@Malaka Spice
It’s been close to 10 days here and my routine here is as challenging as ever. I realize that if it’s your first time here, then it does take a while to adjust and adapt. The first time I had a 4 hour practice I was incredulous … and didn’t know how to deal with it. Rather, I didn’t know how to make the most of it. When I practice at home it’s only for an hour and a half, and by the end of it I’m drained out. So the first few days here, I was always exhausted. So much so that I felt I couldn’t give the best in the asanas and always felt sloppy and ungainly throughout the practice. Mondays and Tuesdays specially, since practice on those days is almost 4 hours long, and by the time I’m done with practice its an ordeal just to walk home. My fantasies these days centre around buying an apartment next to the institute so that I can crawl home in no time and surface again only for the next class.
However, now I’ve started to get used to the routine. I’m actually able to make the most of the extended practice sessions. In fact, 2 hours is just about enough time for a satisfying practice…how I’m going to sustain this when I’m back in Bangalore is the stuff other blog posts are made of.
Yesterday I had my class in the evening (where I’m referred to as ‘Bangalore’, and another
Milk tea just this once 🙂
girl is called ‘USA’, oh and then there’s ‘Madam China’ in the 6 am session). It was an amazingly intense session. The class was fast paced with a focus on stretching the lower body (Janu Sirsasana, Paschimottansana, Baddhakonasana etc). Finally we did the Upavista Konasana, which is a challenging pose for me. I slowly made my way down and eased my torso onto the floor. I remember the days when I started practicing yoga and this pose was a big challenge. I wouldn’t be able to extend my back and my hip joint was stiff. As the years went by, I was still pretty reluctant to practice this pose because it didn’t come naturally at all and it was frustrating. Even now, sometimes I’m able to execute this pose well, and sometimes I feel like lead.
Yesterday I was able to ease myself down and placed my forehead on the floor. I stayed there kind of happy and satisfied with myself. There’s always an element of pleasant surprise also, because some days your body can extend and some days it just doesn’t. This reverie lasted until I heard, “BANGALORE! You’re sleeping! Extend more! Walk forward with your hands!!! That’s it, that’s good. Trance mein chali gayi thi phir se.”
And I realized that for the most part, this is how I practice. I arrange myself into a pose and then my mind says, “This is it, you’ve done well. You’re done.” And then my pose goes dead, and progress stops. Or, as the teacher said, I fall asleep. So when I was told to extend more, I had to push through the limitations of my mind (kind of still the internal dialogue) and discover if I could, in fact, go further. I realized that I could, and for that little bit of time I experienced new life. And received a bit of enlightenment.
The Halasana is a pose that we do daily in class. We use props to ensure that the spine and neck are straight. The picture is of me doing the Halasana many years ago. When my internal dialogue was loud and overpowering. I’m sure it’s improved over the years. And after this class, I know how to work in this (and in all other asanas).
Halasana (Plough Pose)
How To
- Lie down straight on your back making sure your head lies on the floor.
- Exhale, bend your legs at the knees and bring your knees close to your chest.
- Lift your buttocks off of the floor supporting your back with your hands.
- Make sure to plant your elbows firmly on the floor.
- Bring your body perpendicular to the floor, until your sternum touches your chin.
- Gently extend your legs out behind your head.
- Keep your face and neck relaxed.
- Practice with your arms stretched out behind and fingers interlocked to relive pain and cramps in fingers, hands, wrists, elbows and shoulders.
Benefits
- Relieves fatigue.
- Helps to calm down the mind.
- Relaxes your eyes and brain.
- Controls hyper tension.
- Improves digestion.
- Lengthens the spine and improves alignment.
- Reduces insomnia and anxiety.
- Relieves stress-related headaches and migraines.
Contraindications
- Don’t practice during menstruation and if you have cervical spondylosis.
In ‘Why Gym Goers MUST Practice Yoga (Part 1)’ I gave you what, to my mind, were very compelling reasons to supplement your daily workout with a few yoga sessions a week. Here are 5 more reasons for why you have no excuse NOT to practice yoga.
