E for Energy- a poem.

                                                  


After the first five posts in prose the log demanded something different in my favourite genre, for the sixth letter E, the last one for this week :D

                                                         Energy

                                         Energy is you and I and the limitless sky

                                         that flows in, around and through us

                                         The thought-its flow-and that which thinks.

                                         It is every feeling, every clench-unclench

                                         Of muscle, sinew and expansive heart.

                                         Energy is the memory of what we carry from

                                         Pre-embryonic places.

                                         It is the Un-self

                                         It is the Now.

                                     
                                         It is the One big primeval breath
                                         the air of which circulates starting
                                         from immemorial times
                                         recycled from dinosaur, to fish, to primate
                                         It is the Now.

                                                   
The link below will take you to all the other blogs participating in the April blog challenge. There is a huge variety of theme and the bloggers have worked with great interest to bring you well written, interesting posts.

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

Dhyana is simple. Why meditation scares us.

                                                          

When the word, 'Meditation' is mentioned I have found that most of us find it scary. It seems like a strange unattainable state to which a select few are privy.

Friends have expressed the inability to control, stop or suppress thoughts. So the thinking is that essentially a thought-free state is meditation. This is not wrong but the way we go about trying to get there is what stops us. Also the effort we make at suppression releases tension in us and so a forceful control is surely not the way with something that is natural gentle and flowing.
                   
Being aware of what is happening in the entire body takes us out of the head and allows us to stay with NOW. This is Dhyana and to me it is just awareness. When thoughts come, it is okay let us watch them come and go. The act of watching separates us thus keeping us from getting entangled in the thought process.
 

Vipassana meditation which has come to us from Buddhism is particularly valuable to understanding awareness. In vipassana we watch our whole body-inside and outside, first inch by inch and then pinch by pinch, fine tuning this watching to such an extent that we are doing that and nothing else.

               Finally everything that comes out of such learning is made more precious when applied to everyday life because that is where we live most of the time :) With practice we are then able to every now and then draw our-self out of the head, simply watching whatever it is we are up to in that segment of time.

Here is a picture of giant amazonian lily pads in the Adelaide botanical garden taken by me about 6 yrs back. Draws out the meditator in anyone that looks at the focal lily pad methinks :)

A quick mention of the Diaphragms in our body. There are three-the vocal, the second one is right under the lungs, the third is the pelvic diaphragm. All three are of great value in breathing and elimination. If you would like to know more you could check this  link from a yoga blog.
http://doczyoga.wordpress.com/2011/05/14/three-diaphragms-and-their-uses-in-yoga-practice/

The link below will take you to all the other blogs participating in the April blog challenge. There is a huge variety of theme and the bloggers have worked with great interest to bring you well written, interesting posts.

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

Dream-weavers revisited :)

Chakras the energy centres

                                                         
                                                    
                                                                                                                                                                                                           
According to yogic tradition there are infinite energy centers in our body, the most important ones being the seven well known chakras starting at the tail bone and ending at the crown of the head. They serve as junction points between our body and consciousness.
These spinning vortices, each specialises in a different aspect of our mental, physical and emotional experience.
The seven biggies are:
1. Muladhara- Root of spine- Associated with security when balanced.
2. Svadhishthana- Sacral-blocks can lead to issues with initimacy to put it simply.
3.  Manipura- Navel- Seat of confidence and personal strength.
4. Anahata- Heart- Emotions, compassion are all in a balance when this region is in free-flow.
5. Vishuddhi- Throat- Seat of ease in communication, emotion.
6. Ajna- Brow- Seat of determination
7. Sahasrara- Crown- Connetion of the self with the Greater self.
I have tried to give a little peek into each, there is much more of course
                     Interestingly when these energy centers are blocked we suffer consequences of not being at ease ie. dis-ease.
This could manifest as a simple headache, problems with intimacy, lack of confidence, emotional problems, Throat issues, lack of willpower, lack of connection with oneself to name a few.
The issues could range from physical to the mental-emotional to the esoteric.
There are fairly easy ways of unblocking them and allowing energy to flow along peacefully- starting from asana postures, various breath practices of Praanayam and finally chakra- meditation which I personally find the easiest and the best. Simply put this is being aware of the breath flowing in and out of us and at the same time placing a gentle focus on each chakra starting from the base chakra, travelling upwards to the crown chakra and then returning to the base having stayed with every chakra on the way.


