Yoga and life: More yoga tips

Its been almost an year of yoga. The charm of yoga still gets me some days. So many poses to practice, so many dimensions to grow in, strength, flexibility all that yoga is about is just too much to take in. Yoga room gives me new goals in every class. Every pose every class is a new discovery. As experience deepens, more body awakening happens.

There are few more pointers I picked up in my practice.



Twist : Who likes twists? Most of the beginners like me have no idea what they mean by twist. Its only when you experience it after a few months, you gauge the range in which your body can move. The basis of a twist is centered body. When you twist in triangle pose, look up towards your hand, straighten it without putting pressure on your supporting leg or hand, raise your chest inhale and then twist back. Seated twist are kind of warmups for these.

Shavasana : Shavasana is the most important and ignored pose in yoga classes. I mean literally I have teachers who advertise in shavasana about teachers training and discounts. Again, that doesn't mean I give up on it, its a purely internal process that we do to release our body after a yoga class. Its not just breathing or lying down, try this dialogue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsHuGPp9qJo

Bikram : Bikram is a very argued class, its hot its damaging. Well, it kind of is. But there is no other class that has this many poses with specific cues on how to get it right. They train teachers with a defined guideline. My point here is hydrate, choose your spot and rest or just do one set if its too much. If heat really bothers, do it in your home. Just don't quit on it. It sets basis for so many other forms of yoga poses. Its wonderful.


Relax n stretch : When they say stretch, I hear people puffing over extending themselves pushing. A stretch should be one of the relaxing poses, if you are not flexible let it grow on you. I couldn't do forward fold, then one day I figured, lets follow the cue but not force anything. With every breath just relaxing into it helped a ton more than any other thing did. Let gravity help you.


Back: Backbends are my favorite ones. With advanced bikram class, this trick dawned on me. In a backbend, you first inhale raise your chest, then hands stick with ears, feel this straight posture from legs to head, then move back, rise with every inhale. In every exhale lower back works. Its like a dance. If I go too fast, it hurts for days. Curve is created with chest up and then lower back just rhymes with it.


Stomach : Honestly, my stomach is dead. When they say abs, i have no idea how it feels like which is something I should be working on. So sucking in stomach doesn't mean you stop breathing. When we go down for rabbit pose, we inhale take stomach in, even when we tuck in chin, the whole other body is rising. It plays a vital role in so many poses. If I get this one thing nailed, this will change so many poses and increase my strength. More you tuck in stomach, better you inhale and rise. So get used to that feeling.


Knees: Lock your knees, lock your knees. Lets try this sitting. Flex your feet so much calves touch floor. This is the locking position we want in all the balances. Its that simple. Try standing head to knee, just focus on your standing leg, don't stretch your leg to  mirror.  When you stretch, it should be like your leg is parallel to floor and you are lifted in pose. Try going on toes and feel the sensation.  This one tip changed all my standing poses and protected my knee. In warrior 2, never let your knee go lateral. It should be straight. After some time, looking at other people's poses also gave me the idea why knees might hurt.

Soft focus : Focus focus focus, this is yoga teacher's favorite word. Just focus on your third eye. Yeah we need focus but not the kind that makes you pull your eyebrows together. Its how you look at someone you love, softly lovingly with slow breaths. When there is no pushing, pose creates itself.

Setting up posture : In my initial classes, all I cared about was getting into pose. Its so important to pay attention to setting up pose. It eliminates so many mistakes we make. Listen to setting up cues carefully. Supporting or staying in pose depends entirely on setting it up perfectly to your body's capabilities.

Coming out of posture : Yep skipped this one too. I see people barely holding up poses, as soon as she says come out they are down without any precautions. While coming out, never hurry, take it slow, release joints carefully.

Executing posture : Executing pose is just staying in it after setting it up. Lets try plane pose, so we moved from warrior 1, now in plane pose keep your chest lifted, leg lifted like a string connects to you a tight rope and you have no option but to be calm and lifted. With every breath, lift your chest lift your leg, with exhale relax into it. In triangle, you are twisting continuously but with controlled breaths. No matter what happens, if it makes you feel like a cardio race, come out of it gently and go for shavasana.

Breathing : Why do we do yoga? Why do we stay in poses for long time? Is it to lose weight or is it to be an acrobat? Nope its to gain control on our breathing, when we can control them and bring them to a slower pace even in a headstand, that is true yoga. That is the purpose. That is how we align our body energies. Every pose is about aligning body energy with breath. No puffing, no loud exhales like someone strangled you, this should be your natural state. That is the comfort you are looking for. That is the yoga we all should be doing.

Flexing of feet : Flexing of feet helps with lots of poses. When we flex, our calves touch ground and gives a solid base for standing poses and folds.

Practice alone : Usually my spot is in a corner where I see no one, just myself. It helps in many ways, of course there is no distraction of other people's practices, their breathing doesn't affect me, their restlessness doesn't get to me. If I could just practice in nature, it would be ultimate goal. That way my yoga will improve in folds. Sometimes I phase out teachers voices and follow my internal voice.

Namaste : Instructor says shavasana and we roll on mat like a cat. Before going on mat, bow to yourself, thank your body mind for this amazing support on mat, for not straying , for not failing you. Most of all, it is for you, by thanking you establish a gratefulness with yourself for showing up for practice. Everytime I smile and bow down, something in me glows.

Strength: Soft strong focus and strength that is not moved by mind's weak suggestions. Mind will say, lets rest for a while, its for us to see if we really need it or we can push further in our practice. Get this strength and determination in practice.

Grace : Last but not least, whatever you do in life, be yoga or cooking or waking, do it with grace and elegance. When you do yoga with grace, its like a dance where you move in coordinated soft flow. Your face starts showing it. Your body starts feeling it. Its magic, plain magic.


NAMASTE

Whats up with my yoga

I got so much immersed in india trip and recovering from india trip, anemia diagnosis, meditation side effects  yoga got sidelined. If I had to change one thing in me, it would be not taking this long to get back into my routine of food and exercise. Lets take this instance, I have been trying to pick up a new activity tabata running swimming or walking at least and nothing has started yet, why because laziness in me thinks I can always do it tomorrow. There are always thousand excuses why it is not good for today.  Either we stop going india or I stop messing up less. People like me are the reason fitness trainers earn so much.

So frankly, I don't see a lot of progress made in last 3 months. Its not my intuition, a lot of pics prove it. This year has not really seen much improvement in me. A bit here and there in terms of flexibility but that is easy part. In an interview, a yoga teacher said the asana that you find most difficult in terms of body and focus is actually your asana. So if we go by that, handstands are the one, for me probably headstand to start with. The book that my mother gave me also explicitly says you don't have to practice difficult asanas, with time you will be able to do them so advanced bikram class and all those bendy moves, perhaps they don't need that much effort, actually they don't, after some classes I realized I was there to merely see how much I can easily do not how much I can't do. In fact there were some moves that were near perfection and they lost flow too. I am bending knees to meet head again, my head was almost on knee in standing head to knee pose, its far now, again I have to work on it. Sometimes things go backwards too. I can give a trail of excuses but excuses are just fool's ways of convincing to be sub standard average normal hamsters.

How to make progress there where you really really want it and somehow neither your body nor your mind boosts you enough? Hmm practice I guess. More more more practice for me in next 6 months so I make something of me this year. A better version should be launched every new year. New year is not just for boozing anymore. Aaah love this little hope of getting stronger better.