6. Lets talk about abs. The real kinds. Anyone who has them will tell you they need a strong back and strong sides. Ever seen anyone with washboard abs slouching? Or do you associate their mien with that of a proud pigeon? Well that tall, proud profile is a result of the strong back muscles which hold up the abs. And the strong back muscles are a byproduct of a regular yoga practice. Ofcourse you still have to work like crazy for the abs … but every bit counts in the quest for Those Perfect Abs.
7. Do you workout before work? Then the guided meditation in the savasana post a yoga session can refresh you mentally and physically, so you won’t feel fatigued for the workday, Au contraire, you might experience new found energy due to the increased oxygen flow through your system. You will get that perfect bod and that perfect appraisal.
8. Breath control. You can harness this natural process to increase your body’s ability to breathe better and increase your performance and well being. Whether you’re a casual gym goer or an athlete, being able to breath better will bring about an immeasurable improvement in your performance and overall well being. Breathing exercises form an integral part of any yoga class.
9. Balance. I’m not talking of the Natrajasana variety. I’m talking about mental balance. Your first yoga class may make you feel like you’ve been beaten into a corner. Everyone else will seem to be effortlessly gliding into poses and smiling while doing unbelievable contortions. And in the middle of it all, there’s you, an adrenaline driven gym rat who competes with himself/herself every single moment they’re in the gym. So when you’re unable to do an asana, it can be more than a triffle de-motivating. However, think of the unbelievable mental strength that you will cultivate when you take yourself back to yoga class every day and then see your body and mind becoming stronger and more supple. This point is about the mental strength, the physical aspect is a byproduct.
10. It’s fun!!! Have you ever seen anyone frowning or grimacing during yoga class? It won’t kill you to add some fun to your daily workout. Fun is good for you!!!
Often people feel there is a conflict between an adrenaline powered, iron pumping lift-til-you-drop gym workout and a deep breathing, body contorting and meditate-like-you-mean-it yoga session. Well, the news is, there is no conflict. In fact yoga can complement your gym workout.
Here are 10 reasons why gym goers MUST practice yoga:
1. Practicing some yoga postures before your workout reduces the risk of injury and loosens your body to start your gym workout. NO, this is not like any other stretch that you do before your workout. Yoga asanas have evolved after careful study of the human body and its alignment. So when you practice a posture, you’re not only opening up tight muscles, but correcting the alignment of your body, which may have gone haywire after years and years of slouching on a chair in front of the laptop…or carrying heavy loads, or cooking in a kitchen not designed for your height, or sleeping on the wrong mattress, or watching tv from the wrong angle…you get the drift.
2. Post a workout asanas will help you stretch your muscles. Asanas help the protective and connective tissue around all your muscles and muscle cells (called the fascia) grow. When the fascia grows the muscles encased in it have more room to grow. If the muscles experience this kind of freedom, then they achieve a better shape and help you look great as well.
3. If you’re one of those gym rats who can’t do without your daily gym workout and pump some serious iron then you’d do well with a post yoga workout to relax your nervous system and release all the tension that accumulates in the muslces during the gym training.
4. Often gym goers have a lot of stress stored in their bodies and very few outlets for stress release. Now I’m not talking about the kind of stress that makes you kick and punch extra hard (that’s just aggression, which can also be taken care of with yoga). I’m talking about the kind of stress that makes a permanent home in your muscles. The kind of stress that prevents you from truly relaxing and easing into a deep sleep. The kind of stress that gives you tight hamstrings, tight shoulders and that painful lower back. Ever seen a yogi try really really hard to kick up into the handstand, topple over and sit up smiling like a goofball (albeit radiantly)? Compare that to someone trying to lift that extra 5 kgs, and grunt in frustration when they can’t? I’m just saying….
