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10 Days of Gratitude – Day 5

May 30, 2014
So much to be grateful for!

 

Social media takes a beating all the time. People have started lamenting that they can’t remember phone numbers, don’t have human interaction when asking for directions, don’t physically meet choosing instead to Skype…but social media also keeps us connected. It helps us get back in touch. It makes sure that we don’t get lost in a strange place, it makes sure that you’re able to practice yoga with videos/blogs from people that you would never know existed! Today let’s dwell upon the positives of social media. To the responsible use of social media which can bring a lot of inspiration to our lives!

Wellness

Ayurveda for the Winters

January 12, 2014

Yesterday I took a break to track down the local Ramdev shop here in Jorhat.  I stocked up on my usual goods such as aloe vera and amla juice along with honey.  A new product I found was Patanjali’s Tejus Tailam.  I’ve been meaning to start my daily Abhiyanga routine for this season, but hadn’t really gotten around to it.  Abhiyanga or abhiyangam is an Ayurvedic routine to keep your body healthy during the winters.  This is something that is widely practiced here.  It basically involves massaging your body from head to toe using an Ayurvedic or organic oil and letting the skin absorb this oil for about 10-15 minutes.  It’s great to let a masseuse work on you every once in a while, but a home practice of abhiyanga is something that you can easily incorporate into your daily routine and really reap the benefits.

How To:

  1. Make sure the oil is warm.  You can heat it or just immerse the bottle in some hot water.  Here too, like everywhere else, use your instinct.  Get the oil warm enough to get your skin feeling good.
  2. Next, take some oil in the palm of your hand and work the oil into your soles using your finger tips or your knuckles.  You want to get the circulation going, so be firm instead of gentle.
  3. Work your way up your legs using long straight strokes on limbs and circular strokes on the joints such as knees, elbows etc.  For your stomach, work up from the right side, across, then down the left.
  4. Use circular movements on your face.
  5. You can incorporate a head massage in your daily abhiyanga as well, although for people with long hair, this can be somewhat cumbersome.
  6. Make sure to use lots of oil, your body should get really greasy and slippery.
  7. Let your body soak the oil in for about 15 minutes and then bathe/shower.

Why do this daily?  Benefits?

  1. Great to flush out the toxins that tend to accumulate during the winter season.
  2. Keeps your joints healthy.
  3. Keeps your skin healthy and supple.
  4. By massaging your muscles every day, you decrease the risk of injury during the winter season.  Also, if you have sore muscles due to a workout or injury, abhiyanga massage speeds up the process of recovery.
  5. Because it is so relaxing, it promotes deeper and more restful sleep.  You wake up refreshed and rejuvenated.

Along with this Ayurveda also recommends sleeping at least 8 hours during the winters.  Attune your body to the sun, sleep as soon as you can post sunset and wake up with the sun.

Drink a lot of warm fluids throughout the day, even warming up your water.

For the winter months, avoid raw foods and veggies.  Steam your salads.

Patanjali's Tejus Tailum

A somewhat dark picture, but the oil is amazing.

Travels Wellness

The Vipassana Meditation Retreat

February 11, 2013
daily schedule

The schedule at the Vipassana retreat.

A Tibetan lady I met last year in Vienna said to me, “I go to a beauty parlor for my body, but I go to India for my soul.”  So, while a trip to the beauty parlor is essential and relaxing, once in a while it is necessary to look within and ensure that things are OK.

I heard about Vipassana mediation many years ago through someone who had attended the course. I vaguely remember her repeatedly saying, “It’s really good, really good. If you get a chance you should do it.” A few months later I met an army officer who had done the course. Again, “It’s really good, really good. If you get a chance you should do it.” And then finally one day I got a mail from the meditation center saying my application had been accepted.  I drove down to Alur village, near Bangalore.  Little did I know that almost 2 years later, I would be back in Alur to undergo the course again.

The Vipassana Meditation Course is a 10-day meditation retreat where you learn the meditation the Buddha practiced. However, it is not a practice limited to Buddhists. It is a practice that works on an individual’s mind and body. It is a process of observation of the sensations in the body and not reacting to any – i.e. practicing equanimity.

The Important Precepts

At the start of the course students have to take 5 precepts:
(1) not to kill
(2) not to steal
(3) not to commit sexual misconduct
(4) not to speak lies
(5) refrain from intoxicants.

