Breathing is an involuntary action for all humans and the animals. The human body is able to breathe on its own to take care of its functioning. That does not mean it works at its optimum. We may need to learn a thing or two from the animals. I read this passage in one of my favorite books, A Search In Secret India, by Paul Brunton.

This is the conversation between the author and a Yogi that he meets in Chennai. The Yogi says

an elephant breathes much more slowly than a monkey, yet it lives much longer. Some of the large serpents breathe far more slowly than a dog, yet they live longer. Thus creatures exist which show that slowness of breathing may possibly prolong age. These animals use their organs less, so the wear and tear is less which helps them to live longer.

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A lot of Kalari sequences look like a combination of dance and yoga. The first video is called Poothra Thozhuthal. This is one of the beginning sequences taught in Kalaripayattu. (more…)

India holds about 60% of the total Asian elephants of the world. Of these, the largest populations are found in south India. Of these, some are domesticated to be used in temple festivals. The other domesticated elephants work as tourist elephants, to transport timber, by forest department rangers, and in circus. (more…)

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I have been using the stick figures for a while, when I want to come up with a pratice session. I was very impressed with this when I learnt it during the teacher training in San Francisco. I have had so much fun drawing these figures.

Little did I know that it was TKV Desikachar, who came up with this concept. He was a civil engineer by training and he took up Yoga after his college. When he started depciting asanas using stick figures, many people had told him it was not going to work as people would not understand it. Desikachar was not deterred. He continued to use it and kept trying to perfect it. He felt strongly that this was an efficient way to illustrate and easier to comprehend, instead of explaining the asana in words. He was familiar with the power of working with visual aids from his years as an engineer. (more…)

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