5. Have you experienced muscle cramps after or during weight training and heavy lifting? A yoga session a few times a week could work to ease out muscle cramps and reduce the risk of reoccurence. Could that help you lift more and lift better? Think about it…
(To be continued in Why Gym Goers MUST Practice Yoga (Part 2)
Frequently athletes who are into competitive sports don’t give enough emphasis to a regular yoga routine to supplement their workouts. This leads to workouts that are not holistic. Such workouts result in bodies that are tense, stressed and inflexible. I’ve found that gym-goers have flexibility as the lowest priority in their fitness goals. But it should be the most important. Why?
Flexibility ensures that you’re limbs and muscles are well conditioned and this leads to a greater resistance to injury. Ask me. I see big strong muscular army officers who can run 5 km in under 30 minutes but who have weak knees, shoulder issues, ankles that haven’t fully recovered from injury. If they would only listen to me and just incorporate a few yoga stretches into their daily workouts they would reap the results of bodies which are more resistant to injury and also which, once injured will heal faster. Also, yoga ensures that even if you have been injured, your rate of recovery is faster because your muscles and tissues have more oxygen and therefore more regenerative abilities.
Also, the more elasticity your body retains the easier and quicker you can achieve your physical goals. Whether it’s hitting a ball far far away or kicking it through everything that stands in its way, a person who has a mind-body connection will be able to harness the elasticity, strength, and stamina of their body to achieve the goal. Usually, those who don’t practice yoga are unable to make the most of the resources their bodies have and so end up not achieving the goals that the yoga practitioners do.
At a purely physical level, yoga helps in increasing your range of motion. And athletes particularly need greater range of motion to increase their speed and agility. This directly impacts how they move. They will move faster, but, at a more subtle level it will improve how they move when they move fast. Athletes who are also yogis retain a greater degree of motor control when they move fast. Yoga makes your muscles lean and long and makes your body supple.
Competitive sports are stressful. Yoga routines help to relieve tension easily so you relax sooner and better.
And most importantly – yoga will help you WIN at your sport. Yogis feel easy in their bodies and mind. This translates to tackling life’s problem with ease. Therefoer yogis find it easier to focus all their efforts on the goal. This focus comes effortlessly. So while the other guy or team is working hard on focusing and concentrating, you will be calm and tuned in to your meditative and observant side. This will give you that edge that non-yogi athletes don’t have…and before you know it, you will be winning at your sport and in your life.
Supplementing your workout with a few yoga classes a week can go a long way in helping you achieve your fitness goals more holistically. Come practice yoga with me from Mon-Thurs from 10-11am @Namma Crossfit and see for yourself.
Recently I had the chance of getting to know one of my students over coffee. Despite her hectic schedule this wonderful woman took me to her home and offered me amazingly good filter coffee and healthy mid-morning snacks to go along with it. She was considerate enough to ask me whether I eat once I’m done with the class and what I eat if I do. During the course of our conversation I realized that by virtue of being a wife and a mother, there were so many unavoidable responsibilities that she was loaded with, and that she probably had to juggle her schedule a bit to accomodate our little coffee break. She has two daughters in high school, a family business, older in-laws to take care of, and of course the everyday hassles of running a house. Looking at her I wondered where she got the energy from. She seemed the embodiment of ‘Ces’t la vie’…with a smile.
That day I learned from her that if you accept your lot in life with ease then you make space for peace and you are able to deal with things in a calmer manner. Having no time is the bane of modern existence, but sometimes in the middle of it all you meet some individuals who manage to stay focused and calm. These individuals are busy, have responsibilities, and with that, numerous sources of stress in their lives. Yet, they manage. How?
They create an oasis of calm and peace in which they reside and refuel. According to yogic philosophy, everything is an illusion. An event is just a combination of moments put together. Whether the event is good or bad depends on who it happens to and how that person responds to it. So if you choose to respond with peace and calm, you significantly reduce the damage caused by events over which you sometimes have no control.
The valuable insight I received from our chat over coffee:
1. There are sources of stress, worry, strain and anger in everyone’s life. Waiting for the source of stress in your life to disappear so that you can live peacefully again is in vain because there will always be something to worry about.
