Musings ...

My first experience of a "sutra" was at The Yoga Institute in Santa Cruz, Bombay. Coming from Bangalore, I craved to see green.... to look at trees... to hear some natural sounds. And here; not only did I find trees, birds, yoga but also my first 'sutra' experience. It was a haven. During Sunday 'Satsangs' , Dr. Jayadeva would lead a lecture followed by a Q&A. His answers to questions would be crisp, concise and sometime even painfully simplistic.  He spoke in 'sutras' .  A 'sutra' is literally a thread or line that holds things together; like in a garland of flowers....or beads. Wikipedia, defines it  -  " In ancient Indian literature,  sutra  denotes a distinct type of literary composition, based on short  aphoristic  statements, generally using various technical terms. This literary form was designed for concision, as the texts were intended to be memorized by students in some of the formal methods of scriptural and s...

In the Ashtanga Yoga System,   pranayama  is placed after  asana .  Through an asana practice, the body develops a strong base/ foundation, strength, & steadiness to support the extension of  prana  i.e.  pranayama . It is only after 10 years of slow, steady asana practice, that I have finally embarked upon understanding the concept of  prana  through the practice of  pranyama . B.K.S. Iyengar's book,  Light on Life , has been supporting my asana practice; I had not got beyond the chapter on a sana.  It is now, as my pranayama practice begins in Mysore, that I move forward to read the next chapter on  pranayama .  In this chapter, he writes, "the word inspiration, means both to breath in and to grasp a feeling in the form of an idea". It is this sentence that inspired me to write this blog on "Inspiration" My friend, Shriram Ramdas, would say to me, "Radhika, in life, you hav...

The food I choose to eat makes me  "me". For a large part of my life, I have been non-vegetarian. I switched to being a " hybrid vegetarian"  over the last 5 years. By hybrid, I mean, I eat chicken-eggs and occasionally fish. I am not extreme in my views - I believe each person must make food choices that is reflective of his/ her energy requirement (input vs. expenditure). My reasons for selecting a primarily plant based diet is simply, "it makes me feel much lighter" than a non-plant based one. And I am all for "lightness" ...... of body, mind & spirit. Mysore is a traditional city and being a vegetarian here is easy - loads of places serving fresh, delicious and nourishing veg food. And as there are many vegetarian yoga practitioners, there is ample variety too. However, I try and eat home most often, as there is greater control of what goes into my food.   Here, I follow a 3-meal plan. This is quite different from my diet in Ba...

Practicing yoga off the mat is challenging. While in Asana (physical posture) or Pranayama (Breathwork) or Dhayana (Meditation), to a certain extent, you are in the driver's seat;  practicing yoga of life, of relationships, of duty is a whole different experience. My yoga training & practice of 10 years is put to test and ... I feel like I am a baby taking her first steps. I'd like to share more on this, but, its a story for  a different day....in a different blog. In the meantime, I am back in Mysore (after 14 days) and back on the mat! I return to a much warmer Mysore and today's practice was felt on my body. I first came to Mysore to practice the Ashtanga Vinyasa two years back. I feel in love with the practice and Mysore. Since then, there has been the intention to return and "return" I did. For me, there is something "special" about living and practicing in Mysore. Yoga here is "serious" stuff and majority of the practitioners hav...

Yoga in Mysore is certainly not all about practicing Asana. I get ample opportunities to practice the other limbs of ashtanga yoga. I was eager to begin my asana practice the day after I got into Mysore but was slotted for a batch to start in 3 days (which later got postponed to a week). Frustrated! BUT here's an opportunity presented to practice 'ishwaraparidhana', one of  10 yama/ niymama (abstinence/ observances) . Am  loosely defining it as 'surrender" to what is not within ones control.  So, I look at it as a blessing as I have more time to settle into my new home. The entrance to home is beautifully green Dewan's Rd, Lakshmipuram, Mysore Manu Uncle/ Tata is my landlord. His entire family lives opposite the yoga quarters. Its wonderful to have them around as they have become my extended family. Manu's Residence (Adhya in the background) Room numer 3 is mine. I have christened it The 'Om' Room The Yoga Quarter...

This statement I read many months back in Elephant Journal, cemented my choice to take off from work every year to deepen my practice  "One responsibility of a good teacher is to remain an eternal student. Sharath recently said that for many he is a teacher, but he will always be a student. It would be too easy for a teacher to maintain a pretense of authority and an expert’s point of view. Having ample time each year to be a student frees the teacher of the need to know and opens up the humility needed to walk the path of Ashtanga Yoga with strength and grace" http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/05/the-responsibility-of-mysore-style-ashtanga-yoga-teacher/