Namaskar Dec 2020 Issue & Final issue by namaskar

namaskar

Savasana

A VOICE FOR THE YOGA COMMUNITY

Everyone we forgot

NAMASKAR

NAMASKAR - DECEMBER 2020

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Savasana for Namaskar. Here’s the final issue of the magazine which started as a newsletter of The Yoga Society of Hong Kong two decades ago. We are closing because the core team of volunteers: Carol for advertising, Wai-Ling for Kula, Angela for subscription and myself for the other stuff, have moved away from Asia’s yoga community. Three of us left Hong Kong a few years ago, and all of us have stepped back from teaching yoga. In keeping with the mission of Namaskar to share one’s yogic journey, I’d like to share five things I’ve learned as editor and publisher for the past 18 years: 1 THIS YOGA KULA (COMMUNITY) IS GENEROUS OF TIME AND SPIRIT. In the beginning, I worried whether enough people would want to share their experiences, then make time to write about them, and send them to us to make this magazine. Turns out, I needn’t have, as our contributors have come through every time! Our advertisers too have been supportive all along. In particular Pure Yoga’s CEO Colin Grant underwriting 50% of our operating costs (through their back cover ads) for the past 18 years, has been key to Namaskar’s longevity. Pure’s unwavering patronage allowed us to offer all other advertisements at extremely affordable prices. 2 INSPIRING TEACHERS ARE EVERYWHERE. I have missed out learning from one main yoga teacher. However I’ve learned much from yogis and non-yogis I’ve met in real life and through this magazine. Being open to be inspired and learn from unexpected sources helps me stay inquisitive and grateful.

ON THE COVER Most of the contributors to Namaskar since 1999, with our apologies to any whom we have mistakenly missed out.

In This Issue DRISTI - SAVASANA SAVASANA & BREATHWORK

GUIDED IMAGERY

SAVASANA, KUNDALINI-STYLE

IT’S NOT A NAP

YOGA NIDRA

SPECIAL FEATURES ANTI-AGEING PRANAYAMA VANITY VS. HUMILITY

3 YAMAS & NIYAMAS GIVE DIRECTION OFF THE MAT. An on-going experiment at Namaskar has been weaving yoga teachings through the magazine’s operations. For example, Ahimsa (non-violence) guided the positive voice we inject in all articles, while belief in Satya (truthfulness) helped us trust advertisers would pay, even without contracts and deposits. Saucha (cleanliness) influenced our simple black and white design, while Santosha (contentment) influenced our choice to only increase print run in response to direct requests. 4 THE REWARD IS THE DOING. Working on Namaskar has at times been tiring, monotonous and frustrating, though mostly it has been a joyful journey. Perhaps the most important lesson I’ve learned is that much joy comes from giving of yourself without expecting anything in return. 5 PREPARING FOR SAVASANA IS FUN. Thinking about how to gracefully conclude something you’ve been doing for a long time puts a new spin on life.

Breathwork’s great for our face 16

Yoga to balance out Social Media’s effects HELP YOUNG ADULTS FLOURISH

Supporting ethnic minority youths A RISING SMOKE

A yoga poem

REGULAR CONTRIBUTIONS KULA

PHOTO ESSAY

AYURVEDA

BOOK REVIEWS

MUDRAS

DIRECTORY

Thank you for sharing this journey towards love and light. ABOUT NAMASKAR ADVERTISING

Carol Adams, NamaskarAdvertising@gmail.com

KULA

Wai-Ling Tse, NamaskarKula@gmail.com

SUBSCRIPTION Angela Sun, NamaskarSubscription@gmail.com EDITOR

Frances Gairns, NamaskarEditor@gmail.com

Namaskar provides a voice for the yoga community around the world. The publication is an opportunity for practitioners on a yogic path to selflessly offer their knowledge, learnings and experiences with others. We welcome unsolicited submissions, therefore the opinions expressed within these pages are not necessarily those of Namaskar or its volunteers. Articles and photographs in Namaskar are contributed at no charge.

December 2020

Advertising income covers production, distribution, administrative costs and discretionary contributions to selected charities and causes. Namaskar, is published quarterly, usually January, April, July and October. About 5,000 copies are printed and distributed for free to yoga studios, teachers, fitness centres, retail outlets, cafes and yogafriendly outlets. Mostly distributed in Hong Kong, with 1,500 copies mailed to readers in 32 other countries.

CONTRIBUTORS

ANDY SEYMOUR

Andy is a yoga teacher and teacher trainer focusing on the connections between yoga and Carl Jung’s depth psychology. He is based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. www.redpointyoga.com ANDY WILLNER

Angela manages distribution and circulation for Namaskar. Now back in her hometown of New York, she has been practicing yoga for over 10 years. She teaches privately. Namaskarsubscription@gmail.com

Carol takes care of namaskar administration, advertising and billing from the uk. She works from home which gives her the freedom to take care of her son. Namaskaradvertising@gmail.com

ANJALI NIHALCHAND

HEATHER SHALABI

Anjali is the founder of Pollination Projects, a brand marketing company and also volunteers with The Zubin Foundation in Hong Kong. Anjali@pollinationprojects.com BOBSY

Based in Hong Kong, Heather is founder and co-director of Flex Studio, whose programme focuses on classical Pilates, yoga and Xtend barre. Flex studio offers regular live stream classes in mat Pilates, stretch and release yoga, Xtend barre, and master classes for Pilates instructors. Heather@flexhk.com

KIM ROBERTS

Kim taught Ashtanga Yoga for over 25 years, and once managed the yoga program at Landmark Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong. She is the author of two books and now offers drop-in guided yoga nidra practices and other creative offerings online. www.kimroberts.co/ journaling-journeying. KRISHNAA KINKARI

HERSHA CHELLERAM

Andy teaches at Aloha Yoga in Hong Kong and has recently launched soma yoga incorporating asana, pranayama and mediation. andywillner@gmail.com

Veteran environmentalist, founder of mana! Restaurants in hong kong & advocator of plant-based lifestyle. Bobsy@me.com CAROL ADAMS

ANGELA SUN

Hersha teaches Integral Yoga in Hong Kong. She is a strong advocate for accessible yoga for all bodies. Hersha@hershayoga.com

NAMASKAR

Krishnaa lives in London. She studied with B.K.S Iyengar and now runs classes in London and teaches Sanskrit and mudras for yoga for the Yoga Alliance and British Wheel of Yoga. She has written 19 books on bhakti yoga. Kinkaridasi@hotmail.com

namaskar MAHESH SABADE

Natasha is owner and teacher at studio figure eight, a dance, fitness and yoga studio in Koh Samui, Thailand. www.studiofigureeight.com

SOPHIE SANDERS

PATTY ANDAMO

Sophie is a tier 2 certified Baptiste yoga educator, an aspiring writer and a teacher mentor. She is living and breathing her empowered (yoga) life, moment to moment, day by day in Singapore and writes on www.sophiexsanders.com/blog

Mahesh is a doctor of ayurveda based at the Tanman ayurvedic research centre in pune, india. Www.mindbodysoul.in MARTHA COLLARD

Patty is a freelance writer and digital marketer based in manila, Philippines, specializing in social media content development and management. Instagram @pattyandamo

TIA SINHA

PAUL DALLAGHAN

On behalf of all contributors, we thank you for reading Namaskar. Though our magazine closes now, we hope the yoga we have shared here will inspire your own journey towards love & light.

Tia writes from Kathmandu. Onlytia2@yahoo.co.in Martha is a kundalini instructor and trainer of gongs and catalyst for wellbeing. She is the founder of Red Doors Studio in Hong Kong martha@red-doors.com NATASHA DEVALIA

WAI-LING TSE

Paul’s expertise with yogic breathwork, body and meditative practices comes from over 25 years of daily dedicated practice and teaching; immersion in the original culture and; doctoral scientific research. Paul established Centered Yoga in 1999 and Samahita Retreat in 2003 on Koh Samui. Dallopaul@gmail.com Wai-ling is a student at PICER - the Psycheprimus Institute for Congnitum Engineering Research (www.picer.org) and is Kula Editor for Namaskar. Namaskarkula@gmail.com December 2020

2015 - 2020 issues at: www.issuu.com/ namaskarasia

KULA

History HONG KONG YOGA HISTORY

A STORY OF YOGA IN HONG KONG

BY MARTHA COLLARD

BY BOBSY

Five women with a dream sat around a table and founded the Yoga Society of Hong Kong in 1998. Myself, Linda Shevloff,

This is but one story of the growth of yoga in our beloved city starting in the early 1990’s on Lamma Island. This charming small island where so many alternative things first took root and then hopped overseas to the main island of Hong Kong.

Kathy Cook and Vivien Eakin. At that time there were no dedicated yoga studios and classes were held in squash courts, private homes and outdoors. The aims of the Society were simple: • To promote an appreciation of yoga practices and philosophies. • To disseminate knowledge of yoga to members and the public. • To foster and develop the standard of yoga teaching in HK through coordinating visiting instructors and by creating networks with overseas organizations. • Act as a forum and vehicle to do the above. We hosted senior teachers from overseas in our homes and rented venues. Cle Sourren, Swami Rhananda, Jan Poddebsky, David Life, Rodney Yee and others graced our shores and all classes were free for yoga teachers. Within a year Pure, Yoga Central and the Iyengar Centre opened.

As Chairman I connected with members through an informative printed word.doc quarterly with the first issue in October 1999. A year later we created a logo and named it Salutations.