2. The best way to deal with life is to create reserves of calm and peace within yourself by recognizing that you need to spend time by yourself. Whether it’s going for your closest yoga class, or doing some deep breathing for 5 minutes before you start your day, or reading the paper with your coffee and watching the world wake up…whatever it is, you need to take time out for your body and mind.
Mudra is a Sanskrit word which means ‘to lock’ or ‘to seal’. The word ‘mudra’ signifies hand gestures, or even symbols. Mudras are an integral part of a yoga practice in that they enable you to control the flow of prana, or the life force, thereby making you more energetic and full of vitality. In addition to this mudras help you lock energy inside your body so that you can utilize it, rather than letting it dissipate.
The fingers of the hands represent the different elements of the earth. Taken together these 5 elements are called the panch tattvas. These are:
Thumb – Agni (Fire)
Index Finger – Vayu (Air)
Middle Finger – Akash (Space)
Ring Finger – Prithvi (Earth)
Little Finger – Jal (Water)
It is believed that by bringing together the fingers of the hand you call upon the energy of the elements that those fingers represent, and these energies can heal your body, mind and soul.
The Practice
Always make sure that you don’t apply too much pressure and always keep your hands relaxed when practicing the mudras.
Mudras can be done while you’re seated, standing or even lying down. Your body and mind should feel relaxed and centred.
There is no specific time to practice mudras. Whatever time you choose, you need to be able to relax and withdraw into yourself. This can be before or after eating, as soon as you wake up, or right before you go to sleep.
Always plan your mudras depending on what you need. Practice one or two mudras consistently for a few weeks. Monitor the effects of these mudras on your body. You will see that as things change in your body, you will see a corresponding change in your life as well.
A Few Mudras
Chin/Gyan Mudra
Use this mudra during your mediation practice. This mudra helps in relaxing the body and focusing the mind to meditate. It also works to release stress. Do this mudra if you suffer from insomnia, depression and even high blood pressure.
Apana Mudra
Bring your thumb, middle finger and ring finger together. Extend the remaining two fingers out. This mudra has a direct effect on the gall bladder and liver, and so helps in removing toxins and waste from your body and mind. Also, patience, confidence, balance and harmony increases through the use of this mudra. It’s also great to increase your digestive fire. It has also shown positive results in treating diabetes.
Akash Mudra
Because the middle finger represents the sky or space, this mudra helps with imbalance in terms of space in the body. An imbalance creates problems in the joints, in the heart and also in the ears. This mudra also strengthens the bones and helps with issues like vertigo and balance. It will also help with issues related to blood pressure.
Nasika Mudra
This mudra is used in the anulom-vilom pranayam (alternate nostril pranayam). It is important to fold in the index and middle fingers because this stimulates specific nadis in your system, and this adds value to your pranayam practice.
Adi Mudra
This mudra helps in balancing and healing the sense organs. It also stabilizes and calms down the nervous system. The oxygen flow to the lungs, throat and head area increases with the use of this mudra.
Prana Mudra
The yogic variation of the modern peace/victory sign. This mudra helps in increasing the prana in your body. Increased prana means increased vitality and energy and therefore this helps with all types of diseases. This also increases immunity and the power of eyes. And refreshes your entire system.
The Effects
Regular practice of mudras will make you feel relaxed, refreshed, rejuvenated and flexible. You will also start to feel younger.
“And I’ll tell you something else,” my friend said conspiratorially, “Yoga has become fashionable now.”
Yes, in recent years people have started to frequent more yoga classes, yoga has gone mainstream and what with Nike and Reebok coming up with yoga apparel, yoga has caught our collective attention spans in a big way.
