Day 2 (Wednesday 27th July 2011)- 85th Birthday of Sadashiv Nimbalkar

According to Nibalkar, Yoga is Philosophy, a science and art. He says he is interested in the Art aspect of it. He adds the word "darshan" which according to him, means philosophy. He quotes "Sthir Sukham Aasanam; aasan should derive comfort, should be pleasurable to the mind. (Sthir- stable).

Trainer from Dadar Yog Vidya Niketan talked about the earliest Yoga scripture consisting of just 153 sutras. These could be written on a small book of no more than 10 pages! Very early in the scripture, a sutra reads, "Yog Chitta Vriti Nirodhaya" Chitta means the mind and Vriti means thought. Yoga rids the mind of its thought. I wonder, the fact that Yoga had been pursued as a way to rid the mind of its constant chatter infers that our society thousands of years back, was reeling with similar issues of mental fatigue and burn outs. So much so that thinkers and philosophers were experimenting with various breathing and yogic technique to deal with such issues. Maybe people were more stressed back then because of the esoteric nature of knowledge. Knowledge was much harder to transfer and far few people had access to it. A common man must have faced death on a more regular basis than now. Though the past is often romanticized it doesn't take too long to realize people were suffering at that time too; maybe more hence so many thinkers sought ways/tricks to overcome such issues.

The teacher talked about the three steps of an asan: going into, maintaining and coming out. He talked about the need of Prana dharana. He said "If you do not engage your mind, it will wander". Engaging your mind on your breath is prana dharana. He also stressed the importance of using only those muscles that are directly involved in a particular asan. Also, ideally, less effort should be required to attain a posture. "Prayatnam Shaya.ti.liya Ananta Sama.pita.bhayam". Prayatnam- effort, shayatilya= relax, anant = infinite. Differential relaxation helps in achieving it.

First Sunday: The Beginning.

Nothing much to write about. Prospectus/course structure discussed. Liked one quote by Mrs Bela. She talked about "Within limitation". I think she was referring to (one) meaning of "Yoga/Yogya". Read about a similar thing in Harry's book "Younger Next Year" in which they talk about the qualities of a good Yoga instructor.

Sabir shaikh talked about his perspective of Yoga. He thinks of it as "Integration of personalities" ; integration at physical, mental and social level. At the end of the lecture he talked about the 3 misconception of Yoga namely Yoga being a part of religion (adding that its a religion in itself), Yoga is for Yogic people and Females shouldn't practice Yoga.

In exams a candidate would be judged by how pleasurably he does his Yog. Slackening is another quality preferred which can be enhanced by differential relaxation.

Inauguration- 35 th Diploma in Yogic Education.

Venue Yoga Bhavan Vashi 6 PM. 22nd July 2011.

Years after learning yoga in Anushakti Nagar, and completing the preliminary summer course, today was my first evening at the inauguration of the 35th Diploma in Yogic Education. After more than a decade in the field of IT, I had never given any thought of making health and fitness a full fledged career! The idea is still as crazy to me as to any future reader! Telling anyone that one works for TCS 'India's largest software company' and then to start saying that you are learning to be a Yoga instructor still brings a very separate chain of thought in people's mind. What shall I say of others when I myself have had a certain preconceived notion about who an IT guy from infy or TCS is and what the credentials of a "yoga instructor" are! Starting this Yoga course is a huge leap of faith and I don't mind falling on my face. I feel I am far more lucky than my parents generation who would have never dared such extravagance!

Just yesterday I had made an entry in Wikipedia about rakesh jhunjhunwala. He is a self made billionaire but I was shocked to know that he is just over 50. There are two kinds of people in this world- one who would read "I was shocked to know that he is just over 50" and presume that I am talking about how successful he is in amassing such a wealth in such an young age! And then there are others who have seen this man on TV and wondered how could a man become so unhealthy in just 50 years! I wonder how much his billion dollar will help him in dealing with his body every moment of his life. I can understand that we live in a time when many would say "I don't mind being unhealthy just give me that billion dollars"! There is nothing wrong in either chain of thoughts, its a matter of preference. I prefer a slow paced, easy going relaxed life and he loves his action packed, highly stressful but enjoyable, high risk day in the stock market. This blog is for people who wouldn't mind cutting down on their life style to live a more healthy, relaxed, and peaceful life. Others can click here.