Tadasana is standing up for yourself to withstand adversity in life!

One of the most amazing poses of Iyengar yoga is tadasana and how you are taught to execute and perform tadasana. The instructions flow in the following manner:

1. Join your feet together and firmly plant your feet evenly on all your toes, the ball of your feet and your heels
2. Pull your knees up (or in Pune speak "suck up your knees")
3. Roll your shoulders back to open up your strenum and pull your trapeziums down
4. Your head is straight in a neutral position
5. Your fingers pulling down and straightenyour arms all the way.
6. Your glutes tightened

Tadasana translates into the mountain pose. You are standing tall, sturdy like a mountain, that can withstand storms, rain, snow even when it blows its top off, the raging lava just flows down, it doesn't stick. Tadasana translates to that inert strength we have to stand up and withstand all adversity, and helps us be fearless and calm.

So if you are ever being beaten down in life, you feel overwhelmed, you lean too much on one leg or the other in stress and lethargy, just remind yourself to get into Tadasana and let all that negative energy, fear and lethargy, flow out of your body, from the tips of your fingers, the crown of your head, the gaze of your eyes, the opening of you chest, soles of your firm feet, and even spread of your toes. Then let your intelligence just permeate through and little you know it you will find that spark to withstand any adversity and help you to stand up and withstand it. This is how you stand up for yourself and your rights!

This is the power of Tadasana, the king of standing poses.

Namaste

The Yogi

Fighting the battles - learning to conquer Adho Mukha Vrksasana

Well folks my bloggers block has persisted though I have been writing but on other blogs and for other reasons so that preoccupation has taken away time from this blog. I am continually challenged by the loss of the ability to perform arm balances, such as Adho Mukha Vrksasana. My sessions with Nuvana have been all about building the strength in the arms and upper back needed for the lifting, but the added weight of about 20 pounds mostly around the belly has been restricting the lifting of the hips. But something interesting happened in class the other day. She had me go to the ropes instead and jump up holding the ropes in Sirasana form. You are upside down, but holding the upper ropes in your hands, and you are in lying down prostrate position flat against the wall, but inverted.

There is tremendous pull on your arms as you literally stand upside down, but the head is in the air. After a few seconds, your legs come down to the floor, over your head, like a high angle dog pose. You are ready for lift off again.

Believe it or not my legs went right up, just as if I was performing an Adho Mukha Vriksasana. The hips felt light, and the inversion was almost in slow motion. What helped? It was the support of the hands and arms with the ropes. That provided the energy and the support to lift off.. Eureka! Its not the hips, its probably not the weight, it is the ARMS and SHOULDERS! That is my nemesis.

Imagine if you could do the same in life, clearly understanding and identifying your challenges, how much more access you have to resolving them. Ironically I am on a parallel track of another challenge, a fight, a battle.... I need a similar exercise to find the source of the problem that is creating this battle and how to overcome. I think I have a good teacher to help me with that, but at the same time I have to keep trying....

Namaste

The Yogi

Where has been the yogi been???

I am sure many of the regulars are wondering what has happened to my blog posts. I am suffering from writers block I think in addition to a very hectic travel schedule that included a week of R&R with my munchkins for Spring Break in San Diego and Disneyland. My yoga practice has deteriorated to once a week. My weight is up 10 pounds adding to my struggle with arm balance poses. My hips are just not moving, yada yada yada... and I have been spending more time reading blogs, including that of the a famous Indian movie star Amitabh Bachchan and a Mumbai based writer Shobhaa De, whose book Superstar India I read last year.

Amongst all this I end up in San Francisco for a trade show and it opens up an opportunity to find the best Iyengar yoga studio in town. I had already done that research when I met Rita Manuso, Manos Manuso and two other teachers from Abode of Iyengar Yoga. I had to take a class from Manuso, now matter how intimidated I was made to feel by others. And what a class it was. It reminded me of Pune and the intensity. This was an experience I will not forget. I introduced myself ahead to him and he basically encourage me to absolve myself and take it as it comes. This class was all about shoulders and neck and he made us do some very interesting poses, including a paired up Shirsasana on a pole. Manuso gently corrected me a few times. I had already warned Rita I had trouble with lifting up on arm balances, so when it came to Pinchmayurasana, she was right there assisting. me.