All one can do is get up fast, collect the practice experience and quickly move ahead. There is no time to think why what when, just do it.

Thanks,
NAMASTE

Passion is love, life needs love

If someone did real deep digging  on my blog, they would stumble by this starting of yoga post that showed the depressed me looking for rows to hold on to. Literally, the feeling of sinking was in. I couldn't imagine doing anything with full heart. A routine was made, worst feeling: it would have stuck for years.

Yoga arrived to rescue me. When we do something solely for ourselves, we don't just gain a skill we gain a stream of happiness. It can be cooking, zumba, skiing, writing, painting etc etc etc. Anything that makes you feel alive. The list is huge, just pick one you can thrive in.

The first thought as soon as you wake up shouldn't be the list of chores or a person. It must be this day is going to be lovely. Am I gonna take this class or am I gonna walk or am I simply staying at home blissfully enjoying perfect loneliness? Loneliness gets a bad rep, its a full post topic for me.

One more change that something with passion brings is better vibes for other creative stuff like cooking. Old me hated cooking, most of it because there is no what goes with what sense in me. I got to google at least an hour to find perfect recipe, even more when it needs mixing of more. Guess what, yoga helped my cooking. I just redirected my happy energy there. When realization of accomplishing came in a certain field, my mind figured its just more attention and consciousness. If I can be good at something by just 1 hour of my day, I can probably pick up 4 more activities and get better simultaneously. That is the motivation of successful contentment.

It will be difficult in beginning like how we learn to ride bike. My mother just learned how to ride it. Every time I called she would tell me how much her knees shoulders hurt still she kept going. She's an annoying inspiration sometimes. My husband is another kind of inspiration, he's conquered so many physical mental blocks, sometimes I wonder how the fuck is he doing so much in one day. Yeah he tries a lot too. How can you give up when you are surrounded by this energy? You can be that energy for others too.

 It has kind of given me push to get into professional swimming lessons. Yeah, it will be another cycle of learning which is so much fun as body reacts in all the creepy painful ways.

When our body and mind are tested to limits, we don't just improve in one direction. Its overall development. So keep working on yourself, you never know what you can do unless you give it a try. If passion finds you, life loves you way back more.

Getting perfect in poses

Okay, I am super thrilled on my minor accomplishment of 45 classes in this year. It was not a huge hurdle and involved loads of breaks weekends on the way. When I walked into a gym an year ago, there was a board with challenges on, people would complete and tick off. In that moment, an easy wish surfaced, if only I did something worth challenging to be on the board. Then appeared the yoga challenge. It just fueled my spirit.

In my short yoga journey, there are a few tricks that helped me grow in a lot of poses. Some of them are down here.

Number one is for all the standing poses. The base of a standing pose is focus and your firm leg. Now push your knee back and all your toes hold on to ground like they are clinging on effortlessly. For more details, see description of bikram knee to head pose. Lock your knee, its like a click. This helps with all the standing poses. Once you nail it down, you can do dancers to tree pose. Once your leg is firm and stable like a tree, then shift your focus.

Number two is definitely the one that troubles me. The cobra pose and all the spine strengthening series needs a cobra tail. So when you lift your legs, they are like someone glued them together and there is no way they could separate. It takes enormous core and sucking in glutes together to get perfect bikram locust pose. Never ever start without legs fixed together even if it takes months to get that lift.

Number three is back rounding. We all know spine is the base of body and yoga poses. Unless, your instructor says specifically to round it, keep it straight. Even though you might be going for a backbend, feel full spine arched up. Its like the bow. Rounding up can be unhealthy if done in wrong pose. In standing separate leg stretching, don't go down unless back comes naturally. Give it time and effort, it will happen. Feel your spine lengthening in poses like you are just one from head to spine to hips.

Number four is for all the yang practitioners. If you don't feel the strength in arms even a bit, give it time. Keep taking classes till your core and back is strong. While some people can just kick into headstands, others like me take a lot of confidence to even warm up to the feeling of getting legs up. You can be at any stage. Never push beyond limits, you might injure yourself.

Number five is the hands. So when we do triangle or warrior 2, hands are never idle. In any of the yoga poses, hands are always stretched. My yoga teacher says feel like you are getting pulled in the direction of hands like you are tied to a rope. Your hand can't be just hanging around. Feel energy emanating from one hand to another. It doesn't come naturally to me. I have to focus to do it. In bikram half tortoise pose, hands are stretching forward feeling like there is a single line till hips. In balancing stick too, they are important. If they are hanging, you will never get the hang of a pose ;)

Next and last one today is neck and chin. Keep your chin up, keep you chin up. Hehe archi keep your chin up. Yeah this is the cue everyone throws at me. My natural posture is not great, its mostly a little chin down. So when you are doing the half moon pose, you should be able to see your neck like full long neck. I forget it all the time. As soon as you do chin up, your shoulders take right stance too. Try and tell me if it works.

In my last class, I was kind of tired so that gave in to the experiment. How much do I miss on without pushing myself , it wasn't even an inch. It just means my mind was more worked up than my body. When it was decided to shut up and let body flow, same results came. So just calm your mind and yoga on. Less stress, more breathing.

Thanks,
Namaste

How to soak more yoga in ?

Hmm everytime I step out of class, there is just one question in my mind. How much am I doing right? How much of it is in the muscles now? After weeks of curiosity, finally my instructors were involved and answer was 55%. So again, what should I do to improve? What what what hehe. Then started percentage assignments on my postures which trust me was an eye opener. While my warrior 2 got 90%, my posture transition 10%. I even got demotions on some of those from 70 to 30 straight down. My spine strength was all wrong, there was no cobra tail just a split leg.

How to soak more yoga in? Yes, we can, its not just about practice and focus all the way. Its also about paying attention more than efforts. Here are some of my suggestions to absorb more and get more of practice.

Don't be tired : There was this 45 day challenge that would sometimes compel me to go straight day after day or even 2 classes in a row. For advanced practitioners its practically nothing. For beginners like me, it takes a toll. Hot room, fatigue, tired muscles just won't let me practice to my full capability. So instead of going everyday, go alternate days if your body tells you.

Listen to cues: While bikram is big on saying cues all the time, sometimes we slip on power yoga cues. Listen to your power yoga instructors when they tell you to keep spine straight or legs joined. I did one bikram pose wrong for 6 months because I wasn't paying attention. Now its so difficult to rebuilld the strength to do it the right way. If you are resting, breathe and pay even more attention to cues, yoga postures. It helps a lot.

Don't compete : I used to thrive on jealousy and competition and to some extent it did help me in pushing myself. It wears off after some months. You don't get anything by looking at other people. Your inner strength is more utilized efficiently if you just look at your own drishti. It took me almost 6 months to know this.

Never stop smiling : It does not help when you feel super pissed off on not getting that leg straight or head to knee. Just smile,breathe. Next time this would be the memory of pose instead of all that grumbling howling sweat.

Don't struggle : Yeah, the more I struggle, more it takes me backwards. We can't hurry this process, teenagers will always do better with fresher bodies. People like me in 30s will always have to clean rust before body acquires it. If we create more struggle in body, it would not support us. It would just give up or get sore. Yoga should not do that to you. Go to the point where you can normally breathe.

Stop looking at pinterest : Pinterest Instagram is full of advanced yogis which is a great help when you need steps to a pose. At the same time, it can be disheartening some days to not be there. There are lots of yoga clothing brands that use these pins to sell products. With nothing on how to do it properly, its just a pic. Only follow pins that are for your level right now. I have been addicted to downloading all these flows poses every morning and trust me none of them ever helped.  Try finding pose tutorials on youtube.