Yes, but what is making yoga fashionable? It’s an age old science, it’s a lifestyle, it’s a way of life…but the masses aren’t going into sanyas. What the masses are doing is paying their local yoga studios/yoga teachers/gurus hard earned money for an hour, sometimes hour and a half of various sequence of poses. And yes, they are reaping the benefits. Everyone does yoga, from my maid to the CEO of your company. And they have all contributed to the fashion statement that is yoga. I thought about all the yoga practitioners I’ve come across so far and came up with a few categories of new age yogis:
1. The first and foremost: The Constipated Yogi. Matsya-asana ensures that their digestive systems are unclogged, but not so for their attitude. Quick to look down upon the ‘unreal’ practitioners (i.e. anyone who doesn’t bow down before a guru they recognize to those who do yoga to lose weight) these yogis will direct their cool gaze towards you and expostulate at length about why they follow who they do and why that is the One True Yoga Path. Before you can contribute your two cents to the conversation to tell them you like nothing better than starting your day sweating it out in a Hot Yoga or Power Yoga class, they let you know their not so positive opinion of these unauthentic/new/commercialized forms of yoga, vehemently and in no uncertain terms. Before you can take a deep breath, they embark upon a detailed rant about the corruption of yoga at the hands of the vast majority of commercial yoga studios. When you’re in this situation, I suggest practice your deep breaths, clear your mind because The Constipated Yogi isn’t really interested in anything you have to say. You see, they know what real yoga is.
2. The Eternal Sunshine Yogi. These yogis are leftovers from the 70s. A lot of them are following the path their parents trod in the 70s….many of them still in Birkenstocks or flip flops. You’ll see them in diaphanous kurtas, sipping vegan chai with a somewhat vacant (spaced out?) look in their eyes. Lord Shiva used ganja as an aphrodisiac they are quick to tell you, and know their Ganesh from Govardhan. Assimilating as much of the culture as possible, you’ll see them wearing bindis, rudraksha malas around their necks and a beatific smile on their lips. You see, the Eternal Sunshine Yogis are on a quest to spread peace and happiness worldwide, and they will do so one Namaste at a time
3. The All-That-Brawn Yogi. Erstwhile gym rats, they can plank better than the best of us. Plus, they are faster, stronger, fitter than you. You can tell by the perfectly sculpted muscles under their expensive, dry-fit, ribbed, breathable body con workout gear. Or better yet, they will drop down and do 108 Surya Namaskars for you even before you can say yo-ga.
4. The Social Yogi – These yogis are the centre of attention of the yoga class….or any of the other numerous classes/causes they are a part of. There’s not a person they don’t know in the class, usually because they take it upon themselves to welcome newcomers…and to increase their circle of influence. They are easy to spot – they are loud, exuberant, gregarious, forthcoming…and get withering looks from the Constipated Yogi because…well because they know that the Social Yogi is not the real thing. But the Social Yogi couldn’t care less, they are too busy bonding with the Eternal Sunshine Yogi.
These are my observations so far. What are the yogis you’ve observed?
I recently attended a talk about Ayurvedic diet and nutrition at the Sivananda Yoga Centre where I practice yoga these days. The session was conducted by a yogi couple who used to own a raw food restaurant in New York. I gleaned a lot of practical advice on how we can tweak our food habits to reap more from what we eat.
Yogis seek to delay the catabolic process of aging, which begins at 35. Along with a balance in terms of proper breathing, relaxation and exercise, a proper diet can go a long way in combating a lot of health problems. In fact, numerous lifestyle related health problems can be cured by diet ALONE.
Over the years focus has shifted away from unprocessed and natural (i.e ‘whole’) foods to impure products. For example, the most commonly used grain is white rice. White rice is NOT a whole food. In order for a grain to be whole it must have bran, endosperm and the germ. White rice has no bran, and bran contains the fibre. White rice has been denatured, and polished white rice even more so. Substitute white rice with brown rice. Try basmati brown rice.
White flour is not whole. You can use barley, millet, wheat, gram, quinoa (not locally available in India), oats and buckwheat instead. The best thing is to use products that are grown locally. You would be surprised at how many healthy options are available at your local market. You can ask the shop keeper for brown rice, kuttu ka atta, makki ka atta etc, and chances are that he will have it. Flax is a great alternative to wheat. You can grind your flax seeds and use it in lieu of wheat. Also, for those who don’t eat eggs, flax seeds are a great alternative. If you start eating whole even one day a week, then you significantly reduce the amount of disease causing matter that goes into your system.
