Moringa Oleifera- the humble yet powerful drumstick tree

                                                   
My post is about Moringa oleifera, popularly known as the Drumstick tree in India and how it can contribute to well-being.

By some quirk of fate I landed on this topic after sifting through a few others, a close second on my list being Money and our relationship to it :)
What I read about the tree was astounding.
A regular person should not need any multi-vitamin supplements at all if one uses the tree and its offerings on a regular basis.If your doctor has prescribed them then, oh well!

It is a herbaceous plant grown for its greens, flowers and its mineral-rich pods.
Its health benefits are what we will talk of today :)

Many a sambar has been made more delightful with succulent pieces of drumstick. There are delightfully nourishing recipes for its pods, leaves and flowers which many of you may know of, already. If not there's the google with its impressive omniscience.

I'm certain quite a few of us have at some time eaten these with relish and we have hitherto vaguely known that there were benefits to be had.

Without going into percentages and numbers let's cast a glance at what these benefits actually are.

1. It's leaves are a source of protein and dried leaves contain amino-acids. I cook the leaves like a dry stir fry with loads of garlic and seasoning, sometimes with potatoes or even with a sprinkling of dry-roasted peanut powder (coarse)

2. Fresh pods and seeds are a good source of Oleic acid, a beneficial mono-unsaturated fat. I cook up the pods along with lentils into a sambar or as a gravy with a tomato,onion,ginger,garlic base.

3. Fresh leaves are a rich source of vitamin A. I am at the moment trying to find some sort of a perennial source of tender fresh leaves so I can cook them once or twice a week at least, in the hope of benefiting my little one's eyes which have a minor birth issue.

4. Fresh pods and leaves are a source of Vitamin C. And we are not done yet there's more.

5. Leaves and pods again contain many vital B complex vitamins.

6. Furthermore its leaves are a fabulous source of minerals like calcium, iron, copper, manganese, zinc, selenium, and magnesium. :)

As I finish this post I find that I am starting to like drumsticks and its leaves/flowers even more than I did. What's not to like with all that impressive goodness.
                                                 The picture is from www.hindu.com. Don't you just love the sheer fecundity of the tree in the pic :)

Thanks for visiting dear reader, do leave me a comment and I shall love you for it :)
                              
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/   

Letting go of extra effort. Sthhira-Sukha- balancing opposites.

                                          
                                                   
 This is short post on letting go of extra effort through the principle of Sthhira-Sukha.
'Sthhira-sukham-aasanam' is one of the Sutras (aphorisms) of Patanjali.
This is the use of strength and relaxation at the same time.
What he is saying here is when we exert ourselves and put effort in getting into a certain asana say the Downward facing dog, Adho-mukha-shvan-asana, we need to also keep in mind that we flow into the posture, aligning the entire body comfortably. Initially the effort may seem more and then as we become friends with our yoga practice we can relax even in the seemingly harder postures.
                                                                                  
                                                    
     When we finally are in the posture, we then need to get aware of everything that's happening in the body at the time and of the breath gently moving through us. We need to see that we r not stiff, thus letting go of extra effort and tension that we hold in any part of the body.
Then there is a feeling of effort balanced by a feeling of immense enjoyment. Sthhira-Sukha.

This principle can be applied to daily life when we check back with our body every once in a while.
We could check to see if we are holding our stomach clenched( leads to issues in the digestive system), holding our neck, shoulders tense( leads to the most common frozen shoulder, aches, pains and other issues) and run our mind through the entire body loosening every part.

This can be done with huge benefits just before eating which is why I think most cultures have a tradition of praying before a meal and before we fall asleep. This will lead to better assimilation of nutrients and a more peaceful sleep.
As we get used to this we could get back to our bodies a few times a day and run an inner glance and loosen tight areas.                                           

There are a few more opposing principles in yoga which need to be balanced as well. I will touch upon them in later posts.

Balancing of opposites is an extremely interesting principle that can be applied to so many areas of life. Do think and leave me your thoughts in the comments, on what examples come to you.
       
Also check out few of other blogs participating in the A to Z challenge this april here http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

Kilogram loss/gain and yoga

                                                         
                                                       
There is a recent trend where the minute you mention yoga people connect the practice to weight loss. Losing the kilograms of fat, muscle and whatever else is lost when one loses weight- seems to be the prime concern :)
All I can say is, it is a fringe benefit and deserves the importance it should be given and no more.

Of course asana, dhyana, praanayama and all else that comprises the completeness that is yoga work on the body- the annamaya kosha, apart from all other koshas.In the diagram below the five sheaths or koshas surround the being.

