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

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.

My second yoga injury :(

As happy as my advanced bikram class made me, it did give me an injury. My advice, take it slow. I know you got all the bends, the flexibility but still look at your instructor's posture, listen to all the cues instructions properly and then execute the flow.

Its been 2 weeks of my lower back paying the price for my over excitement of showing off. When my class ended, it didn't hurt for 2 more days which just says I should have rested at least 2 days before I resumed my usual yoga. My enthusiasm killed my back. Since then, all the efforts to heal it have been vain. My dreams of getting 2 more perfect classes before I head for 3 weeks vacation are over. Hmm its not that sad. Its healing but timing couldn't be more wrong. This is straight 6 weeks of weak yoga. On top of that, all people who practice with me are going to be far ahead by the time I come back. This sucks.

Its my own doing of course. When you do some pose you have never done, please be careful. Listen to your body, your teacher. Take it in slow perfect motions. It might take 2 classes but at least you will not hurt yourself and loose more practice time. My back can't even take a camel pose now, I know I know. After an advanced class, take a break for at least 2 days. Ohh I wish someone told me this.

Lead with your chest. Don't use lower back in poses when it is not supposed to be. The green side of all this is now when I am in class, my back pain is helping me figure out which poses I was doing wrong. Also, you can't just sit at home. If you stop moving, it will get weaker. So get back in motion swiftly.

My yoga teacher suggested getting epsom salts which were great help too. Soak in them for 15 minutes in around 100 degrees. Be ready to doze off.  She pointed out my posture is wrong most of the time. Use your core archi. Suck it in other wise your lower back will suffer.

 If you get hurt, let it heal, let your body do its work. Just go with the flow. Thats all we can do anyways ;)

NAMASTE

My first advanced bikram class :)

Yay my first advanced bikram class or should I say happiest hours of my life. The feeling of boredom was sinking in. It was like there was this series of poses we did everyday, improvements were less visible. No goal was in sight. I felt like there were another 2 years of a fixed process.

Then out of the blue came this advanced bikram class. When I asked my yoga teacher, he was like you might not be able to do anything but it will be fun. Hmmm not the sort of encouragement you look for, heyy its better than disappointment that creeps up on my face after yang class. He was just trying to keep me grounded.

Finally the day came, my yoga mat arrived. We keep doing camels, spine strengthening religiously. This class is the payback time. Obviously I wasn't perfect in the poses but some of them came to me naturally. My body was ready for the challenging bends. Feeling of accomplishing after a long wait is like the taste of water in a humid desert.

If you ever feel bored in your practice, try pinterest for advanced bikram poses. I think it will cheer you up as you get into these ridiculous looking bends. There is always so much to look forward in yoga especially as a beginner a whole new world awaits. Finding new classes, new practices, new bends is all magic for me. The best part of yoga is people are crossing thresholds of body control. Then there is always calisthenics for the gymnastics in you.

There was another fun class that included cameras. They were shooting for some promotion. Well, show business is demanding. The me me who rests in the first warrior 2 pulled off all the 1 hour moves without fussing sweating. In fact it was my best yoga performance. Whenever you feel like giving up, just say to yourself "If I can do this, I can do anything in life"

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.

Your body will let you know :)

When I am pushing through my power class grunting at my instructor for adding extra twists, she merely says don't give up, your body will let you know. So my body does let me know when that miracle of the month is about to happen.

Yep some call it miracle,I call it lady trauma, punishment of birth all your life. Its even less significant when you have no intentions of using your oven for anything but monthly pouring. With yoga's entry in my life, most of my pms problems vanished only to come back 5 months later and hit me harder with other issues.

The bitchiest thing your body does to you is getting used to hardcore yoga. Its so damn difficult and comes the voice, you have to start doing cardio. Hmmmmm I hate hate hate it. Or may be better its not hardcore yoga, learn ashtanga, your instructors are like archana what is wrong with you, this is for beginners, straighten the leg suffer :P

For like 10 days before periods, I was getting heavy headed, dizzy, sleepy and a real non fun person. My dad says its the low bp. Eat more salt ghee sugar dates figs. Hehe so while world has to diet, I get to eat rice sugar ghee. Most of you are thinking eat healthy, why are you listening to non doctors. Well, it pleases me.

You realize this is the lightest my body has ever been so might be probably hormones need more love too. Dates, figs, almonds all my favorites are stacked up and I feast like a king. Salads alone will not suffice.

So this is how my body let me know it was being over worked. Next month I have to add cardio so more diet more carbs to get the machine running. Eat almond poppy halwa. Drink coffee.