Instructions were rapid fire, blankets and blocks were Punesque and the studio large, airy, aesthetically designed with a great sun roof, natural light, even though it was cold and windy as hell outside. The class couldn't have been more perfect, we were all huffing and puffing, and some guys stripping of their shirts, which was a first as the heat emanated out of our bodies going from pose to pose. It was an amazing class to say the least. I would highly recommend anyone visiting SF to take one of Manuso's public level 2-5 class. Show up early, he turns away late comers.

I had promised David I would come to his class next day at 7 am. I couldn't make it, I was sore as if I had 3 days of uninterrupted weight training. I am still sore, so I am resting again today. Maybe I will go tomorrow afternoon.

Off to my trade show now....

Namaste

The Yogi

A new post finally - new yoga props.. new level of experience ....

What a struggle its been to write the last few weeks but today I mustered the energy and write. My last post was nearly a month ago on Feb 17th discussing "Igomania" and a snapshot of my one on one session with Nuvana. I took off for Pune the next week on a very short 5 day trip for work. I packed three private sessions with one of my intermediate teachers Abhay at his studio in his house and what an amazing experience it was. He read my body and my mind without me saying much. I have been unable to perform handstands and pinchmayursasan for the last many months. He had me in Pinchmayurasana in minutes. I grabbed the rope hooks at the base of the wall, he pressed my right lower arm with his foot and off I flew.
"You need to feel light in the hips" and "I want your calves to be soft"! We did a lot of hip work and leg work, lots of variations of uttanasana, adhomukha svanasana, navasana, pagangusthana, wall, floor chairs, round blocks, ropes, Abhay standing on my back while I was in a restorative adhomukha virasana. There was a lot discourse on yoga philosophy, my doshas, improving my tejas etc etc etc. Three sessions of complete enlightenment. I had little jet lag on this trip. I packed in 15 hours of work per day and I mustered the courage to bring back some great props, including my favorite "Viparita Dandasana Bench" in lieu of luggage. I travelled light and that allowed me to replace baggage with props. All made it back in one piece.

So finally it all got assembled last Friday with Nuvana's assistance. I am still learning to use them, but 15 minutes on the bench was amazing and well deserved... there will be more coming in the future but enjoy the following pictures for now.

Life has been its usual self for me lately, it seems like there is no end to my misery and pain, but that is the test of the universe and it the test of my resolve to bear it, take it, all for my two munchkins, who I care about and love the most. As Nina said in her tough level 3 class today "try to be still in the pose a bit longer and try to bear the pain as the sutras say..."! I am trying ... my best... In the meanwhile Iyengar yoga keeps moving forward and not look back and the props just make this journey more interesting than ever. I do know one thing for sure, it has given me strength to bear and not react, but observe, be still and try to be neutral.

Namaste

The Yogi

Engaging in Meaningless Battles - Unyogic Igomania!

War is nothing but a battle of selfish and mindless egos that loose sight of compassion love and care for others. At the end even the winner loses - the destruction is bi-directional as war spares no one! Yoga teaches us to deflate our egos by going inwards to the I and beyond.

But occasionally going to the "I" sounds selfish to me. Should we not be going inwards to "us" which I term that as SMS - Shared Memory Space. I started using this term back in 1993. I picked it up from my software programming vocabulary and I first wrote about the idea of SMS in my personal journal. I lost the journal in a computer crash, with no backups. I have yet to learn my lesson of making regular backups - I still dont! Shame on me as I am a certified computer geek...

Shared Memory Space was my way of describing the notion of collective consciousness. In my world the notion of ego, self and collective consciousness are all interlinked. It is easy to break this link and simply let the "I" become the major ahamkara - ala the freaking mayhem causing devil in our lives which I call "Igo" rather than ego. It leads to utter blindness, failure and misery in our lives. We all suffer from Igo-mania. Why do some engage in such meaningful battles and conflict ? I am still uncertain, but Igo has a major play in it. But does Igo have physical manifestations?

Despite some expert opinions I don't believe knee and back aches are physical manifestations of inflated Igos. They are purely physical and generally posture related or for instance when you blow up your knee through a bad slip on a ski slope which I VERY much avoid.

You wonder why I write much about Igo and war. Well last I checked it's a daily occurrence in my life. I deal with battles daily and its a challenge to keep my Igo in check.

War has been a cornerstone of the history of the world right from the great epic of Mahabharata described in the bhagvatgita. We want peace. But peace is impossible unless we are peaceful inside with our Igos and negative reciprocity in check and deflated, while love and compassion is inflated. Unless you keep your Igo in check, you cannot bring the love and compassion into yourself and start seeing "Clearly". You will remain clouded till the war destructs you and who you engage the war with. Its a vicious cycle of negative reciprocity. You see that daily in the war in the mid east. Its simply never-ending.