Eat well Drink well : If we do yoga and eat fries burger, it just doesn't add up. Right food helps in practice. When you feel cleaner inside outside, it definitely makes you feel lighter with your body. Try this, have salads one day sleep well drink loads of water and next day in yoga class you will be flying through perfect poses.

Tie up hair : Hair can be so distracting. This day in yang class, there was a girl with hair till hips and she just made a ponytail. No wonder, she did nothing but sit and manage her long luscious hair. Well, don't underestimate the practice for everyone else too. I am so gonna get buzz cut after april. Short hair is for all the lazy yogis out there. Less distraction, more soaking.

Wear right clothes : Okay so I started with full leggings and switched to capris in a while. It did make a difference at least to me. In some time, it would be shorts and sports bra. But yeah take your time to warm up and wear for comfort. No one really looks at anyone.

Get a good yoga mat, towel : Without both of these, you will be mostly slipping around trying to grab on to ground. In yoga, you need to hold tight so you can be firm in the poses. One more issue off your mind, it will be easier to be in flow of it.

Thats all I got right now. Who knows in next few months I might say this is all rubbish. Till then, yoga on.

NAMASTE

Yoga aha moments

What does yoga teach you the most? For me, its been patience, silent observance and focus. Life turned around with yoga. If someone asked me my one of the biggest regrets, it would be not starting yoga early in life.

My 7 month practice has reached at a point where at least my legs are straight with my head on them in standing head to knee. Like everyone, it started with a shivering bent knee now its my morning stretch. Its so important to enjoy and appreciate your practice. If you don't, you will be just running to achieve those instagram photos.

Last night, curiosity took me to a lot of instagram yogi accounts. Besides giving goals, it also gave me kind of restlessness, my impatience, fear of failure didn't let me sleep through the night or it could be my heater. Anyways on waking up, my instant reaction was it sucks to be left behind. But the point is I never started with those yogis. Their journey is completely different. No one can steal or cheat on yoga. It comes with time and loads of tons of patience.

If someone took my advice, it would be take pictures of you doing yoga every 2 months and then put them up in  a collage. The difference is amazingly clear. To our hungry mind, nothing will ever be satisfactory. Being content  would mean stopping the pace of practice. Ohh, if only there was a shortcut. So everyday when I enter yoga room now, instead of competing or looking around, I will just focus on my practice in my zone. My instructors pick on me a lot which also helps in improving my poses. See some of us need that extra push extra attention now and then. We can't be left at home to just follow youtube videos. I kind of got the hang of bakasana and side crow too.

I stumbled upon this awesome instagram yogi and turns out she was practicing right in the back row. I always thought how is she so good at it. She is an acro yoga teacher. Another one who just nailed every pose was a dancer. Nothing extraordinary is going to pop out without efforts. Body needs to be trained, there is no miracle happening around.

So just yoga can't be carried anymore, more cardio more strength based training is up for me. I will start with tabata, move on to beachbody and then hit convicts conditioning book. Sideways, yin yang classes will go on too. Ohh, street workout is so motivational. Have you checked modern tarzan on instagram? Do that right now. Yoga is more like a relaxing practice from all the haul we do. Its time to bring in the haul.

Have fun with yoga. Its just yoga. When we are not paying attention, our body rewards us with aha moments of accomplishing understanding poses. Wait for them. I have experienced that zen with so many poses. It will hit when it has to. No one can force it. Till then, yoga on.

Namaste.

My New Year Yang Resolution :)

One of my rules after marriage is don't get too friendly with anyone related to your in laws. It always works , you keep safe distance from them, don't share a lot about your life, just wish on festivals , talk about food health and bam keep the phone.

Even the experts get caught up some time and that was what fortunately landed me in yang class. Mystery mode is now on for forever. No matter what, I will not fall in these traps again.

Here goes the story.  So got up some morning, while my husband was feeling bad for not attending a more richer wedding ( better food drinks) I saw some cousin's picture in a yoga setup with some kind of certificates and americans. Well, it was all to pool me in. Inquisitive me asked where the picture was from, she told me she did a  one month yoga training. Bam, more questions popping up in my mind. What did they teach you? How was the session? What poses blah blah?

Before any of my questions left my brain, to make her more comfortable and open to sharing , I started saying how good yoga is how it improves your flexibility strength. All of a sudden, she flipped, are you drunk? Yeah, this is what you get for breaking in law rule. Never over estimate the intelligence maturity of a small town girl.

Well, I am not drunk so ease her off with a joke i said it was 8am in morning. She fired do you know yoga? To be honest, the real me knows whatever I think I know is just 0.5% of the knowledge pool. So just mentioned my 6 month practice again trying to not flaunt so her ego didn't suffer.

It was done, she caught bikram word then the whole sexual assault and even if I met him came up. So if this guy does something wrong, whole bikram is at fault. Fine, relative go easy go easy. I tried to end up conversation and this is how she did.

I can do all poses in bikram
I am a certified one month teacher
Do you know head stand
Shoulder stand
.....
.....
Plow pose

So yeah keeping aside her arrogance, yogi me decided it was time to leap in and learn the yang of yoga too. Not to please her or show off, it just fueled a challenge to kick off and go deeper into the strength aspect. Motivation is all around you even in people who underestimate or diss you.

Thanks to her I am gonna improve. Love your life, take only the good parts and forget the bad moments by venting out in the blog.

Haha #vindictiveyogi


Don't be an arrogant yogi. Vindictiveness I don't know its cool if it pushes you in the right direction. Just there is no grudge against her, she made my life better.

Thanks,
NAMASTE

Yoga species : Types of yoga mates

A few years ago, my first workout in gym inspired a whole post on indian gym goers. Now comes the second edition in yoga version. I am going places, aint I? To be honest, when you walk in that yoga class you don't really expect a lot of different characters. Its just yoga, people come people leave its all silence and poses. Time communication is not just enough to make out the differences. The power of a woman's observation surpassed all the obstacles and here it goes, my indian eyes see cosmopolitan yoga class with all the species in it. It does take some time to notice as you are crumbling in initial classes. Every person looks like a yogi but are they?


Couples : I absolutely hate couples coming for yoga. Why? Clearly one of them got interested first, practiced till they could show off and then influenced the other one to lay mat side by side. Its annoying, they don't even need to compete with others, they are out there proving flexibility to each other. The energy or should I say aura is so distracting surrounding these species. Its road to divorce or breakup, its harsh but thats how truth is. This particular couple will never attain the peace or stability in class or life.

Oldie buddies : Ohh we have been doing yoga for 20 years now together. They are better than the real couple, there is no competition there is no relationship goals pic motivation for instagram. Of course they can be equally irritating with their before class talks or smiling at each other faces. Again, laying mat next to them feels like you are alone against a team. I might be overthinking here but nah its true.

Hot n not so hot : Well we all know that hot women and yoga go together. Out of 10, at least there is probability of having 1 hot icon in class. Then exist the fake hot girls who wear hot clothes, come with makeup on, hair tied like it took an hour to get ready. Hot or not, if they are not doing yoga right, its just a waste of time and money. Most of these hot and not hot come in pairs. Not hot one making the hotter girl look even more hot and praising her all the time like a follower.