The picture shows the chakra positions along with associated colours and Beeja mantras, the sacred sounds associated with the energy centers.
What strikes me most is that our body contains every healing mechanism within itself, we just need to use it to our benefit. Love you all for reading and leaving behind loving comments. Keep returning :)












The link below will take you to all the other blogs participating in the April blog challenge. There is a huge variety of theme and the bloggers have worked with great interest to bring you well written, interesting posts.

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

Breath- the one true companion

Children astound us with their boundless energy.

Most of us remember the exuberance and unending energy of our own early youth when we breathed with relaxed open bellies and as a result had an almost limitless supply of energy. Then we unconsciously began and learn and change our breathing patterns. 
                    Now, as grown-ups we find ourselves trying to reawaken this aliveness- turning to artificial methods like caffeine, sugar, nicotine or doses of vitamins and herbs. We feel agitated and try to quell our unease with all manner of things. We subsist on the excitement of one fleeting moment after another using our various obsessions to temporarily ignite us.
             Yet, all through we have a suspicion that we could feel better, more at peace, more energetic, and that something undefinable is missing from our lives.
                 What we do not know that the answer to this lies within us- in the powerful, full bodies breath we breathed as children. The very ebb and flow of life.
We draw our first breath as soon as we leave our mother's body. A breath that fills our every cell with energy and kick starts our every organ. A baby's breath moves it's entire body, the soft belly rising and falling freely. If you like start becoming aware of the stomach. Are we keeping it tight and clenched, thus breathing mainly from the upper body? Every now and then, throughout the day let's wander back to the stomach and let it loosen and free up with every exhale.
        Breath is the one thing that stays with us through life and come what may, we keep breathing. But when the stomach and chest gets constricted, the free flowing river of Prana, the vital life force, that flows through us gets restricted, reducing a strong stream to a trickle.
                This can single handedly lead to myriad problems on every layer of being.
        When the last breath leaves our body we are no more, at least not in the current form. Our one companion, let us keep it free and it will free us in turn.

First of all the twinkling stars vibrated

But remained motionless in space

Then all the celestial globes were united into one series of movements

Firmament and planets both disappeared

But the mighty breath which gives life to things

And in which all is bound up- remained.

                              -Vincent Van Gogh

.Below link will take you to all the other blogs participating in the April blog challenge. There is a huge variety of theme and the bloggers have worked with great interest to bring you well written, interesting posts.
http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

Anatomy Asana Alignment and Yoga

                                                

With this I begin my happy april blogging spree with good wishes to all my fellow bloggers and readers.
This is an offering of 26 pearls that are to me the very essence of life- yoga. Today we can start our little journey and look at anatomy, asanas and alignment in yoga.

Over the years many a yoga guru has taught me in person or through their writings and I thank all of them. My posts are distilled from this learning and the personal inquiry which is an outcome of it.

The subject of yoga is the self and this self resides in a physical body. Integration of mind, body and breath is its core.. A key element that differentiates yoga practice from many an exercise regimen is the intentional integration of breath, posture and movement.

Many a session have I taught and when I gently invite the students to be aware of their anatomy, not just the flesh, bone, muscle, sinew but also the soft organs housed within, some take to it like a duck to water while some find it a little strange.
         Why should it be strange I wonder, yoga is not something airy, removed from reality. Not at all. For yoga practitioners, anatomical awareness is a powerful tool for keeping the body safe, our minds grounded in reality.

Asanas are perceived far and wide as a contortion of the physical body to achieve flexibility and even weight loss if undertaken at a faster pace with lesser interim resting periods. One out of the eight limbs of yoga, asana, literally means seat. Originally ascetics sat or stood long durations whilst engaged in meditation and this required the body to be nimble and fit. Having seen that animals abound in energy and natural fitness, the ascetics adopted postures imitating many a creature to be able to maintain an easy stillness. So asanas were a means to an end.

The yoga I practice and teach, involves awareness of the prime mover and shaker of our lives, the breath as it flows all through the body moving and energising each cell, if we allow it to flow unhindered. Moving into asanas, staying in the posture and finally moving out, all require us to stay constantly mindful of what is happening within us. As the base of a structure needs be strong so also the base of each asana. If the feet and legs are not firmly placed and connected to the ground the rest of the asana will be a house of cards, easily toppled.

Are the various limbs and torso aligned fluidly? Only if the entire body is aligned with its other parts is when we are allowing energy and prana to traverse us undeterred.

I could go on and on but this is enough for today.

The picture of the butterfly below is by an artist friend Humna Mustafa. The art emerges from her inner recesses and pours out beauty on any medium at hand, much to the delight of the people who know of and enjoy her work. Inner beauty spilling out in such perfection is yoga being lived out.In my posts you will see her art and others too.