Sometimes I wonder why I talk to old people around me. Then it strikes they know more, they have seen more, they might be overbearing over indulgent over interfering but apart from all that, they care they love and thats all that matters .

Blogger has killed my dreams of ever making money. They say my blog is of no use. Hmm to them I say....


NAMASTE

P.S. Lets move to another domain.

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 break is good :)

Every one who hates planning knows how much troublesome it can be to be on a vacation especially if it involves missing your favorite yoga time. I know it was with a super heavy heart I accepted to miss 6 days of my practice.

Turned out that was the best investment on my strength and flexibility. See when you make it a routine for months, your body gets used to the pattern of it. What it expects is a little burn everyday but never gets time for fast healing if you push more. Also, stagnancy comes in poses. You are not pushing enough and doing the same level of stretches everyday. 

When we returned from our portland vacation, my 45 days challenge was on. To make up for lost days, I decided to plunge into it with 2 classes every day which is difficult for someone like me who loses all the energy in that one hour.  Guess what, it worked. In fact, more determination rolled in. In my first two day yoga  second class, I literally fell in forward fold haha silly me was like fuck you weak body. As you tell your brain you are not going to back off, brain prepares body to put up with more :) Thats how you win.

Break helped me in kind of resetting my body brain to prepare for war ahead. I slept all the 5 days, ruined my vacation a bit which is a different post all together. 

As a new trying yogi, my advice would always be to take at least a week break after 5 months and then jump into yoga with thousand times more energy and enthusiasm. It will kick off your practice, trust me. 

NAMASTE

Stuck yoga practice got a push :)

It was happening again to me. All the yoga bliss and talks about kriya yoga were getting lost in routine classes and instructors. Even came to a point where decision to opt out and practice at home was made. This monday supposedly I would have just walked in and told them about upcoming euro vacation, make an excuse and quit.

Thankfully my husband's voice saved me. If you start practicing yoga, you will reach a point in your practice where you will feel you achieved  a lot, you transitioned a lot, you probably learned so much you can open your own class. Illusions illusions moh maya. Its all in your head.

Its the routine, the mundane events that kick us into boredom. We start looking out the glass window losing our focus and then if the instructors are all same, you are not paying attention to them too. Some of the instructors also kind of bail out on telling every little detail as soon as they realize 60% students know what they are asking of them. That is highest level of unprofessional-ism because you are playing with someone's body and its flexibility progress.

In case you arrive at this conjecture of giving up to boredom, try these 5 options first.

Number 1 switch to another level of yoga for some time like bikram or yin or yang any other form to bring your attention and focus back. When you are new to a class, you are more alert to cues and extensions.

Number 2 switch your instructor if that is an option for you. Try other instructors. Today I tried a new one and surprisingly she brought out the best in me. I was on one leg, resting my head on knee of other elevated leg. It is because our mind plays tricks with us. There is less excitement in doing same poses with same teachers voice every day. Find a teacher who explains explicitly every move, how you bend how you go down when you inhale and listen to her.

Number 3 switch your spot. Come on everyone has a spot, the cool side the door side the mirror facing one. Go to a place where you just see yourself and no other person if at all it works. This also raises consciousness in body, it doesn't wander to check how many people are resting how many people did it to extreme level.

Number 4 : Start smiling in middle of practice. Like when you are looking in mirror standing bow just smile and reaffirm all is well. Take a deep breath, hold your position and go in the direction your instructor says. When you lie down for shavasana, calm your breath. Today, i did bikram yoga and not once my breath spiked. All credit goes to our instructor. She was awesome.

Number 5 : Don't expect anything. When you are not expecting, you out perform. When you know what your instructor is going to throw when, you get cocky. A lot of people who go for bikram with me were panting today because they were comfortable with other instructors and this one bowled their routine. We get used to things very easily and quickly, that helps our body to adapt but sometimes it rusts our brain.

And yeah don't lay your mat next to stupid people who just pant or show off. Haha don't let them rob your inner peace. Don't practice with your husband or friend, they are distractions too. Go alone.

Keep pushing till you reach your maximum limitations which don't exist. Have you seen acro yoga videos? They are so inspiring. My husband joined yoga too so may be one day we will be the acro couple.


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

There's a thing called "yoga injury"

Yep my first yoga injury is here, it stares and pokes whenever I lean in for those lunges. It feels like a betrayal my body has been put through. I mean come on yoga the slow moving careful relaxing practice why why. They call it runners knee sadly enveloping 2 weeks of my power yoga.

The point here is don't underestimate the risk of pain in yoga practice. Now your instructor might not be able to pay attention all the time. So how do you avoid it?