Attendees of the first Annual General Meeting of the Yoga Society of Hong Kong in 1999

In Jan 2001, Vol 6 we changed the name to Namaskar. Printing was done externally however the stuffing of envelopes and distribution was done manually and for membership only. One year later after the publication of Vol 10 I stepped down from both the editorial position of Namaskar and my executive position with the Society. The Book of Ecclesiastes states that “To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven.” Pete Seeger wrote a song in 1958 and the Byrds recorded it - Turn, Turn Turn. To everything (turn, turn, turn) There is a season (turn, turn, turn) And a time to every purpose, under heaven A time to be born, a time to die A time to plant, a time to reap A time to kill, a time to heal A time to laugh, a time to weep (chorus) A time to build up, a time to break down A time to dance, a time to mourn A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together (chorus)

Concidentally the theme for Vol 10 was ‘Making a Clean Start’. For me it was time to let go and let grow. To disengage emotionally from a passion project to reallocating my time to my family and career. Under Frances’ professional guardianship Namaskar grew in stature, became a freely and widely distributed publication throughout Asia and was self supporting through ad sales. It is highly regarded and recognised as the ‘go to’ publication for what’s happening in yoga coupled with informative editorial. Kenny Rogers said You’ve got to know when to walk away. Because there is a time for every purpose under the sun. Namaskar fulfilled a purpose. It reflected the phenomenal growth of yoga in Asia over the last two decades. Thank you Frances for your unbridled determination, passion and professionalism. Through you the Society’s aims and objectives remained alive. Like a tree with strong foundations, Namaskar leaves established roots of an ancient practice that will continue to grow and fourish in the future.

NAMASKAR

This is not a comprehensive history of the yoga movement by any means, but rather my personal historical association with yoga. I know for example that David Swenson lived in Hong Kong for almost two years back in the mid 1980’s and was teaching Ashtanga Yoga whilst he was involved with the Hare Krishna movement here, long before he became famous. He actually had no real students because nobody wanted to study “this funny religious hippy thing” back then.

David Swenson lived in Hong Kong back in the 1980’s And I know the Raja Yoga movement opened its centre here in 1971 and later under the guidance of the gentle and compassionate Maureen Chen they opened many a mind and heart. And then there was the New Age Shop on Old Bailey Street in

Central founded by the visionary Sally Anderson… But this is not that story. Once upon a time I lived under the stars in an ancient ruin of an old farmhouse on Yung Shue Wan Bay. This magical land and beach was on the eastern side of the Harbour. It sat directly across from the ferry pier where there used to be a small beautiful sandy beach, with red rocks and lush tropical vegetation all around it. This oasis was known as Hunter’s. On the beach just above the water line there was the sweetest tasting fresh water well the ancients used back in the day. This was Hunter’s source of living water, and he would row every morning from his home, a beautiful traditional Chinese sailing Junk called The Long Hai ( Dragon Sea ). He had it built in China’s Fujian Province back in the late 1980’s. Hunter Wallof lived on the Long Hai with his loyal dog Rufus and was an eccentric Californian artist from the original first wave of Berkley hippies. A fruitarian, an artist, a gatherer, a farmer, a sailor and a wise man of great integrity. He was my teacher and I learnt much from this humble man, who mostly walked around barefoot, lived close to the earth and had one of the lowest eco-footprints of anyone I have ever known. Yet he lived in Hong Kong and had chosen Lamma Island to be his home. Although Hunter was not a yoga teacher per se, he was a yogi. I lived at Hunter’s for six beautiful and seminal months, from July 1993 until December 1993, and it was there I was teaching myself yoga from Deepak Chopra’s great book “Perfect Health”. I practiced daily to the best of my ability by following the simple

yoga asana, and especially my favourite flow the Sun Salutations. I was not aware of any yoga studios as such, because there weren’t any in Hong Kong at that time. There were several yoga teachers, all beautiful strong women, teaching privately or out in nature in the open somewhere. There was of course the Raja Yoga Centre in Tin Hau & the Hare Krishna Temple in TST, offering Dhyana yoga (meditation) and Bhakti yoga (devotional) respectively at the time. My love for yoga began a couple of years or so earlier as I had discovered meditation in Bangkok through Raja Yoga, and what I then jokingly used to refer to as “my medication”. Then, Sugha Das came to Lamma Island in 1995. One fine day I was woken up super early in Gaia House by a phone call from Kumi (of Drum-Jam fame), who was then a long-term Lamma resident, and she said there is a yoga teacher on Lamma and he is offering free yoga classes and that I must come to meet him. Sure enough I went to his morning class with Yoganidhi, my then girlfriend and later wife, and it was love at first sight. We were both immediately taken by this humble yogi who sat there with the biggest smile on his face and giggled like a child. His classes were a traditional 3hour teachings in the Satyananda Yoga style, ending with a 20minute Shavasana. These were usually followed by a scrumptious breakfast he would prepare for us. The smell of Cumin, Cinnamon and Cardamon would gently entice us out of our slumber with the promise of some delightful food and tea that followed.

A total immersion in the ancient world of Yoga, with Asana, Mantra, Pranayama, Mudra, Bandha, Shatkarma and Meditation. The classes were by donation only because Sugar, as we affectionally called him, would not accept money. A community was built around this morning ritual with his teachings being taught from different houses on Lamma which often had terraces and gardens where we would lounge in the early morning sun and while away the lazy Lamma Daze. Some of us had to rush to catch a ferry to HK Island on occasion but mostly we all lived and worked there. This community was small and consisted of eight students only, but we were sincere and learnt yoga the slow and sustainable way. Sugar would not teach us any other asana until we had completed one month of Pawan Muktasana first. This is a series of movements which systematically rotate every joint in the body. “But we want to stand on our heads and do funky yoga postures” we would cry out in frustration. “No!” He would command in his gentle but firm voice, “first, you get the uric acid out of your joints and limbs and then we start asana.”

first, you get the uric acid out of your joints & then we start asana This respect for tradition remains with me today 25 years later and has given me and the rest of us a solid foundation to our practice and our view of yoga. Out of the

December 2020

eight students, four became yoga teachers and all eight of us still practice in some form or the other till this day. Then came the Yoga Room on Lamma Island founded by Robin Tassie and Roberta Raine in 1996 arguably Hong Kong’s first designated Yoga Centre. Robin later closed it down and moved it to Hong Kong Island and founded Yoga Central on Wyndham Street teaching Iyengar Yoga in 1999. Robin and Roberta started off teaching yoga on Power Station beach on Lamma before opening the original Yoga Room. They were not part of our Yoga Kula but we were all aware of each other and overlapped here and there through our love for Yoga. Whilst Robin was building Yoga Central, Yoganidhi opened a small Yoga Centre just round the corner from The Bookworm Cafe in an old Hutong style Chinese house, which was really an extension of the hippy plant-based scene that we were. Yoganidhi taught Satyananda Yoga there which she had studied at the Bihar School of Yoga in India in 1997/1998. After her studies she had returned to Lamma where I had promptly surprised her with “darling this is The Bookworm Cafe, our dream vegetarian restaurant!” I had opened The Bookworm whilst she was away in India, and it soon became a hub for all things wonderful and alternative including the fledgling yoga scene in Hong Kong. Then came Pure Yoga and Patrick Creelman in 2002 with their first centre at The Centrium on Arbuthnot Road, and the rest as they say is history.

KULA

History

Updates

THAILAND, SEVEN INDIA, HK YEARS OF SERVICE BY PAUL DALLAGHAN

I arrived in Thailand in 2001 dividing my time between practice and life in India and teaching explorations in Thailand. In 2001-2002 there were practically no established yoga studios anywhere in Asia. It was real pioneering times and I was right on the edge of it, a “photo-millenial". So by 2003 a natural unfolding of opening a residential place to practice (then Yoga Thailand, now Samahita) came to be. At the same time a new young studio in Hong Kong, called Pure Yoga (you may have heard of), invited me to come teach the very first visiting teacher workshops in their (then) one studio. I got to spend time with Pure's full teaching staff, all nine of them (yes, 9 teachers). That was when I met the editor of Namaskar, Frances, and began a long connection over the years. I want to personally acknowledge Frances for her service and devotion to this publication and the grassroots development of yoga all these years. It’s amazing how 18 years has flown by and how the yoga world has morphed, changed, and expanded everywhere. Though Namaskar now closes its doors may its ongoing message and service live on in all of us dedicated to understanding yoga, internally, personally, and continue the legacy of practice. with sincerest thanks and a namaskar bow to you. 8

BY ANGELA SUN Serving Namaskar and the yoga community for the past seven years has been a rewarding and fulfilling experience. I remember when I first picked up the Namaskar magazine while waiting for a yoga class in the waiting area of Pure Yoga in Hong Kong. I thought it was such a great magazine which gave so much information and articles on yoga from different perspectives. I looked forward to each new issue. When I saw that they were looking for someone to volunteer for the magazine I jumped at the opportunity. I was eager to become involved in the yoga community around Hong Kong and Asia. I wanted to give back some how and I thought this was the perfect way. After meeting the Namaskar team, I was even more excited to begin volunteering with them. I had admired Frances for a long time before meeting her so I kind of had a celebrity shock moment when we met for the first time! She may or may not have remembered this story. I had taken a few of her yoga classes and really admired the care and ease with which she taught. I even took my father, who was around 70 years old at the time with a bad knee, to one of her classes. She was so attentive to

my father even with a room full of other students. I was touched by her compassion and patience in that class. I knew then that I wanted to emulate her way of being in the classes that I taught. I was so thrilled to begin working with Frances. I also got to meet Wai Ling Tse, who was another amazing person I wanted to meet. And after meeting Carol, I knew that this was a great group of women to work with. Handling the distribution and circulation of Namaskar allowed me to get to know the studios around Asia and people all around the world who subscribe to Namaskar. It was a privilege to be entrusted with this task. The hard work was done by Frances, Carol, and Wai Ling! As the years went on, we all had our personal obligations to attend to. I moved back to my hometown, New York City, and am now pursuing my license in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine. Yoga is still a big part of my life and keeps my mind and body at ease and flexible.