Candy guys : Out of 4 months of my brief yoga encounter, there was just one time one hot guy came to our class. This species is super rare in our suburb of city.

Hippies : They all come with groupons or free classes. Their clothes, their hair and super skinny weed body gives them away. Some of them have weird ponytails with lotus tattoos inked by a block artist or perhaps themselves. Obviously, they are good at yoga or at least trying to be good.

Indians : This species is kind of scarce which is really good. Every class has like 2 or 3 indians. Now indian girls like me who are over dressed give others sweaty arms, also no matter how much we pull our ass in, its always out like we twerked all our life. We are all a little plump in US size standards and as yoga makes you lose boobs, you kind of look not so proportionate. Then there are indian guys who dress up like they are going for wrestling, their short red revealing underwear is too much to handle. When they try specific yoga poses, you just die. There are some moments you just wanna blank up in your life.

Hot girls : Hot girls know they are hot, they know people might be saving seat behind or around them. Some of us might even argue why is this species here? I have never ever seen a hot one following up for all classes. I don't know they might be going around showing off in all the classes and taking cross fit in secret.

Beautiful people : Its not just outer beauty, these people are the true yogis with inner beauty. They smile when you enter class, they acknowledge people, they do whats best for their body. If they lay mat near you, you are going to get all the perfect vibes to practice. When they do a split standing up, its not showing off. Its their practice. With shavasana, you feel them not doing anything like they disappeared. These are the people I want to learn from, be with.

Other asians : Unlike indians, other asians are way more competitive flexible and fierce in yoga. They are sexy, they know how its done. They are the future of yoga. I would never lay mat next to them because of the immense hard working energy around them. It chokes me in my practice.

Old guys : A lot of old people come for yoga just in shorts or sports bra with a short. Its not the kind of view you want to see all that loosening fat gathering for full splits. They sigh longer, they are more open to their body functions, they want to talk sometimes. All the effort makes them grumpy after yoga. They are not here for peace, they are just here for the exercise part.

Trainer groupees : These are the bunch of people who stuck by from beginning of class to now. Their faith is with the trainer, this is the only kind of yoga classes they came for. When a class is full to max, you know they are trainer fans. They laugh at all the stupid jokes he makes, they blend in like a family which frankly is super annoying.

Competitors : The worst category out of all. If you want to compete, go for cross fit or group training sessions, leave yoga. As soon as you walk into the room, there should not be any intention of competition. Yoga was supposed to be a practice that you did with no one but your teacher. Times changed, teachers are less and expensive so we moved on to group classes. If you know it all, save your money, practice at home. If you walk into  a yoga room with the spirit of winning, you have already lost.

NAMASTE

My body loves yoga : here's why

I have been doing yoga for like 2 months and its a pretty short time to even see long term effects. Its not weight loss that took me to yoga, it was kind of an itching feeling of having tried everything to feel fit and relaxed at the same time. You can do beachbody insanity workouts you can do tabata dailyburn or even try your cross fit trainer, nothing will ever compare to the stability and strength yoga will promise from first day. Although I might have to couple together one of these with yoga because abs are not made in yoga studio.

The changes huh the first and foremost change was pms is gone, all my life I had pms symptoms like weight gain bloated tiresome, may be I wasn't a healthy kid didn't eat right didn't sleep right. May be all of that corrected together aligned with yoga brought the results. That problem has vanished, its kind of a cliche when women start experiencing body issues, yoga is eradicating them for me. Its such  a relief, never wanted to be a grumpy oldie. So all chakras activated or at least flowing together is really good for a woman's body. One of my yoga friends said this, she joined gym for a while and then came back to join yoga along with. She said its really mystical how yoga treats us from day one. Its a blessing for a woman.

Second one was noticed by my husband who within a month told me you have to keep doing whatever you are doing eating. In his stalker language, your body is taking all the right curves and burning all the faulty ones and flexibility is a bliss. Okay, haha we know what he wants and he did convey it in the tharkiest way possible ;) Yep, your body is going to burn fat from where it should, it will not even touch the curves you are supposed to have. Your face will not lose fat, the process is really slow though so be patient with yoga. If you had to start yoga, be your fit self and then start. It might not burn extra fat if its a lot.

Third third you feel more confident in general life. Yoga gives you a vision where somehow you start feeling more capable, your conversations with people are more profound, you don't put extra effort where you shouldn't . Perhaps you start seeing minor setbacks as nothing but experience. You are more yourself. I realized a lot of other things like work isn't important, do what you love blah blah. Earlier it was all on my mood energy if I can walk into a coffee shop and talk. I had anxiety issues, yoga is healing that too. It gives you individuality, you feel like everyone else is the same so you don't see anyone above or below. Sometimes I think may be when we practice, our practices of yoga are different, some people bend more some people rest on mat more but we all start and finish together. That is life, aint it. Live your life your version of fullest, not some facebook socialite fullest. Because that my friends is gonna fade.

Ooh I love this one, the posture. You start sitting upright your shoulders that were rounded by loads of work or hours of laziness are looking up. With yoga, you are also always pushing. To this day, I am not doing chaturanga right, hehe my instructors keep saying my name to correct me. I asked my instructor why some days are tough and very wisely she replied its because you expect. Hmmm if you go mindlessly expecting nothing, you do good. Same goes for this world of illusions.

I get embarrassed less. Well, I was the kind of person who would apologize even to a barista for wasting her 10 seconds. It was like I owed something to this world. It could be the kind of insecurities that dwell up when you see yourself lesser. Yoga took care of that too. We are practising and I pop my knee, guide makes a joke about chiropractor and done. Hehe my mat makes weird noise and still its okk. For first time in life, I actually shared a public washroom while camping. So yeah all of these things let you know its all cool, there is nothing to get embarrassed about, just walk up and shine. Be calm be gentle, no one knows you so there is really no need to prove too. Care about your day, be polite to people if someone can't respond its the kind of thing they should work on not you.


I see people as they are. Hmm some of the credit will go to cannabis and sadhguru videos. Even though you might realize, its difficult to accept some people's behavior towards you. Its enlightening when you can be in their shoes and empathize. It must look like a borrowed article from google but its all my experience. One of our relatives always made rude comments or taunts, this time I retaliated and fought back, nah not the solution because if you do it first time, you will always be agitated which is worse. So next time I just sat peacefully and put same thing across in milder words expressing my notion of the situation. That helped. Even if we get angry or shout or worry, its us who suffers, others just mock our lack of control.  So if a sister in law comments on your hair color, just say thanks, don't look into the implications double meaning plots haha, no one is stealing your property. Let them be, people mature at different rates.

What I want eventually to happen would be me loving everyone and not judging situations people places kids. Hehe that is the goal.

NAMASTE

What made my day :) cats and abs

Ohh what a wonderful day I had. It was always kind of scary how much work they will give me as a volunteer. Well to just play with a few cats, would it be worth it, may be I will come back sobbing regretting that signature, may be I will feel cheated. Nothing of that sort happened. On my way to shelter practising conversations imagining cats dogs in shabby area  around old wrinkled homeless volunteers, as I stepped in to meet my coordinator, 3 beautiful kittens called me in. Are they up for adoption, are you serious these cuties are going to belong to someone lucky. Its super overwhelming on your first day, you want to feel so happy meeting cats dogs but you do sense their pain their loneliness. Lets keep the post positive, she took me to a room where intakes are kept, one cat wouldn't stop putting her paws out haha holding on to your sweater jeans anything. Another one looked like a big friendly chubby guy. How can someone abandon their pets? They must have bigger issues, trust me no one would just surrender their loved ones like this. Every observation is recorded like what they like to play with how they behave around people, every small detail.