Kosha is a sanskrit word for Sheath. Here each kosha refers to a more refined layer of existence and the five layers or koshas are like a map with which we can navigate our inner journey.

1 Annamaya the external physical sheath     2. Pranamaya kosha the vital air sheath
3. Manomaya or the mind sheath                 4. Vigyanamaya or the intellect sheath
5. Anandamaya- the Bliss sheath :)

                                                   Thus Yoga takes us on a fun journey. A journey from the external to the internal. From the Annamaya Kosha to the Anandamaya Kosha.

While journeying we may and will tighten, lengthen and strengthen muscle tone, align our joints in a better manner, get a sheeny-shiny skin and twinkling eyes, flab may fall away or stay put. One thing we certainly will be doing is getting closer to the Bliss sheath.

Once in the Anandamaya kosha, for a minute, seconds, hours or all the time, our cravings will decrease and so will the need to fill out dents and holes in our psyche with needless amounts and types of food. So all in all there may be a loss of physical weight too apart from the loss of weight from the bundle of stresses, grudges, ego, excessive self-love/loathing that we carry around unbeknownst to us.
                                                              

                                                        


                                                       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/   
                                                              

Just this- a poem

                                                      
                                                        
                                                       
                                                                             Just this

                                                     'Just this' is the story of life

                                                     The first breath to the last 

                                                     We come in bawling

                                                     journeying through a tunnel

                                                      

                                                     A first of many sojourns

                                                     Many a folly that amounts to nothing

                                                     hungering, hankering, demanding, relinquishing

                                                     Trying to be all sorts, not knowing

                                                     That we already are

                                                     What are we doing here pray?

                                                      Looking for meaning, making meaning

                                                      sometimes where there is none

                                                      Loving, hating, feeling vile feelings

                                                      allowing the mind to throw us back and forth

                                                      From past to future- future to the past

                                                      Stuck inside our heads

                                                      As if we are a big giant head and no more.

                                                      One big tsunami could sweep us away

                                                       in an instant

                                                       our hankerings, our diamonds, our vendettas

                                                       all washed away

                     

                                                      For everything is 'Just this'

                                                      and nothing else.

 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/   

                                                      

                                                       
                                                      

Ishwarapranidhana-resonating a higher Intelligence

                        Rather than unravel the mystery of life, we then begin to embody it- Donna Farhi      
                                                           
I dedicate this post to the Yoga Spirit Studios, Adelaide and Rebecca Richards who led my yoga teacher's training and introduced me to so much fine tuning, Presence and Donna Farhi. Om Gurubhyo Namaha.

And to my friend Maureen Germain, with who I have had many a delightful chat about all things yoga and especially today's topic :)                                         

                                                     

                                                         
My I word is Ishwara-pra-ni-dhana, Ishwarapranidhana.
Patanjali gives us the Ashtanga- eight limbs of yoga.
The first five of the eight limbs are External, Bahiranga sadhana and they are-
1.Yama
2.Niyama
3.Asana
4.Pranayam
5.Pratyahaar

The last three are Internal, Antaranga sadhana and they are-
6.Dhyana
7.Dharana
8.Samadhi

Ishwarapranidhana is one of the five Niyamas.

It is simply celebrating the spiritual. By this I mean, the recognition of a force greater than us which runs, shapes, moves everything and moves, pulsates and vibrates THROUGH everything.

For our own sakes when we are able to identify this higher intelligence at work, we then are able to embody the mystery of life. We are then able to live one day at a time, completely engrossed in every minute, content with however life unfolds.

It is the letting go of that in us which seeks to control. It is the ability to allow ourselves to become like a hollow bamboo flute through which sounds of the universe and its intelligence resonate, filling our lives with sweet music, come what may.
                                                  
                                                   
  
                                                    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/   
                                                        

Heart chakra- Anahata and easing the heart.

Heart is my H word                       
Actually the Heart chakra or Anahata chakra and how we can open any blocks in it simply through the Trikonasana or Triangle pose coupled with mindfulness.

                         Why have I chosen this chakra? It is the day for alphabet H no doubt but also we are creatures of emotion and the Heart chakra is the one that takes the most severe battering as we negotiate the ups and downs of life.

                           Have you felt a tightness/heaviness in and around the heart area when something has dealt you a crushing blow? This could be a harsh word, a hurt of any kind, anything that makes the emotional balance go awry. I know I have.

                           When I learnt about the Chakras and ways of easing them up I found that just by sitting with my eyes closed, aware of my inhale-exhale and keeping my focus on this knot of pain/unease it usually began to melt away. Greater the hurt-tighter the knot-more the time taken, of course.

