I like an answer from Swami Satchitananda (not 100% sure that it was him, but it doesn’t really matter):
When he was asked: “What is the difference between illness and wellness?” – He circled first letter in the first word and two first letters in the second:
illness vs. wellness
see? How neat!
I’m not sure if origin of these two words has anything to do with this difference… But this I vs. WE difference serves our purposes just right. Point I would like to make is the following:
without friends, community around us – life is harder, harder physically and emotionally
for the very least: if person is alone and depressed and there is nobody to support him or her – that person more often than not is smoking, abusing alcohol, overeating
…and getting all kinds of health issues – we all know about psychosomatic connections…
And if you think about it: Yoga is Union… — some say: Union with Absolute Self… but in my opinion – first of all Yoga is union with people (and everything else) around us… and through that union – comes deepness of union with oneself… and One (?)
Sure your friends are the best! – So, we will talk about someone else’s friends…. OK?
I don’t need to remind you about social pressure, “pressure to be like others around you”… But then, unless you are very strong to resist such kind of pressure (and believe me it could be very strong!), you will be in troubles sooner or later.
Do you picture Russians as people who drink a lot of alcohol? – There is a reason for it – in average Russian people consume amount of alcohol many times larger than any right-minded health organization would allow. And they consume bad (= not a good wine) alcohol. Many of them will fight you if you are in a drinking company and refuse to drink with them. How is that for “social pressure”?
Do you picture Americans as overweight nation? – There is a reason for that – friends of that poor person go to you-know-what-places and eat you-know-what.
Do you hang out with people who smoke? And you? – Do you know that health organizations claim that about 50% of men who smoke are impotent? Sounds sexy?
Those of course all Russians and Americans from another planet and smoking is not proven to be bad for your health on your planet.
And we all (most of us) are living in free countries, free to choose what we say, what we do and who are our friends! — I agree. Then – choose wisely…
P.S. And if you are a parent – help your children to choose before they learn how to. Children are free to do mistakes just as all of us – but you don’t have to sit waiting for them to repeat all the mistakes you did… Oh, sorry, not mistakes you did – but some random guy from another planet we were talking about all this time.
P.P.S. I would say that same comment applies if you are a friend… But I know you don’t need to hear it – because your friends are perfect!
P.P.P.S. Do your friends support and go with you to practice Yoga or is it more like: well if once a year I’m really bored and all my friends are out of town – then I go for my practice…
Atkins diet. I’ve heard about it – but never bothered to learn. Here is why: until today my misunderstanding about it was that it is “all you can eat stake diet”. It is not correct, although I would say – this misconception is a source of problems with it for…
critics of the diet – but they are OK – all they risk is to loose their voice due to loud arguing and a risk to be proven wrong
followers – for them such misunderstanding is not theoretical: consuming large amounts of proteins and fats with meat – would cause enormous amounts of problems. Some claim Atkins diet (or misunderstood variation of it) – is one of the big modern problems. Why? – Because heart deceases is number one killer all over the world (USA included) – larger then all the other deceases summed up. And what is one of the main reasons for heart decease? – Lack of motion, lack of exercise and fresh air, and… – you guessed it right!
Any significant changes in life style should be made as a result of a proper education.
One of the main mistakes people make when switching to vegetarian diet is that they simply exclude meat and fish and continue to eat everything else they did before… only now – in greater amounts. Here is why this causes problems:
If meat/fish proteins are not substituted in diet – the rest of “usual menu” gets digested fast (simple carbs), gets absorbed into blood stream and then two things happen: 1. you feel hungry very soon again -> so you eat more and 2. you don’t use all the calories from simple carbs you digested (they absorbed so fast) -> so body stores excess as fat. Simple.