The Yoga Barn classes are free online

The Yoga Barn in Bali offers yoga classes online at www.yogabarnonline.com There are on-demand and live zoom yoga, meditation and healing art classes.

Yoga Gifts Sale

It’s been a pleasure to serve for the Namaskar and yoga community around the world. Not only have I contributed to Namaskar, but Namaskar has contributed back to me by allowing me to stay connected and give back to the yoga community. Even though Namaskar magazine is closing down, my experiences and memories with the Namaskar team will forever be in my heart.

NAMASKAR

Hand embroidered yoga bags & yoga gifts with all proceeds to Vrajakishori Seva Trust

Cotton hand-embroidered yoga mat bags, pants, toe socks, essential oils for winter, copper neti pots, mugs, flasks, tongue cleaners, herbal pain

assumption. Based on years of teaching beginners, the methods described here have successfully taken total beginners into the traditional postures in a surprisingly short period of time.

creams, various super quality incense. All are new, from smoke-free vegan home. 100% of proceeds are donated to the Indian relief charity Vrajakishori Seva Trust

The balanced approach offered here keeps in mind the realities of modern life. Venturing from the traditional approach to Ashtanga, the focus is not on perfecting the postures but rather on using the practice as a tool to prepare the body for sitting meditation.

For more information +44 7944 206797, www.vrajakishorisevatrust.org

Yoga at Home with your Kids

Singapore-based Childrens’ yoga teacher, Sophie, has created MiniYOGI cards for children (and parents) to practice/play with. For more information contact Sophie @ MiniYOGI, +65 9632 4032

New Books by Kim Roberts Yoga teacher and long-time Namaskar contributor has released two books, both available through Amazon. Toward a Secret Sky is a guidebook for modern pilgrims who are searching for encouragement in following their commitment to a spiritual path. Kim acts as a friendly guide, helping people

navigate the strange and exhilarating journey of a spiritual seeker. She shares stories from her own years of pilgrimage in places like India, Thailand, and Bhutan, and prompts readers to jump-start their unique path of discovery with meditation and writing exercises. Ashtanga for Beginners Mind is a guide to the practice of the primary series with a section on sitting meditation. While the book is appropriate for all levels of students and gives instruction at the most advanced level, emphasis is placed on the importance of maintaining “beginner’s mind.” It is sometimes assumed Ashtanga practice is only for the young and fit; the approach offered here seeks to deny that

This book is especially valuable for yoga practitioners who wish to develop a meditation practice, and for meditators who wish to add a more embodied dimension to their meditation practice.

Introducing Soma Yoga to Hong Kong Long-time Namaskar contributor Andy Willner is launching Soma Yoga in Hong Kong. Celebrating the tantric view that the body is to be celebrated and used as a vehicle towards liberation, not shunned as an obstacle that hinders our spiritual journey, as was the view in all other Indian darshana (world views). Andy says Soma Yoga is founded on the premise that the ‘practises’ of yoga can lead to the ‘state’ of yoga, and everything in which we engage is for the purpose of awakening to the true nature of reality and then integrating that experiential realisation into our daily lives. This includes all aspects of Hatha Yoga including asana (the postures) in which we look to

December 2020

release the grip of the small ego and calm the mind in order to open ourselves to the possibility of revelation. This possibility requires some introspection, which is why pranayama (breath expansion) and meditation are such an important part of Soma Yoga. By way of background, Soma was the elixir of the Gods and dates back to the earliest brahminical scripture, namely the Rig Veda around 1500BCE. It was used in rituals to the Gods by the priests and, it was most certainly consumed by humans in the hope of immortality. In western civilization “Soma” relates to the “body” coming from the Greek word for body. The word has in modern times been incorporated into “Somatics”, which is a field within bodywork and movement studies which emphasizes internal physical perception and experience.

Indian Charitable Trust welcomes your support The Vraja Kishori Seva Trust is an Indian charity which provides much needed supplies such as food, blankets, face masks and animal feed to local people and animals in the Holy Town of Sri Vrindavan and surrounds in North India. It is funded mostly by donations from yoga practitioners in the UK and by proceeds from sales of yoga philosophy books, translated by Namaskar’s mudra contributor Krishnaa Kinkari, and yoga gifts. If you would like to learn more, or support their work, please visit www.vrajakishorisevatrust.org

PHOTO ESSAY

SELFLESS SEVA DURING LOCKDOWN

Local Charity’s Intrepid Volunteers

WORDS BY KRISHNAA KINKARI

NAMASKAR

The Covid 19 pandemic caused a chain reaction of deprivation in the Holy Town of Sri Vrindavan and surrounds in North India. The first surprising, and deleterious, effect of lockdown was starving animals! Pilgrims, locals and visitors were locked out of the area and there was no one to feed the cows, monkeys, deer, buffalo and birds etc. who were previously very well looked after. Pretty soon people came together to help. Some bigger charities gave a few big bags once or twice, so Vraja Kishori Seva Trust’s (VKST) Pandit Ghanshyam, who is the local coordinator in Vrindavan, decided to give a little at a time, spread out over a long period. Since March 2020, he has been arranging daily feeds by himself, with his sons and friends. This despite no markets, threats of beatings, police fines and scorching 50 C temperatures! Using a rickshaw, the volunteers started taking soaked chickpeas to feed street cows and monkeys. After some time, hungry homeless people and refugees started to come to them for

food too. Numbers ballooned to include 200 monkeys, 50 cows and 150 people a day! Funded mostly by yoga students and volunteers in the UK, the VKST has also been sponsoring local ladies to sew masks, put together individual bags of rice, dhal and flour for distribution as widely as possible, brought green grass daily to a herd of 230 cows! They’ve had help from the community too. A local Sadhu built a stove from bricks and cow dung so evening meals of rice, dahl, flour, oil, salt and vegetables can be made and distributed for up to 200 people a day. I am most impressed by the ingenuity and dedication of those involved during this pandemic. One of the volunteers was bitten by a monkey and had to have injections! Still they went out the next day, so much were they enjoying this opportunity to serve, their generosity goes beyond personal consideration. If you would like to contribute in any way please contact Pandit Ghanshyamji directly on +91 9412280802 or visit vrajakishorisevatrust.org

December 2020

NAMASKAR

December 2020

NAMASKAR

HEALTH

ANTI-AGEING EFFECTS OF PRANAYAMA BREATHWORK BY HEATHER SHALABI & PATTY ANDAMO

Forget your creams and serums. Here’s a natural—and holistic—way to slow down the ageing clock! We’re all familiar with the positive effects yoga can have on our physique. But can the ancient method transform even our faces to look younger? According to evidence-based research, the answer is yes.

THE POWER OF THE BREATH As you are aware, breathwork lies at the heart of the yogic practice. The marrying of asanas and pranayamas is what makes the method effective in keeping the body energized and youthful—both inside and out. Mastering proper breath control can help us prolong our physical well-being and is a powerful tool to counter aging. Deep breathing slows down the heart rate and relaxes the nervous system, combating the stress hormones that are released into our bodies on a daily basis as a product of our fastpaced and busy lives. Increased oxygen levels that come with deep breathing also restores vitality to our facial features, translating to rosier, more supple and more radiant skin. Pranayama breathing also engages our bandhas and helps us restore inner balance. Employing the energy locks through breathwork can directly transform the face by improving tone, adding color and increasing vitality to the skin. It also enables cells to revitalize more efficiently.

It is well-known to most that yoga can help improve strength and flexibility, relieve back pain, boost energy and even manage stress. But there is more to the 5,000-year old practice. In recent decades, research collated by the U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health has shown on a molecular level, yoga may have a direct correlation to aging—particularly ageing of the face and skin. To put it simply, practicing yoga keeps your mind relaxed and your body strong, and also delays visible signs of facial ageing such as wrinkles, skin discoloration or age spots, sagging, and dry or flaky skin. You can check out Annalise Hagen’s book The Yoga Face: Eliminate Wrinkles with the Ultimate Natural Facelift for specific exercises.

If you were looking for a simple but effective anti-ageing hack, you just found it! Incorporate these pranayamas to your daily yoga routine. UJJAYI PRANAYAMA This nasal breathing exercise is believed to provide the body with deeper and purer levels of oxygen compared to other breathing techniques. The face receives better circulation through Ujjayi breathing as well, making skin rosier and more radiant. How To Do It: Take a seated position with your spine straight. Take a deep breath through your nose until your lungs are full. As you breathe in, direct the air toward the upper palate of your mouth and then to the back of your throat. As you exhale slowly through your nose, let the air again pass through the back of your throat and toward the upper palate of your mouth on its way out. Both inhale and exhale should produce a gentle, whisper-like sound.

December 2020

KAPALABHATI PRANAYAMA If you’re feeling tired or sluggish, the Kapalabhati technique can help revive your energy and breathe life back into your face. This diaphragmic breathing exercise cleanses the sinuses, clears air from the lungs and increases circulation. How To Do It: Sit in a cross-legged position and lengthen the spine. Place your hands on your knees with your palms facing up. Inhale through your nose and then take one deep exhale (also through your nose), emptying out all the air from your lungs. Inhale again comfortably and begin a sequence of 16 breaths. Exhale sharply through the nose and follow with an immediate involuntary intake of breath. Repeat for 16 counts. ANULOMA VILOMA Feeling anxious? This calming alternatenostril breathing technique can help you feel more relaxed. Practice this regularly to contour your nose and prevent it from drooping with age. How To Do It: Sit in a cross-legged position. Use the thumb on your right hand to block your right nostril. Inhale with your left nostril into your belly. Block your left nostril with your right ring finger and hold your breath for a moment. Release your thumb and exhale slowly and steadily through your right nostril. Inhale again through the right nostril. Block both nostrils again and hold. Release your ring finger and exhale through your left nostril. Repeat the sequence three times on each side. Of course, getting old isn’t the same for everyone, and breathwork alone isn’t enough to keep us young. But when done properly and with purpose, the breath can deliver endless benefits to our lives—body, mind and face. So take advantage of this beautiful tool and tap into the power of the pranayama; for good reason it means ‘life force’ in Sanskrit.