                            When I miscarried in the fourth month, two times, each time I would wake up with a heavy heart and after my morning cuppa, sit and allow myself to be aware of it and nothing else. It took me at least a month each time to lighten the weight, but it did get progressively lighter and lighter.

                              Trikonasana is a standing asana of strength and expansion.
The arms-chest-lungs are all in expansion and so is the hip. Finger-tips of both hands are gently stretching away from each other. The picture below is from the anatomy.net site and if you look at it, you will see how well the chest region is stretched out. The coloured areas are of the muscles that are actively at work.

Any asana that expands the region that a chakra is located in is good for easing and opening up that region. So Asana-Dhyana(Mindful awareness) are the twin tools that support each other, always.

           Ideally work with an asana to stretch/ expand a particular region/regions and then sit down or lay yourself down in Shavasana for Dhyana and allow the awareness to flow from the Muladhara(base) chakra to the Sahasrara(crown)chakra and back in a loop.
With this I bid you bye for today, have yourself a lovely day and do come back tomorrow :)
                                                        


                                             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/   
                                                        
                                                        
                                                     

Grounding ourselves.

                                                   
The ground beneath our feet. Exactly the portion that our feet fall upon. How much thought have we given it?
I can hear a chuckle :D

Who has the time, I hear you say, to think of such nonsense :)

My theme for the alphabet G is Grounding ourselves. Physically, emotionally, mentally.

I have this disorder which always makes me want to work with EVERY layer, each dimension there is- in us and in everything.


                                                       Have you ever wanted to lose gravity and simply floating about like a bubble? I have fancied this since childhood when I found out much to my amazed-delight, that the atmosphere on the Moon is such that we are wont to float around.

Looking at the other side, from an adult- read boring and practical, perspective though, how would we manage life as we know it, if we couldn't stand strong and sturdy, our feet on the ground....
Standing on our feet- having placed them slightly apart(in line with the hip joints), gives us a strong stance and protects the hip and pelvic region, giving us a wonderfully confident posture.

While practicing asanas, as also sitting and standing- whatever portion of our bodies touches the ground/mat, we need to push gently towards the ground- drawing the rest of the body upwards towards the sky.

Thus there is a constant balance between the opposites of pull and push- earth and sky. Using gravity to push ourselves down, using the strength from this to build security and confidence in the asana/stance and the entire mind-body complex, at the same time stretching upwards towards the sky, we elevate ourselves as a whole.

Grounding exhales are a huge help to us when used at any time of the day, again benefiting us on each level. I have written about this earlier and the link is included here
http://sunilavigauthor.blogspot.in/2014/02/i-love-my-exhale.html
 
A picture of the upper portion of the Nanjangud, Shiva temple, Mysore, taken by me on the 31st of March 2014. The temple seems to be pointing towards the sky- at the same time as it is  firmly connected to the earth :)

 

Bye for today, see you tomorrow. Do leave me your precious comments and feedback.

Please check other blogs participating in the A to Z april blogging challenge as well. Here is the link http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

Food and yoga

                                                    
                                                      


                                                     
Happy Monday blog world and the world at large :)
My Four lettered F word is food. Good food never fails to paint a Garfield'ian grin on my face and make my insides dance when I'm eating it.
The endorphins it releases, the burst of flavours on the palate, the appeal food has to every sense of mine makes it an immensely fulfilling experience. And like with anything an imbalanced passion for it can lead us down a different path.
            The addiction to food as with any other addiction is simply a filling up of some hole within our psyche or emotions. Instead of looking for this dent within ourselves and straightening it out, we can resort to various crutches and hang on to it until we are forced to let go of it by one rude shock or the other.
               
                       I will share one Gem that one of my earlier Yoga teachers from SVYASA Bangalore, Dr. Nagendra shares in his lectures. He calls it 'Happiness Analysis'.
                        When we eat a rasgulla or anything we like, we feel a rush of pleasant feelings. The mind becomes still with one second or a few seconds where thought ceases to exist. This is bliss. Wanting to extend this feeling we eat ten rasgullas. Result- diabetes, obesity and other things.
                          Instead if we know what we are doing, we apply the 'slowing down' principle of yoga. We take just one rasgulla and instead of gobbling it up, we eat it in small bites-slowly-enjoying and aware of enjoying the taste, texture, the burst of endorphins in the body and everything we are feeling.
                          This will make it such a complete experience that the greed will evaporate. Simple.
Easier said than done, I know.Try it and see what happens :)
This one's a great tool for de-addiction with anything or from anyone.



                                         A box of doughnuts from a recent food-orgy at my niece's birthday. I ate one of the plain sugary ones :D

                                       

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/
                                    
                           

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/