weight you need to think of burning/eating less 500 cals less from a daily intake of 3500 cal most of us need. Yew... I always hated maths!

Bardo death meditation: my version

2011-12-14T21:49:00.000+05:30

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In Tibetan Buddhism there is a form of meditation that is called Bardo. I only know scant details of it, and though googled it, I feel I should not delve into it more deeply unless I actually go practice with a master. But lately, I have (since my birthday recently, you could say) developed a particular meditation on my own which is somewhat similar in spirit to the Tibetan one. I say that because mine is very simple and stark where the other is elaborate and detailed. I like to remember this thought, through the day." If I were to die tomorrow, how would I live today? "

Though this may seem like a distressing thought, for some (especially those who fear death), I myself find it rather liberating. If something irritating crops up in my mind, I immediately think this. And some clarity comes thru. The mind (hey, I did not say my mind, did u notice:) prioritises and organises itself and does not sweat the small stuff any more. I believe if I can remember the thought more keenly, more often, there is more packed into my life. May sound contrary to some, but then you have to be yoga intoxicated to feel this...

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All of us live as if we had eternity. Because of this idiotic lie in our mind,we waste a lot of our lives, thinking we have fun. We do not choose our fun, often it chooses us. We also often get bound by work and relationships and commitments which we do not enjoy. I believe though that may be a necessary aspect of living, we can still learn to enjoy it. I mean, if I was working as a sweeper and did not enjoy sweeping, if I had to die tomorrow I would surely at least begin to enjoy sweeping, wouldn't I? .... If I have to spend two hours sweeping I HAVE to enjoy it, right, if I have only 24 hours left. That sort of revamped thinking, to bring elements into the life which we do not otherwise allow ourselves, to not bother about stupid trivial things or about trivial people but just live and be what we want to be... Instead we struggle and fetter ourselves with life, believing freedom will come time later, from these fetters. But if we had just 24 hours to go, maybe we will stop struggling with life and instead just LIVE it. I like the starkness of that thinking and the immediate clarity it brings. So, yes, this is my own death meditation, and I can find enormous life in it. Oh, btw, real yoga people do not fear death. It is just someplace to go, a halt, before that...

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Jayshriji, my music teacher taught me this song Karuley Shingaar -- an amazingly powerful one with the most poignant tune set to Raag Asavari (which apparently is an ancient Ragini). It is an exhortation to a woman

Bedeck yourself , you have to leave your maiden home now, to go to your lover's
Wearing the veil of the soil, covered by soil, returning to the soil ..
Wash and bathe yourself
Because your lover will not send you back ....

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My translation is rather yucky and childish but the raag and the words are so deeply evocative of a state of mind, and induce extreme laya or absorption.. when mumukshutva is not just an esoteric word ...

Obviously the song is not about a woman going to her lover's place.

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Yogic thought for the day

2011-12-14T20:36:00.000+05:30

When u practice, serene and luminous states are experienced within: Rishi Patanjali, in his Yoga Sutras.

Daily Health Gyan

2011-12-14T20:31:00.000+05:30

I don't know why but Sw Satyanandaji recommends that you do not practice directly under an electric fan. Usually he explains, but I like his suggestion. I too try not to practice under a fan, if I can help it. But then, all are not made equally... some people need the fan, for good or for the worse... (the latter, more likely). At the ashram, u will find that interestingly the foreigners requesting for the fans to be switched off while the Indians will insist on having it on...

Yogic tip for today

2011-12-14T20:28:00.000+05:30

Dynamic practice of asana, according to the Bihar school of yoga's founder Sw Satyanandaji, is good for beginners so they increase flexibility.
So many of my `stiff' advanced students also often resist dynamic practices, including in the headstand... :(
Flexibility is worth investing in, guys!

Answer and query

2011-12-14T14:09:00.001+05:30

ANSWER: At least one or two brave souls are attempting to answer the queries below. I can see others avoiding it, including, I am sure tonnes of yoga teacher.
I am also doing --this Quizz thing -- for those who sort of waltz into yoga teaching thinking that it is some easy thing to make money from. That is like saying, if you held a wrist and mumbled, or wear a stetescope convincingly enough you become a doctor:) Teaching yoga is something else altogether. The more u learn, the less you know. And if that attitude is not there, u should not be teaching it at all -- instead should be focusing on practising and see if you can squash the ego somehow, someplace else:)

Answer to the query is that all the issues listed below may be symptomatic of lower backache!

QUERY: In the crow why do we insist that beginners lift their head up, to look ahead, rather than down?

Yogic thought for the day

2011-12-13T21:59:00.000+05:30

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.

Alan Watts

Tao story on the best and worst of yoga students

2011-12-13T21:39:00.001+05:30

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Often students have this halo `I am your best student' or "I am a great student". It sort of hangs like the aura around this person:) Or they may even voice it often, jokingly or sometimes seriously. Interestingly, my really good students don't do this. My really good students think they have still so much to learn. So, there in hangs the difference.

So, what happens when a student starts believing he/she is a good student is that, I expect a flare-up at some point. Because initially, this halo has the slight touch of ego. It is still within tolerable limits. But since yoga magnifies things then, this halo also magnifies, and with it the ego. Then, it is like a something odious let off.. the halo becomes set in stone:( And stops being yoga, for me!

Here is a Tao story which somewhat explains this perplexing problem a yoga teacher faces..

