Even though I had called Air India earlier about the weight limit, it was not helpful as the people in the airport told me a completely different number. The line was so long for the flight and and I am desperately to trying to figure out what to throw away from the suitcases. Clothes, books, tax documents, certificates, gifts. I thought I had already downsized to the most minimum, but still it was not good enough for Air India. Jet lagged, tired and had to make quick decisions at 2 am. In that frustrating moment, I decided that I would simply pick half the things except my certificates and leave it next to the trash bin. That is what I did and I did not want to own too many things from then on. I felt so stupid to own any of this and how much importance I had placed in owning all of that. After I unloaded half of the Stuff,  I never wanted to own too many things ever. All things feel like junk to me.

Recently, I picked up Story of Stuff, by Annie Leonard from my library. I had seen the video couple of years back and I thought it was real good. The book is quite fantastic too, with some good advice as to how one can reduce owning Stuff. She says that one get off the work to shop treadmill lifestyle of the US and offers solutions for that.

The part that I enjoyed thoroughly was what happens in the landfill. Every week, when I put the trash out in San Francisco, I am always wondering what really happens. Do the things in the recycle bin really get recycled? I had never been sure. The author makes a good case for Zero waste and why recycle should be the last option on anyone’s mind. The first option must be to reduce, reuse and then recycle.

The other interesting part of the book is e-waste and how manufactures force people to constantly buy new things instead of fixing the existing ones. The interesting idea she proposes is that the manufacturers must take responsibility for the recycle and maintenance of the product. The packaging material for most Stuff is a nightmare at the landfills. The manufacturer must be made responsible for the packaging stuff too. I thought this idea is brilliant.

While I used to work at FreeGeek, I had heard about how countries like USA and Canada dump their toxic wastes, e-waste on poor unsuspecting countries in the disguise of donations or mix it in the fertilizer or some other loophole in the law. Annie Leonard tracks a company in Philadelphia that wants to dump tonnes and tonnes of toxic ash from the incinerator of landfill by a ship. As part of Greenpeace, Annie Leonard and her team makes it miserable for the ship to unload the ash in most ports of poor countries. The ship finally dumps a part of the ash in Haiti before Greenpeace gets a chance to alert Haiti. This turns out to be a nightmare for Haiti to return the garbage back to the US. It sure is easy is to consume here in the US and it has been made so easy to dump the toxic waste on such poor countries. It is quite sad indeed.

I enjoyed reading the book. Sure, it did make me think about what happens to Stuff that we buy here in the US.

Here’s the video that came out two years ago.

Yoga in SF is all about if one can wrap their leg around the neck while balancing calmly on just one hand or may be even a finger. Now you can do all of that with a partner, either to impress the partner or be impressed by the partner. I do think western Yoga has become a separate species, a form of its own. Yoga exists today only because it has been resurrected by the west. So, the path of Yoga evolution is completely in the hands of the west as well. I do hope it finds a balance somewhere instead of calling anything Yoga.  I have always dreaded the poses that one needs to do with a partner, a handstand or downward dog or the wheel or anything else. I don’t like involving another person in my practice. Partner and acro yoga creates a great break point for me.

Of course, I can ignore all the white noise and stick to my practice and what I believe in. I do understand I do not have to get into a tizzy just because anything can be called Yoga. The Yoga lessons that made a big impact for me were not the physical aspects at all. The Yoga sutras made a lot of sense, especially the santosha and aparigraha. The contentment and being non-greedy have been some of my biggest lessons from the Yoga Sutras among others. I do not find any of it here in SF Yoga and I will not shell out almost $20 for a physical practice anymore. Home practice it is for me, for a long time. Adios, (SF) Yoga!

The pursuit of Yoga requires a journey to go inward, which helps overcome the obstacles.

If any of us think that the path to Yoga is extremely difficult, then we are not alone. Patañjali repeatedly says that this is a difficult journey fraught with interruptions and obstacles. It requires extreme dedication, energy and will power that one can muster. When the mind is taught to go inwards, the obstacles tend to disappear. Going inwards is having faith in oneself, restricting oneself, understanding the self and always in touch with what is important. What are the obstacles that live on the path of Yoga? The next sutra will let us in on what can crash our plan of Yoga.

tatas – thence

pratyak-cetana – reverse/inward-mindedness (from prati + ac is to bend + cit is to be conscious)

adhigama – attainment (from adhi + gam is to go)

api – also

antaraya – impediment, obstacle ( from antar is between + i is to go, lit. get between)

abhava – disappearance (from a + bhu is to become)

ca – and

I can picture myself being on the internet when Mr.Yama (not to be confused with yama/niyama of  Yoga Sutras), the Lord of death shows up and tells me  that it is time to close all connections and leave. I will be pleading for 5  more minutes online. Wait, I actually hear someone telling me the time is up.  I look up, the person looks quite normal. He tells me I need to leave this terminal at the library, my time is over. Damn, I am addicted to this.

Iśvara is someone like god and that he is a special being, quite extraordinary. He is untouched by delusion, agitations, actions, afflictions, consequences and time. He represents past, present and future. He knows everything that is to be known. He is simply the teacher of all the teachers. He is addressed by a special symbol Pranava that specifies the qualities of Iśvara . By meditating on Iśvara, one can realize oneself (or go nearer). By meditating on an object, one imbibes the qualities of the object. How can meditating on Iśvara make oneself realize themselves? Iśvara is within all of us and one needs to be able to see for themselves. Iśvara is part and parcel of all of us.

You can read all the sutras that have been discussed on this blog.

**Vancouver rates, per session

Yoga is definitely an elite activity, you got to make tons of money to spend on a yoga class.

I like this trailer a lot. May be I will watch it sometime this summer. Kung fu cult says, everything is Kung fu, just like the Yoga cult.

This move is called IruttiKaal in Malayalam. This clip is filmed in my Kalari Institute CVN Kalari, Thiruvananthapuram (as complicated as Massachusetts!).  This is one of the toughest basic sequences for me. The hip joints have to be completely flexible to sit down completely like in full splits. I could not do it completely and my Gurukkal Rajasekaran Nair asked me not to do it. Children learn this easily and adults who are already flexible can do this, for others this is quite difficult. The spine turns around 360 or feels like it. And the gurukkal will pretty much manhandle the students. He would pull the kids’s hair to twirl around. It does not look too difficult while watching it. But one gets to do this, it is extremely demanding. One needs to coordinate the right and the left, twirl and change direction. When it is time to twirl, the brain needs to adapt so quickly as to where the body is and the control is important. The gurukkal would never be happy with the students. He would always complain and sometimes hit the children mildly to ask them to keep the focus. This is something I will have to practice next time I go to my Kalari Institute.