Result? – This simple-minded switch to “vegetarian diet” takes you to a diet comparable with performing super-athletes, but without calories burning rate like they have
Solution? – Before you switch – learn about new recipes, try Indian cuisine for example. Learn about your options (there are many nowadays – you will find vegetarian section in almost any supermarket these days, plus it’s easy to find an Indian store – they are also very wide spread). Another step: calculate what is you proper calories intake (for your weight, age, lifestyle) and use a bit less if you need to loose weight. And probably most important: have more fresh air = exercise, walk, bike, swim, practice your Yoga
I just read on one of the web-sites: “It’s beneficial to begin your meditation with a prayer. Praying helps you remember why you are meditating.”
Here are my two cents:
Yoga doesn’t imply a particular sort of prayer or “belief-system”. You don’t have to be a Hindu (or Buddhist) to meditate.
Yoga doesn’t force you to be a “believer” – you could be great master of meditation without praying. – In fact, I think that improper way of praying (if I could say so) – in particular “automatic” praying, without presence and mindfulness – would shut and distract your mind into “dream world” – just as much as any other thought. Dreaming (in whatever form) is good for relaxation, but it is not meditation.
…just stumbled upon a mentioning of nude Yoga. Could somebody explain to me what is that and why?
Yoga for me is a personal work first of all. If I’m practicing alone – I don’t really care. And from the practical point of view – if I sweat – I would prefer sweat going into clothes which are easier to wash than a Yoga mat.
If practiced in groups – IMHO – it would only cause distraction. It’s hard enough to take mind from the comparisons like “that man can stretch deeper”, etc. without adding additional fact of “that something on that girl looks prettier than mine”…
I’m not even sure what I’ll do (as a Yoga teacher) if I would have to teach mixed (men + women) nude Yoga group?! Don’t tell me that average [Western] Yogi practitioner is so detached! It’s laughable!
And about selling such stuff on DVD for “home practice”: being a realist – I would say that most of the sales are made to very different people with very different purposes (than Yoga practice). I don’t mind that and not judging…
I got a question: “what should be the pace of the practice, if pauses are needed, etc.?”
Here is my answer – it could be useful to someone else…
First of all, nowadays there are many different “types” of Yoga. Some of them are very slow and relaxing, others – fast and very physically challenging.
For example – even if a particular rhythm, breath pattern are encouraged in Ashtanga and Power Yoga sessions – if one practices in a group (and not individually tuned private one-on-one sessions) – it’s very likely that large part of the group will constantly break breath patterns, will breath heavily, etc. Reason is simple – if practice is too physical and goes with the speed of a person more fit than you are – you are bound to struggle.
Ideally, pace of the practice should be such, that your breath flows as continuously and “uniformly” as possible. That is good for calming the mind, that is important for relaxation, and for thousand of other more subtle things. Another important reason — if you practice this way and notice your breath starts to change the pace when it not supposed to — you know that you maybe starting to go over the limits your body is ready to go beyond yet. This is the way breath goes in classical, Hatha Yoga sessions, for Yoga defined as “chita vritti nirodha“. Practice this way also suggests holding the asanas rather than changing them breath after another (or after just a few breaths). – This is also a way (the way?) to learn to control your Prana, this is the way one develops ability to have one breath as long as only every 1-few minutes… (And it works.)
Again – if your Yoga practice is more for a gym substitution, for “cardio”, etc. – that is whole another story – you are welcome to do that, but then breathing goes as fast and in different patterns – as you need to supply your blood, muscles with fresh oxygen. – Don’t retain!
Got the question by e-mail. Copy it here together with my answer – so it’s not lost and maybe useful to somebody else.
“im new to yoga.i wana know what is the right way to breath during yoga.Is it the normal way as we do.or it has some esp way like stomach in …etc.hope you get it.”
my answer:
”
first and most important: breath should flow as comfortably and continuously as possible: no retention and if you are out of breath – you are probably pushing yourself beyond limits – then slow down…
second: breath should be natural: if you fold or twist – you exhale, if you open – you inhale. Keeping proper breath phase with movements helps.
third: don’t contract your abdomen on purpose, don’t push your breath too slow or too deep on purpose. Contracted abdomen is not needed in most asanas and prevents from breathing properly. Deeper and longer breath develops with practice – no need to force yourself and jump over the head.