Below link will take you to all the other blogs participating in the April blog challenge. There is a huge variety of theme and the bloggers have worked with great interest to bring you well written, interesting posts.

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

Theme reveal- A to Z challenge

                                                Theme Reveal

I am a debutante blogging challenger (hope that sounds right). When I came across the A to Z blogging challenge for April 2014 I thought that was just the thing to enliven my blog and connect with fellow bloggers.
Today is the day of Revelations so here's a curtain raiser on what my theme for april will be.

I let my mind meander through all the myriad things that interest me- from glowworms to clay chulhas and finally I found a theme.
                             Yoga, well being and all things related will be my chosen theme. Under this rather large umbrella theme I hope to dance from topic to topic touching a wide-range of interesting subjects, which could be the essence of yoga, mindfulness, breathing, how yoga hones creativity, sutras of yoga and how I translate them into the modern day, healthful eating, true prosperity, contentment, lack of ease- disease. There are thousands of things to mull over and write about.
               Hope you all enjoy this journey as much as I will, as we flit from blog to blog, savoring delights that each participating blogger has no doubt prepared with care....
                          I welcome every reader that chances my way from my Heart and look forward to the imprint you will leave behind as comments, all precious gifts. I am also looking forward to reading many a blog and leaving my own comments behind.

You can also LIKE my fb page which is https://www.facebook.com/SunilaVigAuthor?ref=hl
 and Subscribe to my posts and we shall stay connected Happily Ever After :D

And here is the link to all the bloggers doing the Theme Reveal today Theme reveal

Dream-weavers A tribute to henna artists

Have I ever seen a dream emerge
Out of the air while I was awake?

On the palms of people
lines, curls, whorls nestling into each other
Opening unhurriedly

The dream-weaver casts her spell
pulling it out of her own being
the mind the body the spirit in fusion

Quiet as a spider
wise and inward-bound
one weaves with its body-silk
the other dips her finger in her soul
for silk, equally guazy-ephemeral-strong

Allowing her dreams to unfurl
onto another's palm
spelling out love, harmony, fulfillment, abundance.

Winning - what is it to me?

http://conclave.intoday.in/
Is it money
Is it things
Is it people
Is it bling?
A sense of satisfaction
A sense of achievement
Of having used one's potential
Of having purpose
Is winning one of these? Or a bundle of all of these, rolled up nice and tight?

Is it your child growing up healthy, happy and complete vs the hapless child at daily risk of abuse, whose parents think it vital to add up to their assets at the risk of their innocent ward's safety?

Is it giving up a little of one,s own extra or is it grabbing hold of everything one can and never know when it's enough?

Is it making one's life an oasis of contentment or is it spreading one's bliss all around?

Is it fulfilling every whim and fancy or is it charting out clear goals and getting to them one by one?

Is it all of these? Or a happy mix of all the above?

                         Winning to me is simply living each day in a manner such that when I grow old and totter about my home, (doing what I can with what energy I then have) I am at peace with how I have lived. Filled with satisfaction that I have lived every new experience I had, faced every challenge, cherished every dear relationship, nurtured every worthy friendship.
In life's last minutes I'm not scared. I am sure that my offspring will be able to traverse life's path easily and with balance and hold me in their hearts when I am gone, as a mother that thought of them before every single breath I took.

In the neighbourhood- Part three

Links to Part 1 and Part 2.             In the neighbourhood-Part 1              In the neighbourhood-Part 2

So :) Here is part three. In case anyone's wondering, yes I did drop off two t shirts to the little fella. G refused to come with me, being the bashful sort a surprising trait to have for my offspring. I set off with my bike feeling a bit awkward. We had been looking at them from two floors above and now here I was reducing that distance all of a sudden.
                               Skirting around a narrow mud lane, riding over rubble and weeds when I reached the tenement it took me a few minutes to figure out this was the same place. It all looked smaller and shabbier up close.
Handing over the plastic bag to Bustu's mum and having her flash me a smile I turned to Bustu for some signs of recognition. The lack of distance had affected him. He only looked at me woodenly. By now the whole experience became too overpowering to handle and I dashed back home. By the way all through G and her dad had stood in the balcony watching and grinning.
                               Much older now Bustu seems to have learnt the ways of the people around him. One can often see him snatching at things held by other babies younger than him. Another development is that he's seen almost fully clothed nowadays. The two t-shirts have disappeared without trace.
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One sunset a few years back- Henley Beach Adelaide
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The park in our suburb same as the million parks all over India is infested by all kinds of people every morning. Tall, short, fat, thin, crooked, straight, serious, chatty- there's a specimen of each kind- walking. Some sport flat hawaianas, some heeled footwear and some sports shoes.
          Each has his or her unique walking style. A few sporty ones jog, a few walk straight as ramrods, some shake their arms with such gusto (their doctors must have asked them to shake their arms as they walk) that one wonders they don't get shoulder aches. A few hop along, a few hobble along and there are many with their faces set in determination and they look like they are out to win a war or something.
                 There are groups of women chatting away merrily, groups of men and single men whose sole interest is the women that are walking and a huge number has that abominable gadget-the mobile phone, flattened against the side of their head the whole time.
Everyday I watch, absorb and enjoy the milling masses that throng the park and return home refreshed with these sights and a drink of tender coconut.