The more your body is able to digest and break down the nutrients that are available to it, the healthier you will be. Sprouting is a great way to make your food more digestible. Sprouts are sattvic.
Seeds and nuts are another source of nutrition and are available abundantly. Sunflower seeds contain protein and carbohydrates. Pumpkin seeds have a lot of zinc. Sesame seeds can be sprouted. Snacking on nuts is a great option. The best nuts to consume are almonds, walnuts and cashews. Walnuts have omega 3 fatty acids as well. Always make sure to soak nuts over night before consuming them. This process will remove the toxins. Remember to never eat raw peanuts. They must always be roasted to get rid of toxins.
A discussion about nutrition in the Indian context is incomplete without talking about fried foods. Why are fried foods so bad for us? Besides the fact that they increase cholesterol in your system, fried foods also contain free radicals – unstable oxygen molecules. These oxygen molecules lose electrons and these electrons then bind to other molecules creating more free radicals (unstable molecules). We need anti-oxidants to combat this attack of the unstable oxygen molecules. The most common and popular source of anti-oxidants is green tea. Also, it’s an excellent way to combat dry skin.
Fruits are a good source of natural sugars, minerals and vitamins. But they can also be a source of toxins. Most fruits are grown with the help of pesticides and artificial growth hormones. Try and get organic bell peppers because these require a large quantity of pesticides to grow. Some fruits that you are better off eating organic are grapes and strawberries. Also, it’s a good idea not to juice your fruits. Juice has a lot of concentrated sugars without the added fibre of actual fruits, even if you’re making it at home. Baked fruits also contain a higher sugar concentration.
About sweeteners: White sugar is polished and dehydrates you. Opt for more natural sugars such as honey, agave, brown sugar, stevia, jiggery and zylatol. Zylatol is a product which comes from birch trees. Other sources of natural sugars are dates and raisins.
White salt does more harm to your system that good. It can cause hypertension and high blood pressure. The best salt to use is sea salt. Sea salt has a greyish hue to it. It also contains natural iodine. White salt on the other hand has iodine added artificially. Rock salt is also a great healthy alternative and has a slightly pinkish hue. Celery is a source of natural salt.
About dairy products: In ancient Ayurvedic texts, milk has been classified as a sattvic food. However, over the years the process of obtaining milk from cows has changed and this has changed the nature of milk. Now cows are being injected with artificial hormones, they are underfed, they live in confined spaces which are dirty and sometimes they end up grazing on their own faeces! A cow living under such conditions is an unhappy one and this alters the quality of the milk she produces. So milk is no longer an ‘ideal’ source of protein and calcium. Needless to say, yogurt made from such milk will contain all of the rajasic properties associated with cows. Sesame seeds are an excellent alternative to milk. In fact, they contain more calcium than milk. The process of making cheese also deserves a mention. To make cheese from milk rennet is required. Rennet is a GMO – Genetically Modified Organism. Furthermore, the body doesn’t have the ability to digest cheese. So it pretty much passes through your system undigested and if you examine your stool you will see the undigested cheese in it. Also, cheese causes excessive production of mucous, so that might be why some people are more prone to stuffed noses and congestion. Remember this next time you’re tempted to shove pizza slices down your throat. Soy and corn are GMOs too, so best to avoid these as well.
Some excellent sources of PROTEIN: Sprouts, pulses, legumes, avocadoes, olives, nuts & seeds and sea vegetables such as kelp and sushi.
Quinoa and hemp are complete proteins. Complete proteins are essential proteins. These are proteins that your body needs but does not produce on its own. The combination of rice + pulses/legumes is also a complete food/protein.
Excellent sources of CARBS: Rice, fruits, veggies
Sources of STARCH: potatoes, bread, pasta and corn.
Excellent sources of FATS: Coconut oil, sesame oil, olive oil. Always keep your oils in the fridge to preserve their properties.
Finally, always remember that what you eat is not as important as how you eat. At least one meal in a day must be consumed in silence.