There is no competition in Yoga – nor with others and especially – not with yourself.
”
First impressions after I tried the “Kundalini Yoga. Transformer. All-In-One Workout. – Transform Your Body, Feed Your Soul, Change Your Life! Ana Brett, Ravi Singh” DVD.
Disclaimer
I’m not getting payed for DVD reviews. – I’m happy to review any Yoga or Yoga related DVD — I do it for free, and I’m also free to have my opinion.
And I’m trying my best to be neutral and open-minded in the review — not to be biased by own preferences.
Environment
I like the settings – nice bright, “sunny” picture. Ana’s smile itself – is like a little bright sun.
I like the music – it’s light, very “Yogic” and appropriate.
Equipment you will need (in addition to DVD that is)
You will only need your mat and corresponding size in your room in front of a TV. Literally. There are no movements beyond 2 square meters of space.
There is an additional feature I like – a list of pre-set programs of different duration and intensity. — DVD also has (as other DVDs of these authors) more possibilities for customization and building interactively your own program for workouts (MATRIX menu option), which you are welcome to explore and use too.
Physical aspect
In general workout is not very hard physically – most likely your muscles won’t feel sore after it – especially if you are at least a bit active.
Workout includes exercises for legs, abdomen, and arms/shoulders. Arms and shoulders may feel quite worked out at the end and next couple of days – a large part of the practice concentrated around arms movement.
A nice aspect of the workout – it’s very dynamic with a lot of bends, twists and stretches (in warming-up part in particular). – That is a great thing about Yoga which was not lost in this workout. All the stretches, twists and bends help us to release muscle tensions and stress from the body and mind. That is a great thing for not very active people under a lot of mind/office stress and for athletes – between their workouts.
There are even “workouts” for glands! Seriously though – it’s good.
NOTE: a larger part of the program includes sitting cross legged. As it is demonstrated by Ana – sitting on the mat directly – may be too hard for many people who are not as flexible and open in hips. When a not very flexible person is trying to sit like this – he/she would inevitably have knees up and legs in general may not be very comfortable. With knees up and buttocks on the mat – back would tend to round and get tired. One of the ways to avoid this – is to have a cushion of right size (so that buttocks are on the same level as knees) and sit on it.
Breathing
If you want to buy it DVD is available from amazon, here:
As any Kundalini Yoga class – this one includes a lot of breathing using different techniques (“fire breathing” is most often used).
Instructions are given in the supplemental to the DVD brochure and comments added during practice.
All-in-all – I didn’t find breathing in the workout challenging or very sophisticated. I mean it in a good way – if you are new to such practice adjustment/learning shouldn’t be long.
Mantras
Again, as in other Kundalini Practices – this one includes a lot of mantras (pronounced out loud and silently with every breath).
Again, some of these may sound complex – but I think in the course of the first session most people will already pick the mantras, right sounds, rhythm and pronunciation. Used mantras are quite basics.
Don’t think about mantras much if you are not comfortable with this aspect of the workout – think of them as “massaging your voice and central nervous system tools”.
Meditation and resting
…are plenty during the session – so, you won’t need 1 hour of rest after workout. You could just do it in the early morning and start/continue your daily routine. — With even more energy, deeper breath and shining smile!
there are also plenty of comments on spiritual aspect of the practice and influences of that or another move, breathing, mantra. These are more personal things, their interpretation and understanding, acceptance are personal. What I like though in this program – is that those things are given very gently and not not forced. You could just take them for your information if you prefer.
Summary: the “Kundalini Yoga. Transformer. All-In-One Workout. – Transform Your Body, Feed Your Soul, Change Your Life! Ana Brett, Ravi Singh” DVD is a very good, very “positively charged” workout – which would energize you and make you smile, make your body stronger and your mind – at the very least – calmer and happier.