Yoga helps you connect with the collective conscious - your SMS. The more you are connected to the SMS, the more likely you are to be thoughtful, calm and able to withstand dysfunction in your life. You get the power to understand not only yourself, but the universe around you. That understanding can be helpful in you respond to battles and attacks. Rather than reciprocate, sometimes pulling your sail down and not showing up for the battle may be the best diffuser. But that requires a major check of your Igo value. It needs to be at its lowest point.

So, when I am attacked or have a strong desire to let my love and compassion be blocked by my Igo and negative reciprocity, I rely on some of the following postures that help me it keeping it in check and restrain me from engaging meaningless battles:

1. Half uttanasa

2. Paschim uttanasana

3. Adho mukha paschim uttanasana. This is great to do at 35000 feet on a cramped seat of a zooming jet.

4. Supported backbend - Viparita Dandasana This will open up the well of tears in your eyes and gush those emotions out. You need that once in a while.

5. Adhomukha Svanasana - This has lately become my favorite pose. Be a relaxed dog and stretch your tailbone up to make a perfect triangle out of your body! Here is a near perfect rendition from my teacher Nuvana...

Namaste

The Yogi

Watch it from the expert herself....

Hang upside down and let your aches and pain dissipate...

On Saturday I attended Nuvana's back care class at Sunset Yoga after a Friday evening back care regiment in private session with her. We determined that forward bends were aggravating it, so there were a number of supported back bends performed, along with twists. She avoided the traction with belts. My back pain was isolated to the lower left and heavy lifting was responsible in aggravating an old injury many years ago playing racquetball. Nuvana has no background in human physiology or anatomy, but she has a knack for isolating the area and using her skills to twist, stretch and turn you to relax the area. It is interesting to observe and feel your back pain slowly disappearing albeit for a short while.

Back to Saturday morning. The pain had moved to the center of the lower back and any forward bending would aggravate it. It was bearable. The class had many who were in some sort of pain. We started with some sitting poses and I could feel my shoulders tighten. Did I sleep wrong. The class was hard and eventually we ended up at the ropes. The best 10 minutes were hanging down in sirsasana. I had done rope sirsasana in some time and that just relaxed me completely. I would highly recommend it....

Namaste

The Yogi

Lower back pain - A revisit

I received a nice comment from an anonymous reader on an earlier lower back pain post - his lower back melted away I guess!!! Well little did he or she know that my lower back pain re-appeared on my left side. There was heavy lifting of 60 pound munchkins and that did the trick to my lower back. Old injuries have an interesting way of re-appearing when you think yoga took care of it. Coincidentally my knee pains disappeared. Its like a see-saw. Knee pains goes Back pain comes and vice-versa.

Monday night advanced yoga was hard, I failed miserably on the arm balancing poses, the poses I love the most have become my nemesis and my back hurt horrendously. Its been a horrendous three days till this evening. But I have chosen not to be miserable and didn't give permission to my backache to make me miserable nor the person who threatened to make my life miserable in utter mindless behavior. I rejected the pain both in my back and landed in my Wednesday night class with Nuvana at the gym. There is back ache, but there is resolve to get through the class.

I cannot bend to properly complete Uttanasana, so I bend as far as I can. The poses are challenging, but I choose not make them my nemesis, especially revolved triangle pose. Nuvana is great in moving the class along, there are many new yogis, all jazzed by her precision. The class has ballooned from about 10 to 25. I manage a good Vriksasana on my left foot, but not the right. It was an hour class - there were several variations of the triangle poses from Adhomukasvanasana. We ended with a small resting pose. I had kept my backache at bay, but it would appear in sharp intervals. So I checked in with Nuvana at the end of the class.

"Get into Adhomukhavirasana" she remarked! "Now!" Yeah right now she said. So off I went in the middle of the class dismissing itself. She walked over and stretched my spine. It felt good. Then she asked me to grab her ankles and while holding my lower back down she pulled her legs back. It It resulted in an intense stretch of the spine and the back. She asked me to get up and asked if it helped. "Of course it did!" I let out... The backache just melted away...it was a 30 second yoga therapy session with long lasting effects.

I learnt another lesson - by not giving permission to the pain and misery I have permission to myself to be relieved from the pain. Fear of pain is the cause of misery in life - I freed myself from it today.

Namaste

The Yogi