All cats looked healthy lazying around and there were so many of them. Dogs on the other hand were a little more restless, they wanted attention you can see in their eyes how much love they can give you. When the day comes when I own a farm, all dogs cats will come to my farm. I hope so.

My job is to socialize with pets so my first assignment was the one who was left by her owner of 5 years. Imagine cat's sorrow, she wouldn't trust anyone and keep to herself with her side of cage. On offering treat, she took it but then hissed me away. I got so much to learn gosh. Its not like I have never been around cats, raised a few but they were all stray so food or a little massage when they wanted. This is a huge opportunity for me to empathize with cats in shelter, know the behavior, bond with them. When she asked me to hold a cat, I couldn't because I never held one. Then she told me cats can sense it when you are scared, never approach a cat in scared tense mode, she will be the boss of you. Hmm also I have no idea how to make conversations here. All of them are dead end with me. Life is long and we are all constantly evolving. If you do love cats or dogs and you have time, try volunteering. I can't keep dogs or cats because of my frequent visits to india so this is the only way to keep in touch with animals.

So heading back with mixed feelings, cooked, headed for my yoga class. Finally, finally a charming exotic guy with abs lays your mat next to you and the best part he is new. So he is looking around a lot, he is kind of confused which makes him cute. Haha when yoga instructor said stretch keep your gaze up I was like you do that, I am gonna look at this marvelous piece of candy on my right. Ohhh not just that its motivating, you want to perform. I was sick of all the floppy bellies doing yoga perfectly. What a refreshing change. Aha made my day. Ohh how come we indians got the worst genes of the bucket. Or may be with arrange marriage we multiplied all the faulty genes like big nose, short height, balding heads. Think about it. They got everything hot we got left overs.

In my life, this was a perfect day which ended with idli sambhar.

For yoga, some new indians have joined in, they all act like assholes, like straight up no smiles no hi nothing. Hehe what is wrong with us, why are we frowning at our own . Ohh my practice is getting in flow with more poses more calmness more smiling resting face. I even did perfect backbend pushing from chest etc blah blah. Yeah perfecttoo....


NAMASTE

What have I been upto hmmm

Seeing tremendous response to my boring stories( 5 views ;P), I kind of stopped for a while since there was nothing to write about. There has been kind of a balance show in our house too, we were both a little shaken by the new roles we acquired which was a little on the edge rough. A few tears were shed, apologies gulped and now we are happiest at the peak again. You got to talk it out, if you feel neglected or overwhelmed, have a conversation. The only single solution to this is to forcibly sit , pour your feelings out, be clear with your goals your problems. Only way out is getting through. Couple is a team of two moving in same direction choosing same options, don't wander off and sulk.

My yoga has improved, at least my body says so. There are moments when you miss the heat too. Heat helps with elongation of your muscles, strengthens your core by giving you the focussed support. After a long time, to do something easier, I went for bikram yoga. Yeah, easy haha. With bikram yoga, the trick is you are on your feet more than power yoga. So novice can't just walk in adjust to heat do all the poses in flow.

What I would advice is if you have the option, try switching classes. One day, go for power yoga, another day try bikram yoga, on a hungover day try yin yoga. Every yoga practice is different. The flow varies which in turn challenges our system to evolve, practice better.

I added one more thing to my hot yoga routine, chill pal towel, its awesome. It cools you down quickly, you feel more calmer and in control. Try it. My water bottle is normally unused in class. When your guide says smile, smile. This is all in line with the body, as long as you are doing it right, you wouldn't feel a thing or you might. If there is no challenge, go learn higher forms.

He got eggos, instant waffles this time hmm delicious quick treats for high people, add peach melon banana berries and some whipped cream to go with hot choclate. We made our punjabi khichdi with spicy fried egg bhurji. Try it. I don't know if there are people out there who feel they eat too much when they are high but I do, so to counter it have yogurt, dry fruits, probiotics and indian churan or some laxative to keep your colon clean. We got nice led lights to go on our pillar in the center of the hall, it looks ravishing in sunset.

NAMASTE

Yay long weekend is gone :)

The long labor day weekend is finally done and we can all move on to our routines. For me, there are two different variations of the same day, if he is home it all circles around him, if its just me nothing goes on except the serious yoga class and dinner prep. After years of staying alone as a homemaker, the peace of easy passing days haunts me when it is not there. The thought of people staying over for span of months is suicidal hostile situation. On one of our trails, he pointed out how much guarded I am. Holding my peace as a sacred untouched phenomenon, it gets swayed as soon as circumstances vary around me. Its not peace, its convenience of avoiding sun, people, job, cooking, restaurants  blah blah. So it should be a constant in the equation of life not a variable like mine. What to do, find your inner peace don't look for it in the perfect lifestyle perfect routine perfect company. Its must be in you always, how do we preserve it? I got no clue. The one that I held so dearly was an illusion of comfort.

The struggle of finding a good book in a public library is only known to frequenters. I love the library but going in the section to find the right author's perfect food for brain is time consuming. Also, homeless people snoring around are not the required motivation for a non reader. Hmm got to get the job, its the moment where he's realized I might be having too much fun in exploring spirituality by being at home. I got all the time in the world to chill. If you see it from his angle, it is kind of unfair to him. If only lottery tickets worked, there would not be any pressure to work ;)

Finally the weekend is over, we had way too much fun watching psychedelic videos, kapil sharma show ( I know desi jokes are the best ) and all our google searches ended on ozora festival. Are we using our high for nothing? Should we may be try to focus, cultivate some art form practice? There are a few bands in ozora festival lineup that are awesome. They are classical, they are modern, they got so many instruments to play with. Pure bliss. Do check beat antique music. 

After his yummy  pancake breakfast offering on tuesday morning, he set out for office, red fairy is finally here and diva cup is the best. Hehe and it turned into one of those women's well being ads.  I gave my yoga class a try and it worked. Your flexibility your strength is maximum at a certain time of the moon cycle so use it. Now that the  yoga flow is coming, I yearn for more poses more flexibility challenges, more balance ways. Power yoga should advance the steps as you go through classes. Every instructor is different, some ask to pull towards legs in downward dog others say spread wide. Hmm consult ramdev baba. Actually on a serious note, try reading books on yoga so you know which parts of body you are going for when you do certain poses. Every time there is a bit of unpleasantness or you lose your calm, rest for a bit and join back. Don't ever suffer in name of yoga fitness. There is no such thing as yoga fitness. Enjoy the moments of stillness, there is no need to focus, just be in it, think about a beautiful trail when you do plane pose. Life's awesome. 

NAMASTE

Irish Coffee day

As I sit by my window looking outside like a hopeless annoyed cat and look back at the day, it was kind of cool which still ended up like this shitty mess. Sometimes people are so much in your life, they hold so much power it makes me want to run be on my own.

Day started like it always does, wake up make lunch, if day ended differently even start of day would be some poet's dream. Somehow a single moment of rejection can make you nullify every good thing in your stupid worthless life. Hehe gosh its the super angry hulk me writing, every character is going to get crucified. Where are these words even coming from, my agitated version might write better posts. You have to vaccum clean up some day, so I did. Always thought shipping returns would be easier in US but it sucks. In India, they actually come to your house for returns, packages are delivered in 2 days, there is no concept of prime shipping. Yeah yeah cheap labor. So one more annoying stop, usps office hmm.