Teachers (Buddhas) are plenty – we just not able to recognize them. — Something along these lines I’ve heard several times already.
We all are looking for support, help in our lives, we are striving to find a wise, omnipotent, omniscient guru, who would guide us.
This often made me wonder: where do I find one? how do I recognize him or her? what if I wouldn’t be able to travel to Himalayas (all the true gurus are there, isn’t it right?)? etc.
Then I’ve read and heard several times that when I’m ready, guru will appear in my life. — If I’m patient and really want that…
Maybe it’s not the final truth, but I think I understand better now:
our teachers are indeed plenty, we just not always willing to see them as such
they are actually here, waiting when we are ready to accept them…
They are…
people in a line n a supermarket before us to the counter – well, they just happen to come earlier, but they tirelessly teaching us patience
old people in need – teaching us compassion
children and animals around us giving us a chance to learn more about kindness
our relatives and friends – people we spend the most time with – these are probably the greatest teachers ever – they are giving us a chance every second to become better human beings and to help them back in the same way…
I can continue this list on and on…
Who are your teachers and what lessons are you learning?
Some teachers would tell you that variation is not good and it’s enough to perform 12 (14, 20, …) basic asanas every session. (There are large well known chains of Yoga centers applying this approach.)
In my opinion this may be well true – especially if one is an advanced Yogi, well motivated and seeking meditative state in few asanas he/she performs. (It may also be useful if teachers in above-mentioned Yoga centers are in general poor teachers – it’s easier to learn how to teach 12 poses and then force that approach on everybody…)
For most of the practitioners variations in practice are important. Here is why:
There are many possible variations: different asanas, different pace, order of asanas, time for practice, place, in a group or not, etc.
They important – because they challenge mind and body – and that is keeping your practice alive.
If there are no variations – beginner in Yoga risks to become dull and bored with practice, will start to miss sessions and then stop practicing altogether.
Actively engaged mind – is more likely to be awake, aware and mindful of practice – and these qualities take time to develop to become a second nature. – And later, if we choose in the future to have more meditative practices – developed mindfulness and concentration skills would help us.
Actively engaged body and “confused” every time muscles – tend to develop much more actively. Muscles that repeat same routine – tend to stagnate.
If variation is in trying different practices/”styles”, different centers in different cities, countries, etc. – this helps to develop understanding and patience toward other human beings and ultimately – compassion.
Variations keep beginners (and advanced practitioners too!) interested! – This for many is a huge component of motivation…
There are probably many more reasons for variations – and I’m inviting you to add yours in the comments below.
One lady-friend of mine wanted to order some pills with berries (I will not put the names of the berries, links to companies selling pills, etc. – don’t want to advertise those guys). What are they promising? – Things along the lines of “do nothing, eat our pills and your body will lose weight, become healthy, clean, lean, etc.”
Because these are quite a wide-spread things nowadays (and sadly maybe more so among Yogic community) – I would like to share with you my personal opinion.
These kinds of advertisements look too good to be true. There is no magic, at least not in the weigh-loss area.
If you eat junk food and lots of it – you will become fat and unhealthy. – No matter what pills you swallow.
If you lead really unhealthy way of life and some pillows do help you – you either an exclusion out of rules (for example good genetics from your ancestors which you are destroying for your children), or you swallow really strong stuff and chances are you are killing your body even faster – even if it would help you for the moment to look less fat.
If you look closely – you will see that many of those “detox”/weight-lose programs – suggest better diet and active life (sport) in parallel with pills. Guess what does the job? – Then they select the best “examples of success” to feature in their advertisements – but those people look better because of all those other changes in their habits, not pills.
