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.

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

Indica day with yoga buzz: awesome :)

http://www.claudiayoga.com/2010/11/32-unusual-ways-to-improve-yoga-practice/


I stumbled upon this article, its really good. It answered all my questions on improving my practice. Hope it helps. The zen is finally in sight. Ohh yeah it is, that nothingness with peace and calm is all over me today. That is how you know your yoga is going in the right direction.

Going a little back to my weekend, we experimented with indica this time, the relaxation was the need. Also if you have to go for work on monday, you can't have sativa and go with sativa leftover buzz. I really have no idea if there is a synonym of buzz and starting sentences without using I or and. Haha my vocab needs some upgrade. There are a few videos that look super awesome when you are high. Some of them include ukraine's got talent anastasia pole dance, britain's got talent alex magala tumar k r, indian kathak dance on like a light bollywood number, your own old photos videos, youtube slo mo bros compilation videos especially the fireball one and of course 3d 4k wildlife documentaries. Amazing stuff out there to just lean back and enjoy. If I ever get 100 views on this post, I might think of posting all my favorite videos, till then its just junk in this huge world wide web of bullshit money earning propoganda.

Then moving on to my personal best yoga class, today I was determined to not feel unprepared so I bought emergen c and had it almost 1 hour before my yoga class along with 2 litres of water and walnuts, almonds and leftover yummy cheese onion egg sandwich. Its such a treat when you are high. And it worked, the nutrient part where you sweat less focus more.

Also, I decided not to work with the crowd in center. I felt watched and watched people, got all conscious and tried too much. Today I decided to look in a few articles and every single one of them said, yoga is not a competition, see it as a flow, do what you can do and then push after asking your body. Our instructor was gary olson and he was the best till now. So me being me segregated myself from crowd, took my yoga mat to the corner of room and took one mirror with my gaze my focus. This way I only looked at the instructor if I didn't understand him. He was super nice, pushed me to make my glances straight, get my balances. The right instructor can leave you in so much peace and admiration of this practice. Sweat rolled down but I felt charged and energized. So take your electrolytes, emergen c whichever you are okk with. It works guys, no heat buzz today no tiring, just a cloud of peace on me. Feel super fortunate today.

NAMASTE !!!!!