I love my exhale

The un-thought of portion of the breath; exhale. To the aware the most important, the best part of breathing.

When we are asked to breathe our focus is usually on the inhale.

Now let’s do something. 

Inhale and exhale. 

No doubt you are doing this all the time. 

This time, do it with your entire mind on the in-breath and on the out-breath. 

Take your awareness upwards towards the crown of your head as you breathe in and as you breathe out, let the awareness travel down to the feet. 

Do this a few times, let’s say five.

Were you able to feel the sense of relief, the sense of everything-stress,strain,thought,burden, drop off as we release our breath?

If not do another five rounds with your mind traveling up and down your body with the breath.

Once you have figured out your exhale and what it does for you, make it your best friend and run back to it every now and then, all through the day. Same as you would go to your confidante and unburden your heart, allow your exhale to relieve you of all your burdens- real and imagined.

Right in the middle of a crisis, external or internal fall back on the out-breath and see how you are lifted out of the crisis and dropped into a place of peace and grounded-ness.

April blogging challenge

It is time to inject fresh life into my blog. This has been in my mind for a while now and so I just could not pass up this opportunity. I have signed up for the Blogging from A to Z April challenge. April is going to see me write on themes, alphabetically every day of the week except Sunday :)

In the Neighbourhood- Part 2

Bustu aka Nangu dost from Part 1 of this Title may well become the mini- hero of my series. He continues to capture the imagination of my family and I.
It is Bustu that I watch from my window sipping my morning cuppa...running amuck in all his glory. The antics he indulges in are a captivating joy to us.
Hair flying wildly, a loose hand-me-down shirt adorning him, the little fella can be seen dipping his toothbrush into unwashed dishes piled into a bucket by his mum and even drinking water out of the same bucket. The other day he brushed his own teeth and those of a little girl's alternately brushing each little set and dipping the implement into afore-mentioned bucket, for effect or for added flavour- or whatever. Who knows what runs in his little head.
Later in the day his head sleek with oil and combed with a fine-toothed comb, he flaunts pigtails, sometimes with the addition of a string of jasmine flowers placed there by his fond mother.
At times he looks up at the balcony/window and sees us and sometimes we succumb to temptation and call out to him. A face splitting grin later he endeavours to call anyone he can see around him and points to us excitedly. An introduction. Language not necessary. Not yet learnt. All his self expression is in mischievous-intelligent play and squeals.
A good friend of mine knows of him, through the blog and also chatting on phone. She got him a T-shirt all the way from the U.S. of A. Unbelievable. Now we will have to visit him to deliver the gift. A picture of him might find its way in another post. Some day. Till then, Goodbye.

 Links to Part 1 and Part 3
In the neighbourhood-Part 1
In the neighbourhood-Part 3

Into my skin

In the space between blinks I've stepped out of the present
Onto a smorgasboard of thoughts
A tangled web of past-present-future
A long exhale drops me back Into my own skin

I pass through my ribcage and Settle
Somewhere in the cavernous recesses of my gut
Inside this star shaped bag that I live in
Of limbs and Head

A bronze-dark sheath stretched out end to end
A gleaming bag cannot contain me
And I strain again and again To flow out- to fly out
Only to fall back-into my skin

What is it like, inside my skin?
Kisses raining all over my skin
Made me a Goddess ,greedy-hungry for the adoration
Gashes and scars from a primitive call to blood-letting
Made me curl up like the mimosa-shy of discovery

Even now, Partly hidden-part exposed
While the being hungers
Drooling after Mirages
That amount to Nothing