If you look even closer – you will see that most (all?) those “magic pills” were not supported or studied by any official medical organization, and no statements of the claimed improvements were verified. (read: claims are not true)
If you don’t rush to order “in the next 10 minutes” as they often encourage you – and read more on the subject in the Internet – you will discover a scary number of complains of the customer support, credit cards charges without proper way to cancel monthly supply subscription you didn’t know you are getting and all kinds of these things.
What Yoga teaches us? - To open our eyes, hearts and minds. With practice this develops beyond the time when we are on the mat and beyond of being aware of the breath. Mindfulness propagates to other areas of life and illusions disappear. Illusions like one could “fix” 20-40-??? pounds of excess fat by pills, that “doing nothing” in general could ever possibly bring us something. This is true for asanas and meditation, this is true for other areas of life.
Want to loose some weigh?
stop eating at night or shortly before the sleep
toss away junk food (today!) and never come back to it even if your friends do
eat more proteins and less carbs (far less carbs – especially if you are not actively performing athlete), eat vegetables (study your diet for 1-2 weeks – you will see what I mean)
sleep enough (both oversleeping and sleep-deprivation are bad – for weight and health in general: physical and mental)
exercise regularly – 3 times a week is better than once a week, 7 times a week – is better than 3 . If you practice once a week or even worse – once a month and eat whatever – stop fulling yourself, it is not enough.
All the best with your practice and developing mindful attitude to whole life.
(On the left is a picture of Maya, Indian goddess of illusion)
Tratak Dhyana is a method of doing meditation in which the practitioner concentrates on one fixed point for a prolonged period of time, looking at it with his eyes. Breathing and breath control are also important while performing Tratak Dhyana. Before you start Tratak, you must ensure that you take a few deep, long breaths. This breathing is called as Suksham Pranayama. Tratak thus makes a person gaze and look constantly at an object for a prolonged period of time and without even blinking. This creates tears to flow from the eyes of the practitioner and hence the eyes are washed and cleansed from the inside out while practicing the Tratak.
Technique for Tratak:
Place a candle nearly three feet in front of you. Gaze at it for 3 to 5 minutes without blinking. Initially you will not be able to continue even this long, but over a period of time you will get used to the exercise. This will help you exercise your Dharana – concentration or fixation of attention. One can use any object besides a candle, it can be any deity that you pray to, an AUM symbol, a photograph or just about anything sanguine that you wish to concentrate upon.
After concentrating on the object for sometime, move your focus to your inner self and concentrate on the object as if it is inside of you in the area between your two eyes. Close your eyes and try to focus on the object inside by trying to visualize the object between your two eyes. This method of concentration is called as Antaranga Tratak. When one fixes the gaze upon an external object, it is called as Bahiranga Tratak and when one concentrates inside the mind, it is termed as Antaranga Tratak.
After you have completed the process of Tratak, just spend a minute or two cupping your eyes with the palms of your hands. Make this a regular practice after Tratak is over.
Benefits:
Tratak cleanses the eyes inside out and helps remove the covering of the third eye.
Tratak also helps activate the Ajna Chakra.
Tratak aids concentration and helps calm the nervous system.
Siva is considered to be the creator of yoga. Yoga and dance are inseparable. They both aim towards the attainment of Moksha (being united with the supreme power). Siva is called Nataraja, or the king of dance, and is the founder of yoga.
He is also known as the destroyer, and brings change in the form of death and destruction, but in the positive sense of breaking bad habits and destroying the vices. He could be thought of as the underlying power for us to become better beings, striving for enlightenment.
Siva is the supreme power- that does not have any creator, and does not take birth. He is unaided and unaccompanied. He is responsible for life in all animals and other creatures, and thus called Pashupati (God of living beings). All creatures are pashus (animate beings), be they purush (men), asuras (demons), or devs (deities).
Lord Siva
He is the lord of creatures and hence, not partial towards one form. He will bless anyone who worships him, irrespective of the worshipper’s race, religion, caste, creed, qualities, status or power.