Then rushed off to yoga for my favorite non favorite instructor, she speaks so fast and pushes so much, it breaks the flow with peace. Still my balance is getting better which some other day would have taken another paragraph but no, I am angry I am mad so yeah I hate her.

My shavasana, the dead pose is not in the warm studio. Its on the smoking zone bench with nice breeze. Imagine me in my t shirt all sweating tired looking like a defeated bum, 2 girls came up requested me to take the pic, okk my instant reaction was I suck at taking pics, they insisted, I took some unwillingly, my legs crying out of lunges and warrior poses. In one of the pics, the girl closes eyes, in another one they want the shoes. What the fuck is wrong with you, leave me alone.

Feeling not so confident decided to take a trip to salon, what else could cheer me up. Hmm the lady that stupid indian accent aunty literally ripped and shredded each and every hair of my eyebrows. If you wanted to torture me, at least warn. Is it just that misery was inside me, worldly situations were mere reflections of my inner peace killed. Still not losing hope, hopped on the bus to way back home, guess what a sardar is driving the bus. He almost crashed it in 3 cars, ran through green lights. This country is hiring all immigrants for these jobs while they vacation around or do yoga. It was scary and dangerous. Don't get me wrong, I got nothing against them as long as they do their job right.

Cold drenched shivering looking for irish coffee to turn the day around made a quick stop, bad fries bitter over filled mug, still at least I got drunk listened to my own playlist moved me to a secluded table. Then tried another irish coffee in irish pub, finally some happiness peeked in. Called him up, waited for him at bus stop, picked him up, we drank more and then of course same same drunk saga. I am not in the mood to narrate.

It feels good to listen to that saddest playlist on your saavn, get a few tears. Life's too repetitive, same instances show up, same people talk rubbish things and we keep offering our mind to get fucked up day after day. What a depressing day. Worst of all, irish coffee won't let me sleep so I suffer.

Day rain, my fav day my time of the year

Ohh the weather is fab these days, its getting a bit colder but not too cold. No sun in sight, beautiful clouds and trees preparing for fall. Some of the trees are half red a little yellow a little green. My kind of weather is coming and it makes me super excited. This is the time we arrived in US, its our one year US anniv which reminds me how much my view has changed about this place. It takes more than a few months to know who you wave to, who would smile back, what kind of people you want to be friends with, who you shouldn't even pay attention to. Life's sort of humbled down even more, we are eating simpler we sleep 10 to 5 in short we are getting older and wiser hopefully.

Hmm yoga yoga, its still challenging me. She keeps adding small routines of balances and strength which leaves me on the edge. What I have understood from my experience is the more you think about a pose, more you are bound to fail. Don't think about it, take the leap unless you are really tired. Breaks are equally important. Instead of trying to do every pose dying, do at least 3/4 smiling feeling every active muscle. Listen to your yoga teacher when she says push from the core or kick legs. It helps too. The correct form will be established as you get connected with your body. When you look at your gaze, focus on the hand or any one point. As you set down your mat, try to be the only one in your vision so you don't crumble. There will always be people who do better, we are not here to compete. Today our guide said the best thing ever, don't judge your practice don't praise your practice, just let it be here unbiased. Don't wait for benefits, am i getting thinner am i getting the glow, am i getting more balanced, did i do better, these questions are for nothing. Just keep practicing. Your body will let you know. Trust me.

After yoga and quick lunch, I headed out for walk, is it just me or trees leaves respond? Walking meditation is awesome, feel positive energy emanating from ground you walk on and give it back the same nurturing vibe it gives you. When you put steps in front of each other, count from 1 to 5 inhale exhale slowly then imagine you are walking on a beautiful lotus filling you with happiness and contentment. Its a perfect one, right down you feel high on nature's love.

I am gonna quickly make mushroom peas curry and try to focus on the job getting part. Lets see if these corporate towers will ever get me out. ;)

NAMASTE

Today is the day I meet my fav species

By fluke, one day all excitedly with no plans of submitting the application, I was filling one on seattle shelter volunteer and accidentally pressed send. I clearly have no idea what would be expected of me. People say its a huge load of work. To be honest, there might not be any cats dogs around for me to play with. It was super childish to just sign up to see dogs cats once in a while. But then every time a dog crossed my path, some thing would die in me. Not die, that was melodramatic. The kind of feeling when you really crave that form of love. In india, my chinese friend wei knew how to take care of animals, she would feed dogs cats take them to hospital even fostered a few puppies, got them permanent homes. I was her assistant, when she wasn't around , it was me walking around calling cats dogs. That was fun and the kind of activity both of us looked forward to. In the gist, got used to hanging around animals.

We even had a stray kitten lola staying with us for months. The initial stage of keeping  a pet is full of stress, cats learn so fast. First day itself she knew where to poop where to pee. It was incredible. So yeah my hunger to spend time with animals made me sign up. 6 month commitment could be a pain in the ass if my passion dies in first few weeks and then got to find job too. I wouldn't want to mess up too. The experience will either be a rewarding one or cowardly promise act. Its all negative self talk I do so when the actual thing happens, I am never disappointed.

I do hope it goes well.

Well, all done orientation was superb, they showed us cats dogs and happy families in presentations. If only they had real dogs and cats, I would have gone crazier. Explained aspect of jobs required of us. There were so many people who turned up for it, hmm most of them were for fosters which again is great. I signed up to work in shelter with cats, cats are my kind of people. Next tuesday is the day yay. 6 month is a big deal, assurance is you can change your timings according to your changing schedules. Ohh I can't wait to meet all those cuties and clean up their litter boxes ;)

Yoga class starts in an hour as usual. One day it will be yoga cats with me. My yoga class was awesome, people fringing frowning in mirrors, me just smiling with the flow and struggling with balance poses. As you keep taking classes, you stop looking around because now instructor's voice is more easy to follow. I love claudia , she knows how to push when to push when to correct poses and she smiles. If gym or extreme fitness was what people wanted, they should have gone cross fit. This hour of the day is for relaxation. Trust your body, trust your instincts, your body will tell you when it is ready for the plane pose or backbend. Most of the times my bends are messy, they involve lot of rocking and then she says be stable find your flow try to breathe and it helps.

Have you tried drinking beetroot carrot tomato soup, hmmm your body will love it and thank you next day. To go with it, take 4 slices of bread, add some grated garlic cheese salt spices and put in broiler for like 2 minutes. Wonderful and easy :)

So find teacher who inspires you, who motivates you in your way. Not everyone wants to get lectures and get pushed around like a bodybuilder. Now that I know the flow, sometimes knowingly I skip a few poses which is wrong but then it gets super difficult to stay with them in dizzy state. People were dying of heat yesterday, panting gasping for breaths so always drink up electrolytes.  Even if you know yoga, when you enter a new class, respect the session. I am always smiling and might even look like a freak but its my spirited time :)

NAMASTE

Day Monday strikes again :)

Weekend was a blast, weather was pure junkie, a little cold with no signs of sun till late in the noon. Fall is almost here. Finally a friend of ours got us out on fri eve to dry dim sum. It was heavenly, so simple and light. As we sat there gulping it in, both of us realized we were obviously missing out a part of life. The food destinations must be explored now to find our kind of healthy simple tasty meal. We took a little drink to go with it. After months, we dined out, sort of a new found once in a month hobby. I am not going to hit burger sandwich joints. Asian cuisines will rule our palate. Dessert bowled us over, it was red bean paste in steamed rice dumpling.