In addition to these there are 3 more precepts for the old students:
(6) abstain from eating after midday
(7) abstain from bodily decorations
(8) abstain from using high or luxurious beds.

Furthermore, students are not allowed to indulge in other meditation techniques, rites or rituals, any form of worship and any physical exercise during the course. Also, students are not allowed to wear/use rosaries, religious objects or talismans. And lastly, all students have to take a vow of silence.

My Experience

While not speaking, and for that matter, communicating in any way, for 10 days may sound very difficult, I assure you that not eating after midday for 10 days is more difficult.

The vow of silence is important for any form of meditation to be successful.  In most spiritual discourses inner silence is emphasised over the silence of speech.  Many wonder how Vipassana can help cultivate inner silence if the focus is only on external silence.  By staying silent we reduce our interaction with the external world, which helps us focus on our internal world.

I remember how difficult it became to sit for meditation on the 10th day, which is when our vow of silence ended. The daily routine, otherwise, left very little time to talk. After sitting straight for an hour it is essential that you lie down to give your back some relief. Never have I been more grateful for 5 minutes of free time in which I can just lie down and close my eyes. So tiring is the routine that many people would fall asleep in the 10-minute breaks that we had in between our meditation sessions!

Vipassana for Everyone

The technique of Vipassana requires daily practice. An hour in the morning and one in the evening is the minimum requirement. There are no shortcuts in the technique. With consistent practice it gives amazing results. This is what Kiran Bedi found when she arranged for the Tihar Jail inmates to have a Vipassana Meditation 10-Day Course. I suppose even the powers that be agreed because they awarded the Magasaysay Award to her for her initiative.

Everyone has an issue or other in their lives. Some big, some small. Many of us have gone through emotional trauma that has changed us forever. All around us there are manifestations of inner turmoil (backbiting, cribbing, rudeness, nastiness, jealousy, ill will, foul moods etc.). We aren’t impervious to all the negativity around us, but perhaps we can start by reducing the negativity within us.  Vipassana can show us how.

I’d say I’m still a novice at meditation, but here’s a blog about another meditation technique I’ve tried.

 

Food Wellness Yoga

It’s that time of year again…My Navratra Detox

October 16, 2012
A bowl full of health.

Today is the first day of the Navratra period and although I don’t consider myself a very religious person I still feel that this is a good time for everyone to clean up and make space for a healthier and more fulfilling life.  You could decide to let go of stale emotions, bad habits, bad people, old clothes etc.  When you start thinking about it there are so many things in our lives that don’t add any value to the quality of our lives.  These nine days are a good time to reflect and to jettison the unneeded and the unwanted. Continue Reading

Wellness Yoga

Before and After

September 22, 2012

For a while now I’ve been talking to people about my weight loss journey and how I managed to go from a hefty 69 kgs to a healthier 54 kgs.  However, most people would just nod politely (even those who asked me about how I lost so much weight) and move on to another topic of conversation (usually something about healthy eating or exercising).  Until two days ago, while cleaning out my laptop, I came across and old photo of mine.  I decided to do a ‘Before and After‘ picture because, honestly speaking, the journey to losing weight is long, arduous, lonely and fraught with self doubt.  The fact that I’ve been through it, and have the pictures to prove it is inspirational not only for me, but I realize now, for a lot of other people as well.

Although it’s great to see how far I’ve come on the journey to shape myself not only physically but emotionally and spiritually as well, I have to say that it wasn’t easy to put up the ‘Before’ picture for the world to see and also (invariably) to judge.  I felt the familiar hesitation that comes with the vanity that is only human.  At one point, the thought “I was so fat!” overpowered the thought “Wow!  I’ve come so far!”  However, yoga not only gives us physical strength but also emotional strength and I told myself that that was me and it’s nothing to be hesitant about.  I looked at the picture again and told myself that though I was many many kgs heavier, I was smiling and glowing.  And many years later, I still am :).  So I put up the picture and realized how powerful a visual medium can be.  By the evening there were close to 50 people (many who were probably coming to the page for the first time) who had commented/liked the picture.  Many said that it was inspiring, others asked for advice still others expressed disbelief.  By the end of today, after many hours of thinking about all I’ve been through on the elusive quest for weight loss, I decided that a blog was in order.

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