Lord Siva is worshipped by everyone- by other deities like Brahma, Vishnu, and Indra , by asuras like Surapadma, Tripura, Ravana, and Bana, by humans, and by other creatures like vali (monkey), and jatayu (vulture).
He is known as bholenath (innocent), and blesses anyone who worships him. Siva has no form, and resides in the form of prana vayu (life-breath or energy). He is the energy that drives the life force. The basis of yoga lies in this prana vayu.
According to Hinduism, Siva takes the form of energy or divine power, which is also given in Christianity. The Bible says that God is spirit (John 4:24), and is not flesh and blood (Matt. 16:17).
Siva is thought of possessing a human form- that of an aghori (aghori is a sect of saints), and in Christianity, it is believed that man is in the image of God (Gen. 1:26f; 5:1; 9:6; James 3:9; 1 Cor. 11:7)
Siva is known to carry a trident, which symbolizes dharma, or justice. The supreme power is almighty, and is not partial towards one life form. He is unbiased and provides justice to everyone. He created the universe and is responsible for the well being of every life form.
You can worship him by practicing yoga, as he resides in the prana vayu, which is the basis of all yoga meditation.
Vishnu takes the manifestation of an all encompassing deity, also known as Purusha (man), or Paramatma, Mahapurusha (Supreme Soul). It is said that he is the Sheshin (The Entirety), in whom all the souls are enclosed. He is Bhagvat (possessing divine glory).
Shri Vishnu
Vishnu has six chief divine glories:
Jnana (Omniscient): It is the supremacy to recognize all beings concurrently. He has the knowledge of everything. He knows about everything that you do.
Aishwarya (Splendor): This continues in the form of uncontested rule over everyone. He is the ruler and the maintainer of the universe.
Shakti (Power): The power to make everything possible. Nothing is impossible for him. He can convert impossible into possible.
Bala (Strength): It is the strength that makes sure that his will be done. Humans cannot go against his will.
Virya (Vitality): It is the energy that maintains the universe. All the life is being generated by this energy. This energy circulates in every life form, and generates new life.
Tejas (Radiance): It expresses his capacity to power everything from his devout effulgence. He has the power to control everything.
The total qualities of Vishnu are countless, and these six are the most dominant ones. Some of the others are Karunya (Kindness), Gambhirya (Gravity), and Audarya (Generosity).
These qualities tell us about the character of Vishnu in Purusha, or the man form. This form is conceptualized by devotees that view him in human form. While in real, there is no form of Vishnu.
Though the qualities of Vishnu are described in Hindu texts, yet he does not belong to any religion. Vishnu is the supreme power unspecific to any religion. He has no material form, and can be in any form- animate or inanimate. He is the center of all power and all forces. Whatever we can see, whatever we can think, it’s all Vishnu.
He lives in each one of us, and we can realize him by loving and helping all human beings, or by Karma yoga (Click for explanation). To attain Moksha by following Karma yoga, you need to be compassionate to all humans, and this way you will attain Vishnu. This concept is common to all religions, for instance, in Christianity, it is said, “Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me.” (Matthew 25:40). All religions teach us to be empathetic towards other people.
Vishnu is omnipresent and can be reached by following any of the three yoga techniques: Karma yoga, Bhakti yoga or Jnana yoga. Again, it is up to you, whichever path you want to take.
Yoga is being taught in many styles these days, and is mostly related to weight loss, moneymaking, or religion, namely Hinduism, whereas it is much more than simply sweating. What is yoga? Yoga, as explained by Krishna to Arjun, the Pandav hero, is divided into three categories: Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, and Bhakti Yoga.
Shri Krishna
Krishna elucidates the character of Atma, or the immortal being. It is believed that Atma is the immortal soul that reincarnates until all our karmas are realized, when it is united with Brahma. Brahma is the universal soul, and Atma finally merges into Brahma. This is known as Moksha. Karma is not a difficult concept to understand. It simply states that you reap what you sow, or what you do comes back to you.