TECHNOLOGY

VANITY VS. HUMILITY

Why you never feel good enough with Social Media BY HERSHA CHELLERAM

Quieting the ego is a central element of yoga, yet we can’t help being swept helplessly away by the cross-currents of vanity and humility in our social media culture. Our dependency on digital interconnectedness has morphed our psyches towards self-obsession and inflated egos. This is why it’s easy to feel inadequate, like we are not doing or being enough. Ah, the Ego — the bottomless pit of desire that is never satisfied and always wants more. The voice of entitlement and impatience that takes it all so personally. Social media kindles this ego, giving us the perception our lives are more interesting than they actually are. Truth is, who cares what we ate for lunch and whether or not we can nail Pincha Mayurasana — we usually are the only ones who do. We are drawn to showing the world something about ourselves and our lives to prove its significance — seeking approval and validation via the number of followers, views, likes and comments we have. Every engagement received offers a dopamine hit that leaves each of us wanting more. This is the beginning of narcissistic behaviour — an inflated sense of self-importance and seeking recognition from others. Social media created the need to constantly post content to impress others and fill a void. Yet this void — that empty hollow feeling that there is nothing interesting or worthwhile about you or your life — this is what humankind has been seeking to fill since the beginning of time. The internet companies just found a way to make money from mankind’s eternal quest to find meaning, targeting our vulnerable ego. [Editor’s note, worth watching Netflix documentaries Social Dilemma & Screened Out] SOCIAL MEDIA SELF-REFLECTION It’s important to become aware of the emotional hold your social media accounts have on you and call yourself out on the vanity. The next time you check out your Facebook or Instagram, approach your social media browsing as a meditation practice. 16

Watch your emotional reaction to the number of views, likes and comments you receive. Can you identify the roller-coaster ride of emotions that flutter through your mind as you browse: jealousy, judgement, approval, disapproval, desire, and most importantly comparing yourself to others? It’s shocking

what you discover and how you f e e l energetically at the end. ACKNOWLEDGE THE VERBAL DELUSION The algorithms behind our profiles know our minds better than we know it ourselves, and it feeds us mind candy to stay engaged. Verbal delusion — a type of Vritti or thought / mental impression that does not have reality as its basis — is what makes social media so addictive (e.g., touched up selfies, fake news, the list goes on). These platforms are a place where the whole world can offload thoughts, opinions and nonsense. Look at the quality of your feed. This is merely a reflection of your mind. If you can see the patterns of emotions that come up when you browse, you have the capacity to do something about it. PRACTICE PRATYAHARA: SENSE WITHDRAWAL Master Sivananda, founder of Divine Life Society, tells us to be in this world and not of this world. Just like a tortoise withdraws its limbs, so too does the person of steady NAMASKAR

wisdom. Disconnect digitally to reconnect internally — and do this daily. In this space, you are no longer comparing yourself to anyone or anything and you have the opportunity to be real with your thoughts, your emotions and your opinions. Sitting quietly with yourself allows you the safety and privacy to come to terms with any feelings of inadequacy, jealousy, and negative emotions. Removing yourself from all of the chatter allows you to connect with your values and simply be. CULTIVATE HUMILITY Humility requires courage to fully accept yourself as you are — embracing both strengths and vulnerabilities. In this space, you know your intrinsic value as well as your personal capacity. Humility requires you to be bravely human — no pretences, no puffery, no self-abasement. If it’s irrational to believe that you are superior to those around you, it’s a similarly flawed framework to assume that you are inferior. Ways to cultivate humility is to acknowledge that while your experiences and perspectives have value, they are placed among others’ experiences and perspectives that also have value. Your place in the world is part of a much larger context. According to a 2016 Washington Post op-ed piece by Ashley Merryman, a genuinely humble person “knows he isn’t the centre of the universe… both grounded and liberated by this knowledge. Recognising his abilities, he asks how he can contribute. Recognising his flaws, he asks how he can grow.”

December 2020

SEVA

HELP YOUNG ADULTS FLOURISH

Ethnic minorities are Hong Kongers! BY ANJALI NIHALCHAND

I am a committee member and a volunteer for The Zubin Foundation (TZF). I am also a mentee for one of its programs called the Desi Friendship Circle. About 20 young girls from ethnic minorities (EM) backgrounds and five Mentors meet in a private setting every six weeks. The purpose is to provide a safe space for EM girls to share their thoughts and concerns, to focus on them, to give them access to role models from their backgrounds, to create a friendship community and to bridge the social gap of the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’.

empathy, that they are extra resourceful given their obstacles, that they work harder than the average young person and they excel in so many areas. Each one of them have their own passions and interests and truly consider themselves as Hong Kongers. Zulaiha, is a young HK-born, 20-year-old Muslim girl from South India. She speaks, reads and writes Cantonese. Not only is she a star Biology student, she collaborates as a program curator for a talk show on RTHK, she tutors young people in various subjects and she has started a home grown halal catering

Too often, ethnic minority Hong Kongers experience real discrimination: ‘I have had some difficult experiences growing up in Hong Kong,’ one EM girl told me recently. ‘Even if I didn’t have a problem with the colour of my skin, the local community did. In MTR, locals cover their noses or refuse to sit beside us. These actions deeply impact us and our sense of belonging ‘. These acts of showing distaste for what is different in dress or skin colour is unkind and should not be tolerated. Often however, these experiences drive empowerment and resilience in the very people they are designed to marginalise. EMs I have met tend to be more alert and articulate about who they are and why they dress a certain way or about their religious practices. I found this so enlightening. Many Muslim girls I have met have read the Quran from back to front to understand deeply their beliefs and why they choose this faith. This is of course for their own understanding but also to combat negative remarks towards them. Even sometimes to challenge accepted behaviours and practices in their own community. One of the most recent featured profiles on the IG campaign, Rochelle, a young girl who is a make-up artist and works at a cosmetic store in Central. She speaks fluent Cantonese and has a wonderfully energetic spirit not to mention talent. She says the Chinese customers stay away from her so she has to rise above it, be extra friendly and start to engage them in Chinese to help them feel less uncomfortable.

At these dinners, we often hear stories of suffering and hardship, some of quite extreme nature, forced marriage, abuse in the home, not being allowed to continue studying or to choose one’s own professional path. But in spite of these challenges I have been left with the notion that these girls are mature beyond their years, that their spirits are unbreakable, that they know themselves intimately, that they have a deep capacity for 18

business with her good friend and their mums. This is only one impressive story of so many I have come across. Zulaiha’s story among many others inspired me to create an Instagram campaign, in tandem with the work of TZF, to celebrate the voices and experiences of these young people and to bring more awareness to the Chinese community that we are part of HK, we are locals, we are Hong Kongers too.

NAMASKAR

I admire this level of tenacity of the young EMs in HK but I also want to help make their lives less challenging on a day to day basis by breaking down these barriers through storytelling and showing ‘likeness’ on social media. This was the impetus behind me launching United Colours of Hong Kong in March. As they say, it takes a village, and I could not have done this alone. I work alongside wonderful collaborators of diverse ethnic backgrounds including local Chinese, who contribute with photography, creative writing, graphics, translation and video editing. The reality is ethnic minorities make up 3% of the HK population. Often, they are deemed as

‘inferior’ as compared to the majority Chinese population but this is outright incorrect and unacceptable. Hong Kong EMs have been an important part the history of this country, whether the Nepalis fighting in the war, the Sikh men making up a big part of the HK police force, and the long history of Filipino domestic workers, to name a few. And today, the EMs of HK continue to contribute economically and socially across a variety of businesses and industries. I am proud to know of a young gentlemen, whose father worked two jobs as a security guard, and is now the first EM Vice Principal of a local school. We have so many inspiring stories like this to share, including EM firemen, doctors, teachers, and authors. Take a look at the HK National Cricket team, 90% are made up of EMs. It’s about time, we foster respect, education, celebration, inclusion and full acceptance, so I wanted to highlight young people in particular, because it is this generation that are not planning to ‘go back home’ anywhere, and for whom HK is their home. Many of the older generation still have dreams to leave HK and

Chinese customers stay away from her so she has to rise above it and help them feel less uncomfortable reside in the place where they were maybe born or feel more at home at but not most ethnic minority young people. The UCHK social media campaign is about viral awareness but TZF is where the really good stuff happens. I am so grateful to be a part of this organisation. The impact they have made has been phenomenal. Their programs include a helpline in Hindi/Urdu, assistance to parents with children who have special needs, helping youths find job opportunities, mental health support and last but not least, significantly increasing EM representation on a variety of government committees so that we can be included in policy making and changing through concerted intervention. So far the reception of the campaign has been exhilarating. We have united a community and the messages have been so encouraging.

December 2020

This one was from a young Chinese girl “Just discovered your page. Can I just say that you guys have such a big heart and it’s an amazing thing to do! Hong Kong needs to hear this. So many people out there still hold stigma or different views because they are lacking a platform to get to know ethnic minorities (outside than domestic helpers)!”

