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Meditation is the seventh of the eight limbs of yoga (Ashtanga Yoga) as given by sage Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras. The eight limbs of yoga are:
The "21-day yoga challenge" program got off to a great start on April 5. A total of 15 participants signed up for the program. Since then one person has opted to discontinue. She has a two-month old baby. After trying for a couple of days she realized that it was too early after the delivery of the baby to come back for yoga. It is great that she has the desire to get back into shape quickly after childbirth. However, it is very encouraging to see that she listened to her own body and made the right decision to discontinue with the program. The rest of the group seems to be fully committed and have been coming regularly at 6:15 AM. For some of them getting up that early is indeed a big challenge; but as days go by, they all seem to be enjoying the experience. One person who had to miss the weekend due to prior family commitment has promised to continue the practice at home. I have requested the participants to maintain a daily journal of their experience with the program. It would be great to get a write-up from everyone at the end of the program where they can present their individual experiences. I can put these up on the website for others to see and get inspired. Please see the details of the programs in my earlier post. Some time ago, I received an email asking me to join a 30-day yoga challenge program. I did a quick search on Google for something like "30-day yoga challenge" or just "yoga challenge", and I came across a large variety of yoga challenge programs being offered. Most of these programs entail making a commitment and then practicing at your own home using a video or a tape that the originator of the program offers you. Since I am myself a firm believer in establishing an on-going regular practice, I thought about offering my own version of a similar program. In this program, instead of practicing on your own at home, you will be practicing with me in a group. However, instead of calling it a "challenge", I have decided to call it the "Yoga Immersion" program. I like to engage the students in all aspects of yoga – asana, pranayama, relaxation, meditation, yoga philosophy, yogic diet etc., essnentially creating an environment where the students can immerse themselves in yoga.
I recently received this link from a friend with the title, “Bad Karma: How Yoga Can Lead to Serious Injury – Sloppy teaching and overly competitive students are giving yoga lovers serious and scary injuriesâ€. As you can see, the title says it all. So, the answer to the question, “can yoga practice cause injury?†is apparently “yesâ€. But this begs the question – how can a practice which is considered to be a healing art and science cause physical injury? To understand the answer to this question, we have to recognize that like any other physical exercise, yoga also involves physically stretching the body in different ways. Injury occurs when we don’t pay attention to the basic safety guidelines which have been prescribed for every form of exercise.
In an earlier post, I had talked about the ‘mindfulness yoga’ workshop at Yogaville that I attended some time ago. In one of the sessions at this workshop, we practiced what is commonly called “Yin Yogaâ€. In this style of yoga, the emphasis is on mindfulness while practicing the asanas which are generally held for a long duration (several minutes). So, I decided to follow this practice of long hold times in a few of my recent classes. We practiced some of the simpler poses like the forward bends, gentle back bends, some side stretches and twists and held each for about 2 to 3 minutes. The feedback has been very encouraging and most of the students seem to have enjoyed these sessions. There are a few who had some difficulty holding the poses. At the end of this post, I will provide excerpts from some of these feedback emails that I received.
A student to Bankei (Japanese Zen master): ‘Master, I have an ungovernable temper – how can I cure it?’ ‘Show me this temper,’ said Bankei, ‘it sounds fascinating.’ ‘I am not angry right now,’ said the student, ‘so I can’t show it to you.’ ‘Well then,’ said Bankei, ‘bring it to me when you have it.’ I would like to share with you a recipe for making a highly nutritious and healthy fruit smoothie. This recipe is really easy to make yet the results are just delicious. This has been my most favorite drink for breakfast over the years.