He maintains that people must discard the load of karma, for all the immoral conduct of their present and past lives.
The Atma cannot be created or destroyed; it just changes bodies and forms – until the attainment of Moksha, when it unites with the Infinite Source.
Krishna explains the three types of yoga, and the importance of each one in attaining the universal goal: attainment of Moksha.
Karma Yoga – The Yoga of Action
Everyone should fulfill his or her duties and responsibilities. These duties and responsibilities are often times associated with using and developing our unique talents –we all came here to evolve from selfish to selfless through sharing the one thing that we do better than anyone else. We haven’t been born to simply gratify desires that are common to all animals – we are human being with a nervous system that has the capacity to UNDERSTAND creation and KNOW its Source. There should be no desire for any personal benefit, as self–serving desires are the root cause of needless suffering. Faith in the omnipotent will relieve you of the burden of karma. By shedding the load of karma, you can attain Moksha – or freedom from the never-ending cycle of rebirth. Karma means we have lessons to learn – often painful lessons that come through making mistakes. When we learn and heal this karma, then we are “perfected in awareness”.
Jnana Yoga – The Yoga of Wisdom
Jnana yoga tells of the importance of meditation and of a mind that is quiet because it makes choices and takes decisions based on “spiritual values”, It permits people to gain the knowledge and actions of a person established in the natural, universal laws that govern all life, through meditation and contemplation, and realize that Atma, and Brahma (the Soul of the World) are one.
Bhakti Yoga – The Yoga of Love and Devotion
The practitioners of Bhakti Yoga express love and devotion to the Infinite Source in any form – this often takes the form of music, chanting, prayers and other artistic expressions that have no practical purpose; they simply flow from the person as a need to express love and devotion to the art. You can attain Moksha or spiritual freedom, and become one with Brahma through earnest devotion to the substance beneath the perfected forms of Krishna, Christ, the Buddha, or Mohammed.
The Bhagvad Gita addresses the conflict between the senses and the perception of cosmic unity. The term yoga describes serenity of mind, skill in action, and a unified outlook towards Atma – that is letting go of karma by doing good work, fulfilling one’s spiritual duty to evolve his or her greatest gift, or dharma), and selflessly expressing love and devotion without thought for practical benefit. These are the many paths that lead to yoga – discover yours.
I would like to propose a few Yoga practice tips I found useful (come up with myself or found elsewhere) – for when we travel.
You are very welcome to share your own advices in the comments – I travel regularly – and will certainly appreciate helpful Yoga practice tips. I’m sure many of us who travel will. And all the advices will be collected and preserved on the pages of the project. Many thanks in advance!
Here are some:
In many hotels windows/balcony-doors are full-height and usually almost room-wide. When it’s dark outside (morning/evening – even longer in winter times) – windows work as quite good mirrors. – If you use mirrors in your practice – windows are good enough approximation when traveling.
Hotels often are more cold in winter times than our apartments – hot shower before morning practice helps.
More on warming: there is usually a good-for-after-yoga-relaxation spare blanket provided in a hotel room.
Wake up call – will help you start you day in right hour (and not to miss your morning Yoga practice) – especially, if you cross several times zones to the East when you travel.
Towels are good as Yoga mats for on-the-floor and inverted Yoga asanas and sitting practices (meditation, pranayama, etc.). Additional towel folded – is a good enough approximation for a meditation cushion. – It’s good to remember that some meditation cushion fillings may be not allowed to cross borders (corn shells, etc.)
If practice in a hotel wouldn’t work for you after all – ask Google – there are almost certainly a few Yoga centers nearby your hotel (nowadays in US – Yoga centers are almost as common and easy to find as Fast-Food chains…)
I had a discussion with someone interested in Yoga. The discussion inspired me to write the following post (communication is private of course. But I re-write my opinion in a general way.)