Next day again weather treated us so we walked to our favorite trail looking at trees losing leaves, different colors patterns shapes textures. If you pay attention to nature, nature rewards you with more depth and understanding of its life. Huge trees that stand tall have seen so many seasons, surpassed all the heat, cold phases and survived. The little ones so firmly hold on to their roots even the ones with two budding leaves. There is something about being on trail, walking alongside different trees, shrubs, flowers is purely refreshing. My husband had this random thought that if somehow without warning earthquake hits, he would still be happy and content leaving right then and there with me and him flying to other world from earth heaven.

We came back home, I sat up my yoga mat while he kind of napped for a while. For folks like me, company is important, we don't push enough on our own unless someone does it in front of us. On the other hand, he keeps doing tabata and crossing levels on his own. So yeah the high weekend begins with sativa day. It was perfect to step out, take walks adore plants dogs. He cooked shahi paneer which is easy but a little time consuming if you want to finish quickly. Guess what, instead of cream you can add almond soy milk.  Perfect curry, we got garlic naan from indian store so all set for the weekend.

Yay indica day came, we played business, shot bottles with our nerf guns. Never take sativa or indica if you are already tired. What I would recommend is take a nap if you woke up early. A couple told us they take hybrid choclate, guy feels too much buzz and has to sleep off. Well, he's already tired, his brain can't handle it on a physically tired structure. You don't waste your day too so better take less quantity around 5 in the evening , have fun till 10 and hit bed.

Not feeling a lot of indica buzz or the energy, in  a robotic way I entered yoga class after 2litres of water in. The trainer was doing poses with us which trust me helps so much. Still she wasn't pushing it much. If you have a bunch of mixed level students, you can't take too much balance or flexibility because there will be half of the things they couldn't follow. I have to take my practice to a more serious flowy focussed one. Enough time has passed, we need fire now to core up to challenge boundaries . Today another cool lady came, ohh god I swear she looked and talked exactly like a chinese friend of mine from chennai. For a while, she left me speechless. Watching her do yoga was so calming. Now that I see similar faces, I am getting smiles which boosts the experience. Who wants to straighten up tighten up all time. Its deliberate self torture.

My yoga needs more concentration now. Time to go up. Balance poses hmmm......

NAMASTE

Day chakrasana

As I sat outside my class waiting, trees were dancing with wind, almost telling me that you can be rooted strongly while in flow. Even the thinnest trunks hold great weights while leaves move with the air. Great lesson, another almost successful yoga class, as each class passes I am gaining more footing on ground, more confidence to at least try balance poses. Fear is the biggest obstacle and then there is heat and dizziness and sweat dripping from every inch of your body. Thank god Emergen C. What actually kind of surprised me was no one including teachers, proud proud students told me to drink up something before class. I see this couple sweating like crazy, for sure they are on it. Yoga teaches you to be kind too you know not just gaze focused strong. If americans or adapted version of them had any idea, their god would be shiva, the god of strength gaze focus. Yeah and thats a good thing. Jesus doesn't even fit the part.

So finally someone who couldn't handle heat joined who wasn't a fan of summer. Saw that poor thing gasping for water smiling innocently and still trying. She kind of looked like me just a little more stronger. Why would I put anyone in my category so people can either put me down or her or say I was trying to bring her down to my level. After 2 hours of mantras in the morning, all that went in my brain was om om hari ashtakam hehe instructor told me like 7 times to get back to normal poses. Lost in my own paradise. Hmm as new girl came out, patient me waited and told her she's flexible, she said of course I did yoga I knew she did practice before hmm yoga instinct no no yogi instinct. So yeah I chatted her up all to bring her to the conversation point where electrolyte suggestion came up. No one told me so really don't care if its not for her, just wanted to help her. People should know options so they don't struggle in first few classes. Look a week completion has made me so much more kinder.

And my biggest accomplishment I did backbend in its 60% form. It was great, she said it wasn't the right way but then the strength does come from within. Haha also when instructors say keep pushing this is 80% mental don't think anything, hmm yeah we are not thinking you know  we are just laying dying.

Jokes aside it was a wonderful day for me. Opened doors for people, got smiles people holding doors, you gain so much composure stability in your life.Its more than confidence, its self realization. You are not thinking too much of yourself or judging others, just existing in a plain happy state.  Appreciating the ground as you walk, thanks to the the walking meditation book, its lively, nature interacts with you, its almost a surreal high state.

After cooking pahadi dal ( do look it up, super healthy and yummy ), finally library got another chance. In my recent interview videos of Simon Borg Oliver, he mentioned some authors and books, unfortunately they were not in library so picked up a dalai lama book. My father has been asking me to read vivekananda or paramhansa books. He used to be an osho follower, we even had his photo in our house. But then we had asaram too, all the scandalous sex artists. I am not against them having sex, its just the lengths asaram went to, illegally raping girls and shutting off their parents.

We did a little pooja in front of tv, that is where videos of aartis are and its the best way. You see lyrics, you sing along enjoy it fully. Imagine when moms and dads would sing in non melodious methodical way. It was great but still this works better for me to concentrate. Whenever we celebrate diwali with others, they try to teach me the whole process of preparing for pooja, frankly I don't understand, there is no peace in there for me if we care too much about external factors like flowers and prasad. Instead for me just sitting in one corner left alone is way more spiritual. While we were singing in front of tv like modern know it alls ( self righteousness is a bitch ) he would stop singing in pauses, at the end he's like ohh I like listening to your voice more than hers. Hmmmmmmm love love, thanks krishna for giving me this fulfilling moment with him.

When people text us to meet, its scary, they are going to share work stories restaurant stories and the worst of them loud concert fun. So we take at least a day to answer, by that time they make other plans and we are off :)

Hmm another day another class going to start in an hour. Today two people called up, my sister and a friend of mine. Both of them are so stressed with relatives, my sister keeps complaining how much hers don't respect boundaries, in some indian households its unfortunately considered rude to keep your privacy. My friend is getting divorced, she wants him to pay for 8 years of marriage. I don't agree with her, he could be an asshole he evicted her he insulted her but if he is such a scum why would you want his money, why are you stalking him on facebook. I asked her if she does yoga, same answer at home hmm it doesn't work unless you trained for years, breathing calmness spirit to do more is more in a class. What she is doing is living in her own vicious circle of pain. To come out, just sign the papers and let him loose. Revenge will waste your time money energy and most of all your peace. Ohhh most of the people call me to vent out which is never exhausting because most of the times I am not paying attention. Its like you know the practical solution and so decide to not honor their painful journey. They  must hate me.


NAMASTE
Quieter you become, more you can hear :)

Day I saw more than 5 stars ;)

As I write this post, spirituality is kicking every nook n corner of my mind, this song is plugged in and its heavenly. Today is lord krishna's birthday, of course it was celebrated in my home, more than celebration or how to do prayers ritually, focus was on mantras, chanting them with full devotion. No one was forced to sit for an hour, do what your heart pleases even if its for 5 minutes. So here's my song for today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEyvAZOvADw
Go to the last song raghupati raghav raja ram

The gist is you can follow any god, have that faith that kindness that peace in you and happiness will follow. Its so surreal, brings back my childhood memories of my mom singing along with it. Ohh, home sickness hits you when you almost have deja vu moments like gosh I am acting like my mom. Its true though, we are all looking for meaning in fake cars goggles mobiles branded my some person. Don't really do that. Just find your soul, its inexpensive to look for. I don't see any real happiness on yelp or twitter. Its like you are a hamster running that wheel for no apparent reason, you are still the fat hamster with nothing.