We have purposely made the campaign bilingual and the videos in Chinese and we need to continue to find new ways/channels to raise awareness and followers among the Chinese young people. Please play a part by following us on Instagram and sharing our posts more widely so all Hong Kong can truly celebrate ethnic minority inclusion and contribution.

POEM

A Rising Smoke BY NATASHA DEVALIA

Her breath becomes a whisper, a fine line of rising smoke that dances its way into the atmosphere. An incense has burnt out. Ashes mixed with tears deepen the shades of grey on her canvas, for a sincere goodbye begged the painter in her, to brush strokes in a red spiral of pure catharsis for her mother who said goodbye to her own daughter, to her granddaughter, and to her great granddaughter. A subtle fragrance lingers. It enters her daughter’s lungs like a breath of air, light and sweet for she

is to

continue

as water, for even if there is an end as real as it is imagined, she is to continue as water. 20

NAMASKAR

December 2020

DRISTI - SAVASANA

SAVASANA & BREATHWORK The base of breath & total relaxation BY PAUL DALLAGHAN

GUIDED IMAGERY .................26 Another tool to quieten the mind 22

KUNDALINI STYLE ................28 Gongs aid the transformation

NOT HAVASANAP ................29 Stay conscious to benefit

NAMASKAR

YOGA NIDRA ..........................30 The art of conscious relaxation

Photo by Le Minh Phuong on Unsplash

December 2020

In recent years it has become normal to see exercise as a great regulator of health and even an aid, if not improver, to cognition, how well your brain works. There are numerous studies that quite conclusively show this. This is great news. Only 100-150 years ago physical activity was considered to leave one “dullminded” and it was actually a raised objection by the educated groups, at least in India, to not engage in activities like yoga asana-s and other physical force.

Interestingly in a 2013 study on post-exercise recovery with or without music the researchers found no difference between these conditions and concluded “Relaxing music unaccompanied by meditation techniques or other such interventions may not have a major role in reducing anxiety in certain experimental settings” (4) The point to note here is “unaccompanied by meditation techniques”. Recovery and rest are limited if the mind is not engaged in the equation.

From 1920 on Swami Kuvalayananda took it upon himself to bring physical education, with the addition of yoga asana-s, into the Indian school curriculum. This was an incredible feat for an ardent nationalist to have been selected by the British government of the day to appoint him to this role in 1932.

Relaxation with breath regulation, Savasana, is essentially both a meditation technique and body and mind restoration

Ironically in today’s active, over-worked world we have almost swung the other way, needing to be reminded to literally relax, slow down, learn how to breathe, for not just physical health but to actually realize the best return from your physical activity. In current times of required isolation how many are actually finding the balance between enough activity to stimulate the body and brain and adequate rest to relax the musculature, restore the nervous function, regulate the breath and bring relief, even lightness to the inner emotional world? With so many experiencing a load of stress, even anxiety in these times, it takes its load on brain function and how well you can emotionally process all that’s coming at you in life. One outcome of that mental stress load is an alteration of synapses in your brain leading to a disruption in communication between neurons. WE NEED A BREATHWORK PLAN & RELAXATION STRATEGY A wonderful pose from the world of yoga that features often as people’s favorite is savasana. Strangely it translates as “corpse”, thankfully only as metaphor and an indication of the degree to let go of the body. But not just the body – the mind also. A similarly styled technique became popular and studied in the late 1960s leading researcher and scientist, Dr. Herbert Benson, to name it the “Relaxation Response”, culminating in a book in 1975. In a sense he renamed and repackaged certain meditational techniques and called it by this more popularly acceptable term. Yet it is still not the full practice of savâsana.

savasana, was by Dr. Datey M.D, head of Cardiology at K.E.M. Hospital Bombay, and Dr. Vinekar of the Kaivalyadham, the chief researcher under Swami Kuvalayananda, published in the journal Angiology in 1969. It detailed empirical results to show the positive effects of this real level of relaxation on reducing hypertension. Yet Swami Kuvalayananda himself was the first to write about and detail Savasana and breath regulation in his journal Yoga Mimamsa back in 1926. Some of his great work inspires the information in this article. Our informed approach follows these two arms:

as much as you work the body, you need to allow it to relax, restore This is made clear in the fifteenth century Hathapradipika classic text of Hathayoga that appears to be the first textual evidence of savasana being included as an asana. It states in chapter 1 (verse 32): Laying supine on the ground like a corpse, that is Savasana. Savsana wards off fatigue and brings mental repose. Fatigue is different to tiredness, though related. You’re tired, go to bed earlier. Even then you may still be fatigued. Or it may be that fatigue has crept back in early in the day. Fatigue is the degree of pressure your nervous system is dealing with, its load in simple language. Most often it has a mental source though the physical side contributes. Even doing yoga postures, from what looks like a simple seated posture to more elaborate contortions, can be challenging in the sense of a physical effort that contributes to fatigue. Relaxation is key if these other postures’ body conditioning is to take place. Therefore, an integral and important element of body and breath practice is frequent supine (lay on your back) or prone (lay on your belly) relaxation intervals. Not just for yoga class, this relaxation approach is for life. Just sitting with good posture for much of the day, if your work requires it, coupled with a few breaks, is fatigue building. It’s load bearing on your nervous system. The key is balance, as much as you work the body, simply live in a body and carry it around, you need to allow it to relax, restore, which includes above all the mental level. Earlier than Benson, what is most likely the first validated medical journal publication on

NAMASKAR

A. Savasana: complete relaxation of the entire body – a constructive effort to allow the different bodily tissues to relax coupled with a continued attention on the same relaxed bodily tissues. B. Breath Regulation: exclusive attention to the breath – while maintaining the degree of bodily relaxation achieved in A above, a rhythm to the flow of breath is developed through a combined focus on the breath while remaining in this relaxed bodily position The exercise is then developed across a few steps over time: 1. Lay down on your back, legs at about 30 degrees apart, arms about 45 degrees away from the sides of the body. Allow up to a minute to settle your body into its laying position. 2. Observe your breath. Do not attempt to control the breath, neither the amount of air taken in or out nor in the length of the breath in or out. It is free. Your breath has its own way. If you submit to the wandering of the mind all you are doing is laying your body down with your mind disconnected, effectively missing the double effect and purpose of this (meditational technique) practice – rhythm and relaxation. This step alone can be the main focus, growing from 3 to 10 minutes over a two-week period. 3. Discovery of breath rhythm.. If you faithfully follow step 2 for two weeks, just

laying and mindfully observing your breath you will discover your unchecked breath is uneven and irregular, across volume and length of inhales and exhales. It is worth taking the time to only do step 2 in order to learn something about your own physiology. You may discover that this lack of uniformity in your breathing is behind many minor (perhaps major) ills you experience. It needs, it deserves improvement. 4. Breath improvement through regulation. Contrary to some of our seated breathwork practices, we first attempt to make the length of inhale and exhale even. This requires you to lengthen the shorter breath and shorten the longer breath. No effort should be made to increase the volume of each respiration, however. A rhythmical flow is all that is wanted. Additionally, the length is not forced but rather you arrive at natural length that you have regulated and made even. Ideally give yourself 10 to 15 minutes for this everyday. 5. Breath expansion. Continue step 4 for a month before taking on this step. Now your breath is regulated, inhale exhale even, so you only increase the volume of each inhale and exhale. This makes the breath a little more controlled as you draw in more breath and proportionally let it out across the designated time. Breath should be smooth and slow, never forced, jerky or violent. Mind continues to be concentrated on the moving breath. This 15-minute routine now becomes your relaxation and breath regulation practice. 6. Optional continuation – you can choose to sit up and follow one of the other detailed breathwork practices such as a 10-minute Quad-Ratio Breath practice that I have detailed elsewhere. A final note from Swami Kuvalayananda on these exercises as he wrote in 1926: “The practice of rhythmical breathing is not as easy as it looks to be at the first sight. The most difficult part of it is concentration. Patient work, however, must enable a student to achieve success. There should be no hurry in going through the successive stages. The second stage [Breath improvement through regulation] should not be begun unless and until one has mastered the first [Observe your breath]. The same is true about the third [Breath expansion] and the second stage.”

relaxation with breath focus. It is recommended as one of the asana-s in the seventeenth century hatha text Gheranda Samhita. But we’ll see it has tremendous modern application. This prone resting state can be applied at any time during the day especially as and when you feel anxiety or shortness of breath. PRONE BREATHING EXERCISE Lay on your belly, breathe and relax, has been a staple yogic breathing preparation practice, as an acute yogic therapy, recommended in cases of anxiety or panic attack. By lying on the belly with arms folded and head straight, a slight elevation to the ribs is caused. This allows for deeper diaphragmatic work that makes more complete use of lung capacity, thereby increasing ventilation and thus providing greater oxygen delivery.

Swami Kuvalayananda

Method: 1: Lay down on the front of your body on the floor/mat/bed/couch 2: Fold arms and cross them under your forehead 3: The nature of the position places more attention on your inhale 4: Inhale to medium capacity – belly and side ribs expand so it feels your back rises up 5: Exhale without any extra effort – allow the breath to flow out and the body to sink with it 6: Aim for at least 20 breaths In our current global climate the benefits of a prone breathing practice have been noticed. A recent research report by NY hospital-based clinicians Caputo et al. showed early selfproning in awake COVID-19 positive patients demonstrated improved oxygen saturation. In acute COVID-19 cases it helps relieve reliance on electronic ventilators needed by more severe patients. From a comprehensive yoga approach done regularly prone breathing is a preventive, calming and supportive measure over the long term on both respiratory quality and emotional support that is easy to do and continue. Done regularly you develop “breath resilience” to influence “emotional resilience”. May you enjoy tremendous well-being through mastering the art of relaxation and regulating your breath in the process – one cannot be had without the other.

