Yoga for good health

30/05/2019

21/11/2018

Would like to share an article that I wrote for the students in Canada. Hopebyou like it.

HOW TO MEASURE THE BENEFITS OF YOGA?

You have taken the first big step of exploring yoga!! Congratulations!! Great!!

I have heard many of you say that you feel better in many ways after joining yoga but how do we measure the benefits of yoga.

If You Can't Measure It, You Can't Improve It. Management thinker Peter Drucker is often quoted as saying that "you can't manage what you can't measure." Drucker means that you can't know whether or not you are successful unless success is defined and tracked.

I would like to share my personal experience of how I measured my progress in my priceless journey of yoga.

Before I joined yoga, I remember being tired both mentally and physically all the time, with a never-ending feeling of emptiness-in-life. When I joined yoga, I noticed something that struck me like lightning: "the positive energy of my guru, Prema Nagesh". Frankly, that was my first inspiring moment of yoga!! I said to myself, " I am going to be like that someday." And, that was my motivation!!

As a IT Project Manager by profession, I wanted to measure my progress. And, I set goals to have positive energy....applied yogic methods in real life (pranayama, asana, diet)..........set goals to be positive for half a day....progressed to 1 day a week.......2 days....3 days....4...5...6....7.....

I did it!! Always energetic and full of positive energy, 7 days a week. This took me a couple of years.

I was happy and felt good.......not for long.... my life took a u-turn due to unexpected problems in life. There we go.... 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. All the bliss that I enjoyed for 7 days a week, simply vanished. I had to step up the application of yogic methods in a much more intensive manner. Once again, I had to climb the ladder one step (one day) at a time with so much of weight (problems) on my shoulder. It took a lot of time, effort and dedication. It took me another year of effort. But, I did it.

Since then, I seldom have had any depressing days or sleepless nights. Life has been awesome ever since. Mind you, I have been unemployed for the past 9 months and I had to face some extraordinary challenges in life recently. I am still not out of woods yet but I am confident that the future is going to be simply fantastic.

Think about it!! Even many of the elders (ages 60 to 80) are still in search of peace, happiness and wisdom. Imagine you could achieve this at a younger age!!

So, are you ready to take on the challenge? It's going to be a bumpy ride. But, we will get there.

Buckle up and enjoy the journey of Yoga.

These are some of the bonus benefits of yoga that I experienced:

No hatred

No jealousy

Absolutely no expectations from anyone, including spouse and children

Grew stronger in faith

Overcome the fear of death

Extremely calm under pressure/stress
successful application of yogic methods at work and home

Lost over 22 pounds of weight

Overcame acidity, knee pain, back pain

Extremely pleasant to others even when provoked

Better toned body

Healthy appearance (except for the baldness :) - ouch)

People would like to be around you

14/11/2018

Natraj asana

23/09/2018

I was born on June 21st 1930 in Kerala as the second of eight children to agriculturists. I was 19 years old when I got married in 1949. In those days, none of us knew anything about the men we married. The parents checked if the family was a good one, and if they approved, the wedding took place. Mine was like that as well. After the wedding though, I got to know my husband – that he was a freedom fighter, a man with a very soft heart. I moved to Mangalore to be with my in-laws and husband.

After our second child, my husband moved to Chennai on work so I went back to my parents in Kerala. It was in 1960 that he finally moved back and I was with him again. My husband’s family divided their land and gave him a piece. It was with that that he began having a stable life, growing paddy, cocoa, areca nuts and some vegetables. Through this entire period of time, I kept myself active. I immersed myself in gardening, tailoring, knitting, and many social activities.

Over the years, I had four daughters and a son. Back in the day, it was common to have your daughters educated only till Class 10 but I was adamant that they study further since all of the kids were very bright. Today all five of them are doctors and leading in their respective fields. I have given all kids equal importance. My daughters were never different from my son. I always encouraged my children to take part in the extra curricular activities in school and even took them to music and dance classes in the weekend. I still remember, when my third daughter refused to go to school, I used to go with her and wait outside all day to bring her back. Many years later, when my first daughter was scared to drive, I learnt to drive when I was 59 years old. So today, I can say I have a license too! I have been their friend and at times a role model by doing things to encourage them.

In May 2002, my husband met with an accident. Over the years, he lost mobility and his memory, thanks to internal bleeding from the accident. In 2008, he died peacefully in his sleep.

Yoga has been a part of my journey through it all. My father used to do yoga and taught all his kids. He even taught me to swim! I began practising yoga when I was seven years old and even though I have not trained anywhere, people are inspired by me.The latest addition has been my great-grandson. My day begins at 5:30 am and for an hour and half, I do yoga, pranayam and meditation. In 2015, when I had to get a surgery because of a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said even though my brain seemed like that of a sixteen-year-old’s even though I was 80! I think all of that is thanks to yoga. It has been eight decades now of doing yoga. I have no BP problems. I do not have diabetes. I have rarely fallen ill. The secret to all of this is yoga and eating healthy.
Saraswathi Bhat
© Being You 2018. All rights reserved.

- A series of untold stories from the city of Mangalore

24/08/2018

Please make a note the classes going on for Yoga. Thank you

20/08/2018

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2046333575615088&id=1682220475359735&ref=bookmarks

27/07/2018

गुरु ब्रह्मा गुरुर् विष्णुः
गुरु देवो महेश्वरः ।
गुरु साक्षात् परब्रह्मा
तस्मै श्री गुरवे नमः॥

गुरवे सर्वलोकानाम्
भिशजे भव रोगिणाम्।
निधये सर्व विध्यानाम्
श्री दक्षिणामूर्तये नमः॥

14/07/2018

Health Is A Matter Of Choice, Not A Matter Of Chance

The effect of thoughts on our physical health is well established. Each thought has an effect on the cells of the body. A large number of diseases today are psychosomatic, which means persistent negative emotions like stress, anger, fear, hurt, mistrust, jealousy, guilt, manifest in the form of disease. Let us now focus on the effect of positive feelings on health. Love, peace, happiness, forgiveness, acceptance, appreciation, trust, enthusiasm - each powerful and positive thought is having an effect on the cells of our body. It’s not about the right thinking when we are not well only, but it’s about our thoughts at all times. Let us begin clearing our emotional blockages, past hurt, resentment, not being able to forget and forgive, it’s only a thought away. The situation may have happened days or years back, but if I am able to feel that emotion even today, then I am carrying an emotional blockage, which has already begun creating a physical blockage of energy in my body.

When we talk about healing, we always focus on healing the physical ailment, but if we don’t remove the root of the ailment which is an emotional blockage, the physical ailment can recur. Each time we are choosing compassion over anger; forgiveness over resentment; trust over doubt; co-operation over competition; appreciation over criticism – we are choosing health over disease.Let us be aware of every thought that we create regarding our body - whether it is about the way we look; about our health; an addiction we wish to give up – it is a message to the body which the body will obey. So, let us detoxify the mind and erase every past memory of pain, because detoxification of the mind begins the process of detoxification of the body.