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Yoga

4th Aug – 11th Aug

August 12, 2019

A snapshot from the first Instagram live session I did showing my own morning practice. Didn’t manage to save the video for this one, but other videos are up on www.youtube.com/PragyaBhatt

This week started with another event, this time for the FLOH Network. FLOH is a singles network which has an interesting modus operandi. Unlike other dating sites, FLOH actually plans meetups for their members. You can then actually meet people face to face, and figure out if you vibe well. And if you do, then you can explore your options to your heart’s content. As part of the event, I shared my personal journey with yoga and how yoga has impacted my personal and professional life.

Sometimes I get out of the yoga pants and into some fancy gear.

Check them out on: https://www.floh.in/

It’s been so cold in Bangalore that I spent an afternoon to dig out all my winter clothes. With the sun disappearing on us for days on end, I designated some time to fish out warm sweatpants and hoodies, sweaters and jackets. It’s so cold that I actually layer for class!!! And usually the layers don’t come off until after at least 10 rounds of Surya Namaskars. What can I say? I’m cold blooded? I filmed a small warm-up routine while waiting for students to show up, and here it is. When it’s cold, I can’t be bothered to take the hoodie off.

I listen to podcasts pretty obsessively and am constantly on the lookout for interesting new ones. This week I stumbled upon this on and found it fascinating. I usually end up listening to this stuff while I drive, cook or even during a shower! Do you have any interesting podcasts that you listen to?

Since many people ask me about my personal practice, I decided to start going live on Instagram. Still a little new to it, I couldn’t save the first live session I filmed, but here’s the second one. The video is kind of grainy and there’s annoying noise in the sound, but it will get better! Follow me on Instagram for quick updates on everything I’m doing.

Also this week I was sad to hear that Toni Morrison passed away. I read ‘Song of Solomon’ in high school and fell in love with her writing. RIP.

Also, ‘Beyond Asanas‘ is now stocked in all the major bookstores and is also available internationally. A friend of mine in Germany and the UK have received their copies. Also – my high school English teacher also got her copy and uploaded this adorable picture. Order your copy now!

Can you spot Beyond Asanas?

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Books Yoga

29th Sept – 4th Aug

August 5, 2019

Three times a week I have a student coming home early morning. For an hour we work with all our props and what follows is a deep, delicious savasana.

The first post of the week was a snapshot of my hand balancing practice. I’ve been trying to invert for many years now. Some days it’s good, some days not so much. But I do a certain amount of inversions daily. I find using blocks for pincha mayurasana and a bolster for adhomukha vrkshasana helps to activate, stimulate and access my core muscles.

On Wednesday, the 31st I had an amazing book talk hosted by Carrots Restaurant. Carrots is my default go-to for such events because their food is amazing and the vibe of the place is just the right amount of holistic health meets real life people. Geetanjali, a friend of mine since college, also attended and relegated us all with anecdotes of me from college. She reminded me that I was a huge fan of the Khadi Bhandar even back in college when such stuff wasn’t ‘cool’ like it is now!

All writers dream of when they will be signing their books. It still feels surreal.

Grateful for friends who partake of and enjoy your success.

In other new, I spotted my book ‘Beyond Asanas‘ at Higginsbothams on MG Road and was quite kicked about it. As usual I took a million pictures of it.

In the run-up to my book launch, RJ Grisha, a lovely lady based in Chicago reached out to me via my Facebook page to see if I would do an interview for her radio should called ‘Life Aaj Kal’. It was great because I got a chance to analyse myself and introspect a bit. After all, it’s when we come across major breakthroughs that we think most about the meaning of everything in our lives. When I listen to the interview now I smile in spite of myself. I sound excited and nervous, happy and cautious…a young girl on the brink of the greatest event in her life. You can listen to the interview here on the RadioPaaniPoori site.