A sister to Savasana,, which is supine relaxation, is Makarasana, essentially prone

December 2020

Savsana wards off fatigue & brings mental repose.

DRISTI - SAVASANA

GUIDED IMAGERY

Gateway to the Unconscious BY ANDREW SEYMOUR

ONE POSE TO CONNECT THEM ALL When teaching yoga, you can include any poses you like. Be creative. Have fun with it. There’s only one pose you have to include. Remove this pose, and it’s no longer yoga. Which pose is this? Savasana. Yoga is a moving meditation. And then we reach perfect stillness in Savasana. Our body is still. And if we’re practicing the pose correctly, our mind is also still. Some yogis say this is the most important pose. Others say it’s the most difficult pose. The way I see it, it’s both. SAVASANA & MEDITATION Every time we practice asana, we take this five-minute rest [or longer]. If we had a good yoga practice, chances are we’ll have an equally good Savasana. A good Savasana sets the conditions for a productive meditation session to follow. Meditation can take many forms. We can return to a comfortable seated position and focus on our breath. In this seated position, we can also practice vipassana meditation. Another option is to stay lying down and practice yoga nidra – which literally translates to “yoga sleep.” Like Savasana, this is a conscious sleep state. Our body is resting deeply. Unlike Savasana, we are guided by our teacher through a relaxing body scan. This session can be as short as 10 minutes or as long as an hour. Through this guided relaxation session, our teacher has us focus on different parts of our body – one by one, from head to toe. We focus on consciously relaxing each body part as deeply as we can. Even in Savasana, we may still be holding tension in a part of our body. Often, we unconsciously hold tension in places where it’s easy to hide – our neck, shoulders, belly, jaw and forehead. Yoga nidra helps us bring this muscular tension to our conscious awareness, where we can now consciously relax it. When our body is deeply relaxed, our mind is also able to let go. We sink into a deeper state 26

of relaxation and restoration. YOGA & BRAIN WAVES Before our yoga class, our mind is switched on and alert to help us get through the work day. We have a constant stream of thoughts that can help us problem-solve. We can measure this activity of our brain, which is referred to scientifically as “brain waves.” In this alert and active state of mind, our brain activity is referred to as Beta brain waves, or “busy Beta.” This brain activity moves at a rate of 14-30 cycles a second. Near the end of the yoga session, we’re physically and mentally relaxed. Our brain activity has slowed down to Alpha waves, about 9-13 cycles a second. If we have a particularly good Savasana, or if we’re guided through a yoga nidra session, we’re likely to reach the next level of brain activity, Theta. Theta waves move at 4-8 cycles a second. We experience this brain activity when we’re deeply relaxed. Or while we’re asleep and dreaming. In other words, we can have this experience either when we’re awake or asleep, conscious or unconscious. Theta brain wave states are particularly helpful for balancing our nervous system. But we can’t get there if our mind is overactive. This is why we focus on our breath in yoga. This is why we emphasize a still mind in Savasana. This gentle focus helps to calm down our mind, and get us into slower brain wave states. This is where the mental benefits of yoga happen. INTRO TO GUIDED IMAGERY Yoga nidra helps us reliably shift our brain waves to a deeply relaxed state – right on the border between conscious and unconscious brain activity. From this deeply relaxed state of yoga nidra, we can go one step further. We can actively engage our unconscious mind through the practice of guided imagery. Here we define “imagery” as thoughts we can see, feel, taste, hear or smell. And “guided imagery” as a technique where a teacher helps us relax your body and mind so we can focus our imagination in a specific way. NAMASKAR

Why is guided imagery important? As Dr. Martin Rossman, author of Guided Imagery for Self-Healing notes: “it is the dominant language of the right brain and the human unconscious.” He points to recent developments in our understanding of imagery, and how “imagery is a natural language of a major part of our nervous system.” IMAGERY & OUR NERVOUS SYSTEM Our autonomic nervous system is the part of our nervous system that controls our heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, digestion, saliva, etc. This system has two modes: sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest). If you try to increase your heart rate by telling your body to turn it up, nothing will happen. It doesn’t work that way. Our autonomic nervous system is automatic, meaning it’s beyond our conscious control. You may have heard that the only way to consciously change your autonomic nervous system is by changing your breathing. Short and fast breathing like kapalabhati can switch on our “fight or flight” mode, causing our heart rate and blood pressure to increase. If we practice relaxing breathing – inhale for 4, exhale for 8 – this can engage our “rest and digest” mode, which lowers our heart rate and blood pressure. Breathing practices are the only way we can consciously take control of our autonomic nervous system. But what about using guided imagery? Is it possible to take control of our nervous system on the unconscious level? Increased saliva is a function of our “rest and digest” nervous system. If someone asks you to increase your saliva, it probably won’t do anything. But Dr. Rossman has a simple exercise to test guided imagery on your nervous system: Relax for a moment and imagine you are holding a juicy lemon. Feel its coolness, texture, and weight in your hand. Imagine cutting it in half and squeezing the juice into a glass. Perhaps some pulp and a seed or two drop into the glass. Imagine raising the glass to your lips and taking a good mouthful of the sour lemon juice. Swish it around in your

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

mouth, taste its sourness, and swallow. Chances are your mouth is watering. So what just happened? Our nervous system doesn’t respond to words. It doesn’t respond to logic. It does, on the other hand, respond to images. THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN OUR CONSCIOUS & UNCONSCIOUS MIND Where things get really interesting is imagery allows for a dialogue. Dr. Rossman explains “imagery is a two-way medium of communication between your silent, unconscious mind and your verbal, conscious mind.” Not only can you communicate with your unconscious through images, but it speaks to you the same way. The best example of this is our dreams. In our dreams, our unconscious mind communicates not through logic and reason, but the only way it knows how – through images. Dr. Rossman notes how “Carl Jung, the eminent Swiss psychiatrist, believed that imagery was as close to the unconscious as we can get, that it may even be the unconscious mind directly revealing itself.” We get these images while we sleep, but guided imagery offers a unique opportunity to receive dream-like images while we’re still awake and conscious. HOW DO I GET STARTED? Like meditation, guided imagery takes

practice. If you practice twice a week, you should see progress over a month. It begins with a yoga nidra session where you engage a Theta brain state. Next, you can see where your imagination takes you when you hear the phrase: “imagine yourself going to a place of great beauty and safety and comfort to you.” With practice, this place becomes more vivid. More advanced guided imagery practice allows for a direct dialogue with your unconscious. This dialogue may take the form of pictures, words, thoughts or sensations. Dr. Rossman refers to this as your “inner advisor” – someone who you ask questions, and who responds through these images. We often hear that the answers to the questions we’re looking for are already inside us, we just need to be quiet enough to listen. Think of guided imagery as one more tool in a yogi’s kit to help quiet the mind, find the answer and draw it out.

Check out an intro to Dr. Rossman’s guided imagery and transcript at RedpointYoga.com/ GuidedImagery. Purchase Dr. Rossman’s book and guided imagery at thehealingmind.org

December 2020

Yoga nidra helps shift our brain waves to the border between conscious and unconscious brain activity

DRISTI - SAVASANA

SHAVASANA KUNDALINI STYLE

Awake in a Dream BY MARTHA COLLARD

When I ask audiences what the best part of a yoga class is, the brave and honest shout , ‘The end’! Shavasana is typically done at the end of a practice where you lie full length on your back, preferably covered with eyes closed. Within minutes tiredness disappears and the mind becomes calm preparing you for return to your daily life. In Kundalini our Shavasana differs in that it is longer, up to 10-15 min in a 90-minute class, is held after the kriya or set of exercises each with a specific movement, focus and breath and most significantly we include the sound of a meditation gong. The gong is unique to our practice and is integral to many of our meditations and kriyas. In 1969 Yogi Bhajan (YB), founder of 3HO and KRI introduced the gong when he first taught on Venice Beach in CA. Through the everexpanding network of KY teachers worldwide gongs are now found from Argentina to China and virtually every country inbetween. Since then musicians, alternative healers, and sound practitioners have embraced these powerful tools of transformation. Prior to YB gongs were found in the percussion section of orchestras. The first orchestral piece written for gong was a funeral march by Francois Gossec in 1791. More recently they were used by all major rock bands, watch Queen’s finale of Bohemian Rhapsody. YB said ‘a gong is the sound of creation itself and those that play it play the universe.’ The gong is named after the sound it makes – ONG. Ong meaning ‘creative consciousness’. Take a moment and chant OHM slowly and consciously. Check in with how you feel. Now chant ONG, each time closing your mouth, pushing your tongue to the roof of your mouth so that the whole nasal cavity vibrates. Notice which is activating and which is calming.

Photo by Jordan Heath on Unsplash

How can an instrument so activating, relax us? Unlike singing bowls gongs alter our state of consciousness transporting us into the lucid dream state of theta in as little as one second. Here your body is relaxed however NAMASKAR

your mind may be active. We refer to it as being ‘awake in a dream’. Mehtab Benton describes it as an ‘extended state of spontaneous meditation and therapeutic relaxation facilitating the movement of prana through the body for healing and awakening the consciousness for transformation.’ The powerful waves of sound with their complex harmonics stimulate the release of nitric oxide in the body. NO relaxes muscles and acts as a vasodilator thus improving circulation to all the organs. Kidney and liver function is enhanced, any swelling or blockages are removed leaving you feeling refreshed, renewed and rejuvenated. The therapeutic benefits of gongs were acknowledged by Lord Buddha 2,500 years ago when he ordered all Chinese gongs to be inscribed with the characters ‘tai loi’ meaning happiness has arrived. Gongs offer a whole body experience balancing mind, body and soul. They transport the listener to a non-ordinary state of transcendent reality and offer a connection with vastness beyond the physical finite self. On an earthly level the sound waves eliminate tension, stimulates circulation and the glandular system and regenerates the parasympathetic nervous system. There is little wonder then why gongs are becoming more popular. With popularity comes responsibility. Gongs are tools of transformation and should be treated wth the respect due to sacred instruments and played consciously. Doing so will ensure transcendent experiences for the audience and ultimately the planet.