First of all, while doing lunges warriors, don't over extend, the weight of body should not be just on the forward knee. That is what gave me left knee inflammation. Even when you are in warrior 3, the base should be firm, again not your body weight. Your energy is distributed to hands legs all around so instead of putting pressure on the single leg, feel like you are bound like an aerial performer and feel strength everywhere. There is a whole pdf on where to put pressure in which asan.

Secondly, take breaks frequently. We are all competitive we all want to do it from start to end but rest rest when you do need it. It would be better if you do 4 poses with ease and strength rather than dying fish face.

Thirdly, use foam roller. My husband uses it to get rid of knots in back and thighs. Its super useful. My knee healed a lot faster because of this. Its available on amazon.

Fourthly, switch classes. If you feel like your knee is sore or you feel low on energy, go for bikram yoga. I have been doing it for 2 weeks thanks to my knee pain. Its less intense and uses more basic poses instead of all the power yoga craziness.

Listen to your instructor when she tells you which body part is working here. In bikram for example when you do supta vajrasana your chest is lifted. So sometimes, why not see instructor doing it or perhaps an expert in class. Observe and then follow. Our version of doing it fully and actuality might be far off.

Last one would be unplug for a while. Give your body the rest. We don't feel but our knees our back our balance is all being tested, our rusty body is getting a makeover so take it slow.

Good night yogi :) NAMASTE

How to have a safe hot yoga practice : Before after yoga

Lets add a disclaimer first- All the experiences are my own, it could vary person to person. So under no circumstances I guarantee this will work but it worked for me.


Here's the list of before after hot yoga practice that should help your body prepare and recover from that hot room that makes you haute like seriously victoria secret haute.

Hydrate hydrate hydrate : Wake up at least 2 hours before yoga class. Finish drinking 2 litres in that span slowly slowly. Eventually it becomes a habit and you don't mind gulping all that water. My 500 ml water in yoga class literally drags through whole week as my body is well hydrated.

Emergen c: I manage with emergen c. You can choose any of the products in the category and take it 45 minutes before class. So when you are in there sweating, it will help replenish lost salts.

Chill pal towel : I got it from amazon and it works. It cools you down instantly. So invest in one of these towels.

Sturdy mat : You don't have to buy all the expensive mats and towels. Its cool with just one mat. Basic necessities of life. Its cool but who wants to carry 10 things to yoga class.

Clothing : Before joining yoga, seemed to me people practicing it always wore shorts or like a cool tank top or just a sports bra. I am a shy introvert so even if I turn into a model, my t shirt and leggings would be the outfit in yoga class. It doesn't matter. Everyone sweats, if you are conscious wear a simple cotton t shirt with fitted leggings whatever is comfortable.

Food  before: I go for noon class so sometimes I do eat chapati curry around 10am. If I go for 8am class, I have to have light breakfast. You need energy to pull off the moves in there. Get a jar full of assorted nuts, your favorite ones walnuts raisins figs dates and eat before class after class. Don't go on a full stomach but never starve. Have apples bananas berries. Pretty soon you will be eating for fun. Yoga kind of takes you to a healthier meal too.

Food after : So if you already had lunch, come back start with yogurt which is my favorite. I make it in yogurt maker hehe lazy people. Then you can munch on cantaloupe melons a little toast with almond butter honey. Yogurt helps a lot in cooling down and its good. Have boiled eggs omelette anything that you like. Once in a week, go for those cliche green drinks kale spinach honey and all the weird ingredients.

What else do we need hmm a little motivation okk so what do you think when you do yoga.
I would say don't think anything. Just listen to your yoga guide and body. Never over stretch over breathe, stay calm. If an asan is testing you, give it time. Some days you will do your best, other days you will merely survive. Its not about doing asan, its just about showing up with integrity to do it. That doesn't mean you stop trying. Do it at your pace. People will always do better or worse, find your focus point. I take about 3 breaks which is more than normal. But we are all learning. Instead of dying while doing, enjoy it and relax.

Also keep changing classes and instructors. Once you know the flow and terms, you start going for different instructors and different forms of yoga. If I am a little tired, I go for bikram. If I am all charged up, I go for my favorite instructor who focusses on core workout. When its all average and lazy, its my motivational pushy instructor. Then if you really want to learn, you will find enthusiastic young teachers who do yoga with students. Find empty classes, ohh they are wonderful. In short, try every class every teacher. It brings a change to routine and body.


Force smile and then you will start smiling naturally. Life is not complicated, yoga is not complex, we make it tough.



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.