Yesterday (4th Aug) I was kicked about doing an event for a company called Floh. My talk was about how yoga has helped me with my personal and professional life. I spoke about how our relationship with ourselves pretty much determines our relationship with others. Therefore, it’s imperative to work on that relationship. When I became more conscious of how I treat myself, talk to myself and perceive myself, then miraculously, others also became conscious of it.

But the best part of Sunday is my weekly runs at the Ulsoor Lake. Yesterday I clocked 5 km and followed it up with some stretching and hanging upside down.

Favorite thing on this planet – loads of time to practice, run, stretch and monkey around Ulsoor Lake.

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Yoga

Who Are We…?

May 28, 2019

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Yoga

The Unwitting Yogi

April 7, 2019

I was a little late jumping on to the ‘Bohemain Rhapsody’ bandwagon, but when I did I was spellbound. The movie was well done, and the portrayal of the characters was spell binding.

Freddie Mercury was perhaps the greatest rockstar of all time, but he was also an unwitting yogi. While going through a bunch of his pictures on Pinterest I started to notice that a lot of his moves on stage looked like yogic postures. The more pictures I saw, the more yogasanas I recognized. So I put together a bunch of Freddie Mercury’s pictures and the corresponding asana.

Trikonasana/Triangle Pose

I have a love-hate relationship with this asana, but you’ve got to admit it looks like Freddie is performing it in this iconic pose.

Vrkshasana/Tree Pose

That costume and balancing on the toes!!!

And variations of the Tree pose…

Chaturanga/Plank Pose

Every yogi knows the agony of getting this one right.

Those biceps though.

Virbhardasana/Warrior Pose

Marichyasana/Sage Marichi’s Pose

This is a bit of a stretch of the imagination, but you have to admit there’s a twist there. Also, Freddie’s flat abs, his chiselled body, the energy – is this the real life?

Backbends

My biggest challenge…but look at him.

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Can I just point out the clean lines and the lifted sternum?

Hope you enjoyed this blog. Leave me a comment and share if you did!

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Yoga Travels

Sri Lanka – Galle & Tangalle

March 13, 2019

The next day we hired a taxi to take us along the coast down to Tangalle. On the way we had planned to stop at Galle.

Our driver, Mical, sauntered in 45 minutes late. Soon after we started, he asked, “Sir! Ravana – what do you think? Good man or bad?”

Unsure of the most politically correct answer, I decided to take the middle ground, “He’s a complex character, with good and bad shades so it’s difficult to say. And what do you think?” I asked him.

“Ma’am sir! We think he is very good, but only one problem. He abducted Sita Amman. Otherwise everything else very good.”

“Ma’am sir! We think he is very good, but only one problem. He abducted Sita Amman. Otherwise everything else very good.”

The Moonstone Mines

Sri Lanka is known for its gemstone mining. Mical, stopped a little short of Galle at a gem factory where we got to see the process of mining moonstones, the process of refining them and finally creating jewels out of them. Ana and I both got a matching moonstone pendant as a souvenir from the mines.

Marine Turtles Protecting Centre

This was an unplanned stop for us. None of us had any idea about the amazing work that this centre is doing in terms of rescuing and rehabilitating turtles. The tsunami of 2004 affected the marine life, displacing, maiming and killing much of it. The Marine Turtles
Protecting Centre works with turtles to enable them to one day return to their natural habitat.

Galle

Galle is one of the major cities of Sri Lanka. The Portuguese built it as a major port city and the Dutch later went on to use it as one of the major ports of the country. We spent a long time walking along the cobblestone streets, ducking into souvenir shops, taking photos and sampling the local food. The National Maritime History Museum is in Galle, but we only had a couple of hours and wanted to spend it walking around the city. I’d read about Galle Things Roti, a restaurant specializing in rotis and curry and we had some great lunch there. I was also keen on having tea at the Amangalla hotel, a historic heritage hotel. While their tea isn’t special, the hotel has a lot of antique furniture which makes the ambience and the experience unique.