Photo by Sinitta Leunen on Unsplash

DRISTI - SAVASANA

not Havasanap

SAVASANA BY ANDY WILNER

Savasana means corpse pose and is also less frequently referred to as Mrtasana meaning death pose. It was first written about in the Hatha Pradipika as one of a small group of asana and was said to ‘remove fatigue and give rest to the mind’ (1.32); the later Gheranda Samhita also described it in similar fashion. Per B.K.S. Iyengar in his book Light on Yoga “this apparently easy posture is one of the most difficult to master”. So let’s look at this paradoxical posture to understand how to perform this pose, typically included in all yoga classes irrespective of style. Then we can also examine the benefits and any contra indications. HOW TO PERFORM SAVASANA - lie down on your back in the centre of the mat, with equal space on both sides of the hips - spread legs mat width apart and scoop buttocks downwards with the hands to lengthen the lower back - additional props can be used such as blankets on the lower abdomen to add some weight and help release this area

- take a few conscious deeper breaths to assist in turning the mind inwards then allow the breath to become more shallow (as there is no need to breathe deeply when doing nothing) - if thoughts start popping into your head and you catch the mind wandering, just bring it back to the breath and let go again - try not to fall asleep as the real benefit of this pose requires you to remain conscious. If you do fall asleep, make sure you do not snore as a) it is distracting for others, and b) other students in the room will shame you afterwards!….well hopefully not if they are compassionate yogis. At a physical and mental level, Savasana works on balancing the autonomic nervous system by engaging the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps to lower our blood pressure and heart rate, and calm us down. The endocrine system also becomes more balanced by reducing the overuse of the adrenal glands due to over-stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system.

- scan the body to ensure nowhere is holding onto tension. If there is, then focus on this area as you breathe, letting go of that tension

If we now turn to the spiritual level, certain texts such as the relatively late 12th century Yoga Sikha Upanisad refer to yoga as union, namely of the jivatman (individual soul) with the paramatman (universal spirit). This was believed to occur at the time of death, so Savasana can be conceived as a ‘trial run’, where we seek to transform the self, to awaken to our true nature entailing a series of identity deaths, as we seek to expand our egos to encompass everything.

- allow the jaw line to slacken and relax whilst keeping the lips lightly sealed. Let the tongue and eyes also relax and remain still. The head should remain face up, not turned to one side and the back of the neck should remain long, which can be assisted by a thinly folded blanket under the back of the head

With a very different philosophy, Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras pointed out abhinivesa (fear of death) is an affliction that impedes us from attaining liberation, which in this context meant uncoupling the puruca (soul) from prakti (materiality). He asserted a yogi learns to overcome fear of death, which binds us to

- then let the arms rest a little away from the thighs with the palms facing the sky - close the eyes and if available place a cloth or towel over them

December 2020

our small ego, and expunge that fear through discipline. The tantric view was less extreme as the idea of enjoying life was seen as alright, so long as we do not become grasping and overly attached. So in essence the more we can master death, the more alive we become! Savasana provides us with the opportunity to expand our awareness beyond our small egos, even if just momentarily we experience being the totality of the universe. IS SAVASANA EVER CONTRA INDICATED? There are situations in which the pose may need to be modified. For example, if a student suffers lower back pain and cannot lie comfortably in a supine position with straight legs, then bending the knees with the feet on the floor will take pressure off the lumbar vertebrae and for further support a bolster can be placed under the knees. Blankets can also be used under the forearms if the hands do not rest flat on the floor. Moreover for pregnant ladies, it is advisable to raise the head and chest with an angled bolster by using blocks underneath the bolster to attain the angulation. Alternatively, once the embryo gets larger in the second/third trimester, the student can perform the pose on her left side (right side should not be used to avoid extra pressure on the inferior vena cava, which returns blood to the heart from the lower body) again using bolster and blankets/blocks for optimal support. In conclusion, you should never skip this vital pose. Even a 3-5 minute Savasana is beneficial, however, if you can find the time to stay for around 20 minutes, then the impact on your well-being can be dramatic. It is said that sirsasana (head stand) is the King of yoga poses and sarvangasana (shoulder stand) is the Queen...but maybe Savasana (corpse pose) is the Court Sage, as it is here our deepest wisdom lies.

DRISTI - SAVASANA

YOGA NIDRA

Mind Awake, Body Asleep BY KIM ROBERTS

In Light on Yoga, BKS Iyengar describes the benefits of Savasana: “By remaining motionless for some time and keeping the mind still while you are fully conscious, you learn to relax. This conscious relaxation invigorates and refreshes both body and mind. But it is much harder to keep the mind than the body still. Therefore, this apparently easy posture is one of the most difficult to master.” How often do you finish your Savasana practice and realize you weren’t present for most of it? In order to begin training the mind to stay present and reap the benefits of this profound practice, it helps to have some tools. One of my favorite practices to train the mind in staying present for Savasana is yoga nidra. WHAT IS YOGA NIDRA? Yoga nidra means “yogic sleep.” It is a tantric practice that helps to develop deep relaxation and body awareness. Swami Satyananda Saraswati calls it, “a state of mind between wakefulness and dream.” It is a grounding meditation technique that encourages the “mind awake, body asleep” state of consciousness. Accessing this state of mind can profoundly affect your meditation practice, and all aspects of being. As a yoga practitioner, you’re probably well aware that wisdom is held in the body. In order to release it, or uncover it, we need to let go of the blocks that prevent it from coming to our awareness. There is nothing to do. We simply need to get out of our own way. Richard Miller writes, “During Yoga Nidra you enter a profound state of receptive relaxation, all the while remaining totally aware and alert throughout its process. Yoga Nidra invites your innate intelligence and intrinsic clarity to rise to the surface of your conscious mind, allowing you to uncover and access the wisdom resources of your higher levels of consciousness.” To experience a guided practice by Richard Miller at www.irest.us BENEFITS OF YOGA NIDRA Yoga nidra is not about “sleep” as we understand it in our mundane daily vocabu30

lary, but rather about that state of being body asleep /mind awake. A different level of awareness that comes only when we relax and release into a deeper level. The state of deep relaxation with high levels of awareness can be elusive - if you are busy remembering or planning, you might miss it. THE LIMINAL STATE When we are in a state between worlds—a sort of threshold of consciousness. Anthropologist Victor Turner proposed this state is ripe for change, because when we are at that moment of transition, we are not operating according to an old set of laws, and the new set of laws are not apparent to us. So there is a sort of disintegration of the old system that allows for something new to arise. Turner writes: “Moments or periods of transition during which the normal limits to thought, self-understanding and behavior are relaxed, opening the way to novelty and imagination, construction and destruction.”

transitioning gracefully into the final resting pose is a practice & an art This process occurs on an individual level, when a person has an insight or makes a break-through, but it can also happen on a more systemic level. We might say the world is going through such a liminal state while it transitions from pre to post-pandemic. The liminal state and how that level of consciousness can expand our awareness of what this reality is. It can show us our limited perception of what we call reality. YOGA NIDRA AND SAVASANA From a very ordinary perspective, we might liken yoga nidra to a guided Savasana practice. it’s a way of staying present during a state of deep relaxation - the same instruction that is given for Savasana.

NAMASKAR

But people often rush through the practice of Savasana or skip it entirely. Many of us—in a busy, world defined by materialistic standards— simply have not been alerted to the benefits of deep rest and relaxation. CHALLENGES OF YOGA NIDRA? Falling asleep. Many people fall asleep during a yoga nidra practice session, and while this can be immensely relaxing and rejuvenating, it’s not the point of the practice. The point is to hover at the edge of sleep but keep your awareness awake. Skipping the practice. It can be tempting to skip this practice when you don’t understand the profound benefits. Letting the mind wander. It’s so easy to retreat to the thinking mind when we are given permission to rest. Much of modern culture equates relaxation with mindless distraction. So to learn the art of true relaxation it helps to develop a formal practice. Yoga nidra is ideal for this. Try this: During your Savasana practice - or as you drop into sleep tonight - try spending a few minutes being present with your body and breath. Notice sensations that come into your awareness, rather than your thoughts. Be in the body and observe all the details. THE FINAL RESTING POSE At some point we need to let go into the void like this magazine! Whether it’s the end of a practice or the end of an era, transitioning gracefully into the final resting pose is a practice, and an art. Think of it as the art of conscious relaxation. As with any practice, the way we become adept is by showing up and adapting. The practice evolves as we do.