Never frequented temples because god would never ask me to travel all the way. He's right here, that consciousness that every living thing has its with us. We as humans are the protectors of nature, when they say shiva its when you want the element of fierceness so you call out the nature's force to merge with you. There is no form of god, as salt goes in water and it can't be separated similarly god lives with us and temple is just a place where you mingle. There are places with higher energy forms, earlier temples were built on that, that energy source of tranquility. So if you do go to a temple, I  would suggest iskcon, just sit in the corner and meditate.

Haha drugs alcohol and all of  a sudden spirituality. My childhood was pretty awesome, we didn't travel a lot, we didn't attend too many weddings or cousins but we were really happy just the four of us and still we are when we meet. All of the credit definitely goes to my parents, they raised us cool and all we strive for is happiness and peace. Its like your gps was fixated on it. So when we started living together, I wasn't so happy as he would get angry snap back, now he's so much like me. We are like each other just living in peace. Frankly if this world crumbles, it would kill me shake me off my base and throw me off. No matter how many buddhism books I read, hinduism will be my religion.

Made chow chow curry with dal and stir fried sprouts for dinner. It didn't taste great but soo good for your stomach. We finished dinner by 8 so we decided to walk off, weather was warm and I saw stars, so many of them. Stars moon call me like come to us, its so magical up here. Haha gotta get that lake house with starry sky :) Whenever we talk to my in laws, I like them but they try to pull us in that worldly chatter of relatives travelling, even their plans of visiting cities kind of trouble me. Pretty sure we will get divorced if they live with us. Don't mess with my peace.

My yoga class was pretty cool yesterday, just miss that mantras and peace in the class. I am so gonna make my own yoga room with everything. To end this one, I am gonna add another peaceful favorite one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSiXhe8Rq08

NAMASTE

Yoga and wine do mix ;)

I am not gonna shun alcohol just because I started practicing yoga, alcohol has been an integral part of my life for 7 years now. Going to lengths to avoid all the crunchy snacks, replacing them with healthier better ones. The integral word is pretty much the description. It helped us bond, from cocktails to neat whiskey, do you even see the effort to develop taste. All of you casual drinkers know how much it is important to have it at least once in a week. So no nada naha wine was and will continue to be a part of our routine with salad and nuts. No celebration, no dancing has ever been more fun without it, it just liberates you from the stares and judgement your mind puts up on you.

After yoga I made a quick salad prep, saw more videos my Simon Borg. He's amazing, you can see how sorted how at peace he is. This one is not as refined as the last one but it surely teaches us a thing or two.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWdPZAJv0Lc

I am really impressed how he approaches yoga, its not how we all are doing it in our hot yoga studios, rushing through poses, not giving enough breaks to body, chatting up after shavasana. Its not cool how we torture our bodies in name of peace through power yoga. Why didn't I start learning earlier, hmm it breaks my heart on how much time was wasted when I could have given time for this inherent experience and discipline.

My husband is really tired these days, he needs a different profession something that excites him to wake up and go through his routine, this might break him, we need a vacation asap. He came home, we drank took our salad and day over with banshee finale.

If you do yoga on a daily basis, my recommendation would be to make a yoga room, get some music mantras, a few guided videos. That will give you 200% of benefit.


NAMASTE

Day random events, R rated ;)

Heehaahaa you know all those hollywood movies, songs, they are all teasers to fake US. I mean in all my stay here, I never for once saw a couple passionately doing it on the sidewalk. Never a proposal or a quickie in bus. Its so overrated what they show, firefighters are not hot , construction workers have old people, all bikers are fat and wrinkly and make too much noise with their stupid dragging bikes. Royal american blood has been thinned by immigrants, either we made them more conscious or they were like this. There is this comedy movie plane which was made in 70s, that has so much more explicit content than today's stupid R rated movies.

This is the age of the nerdy, superhero movies manga anime real life stories, where is the genre sexy erotic, ohh yeah it is reserved for adult entertainment or sad actors who express it by showing their ass out to the world. Why the fuck would they show ben affleck's ass. That was so traumatizing on different levels. Whats worse than no fucking scene is a sad fuck that shows only a guy's ass. Where is modern version of american pie? Don't tell me its mike and dave need wedding dates or dirty grandpa. Better try lampoon's dirty jokes movie. Why am I talking about all this dark content here ? Hmm because finally, we saw a window fuck. It was pretty boring, guy was doing less girl was like this pillow princess. I guess Europe will give us better peeks. And then they cuddled more than they fucked. Gosh you must be thinking, what a bunch of sick perverts looking in other people's life, well they put it out and at least there is some action in our area. Well, we live in a conservative part of US so that could be the reason for lesser incidents.


After yoga yesterday, it was awesome all day. Ohh never felt better. I tried to study which wasn't so rewarding, there is always people with way more knowledge. Its like I am competing in wrong field. Anyways a few weeks back, my husband was like we should have veggies and dal too in the same meal, haha me being the lazy me I decided to boil dal and mixed veg with dal in it. So you see I just make one curry and it has veggies and dal, full of nutrition and way less effort. I don't have to focus on the cooking lentil part because its just going as a filler. Always optimizing for less time in cooking. Try it with parathas and raita. Its pretty awesome if you add garam masala. I could post my recipes but it needs to be explained which frankly is a painful article. Never saw myself as a tarla dalal anyways.

From sex to cooking to idiot box, never ever see a crime series just before sleeping. We are seeing banshee right now, it started off lame but kind of caught us in its violence and lust.  Sometimes it gets very difficult for me to sleep right after tv, I am not tired enough from yoga, heat buzz isn't the calorie meter and crime scenes keep coming in dreams, getting older is a process of major inconvenience. I should start gym or swimming or running along with yoga, that will be good. Lets add it from next week, by that time I should be super comfortable with yoga. Have you ever tried adding flax seeds and pine nuts to your cereal, very very healthy and easy, just use your fingers take it out from tupperware(india ka fav brand;)) box and boom spread it on milk. ;) This is the most I can write in the name of recipe.

P.S.: YOGA lady facts : Yoga removes pms and aids in digestion.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQGRi1jSHCE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBXhcBhAE3A


Just finished my yoga class another fine experience, some teachers narrate with presumption that everybody knows, thank god someone knows so I can copy time to time. Corner mirror thing is good but it gets really difficult when you are the last one to turn, especially for newbies like me. Day by day I feel less exhausted, today when everyone was panting and exhausted, I walked around like it was nothing. Too much energy from emergen c I guess. These two videos on yoga are really nice, the first one is all about peaceful practice, he couldn't have put it better. Its super super inspiring, do watch it. The second one is on how to do backbend properly.

The problem with fit flexible teenagers in US is they can do every freaking pose instinctively, for people like me narration has to be really slow, otherwise I go wait where did the left hand go, over shoulder right leg confuzzled. Almost everyone in my class does extra stretch, some people do so much before beginning of class, it looks like a waste.If you can pull of every pose in class with ease, challenge yourself move to a harder level. For me, relaxing going with flow being at ease worked. One backbend and one leg stretch aside, its not going bad for me till now. After this, I do want to move on to ashtanga or vinayasa yoga :) Lets see

NAMASTE