I am very fond of tropical fruits like mangoes, pineapple, banana, pomegranate, papaya etc. In general, I am what you can call a "fruitaholic" – I just like all types of fruit, including apple, pear, grapes, strawberries and all the rest. For my typical fruit smoothie, I just gather all the fruits that I have in my refrigerator. I wash the fruits thoroughly, core the needed ones like apple and pears and put them in the blender. My most common mix of fruits consists of mangoes, pineapple, grapes, oranges, banana and strawberries. To this mix I add a cup of home-made non-fat yogurt and let the blender do its job. I personally don’t enjoy getting grape skin in my mouth so I end up running the whole thing through a filter and put it all back in the blender. Now I add some nuts to the mix – almonds, cashew, walnut/pecan nuts etc. I blend the whole mix one more time and voila! the most delicious and nutritious drink is ready to be devoured. As I mentioned, I like most fruits in my smoothie. However, there are two that I found do not render great taste in the smoothie – papaya and melon (even though I love eating them otherwise). I tried these a couple of times but now I have decided not to use them. Instead of yogurt, you may also like to try fat-free/low-fat milk or soy milk. To really enjoy the drink, I drink it really slowly, one sip at a time, enjoying the taste of the crunchy nuts and of course all the fruits that are in there. Please try this recipe and let me know how you like it. Along with this drink, I also have a piece of toast made of home-made multi-grain bread. I will share the recipe for the home-made bread in another post. Do you have a favorite breakfast drink or another favorite recipe? Please share your recipe with us.
In this post, I would like to get back to the practice of asana and discuss one of the very commonly practiced asanas called Veerabhadrasana (वीरभद्रासन) or the Warrior Pose and its three variations. This is a powerful and energizing pose, especially useful for strengthening the leg and thigh muscles. Veerabhadra was a mythical warrior, created by Lord Shiva from the strand of his hair to fight against King Daksha. Shiva was married to Daksha’s daughter, Sati who had married Shiva against the wishes of her father. Daksha, in order to take revenge against Shiva, organized a grand yajna (a sacrificial ceremony) in which he invited all the important and not-so-important gods except Shiva. Humiliated at this insult, Sati burned herself in the sacrificial fire. On hearing about it, Shiva was enraged and created Veerabhadra who eventually fought against and destroyed Daksha and his armies. Warrior 1 Step-by-StepA few years ago, I attended a workshop on "yoga and eye care" taught by one Dr. Khare who was visiting from India. The workshop presented a pretty comprehensive set of practices for improving/stabilizing vision. Part of the information was based on the book, "Better Eyesight without Glasses" by William Bates. This book came out in the forties and has been a standard resource for eye care ever since. Recently I found this website which also provides similar information in a detailed manner – "The Complete book of Eye Care" – http://eye.taragana.com/ by Dr. M. S. Agarwal. I am presenting below the "7-step Program" in a condensed version of these practices. I suggest that you add at least a subset of the eye exercises given here as a part of your home yoga practice. Those who have attended my yoga classes will recognize many of these exercises as we try to pick a different exercise for each class. Personally, I have found that regular eye exercises have helped me maintain my eye prescription the same for at least fifteen years now. I use glasses only for reading and computer work and have given up using them for driving or outdoor work
Here is an excerpt from an email that I recently received from a friend of mine. “The last couple of months have been unusually busy (though not necessarily fruitful) for me at work. Days seemed to be packed with demands. The to-do list would often seem longer at the end of a long work day than it had at the beginning. Problems and worries abounded. When I opened my eyes in the morning, my first thoughts were of the to-do list. I suspect that many people struggle with similar situations and the sensation of being terrorized by their to-do list. The list may be work related, but it may also involve taking care of children or parents, regular chores and even things that we impose on our selves like going to a yoga class. We begin to live our whole lives in a hurry, trying desperately to get it all done. Even if we can find a day off, we continue to feel hurried, walking quickly, cleaning the kitchen quickly, brushing our teeth quickly. The habit energy carries on. Perhaps there is a subtle realization that we are not really living in the present moment, that this is not working; but we don’t know how to stop, how to get off the tread mill, or even how to find some peace and happiness in the work that we are doing.” |
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