In the neighbourhood-Part 1

We have had two moves in the last two months, one from Adelaide to Bangalore and the second from my Brother in law,s home to our own.
The apartment we have taken on rent is nice. There is a play area, 24 hour guards on duty protecting our precincts and a large but not very deep swimming pool right in front of our flat, where little G spends many a blissful hour.
We are slowly getting comfortable, day after day, with the changed time zones, changed road conditions, changed environment and changed amounts of everything from people and malls to cars , bikes and mongrels.
The neighbourhood is a mix of apartment blocks, individual homes, shops of all shapes and sizes and a mix of the moneyed and less moneyed people. Interestingly the lack of money or the plentifulness of it does not show too much difference in the general mental well being of the public concerned and the slum dwellers and the others co-exist with an equanimous bonhomie. Behind our apartment complex is a row of small one room mud and brick homes with tiled roofs. The people that live in it are from a small town in Karnataka called Gulbarga,and here and there, I am told by the maid with the face splitting smile I have had the good fortune to come upon. Coming to the said maid I am filled with this happy sense of disbelief when day after day ( from the last seven days) she turns up smiling from ear to ear, reciprocated by me and cleans my dishes and vitreuos floor tiles to a mirror finish. Getting back to the stars of my present post and many more to come, the crowd that lives behind me two stories below, most possibly in a so called illegal settlement is what draws me to my balcony or kitchen window a few times every day, to watch their daily activity and complete engrossment in their tasks. Morning starts with lighting up the wood fire mud ovens, known as Choolha in hindi, which is hand made with mud and other mystery ingredients. A pot generally full of water is heated and this morning there was a large pot full of rice being cooked. At times there,s milk being boiled and doled out to the young ones in metal tumblers which they have been cupping in their eager hands as they sit waiting on their haunches for the milk to come to the boil. A young man chops wood with an axe to be burnt as fuel for the choolha. There is a dog and a cat which mingle as freely as the family and their relatives or friends that live in the other rooms. The cat is given some milk too and the dog is given other tidbits. Getting back to this post after 2.5 months. The kids now seem to have graduated to drinking tea in the mornings. Even a tiny toddler who has become G and my favourite baby seems to pull through his very full days very well on tea and various foods that look like pieces of bread to us. He has been named 'Nangu friend' by G as he,s in the habit of being less dressed usually. Other names/endearments G has found for him are, "Nangu little", "Bhustu little"( dunno what this one means, though. He is one busy little baby and he,s never found sitting around, glaring into space or sitting and looking hither and thither like the other babies of his settlement. We find him trying to wash clothes that his mother soaks in his own baby way, sometimes rubbing washing soap all over himself, trying to clamber onto his father,s bike ( we are very proud that the bub,s dad owns a bike and seems the most sober of the lot), carrying a kitten around, peering into other,s rooms, figuring out whatever anyone is upto and invariably getting a knock on the head from someone or the other. G told me a while ago, that everyone hits our nangu friend at which I kept a watch and then figured out that his neighbours expressed their fondness for him through tweaks of his cheeks, raps on his person and generally by being quite rough with the little fella. At times I could'nt resist yelling out to a few people whose raps got forceful enough to make the little fella cry. Talking of crying he is one plucky baby and does not cry easily. Sometimes he looks up at us quizzically and something interesting passes from him to us.

LINKS to Part 2 and 3- below.

In the neighbourhood-Part 2
In the neighbourhood-Part 3

Maanavi- a Poem

This is a poem I wrote about ten years ago. It got published, read, broadcast on SBS Radio etc and for some reason I felt like scanning it and putting it here on my blog today.

Happy New Year 2012

Here,s something beautiful from Mother Nature .....Happy New Year 2012...May our lives be creative, natural and beautiful..

Malenad

I woke to a constant rain and smoky skies and the morning brought back memories of Malnad where I spent 2 years. Many months each year the weather was such, green, washed surroundings, poetic people and the study of literature, it was all quite dreamlike. Reliable- was the name of the bus that we took each morning, regularly at 8.30 to the university, with the same happy bunch of students, hopeful, fresh, mischievous. After enjoying the classes, we would meet at the uni canteen to savour hot - by two teas and other delicacies that the cook turned out. Mangalorean bans were one such and they to die for. And still bring joy when the memory strikes.

Old Films

Love of old films and songs has brought great joy to me as long as I remember. Right from the B/w era simple stories, simple emotions punctuates with the most heartfelt tunes and lyrics, to me are works of art, that have stood the test of time.
Again all through the times I have been able to pick and choose movies worth seeing and remembering. Songs worth hearing n humming.

Happy new year

A happy new year to everyone and may everyone have joy, peace and contentment in their lives.