It’s been a pleasure to have been part of this community as well as a contributor to Namaskar since 2006! Thanks to Frances for your hard work to create this forum and provide resources for the yoga community in Asia. May your own onward journey be filled with peace, joy and ease!

hover at the edge of sleep but keep your awareness awake

Savasana by Anton Shuvalov on Unsplash

December 2020

AYURVEDA

BOOSTING IMMUNITY WITH AYURVEDA

Mind & Body are Important BY DR MAHESH SABADE

Immunity has taken on new importance in the COVID-19 era, while any methods to resist disease abound. Ayurveda teaches that immunity can be enhanced incorporating more healthy activities and refraining from certain unhealthy activities. But there’s no quick fix! Developed over thousands of years, Ayurveda has its own terminology and ways to understand the human body which are completely different to Western medicine. According to Ayurveda, four factors play major roles in building immunity, namely dosha (three different energy types), dhatu (tissues), mala (bodily waste) and mind. Dosha (Vata, Pitta and Kapha) is a concept which governs all bodily functions, and any imbalance in dosha disrupts the body physiology by afflicting the healthy tissues. Our lifestyle, diet and behavior have a strong influence on dosha. By following a healthy lifestyle, one can keep these dosha under control and keep diseases away.

Photo by Hilary Hahn on Unsplash

Chyavanprash is a brilliant support to maintain the health and build the immunity. It can be consumed on a daily basis roughly 1 to 3 teaspoons once a day. Theses ayurvedic formulations that help in building the immunity are termed as Rasayana. Ginger, either fresh or dry, supports digestion. I suggest ¼ teaspoon daily with a spoonful of honey. I hope some of these ayurvedic approaches help you take care of your health in 2021.

Similar to dosha, there are tissues inside the body that play an important role in physiology. They are blood, muscles, fat, bones, nervous tissue etc. Their proper health and subsequently impeccable performance are another factor that help keep diseases away. Replenishing and healing these tissues is crucial to building immunity. Along the same lines, mala or waste products (faeces, urine and sweat) have to be removed in a healthy manner. This is dependent on the healthy status of dosha, dhatu and most importantly, your digestion and metabolism. That is the reason why having healthy digestion and elimination is so important in building immunity. Ayurveda believes body and mind are interconnected, each will impact the other. Thus cultivating a healthy state of mind will have a direct impact on one’s bodily health and visa versa. Here are some things which support and enhance immunity: Regular physical activity like yoga supports body and mind. Surya Namaskar for example can build immunity by stimulating metabolism and elimination, while also balancing dosha. Sleeping early and waking early with the sun, also balances dosha. Use ghee, milk, nuts, black raisins, wheat if able, to build strength of tissues. Conversely avoid spicy, pungent, hot food, excessive alcohol, excessive cold food and drinksfoods which can aggravate kapha dosha. Turmeric is a great source of health. It can be part of your diet in cooking or can be taken with milk. Ayurveda does not recommend black pepper with turmeric as the spices possess opposite actions. Use of cardamom, fennel seeds, coriander seeds in moderation can be supportive in keeping the inner environment healthy and thus in maintaining and building the immunity.

NAMASKAR

December 2020

Baron says: “We don’t really have experiences in life. What we have are reactions to experiences. Things don’t happen to us. Things happen in and of themselves, and we react to them. The way we respond is hardwired within our DNA, so when there is stress or danger no matter how small the situation, our sympathetic nervous system triggers an automatic fight-or-flight response.” Just notice the next time when your kids misbehave, or when you argue with your spouse or when your boss reprimands you, when the train is delayed, or when someone jump the queue in front of you or someone does something that angers you - how do you react? Yoga teaches us a third way – to stay and breathe. BOOK REVIEW

MAN’S SEARCH FOR MEANING

by Viktor Frankl REVIEWED BY TIA SINHA

How much suffering there is to get through! - Rainer Maria Rilke

one’s control can take away everything one possesses except one thing, one’s freedom to choose how one will respond to the situation. An entire section of this book is devoted to Logotherapy, a school of psychotherapy developed by Viktor Frankl. Logotherapy is a meaning-centred therapy, focusing on the future, on the meanings to be fulfilled in the future.

When you are faced with a challenging pose for example the wheel pose or the frog pose, your immediate reaction when you hit the edge is to get out of the pose.

This small and slim book is replete with profound truths. It insists that life is meaningful and that we must learn to see life as meaningful despite our circumstances. Viktor Frankl’s Man Search for Meaning is a rare, thought-provoking book that has the power to give direction to the reader’s life.

When we start to open our eyes to reaction in our yoga practice, it helps us recognise and slow down the reactiveness cycle in our everyday lives.

“He who has a Why to live for can bear almost any How.”- Nietzsche Viktor E Frankl was a holocaust survivor. He was professor of neurology and psychiatry at the University of Vienna Medical School until his death in 1997. During World War II, he spent three years in Auschwitz, Dachau and other concentration camps. Man’s Search for Meaning is a brief account of Professor Frankl’s experiences in these concentration camps. In this book, Professor Frankl focuses on his struggle for survival in those inhuman, brutal conditions. He shares insights from his experiences and those of other Jews interred in these concentration camps, insights on what made some survive and what made others succumb. Viktor Frankl describes poignantly the prisoners who gave up on life, who had lost all hope for a future and were inevitably the first to die. They died less from lack of food or lack of medicine than from lack of hope, lack of something to live for. One of Frankl’s insights is that forces beyond 34

BOOK REVIEW

INTRO TO THE FINAL TWO OF BAPTISTE’S 8 PRINCIPLES BY SOPHIE SANDERS PRINCIPLE 7: WE ARE THE SUM TOTAL OF REACTIONS. PRINCIPLE 8: DON’T TRY HARD, TRY EASY This is the last 2 principles for Stepping up to the Edge from Baron Baptiste’s book Journey into Power. PRINCIPLE 7: WE ARE THE SUM TOTAL OF REACTIONS NAMASKAR

You can get out, but how about if you choose to stay a few more breaths? No one has died yet from a little burning in the muscles as long it’s not a sharp pain.

The way you do anything is the way you do everything. BARON BAPTISTE

PRINCIPLE 8: DON’T TRY HARD TRY EASY The final step for Stepping up the Edge, Baron asks that you “stop trying (hard), stop willing and just let it happen.” When we step up to the edge or when we step out of our comfort zone, fear usually grips us first. And we try hard to overcome our fear. There’s nothing with trying hard and being determined to see things through or get it perfect. But trying hard invites strain and struggle and if you are feeling stressed, reactive, frustrated, numb, hopeless, what if you try something different? If what you’ve been doing is not working - why not try easy? What’s possible if we stop struggling and if we start to relax and surrender.

When we try hard, we use willpower, which lives in the mind.

Yoga is of course a path of the fully alive and aware that facilitates these needs comprehensively when approached and practiced in its every aspect.

But when we try easy - we start to trust our hearts and allow things to happen instead of forcing it to happen.

Our innermost nature is already perfect peace. We must access a mind that is a blank page that allows us to reach a contemplative mood wherein there is clarity and harmony along with vitality and calm. When the body withdraws from action focus takes us where we can naturally be a witness to the world around us without being disturbed by it.

Surviving the edge is about finding the balance, sukha stira, moment moment, taking a pause, get present, trusting your heart and committing to disrupt the drifting of our minds so we can recreate a new way of being for ourselves. And we can survive our edges by taking a moment to pause and be, without any judgement and needing to fix or get it right. Stepping up to the edge is a continuous practice of being present to what’s coming up and being committed to growth. And it requires you to face your fears and being willing to see what’s possible on the other side of fear. This is the end of the Stepping up the Edge Series. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Adequately studied and practiced Pranayama leads us to proper motivation, cleanliness of the bodily form and contents and enough self discipline to persevere until the goals also become the means! A well worked body can truly then become still; breath disciplines can transform from vast and long to almost imperceptible. Savasana is the natural progress and becomes totally satisfying. Add the simple first Mudra of all to this [Chin/Gyana Mudra] and the result is experienced.

IN BRIEF

MUDRAS Instead of asking “will I survive if I step out of my comfort zone,” ask “will I survive my comfort zone.” - BARON BAPTISTE

RECAP OF ALL 8 PRINCIPLES 1 We are either now here or nowhere 2 Be in the now and you’ll know how 3 Growth is the most important thing there is 4 Exceed yourself to find your exceeding self 5 In order to heal, you must feel 6 Think less, be more 7 We are the sum total of our reactions 8 Don’t try hard, try easy I leave you now with Baron’s words of wisdom:

BY KRISHNAAKINKARI Savasana, often translated as the “corpse” pose and despite its comparatively simple form as an asana, this is reputed to be possibly the most difficult posture of all! Just as our single ubiquitous fate, death, is what most humans find the hardest to reconcile with, this posture requires stillness of the mind. A momentous task. So, should we start the session with it so that we have a still mind to work through our asanas, or let the asana practice bring our mind under control so the savasana is fully enjoyable as an exercise that allow us to completely relax without collapsing? Digital interference in our lives in quite shocking in our daily lives nowadays; there is not a moment to waste! How can we benefit from the savasana whilst still in a hurry? We should perhaps ponder upon this; we can only be truly healthy in every aspect of the word when we are comfortable physically, mentally and spiritually. Death and sleep bring deep comfort!

When you find you are straining, whether in a yoga pose or life, you’re probably trying too hard. Our ego is in it, and you are driven by an ambition that ultimately creates imbalance and suffering.

December 2020

“The first shall be last and the last shall be first”. METHOD Assuming Savasana with attention to symmetry and touch to the Earth as support, further using Nicvasa [exhalation] to let go, let God, surrendering all muscle tension and mental vrtti through such technique, keeping the backs of the hands on the floor, palms up and join the tips of the forefingers and thumbs; mouth relaxed and eyes inwardly turned to the centre of the forehead [agna chakra]. Remain here with as little consideration for time limit as possible. Stay as long as you can! Revamp the breath and stretch to return to your life in all it great blessings. Practise when needed and at your chosen location within your practice routine. As the Taoists say,”the secret of fertility is a fallow field.” May I take a moment to thank everyone involved in the making of Namaskar Magazine from conception to now and thank them for allowing me to contribute.

NAMASKAR