I remember going to a yoga class many years ago out of curiosity. It turned out quite nice and then I would go to a class once in a while. When work gets stressful I would show up in a class and find it very helpful. I am not sure what triggered a change for me to crave a yoga class, may be it was the desk job. The day would feel sort of incomplete if I did not go to a class. This was getting close to being addicted to yoga. I would show up more regularly and then decided I need to enroll for a teacher training and I want to just dive deep into this and teach. What a transition! I hear these stories so often in my training class. People are drawn to this because of an injury, stress, a career change, or just the first career for some, or some are drawn to the athleticism and grace of certain yoga styles.

Now that so many people are in this for the long haul as teachers or dedicated practitioners, I am wondering how someone can keep it going on this path. Does one need a guru, mentor, adviser, coach to continue or if we should be able to figure it all out on our own from here on. Or may be keep taking classes on different teachings from time to time.

Roll back time to thousands of years back in India, you hear stories of students seeking a teacher, the teacher would reject the student saying the student is not ready yet. When the time is ready, it could be after many years (even lifetimes!) the teacher initiates the student to a spiritual life. This calls for the utmost discipline, dedication, learning the scriptures, sacrifice and following a strict lifestyle dedicated to spiritual life.

I came across a section in the book Heart of Yoga by TKV Desikachar that discusses the concept of a guru. A guru is one who can show one a way. The guru helps you find your own path, your own way and not follow somebody else’s or even the guru’s way.

Back to now, I am not sure of how much of it can be followed. Yoga survives in a different format with classes being held in a huge group setting. To make our practice richer, we can learn and follow a yogic life and keep looking for a mentor. For some reason, if we seek out a mentor and do not hear back because you are not the right student or the teacher does not have enough time, then we will have to figure out a way to grow in our path. For now, books will have to be my guru.

If you have thoughts on this as how to find a mentor, or even if we need one, please leave a note in the comments section.

I have noticed that it is quite hard for me to keep up with the yoga practice while traveling. I have read about airplane yoga where you do asanas while being seated. You are thousands of feet in the air, your neighbors are watching a movie or leaning on your seat. You are trying to get some stretches and taking in deep breaths to keep your cool. Add in some more standing stretches and sirsasana without causing a spectacle while waiting in the baggage claim to relieve some tension and to feel energized.

Besides that, I would like to know how to keep up once you are at the destination without sounding freaky, obsessed with the practice that you cannot survive without it. Most of the time I travel with people that are not inclined to do yoga. Sometimes it is hard to be motivated to roll out the mat and do even a few asanas, it could be the jet lag or just being lazy, lethargic, sluggish or it could be the lack of time.

I am wondering how my fellow yogis keep themselves motivated to practice yoga on the go. Got inspiration?

Every time I go to a yoga class in SF, I cannot help but wonder how is it that so many women are practicing yoga. And, where are the men? There are a few in the class that look totally forced into being in the class by their girlfriends and few others seem natural and at home in the class. I see more men in the class if the teacher is a guy. As part of the teacher training class, I see that 90% or more of the students are women.

Being from India, I always thought anything to do with yoga had to do with men. I had only seen yogis who were men, same goes for rishis and munis and all the ancient wisdom being written by men. I am not even sure how common yoga was in India with Sanskrit being studied by the upper caste Indians which was not the majority of India. The students were taught by a guru and they had to live in ashrams and a big part of their lives dedicated to the spiritual life.

So it makes me wonder if all the yoga asanas being invented by men apply equally to both men and women as there could be some differences in the structural make up. All the yoga asana names are either based on animal poses or the names of sages, all men. I am not able to get any references of any women yoginis in the ancient India. The only topic that I have come across discussing women is the tantra, but it seems more about the female energy shakti, rather than women in yoga. It is all about releasing the kundalini which is said to be equal part feminine energy and male energy coiled at the pelvic floor. This part of yoga gets murky as there is so much deviation from the asanas and moves on to the energy aspect.

The references of women in yoga that I could find are BKS Iyengar’s daughter Gita Iyengar, American yoginis Indra devi and Patricia Walden. From this recent generation onwards, the practice has been dominated by women. It is interesting to see that a practice that was started and practiced by men for centuries is so popular with women in the west. And, it has taken on a feeling that yoga is for women and now men somehow seem reluctant to take it on.

Even though Om is such a short word, its meaning is huge. Om (also spelled Aum) is a Hindu sacred sound that is considered the greatest of all mantras. I found an explanation of Om in the fabulous book Heart of Yoga by TKV Desikachar.

When we analyze the meaning of Om the way it is written in Sanskrit, it is made up of A, U, M and a symbol representing resonance. So Om has four aspects. The first one is A, a sound that comes from the belly, is formed in the open throat and is voiced with the mouth open. As with many alphabets, A is the first letter of the Sanskrit alphabet. The second sound is the U, a sound that is formed in the middle of the mouth. The third sound is M, with this the mouth closes. M is the final consonant in Sanskrit alphabet. Then the sound rises to the nasal passage from where the resonance is made.

Om, Aum gets through from A to M through U. This represents everything that can be expressed in letters and words. When we say A, we open the mouth, which means the process of creation. The sound U symbolizes the continuance of creation, which is constantly renewing itself. M symbolizes the end and dissolution. Following this, the sound of Om continues for a while. This sound has no alphabetical symbol. This means that Om contains everything that can be expressed in words and which cannot be expressed in words. This is the full meaning of Om.

The Hindu Upanishads say that A represents the waking state, U the dream state, M the state of deep dreamless sleep, the fourth sound following the M is the samadhi. This parallel points to the One who stands behind all four states, the only one who is truly awake, Ishvara. There is One who is present in all these states, One who never sleeps, never dreams, One is who is always watchful, One who knows about everything and yet is beyond everything. By repeating Om, one can gradually become immersed in Ishvara, the mind becomes saturated and still.

By saying Om one is calling on all the following–

Brahma for creation, Vishnu for sustenance and Shiva for destruction

Physical or earth plane, mental or atmospheric plane, astral or cosmic plane

Past, present, future

Birth, life, death

The sanitized non Hindu version of meaning Om is this- Om is the whole universe coalesced into a single sound and represents the union of mind, body, and spirit that is at the heart of yoga.

Aaaaauuuuummmm.