Wednesday, February 10, 2010

All about good vibrations...

during my training in mysore, the teacher, master barath, kept mentioning about how important it is to keep the high energy in class. although this isn't always the case at times but as teachers , we have to be aware of this and try to manage the situation. having said that, managing a difficult situation i.e. difficult student, can be rather challenging definitely not for the faint-hearted because our whole being is being challenged and not just our teaching. if there's anything to gain with yoga is that the practice teaches you to have more calm attitude toward 'challenging' circumstances. i watched how he managed to bring the class energy back together after some tough times no thanks to certain individuals. then again, that's life...there'll be some who love you and some who don't. our job is to be honest about our teaching and hope the students will gain something much more than good stretches when they leave the room.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

How do i explain yoga?

for most people, being able to 'survive' 2 months in india is something intriguing and thus, i have successfully generated a lot of buzz about india and yoga since coming back in xmas last year. have to admit, i'm really getting sick of explaining to people what exactly i did in india. again, to most, spending that amount of time in india, is something unheard of. i told that 2 months is nothing compared to other europeans who spend 1 year going from one place to another so my stay is considered short by their standard. so, how do i explain yoga to these people? funny that amidst all the media exposures that yoga been getting last 2 years, there are some who actually think that yoga is all about meditation...where have they been really??? my answer, i admit, depends on the mood i'm in at that particular moment though at times, i prefer to cut the conversation short by saying..."what do you know about it so far" or "why are you interested?". and while they ponder trying to figure out an answer, i muttered something like "yoga has been getting bad rep in m'sia....such a shame....would be great if more people are taking up yoga" and then i gave a weak smile and changed the topic completely. wanna know about yoga?? google it and if still unclear, buy a book on yoga. just don't waste my time by asking a meaningless question on which you'll forget the answer as soon as i'm done explaining...

Monday, February 1, 2010

Diet and yoga


Some people are under the impression that yoga is all about diet and the first thing they ask is 'so, are you a vegetarian?/ do i have to be vegetarian?'. the answer is yes and no. i'll leave that for another entry.
when i was in mysore recently, i picked up a book titled 'don't lose your mind, lose your weight' written by a really spunky person i met some 3 years ago in rishikesh. she is now so uber famous in india. i use the word 'uber' because a.kareena kapoor wrote foreword for her book, and b. rujuta, the author, has list of famous clients. i'm on the 3rd chapter of her famous book and am now convinced that she has figured it all out, as far as diet is concerned. she outlined 'calm state of mind' as one of utmost important thing when eating. in yoga, we strive to achieve calm state of mind with all the asanas, pranayamas and meditation that we religiously practise (or not) daily and we gush when others (non yogis) commented how calm we are when we engage ourselves in conversation and in dealing with daily tasks in general. we politely tell these 'uninitiated' people it's all due to yoga that we've been at last few years. so technically, being a yogi, i had achieved the no.1 rule of eating due to my calm state, well, most times. then, we move on to the next rule 'how to eat: relearn'. now, most of us would be offended when told that we've been eating wrongly all these while but hey, i didn't say this but she did, and i agree with her, as someone used to say to me, 100%. my favorite part is on overeating and bloatness because that i get that a lot. yes, being a yogi doesn't make us immortals and we do get problems like other mortals do. back to the rules, basically, the power of calm state of mind will easily be taken over when one is ignorant or pure blatant disregard about sensitivity of stomach which is why she outlined on 'what to eat: rethink'. in this chapter, she explained in details about carbs, protein, fats and other important things that our body requires on daily basis for it to optimise and most importantly, for me, to have fat loss. why i used the word 'fat loss'? you have to read the book to understand because until you read the book, what i just mentioned may seemed greek to you.
why do i take such interested in this book, one may ask? well, there are few reasons. 1. i met her before and think that she's kinda cool 2.it worked well on kareena 3.her recommendations and examples are more closer to home, malaysia, that is, since i eat significant amount of indian food, and malay food can be as nasty (or not) in terms of its oilyness (is there such word?!nevermind). i've also attached here the cover of the book for your next visit to the bookstore. good things must be shared, same goes for good book. the book might changed your life, quoted by kareena, or it might not or you decided not to buy it at all. i like to use quotes from swami vivekananda "take one idea. make that one idea your life. think of it,dream of it. live on that idea...."