Four Zen students got together and planned a serious silence retreat. They sit around a illuminated lamp, meditating. Some time later, the lamp flickered out.
First student called out to the servant to re-light the lamp.
The second student glares at him, then says the first student has failed to maintain silence.
The third student points out that the second student has also failed the pact.
The fourth student (here is the `best student') smirks, "All of you failed. I am the only who maintained silence."

You get the point?!
There is no good or bad student in a yoga class.
Just like there is no bad or good child.

There is only a disturbing student or a responsive one.

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Happy sadhana!

Daily Health Gyan

2011-12-13T20:45:00.000+05:30

At the inner wrist there are acupressure points for stress relief. Pressing on them can give you instant relief.

Answer and query

2011-12-13T20:43:00.000+05:30

ANSWER: Yes, marjariasana it is :)

QUERY: Apart from spinal problems, which other cause from below can give you severe lower backache?

1) Kidney problems 2) Issues with the reproductive system 3) Stress 4) Paunch

Yogic tip for today

2011-12-12T20:11:00.000+05:30

For advanced headstand variation, the awareness must flow from hips to legs to elbows. In most headstand variations practitioners fall when the elbow "forgets" itself!

Yogic thought for the day

2011-12-12T20:10:00.000+05:30

There is butter in milk. But to get to it, you must churn the milk. Sadhana is similar to such churning. It must be regular to reach your goal.
Swami Sivananda

Daily Health Gyan

2011-12-12T20:06:00.000+05:30

Never eat salad independently. Take some starch with it, like a bread slice or something. Otherwise the salad will move down too fast your gut -- plus, you are going to be really flatulent:)
The starch deflates this somewhat!

Lotus headstand finally: 3 months after the knee injury

2011-12-12T19:48:00.001+05:30

(Top image: Lotus in headstand. Below, side twists. Aw, that fold at the belly is that of an innerwear, for heaven's sake:)

After three months, I can finally get into the lotus. I tried it twice, the seated lotus, over long gaps, for meditation and managed my usual length. First time, strangely without discomfort and flowed. Second time, with the ego and expectation biting into my knee, it was more difficult:)

Then, twice I tried the headstand lotus, and as u can see I managed it. Although, earlier I used to place the left leg up first for the lotus (both seated and in the headstand). Now I cross the right leg/foot at the ankle, to ease the pain. Oh, yes, it still hurts in the lotus. In certain poses, particularly in twists involving a half lotus or in knee-bends, it still is an effort. I can also jump about, and occasionally test my body by running down the staircase -- but only if I am intensely aware. If unaware, there is terrible slamming pain still at the left knee cap.. and sometimes behind the knee, which is even more intense So, yes, the problem is not yet all gone. But yesterday, went running at Jogger's Park -- half a lap -- to get the knee to begin to enjoy strength. To put it mildly, the knee cap felt itself (where it normally does not:) so I stopped, but went for some brisk walking... I believe this sort of aware attempts to stop-and-not-stop for pain will ensure these hiccups in the complete recovery of the knee will happen. But even if that does not happen I am ok, but am determined to push ahead. With this attitude, u are surprised if I am impatient with people who are reluctant to attempt healing and some of whom, I believe, prefer pain since it gets them attention they crave:( This is always a dicey place, for a yoga teacher, and where u can become judgemental and ruthless, but may need to prod people out of their rut, if that is what they come to you for.. But do they?

Answer and query

2011-12-12T15:52:00.000+05:30

ANSWER: All of it, of course, because bhramari is one of the most healing of pranayamas:)

QUERY: Which of the following three poses is allowed through all three trimesters of pregnancies
A) SHOULDERSTAND B) MARJARIASANA (CAT STRETCH) C) MAYURASANA.

Yesterday's answer, today's query

2011-12-08T14:24:00.000+05:30

ANSWER: Krishna is Yogeshwara, Shiva is Maha Yogi. Tomorrow, the stories behind these names:)

Today's query should be cakewalk to my students, if they are listening in class!!

Which of the following benefits do you get from Bhramari?
a) Keeps voice young.
b) Clears sinus cavities
c) Changes blood chemistry at the nostril, enhancing oxygen inflow there.
d) Increases nitric oxide levels at the nostril -- giving a high, watered version similar to an orgasm, or intense please.
d) Creates vacuum effect in the lungs, drawing in more air during inhalation.

ANSWER TOMORROW:)

Today in class: they gave me a surpise party

2011-12-07T21:24:00.000+05:30

(Students from different batches, comfortable together. Pallavi, Amrita, Jit, Sai, Mini, Bharat)

(Evening batch sticks together, watching the more garrulous morning group: Prachi, Naomi, and Murthy)

(Naina, Amrita, Jit, Sai)

Bharat, Kavita, Mayank, Sonia with their yoga teacher)

(Petros, Zara, Naina)

(The amazing Yoga cake!)

Okay, the whole story tomorrow. But these are the images of a suprise party my students threw (organised by Sonia Samtani) for me. The bottom one is the cake. Today, still overwhelmed with khara biscuits and samosas from last night!

Thanks guys. As I toasted last nite, may your practice better that of your teacher's. Om!!

Yesterday's answer, today's query

2011-12-07T20:48:00.000+05:30

The answer, dear all, is LIFE FORCE.

Today's question:
Shiva and Krishna both have yoga names too. One is called Maha Yogi, the other called Yogeshwara. Which name belongs to whom?