Thing is that I constantly hear so many mis-interpretations of modern science these days (and read in relatively recent books) – it makes me very uneasy. – It looks like many modern Yoga teachers try to make connections to modern science without much knowledge about at least the second half – I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about uncertainty principle, quantum theories, electromagnetism and whatnot in Yoga centers. Did you? – I did a lot, many times for example from very respected centers like Sivananda Vedanta Yoga centers and Sivananda Ashrams for example (from Swamis or invited lecturers).
At best some of those analogies, parallels and “explanation of Yoga principles by modern science” – are “far stretches”… most of those comments – are simply incorrect.
I personally think that Yoga and underlying energies, etc. – have little to do with what modern science can measure. – I don’t actually understand why Yoga teachers nowadays try to connect to modern science – to sound more convincing to “general public”? Yoga – is a science in itself and in many respects it is a more profound knowledge – but it is separate from gravity and electromagnetism, etc. as modern science understand those.
And of course there are many simple things – like why asanas helps digestion, increase lungs ventilation, why stretching helps to reduce stress, etc. – those are all trivial, correct and very important points – no problem with those statements. (Meditation and other techniques like this – are in my opinion – beyond “simple things” and don’t have to be explained by the science, also some initial practices – might.)
In addition to practicing Yoga I have a Ph.D. in physics and I’m interested in modern science in general as much as I’m interested in Yoga. – I think these are two (mostly separate) parts of a more complete knowledge…
I understand that ideas in this post could sound controversial. One thing for certain – I don’t want to upset anybody with my opinion. – And I’ll be happy to have a discussion with you – please add your comments below.
Here is a wonderful video that explains everything about the Surya Namaskara. Try to remember that Surya Namaskara, though it might seem, to be, is not exactly an exercise but a series of Yogasanas. It needs to be performed slowly, steadily and with ahimsa in mind. Ahimsa is an idea which brings peace into oneself and hence a person can best benefit from whichever Yogasana he/she is doing if he/she practices Ahimsa while doing it.
One needs to remember that the purpose of Yoga is to bring not just calmness but also control over your mind and body. Done with the right spirit, Surya Namaskar can be highly beneficial to the practitioner.
But do remember to follow all the instructions of the instructor in the video while doing the Surya Namaskara.
When I was waiting for my plane, sitting in the airport today – I noticed a couple: woman and a man. She was blind and he was taking care of her. When I noticed them – man was guiding the woman from one shop/cafe stand to another and was telling her about the meal options… Here are some provoking questions, some food for thought (I exaggerate on purpose – to demonstrate a point):
Say, he had a higher purpose (to the best of his understanding = sincere) in his mind and was reading her only meat/non-vegetarian options as if vegetarian don’t exist. – For example he might think that vegetarian diet is by construction not balanced and with every opportunity would try to feed his wife with meat.
Maybe he was tired and simply was ignoring many details, just giving some obvious/simplest options – whether that what his partner needed or not.
Another interesting option (extension of the previous one) – he probably didn’t know English well enough – and was simply ignoring most of the stuff he could not understand himself.
Maybe he wanted to save ( = gain) money – and was reading to her only cheapest options
etc.
Now – when you think about all kinds of different possibilities for exchange of knowledge, communication, collaboration there may be between a guide and a guided – think about relationship between a Yoga practitioner and his/her Guru, a Yoga teacher (any kind of practitioner, not just Yoga – we could simply extend this to all the areas of a person life: from choosing “the right” toothpaste to religions)…
Issue I see with Guru-student relationships in many modern centers (old times too, but now it is especially relevant – with all the money and power possibilities): is that it is declared that “Guru” is always rught, no matter what.
One of the most respected man (in my opinion) was always asking his “students” to find their own truth and not to take his words blindly. The name of the man was Buddha.
The Guru – is in you. We know it, if we listen… But this is a huge discussion in itself.
March 12th, 2010 | Tags: 
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