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.

I was at a “vinyasa” class last week. Music was Jazz. Sade and others were taking turns to provide the vocals.  The instructor told us to press on the golden egg between the root chakra and the genitals. Some more chakra talk continued. My golden rule of thumb had always been to avoid a class where the teacher talks about chakras. I normally draw the line at bandhas. Most instructors understand bandhas. Chakra talk is so DC (Deepak Chopra) and is what I classify as saccharine sweet. It is mostly mumbo jumbo to me. I understand chakras in the real yogic sense, but not in a yoga class where the instructor is trying to sound cool.

In my home practice, I follow the KYM and astanga style. The breath is super long, the asanas look like it is done in slow motion. There is no hurry to jump through things in milliseconds. The “Vinyasa power” uses a lot of movements so quickly, that my knees buckle. Moving from a mostly hyper extended trikonasana to warrior 2 to ardha chandrasana to standing splits. What does it all mean to the knee? Is it okay to put your knee through all these movements one after the other? This style is torture to my knees and my breath. My knee screams violence. Especially the ardha chandrasana, the standing splits and the lunges. The darling poses of western vinyasa power.

One aspect of my issue is the knee injury, for sure. What matters is also the yoga instructor. I believe any style of yoga can be good if the instructor is good. I have attended amazing Bikram, Vinyasa, Hatha, Astanga classes. Each one of them can turn bad if the instructor is just so so. The yoga education, practice of a teacher matters a lot and how they translate their knowledge to guide the class. It is a combination of things.

For now, I have decided to take a break from vinyasa power in Vancouver. It is quite possible the teachers are not as good as in San Francisco. Or it may be that I am attached to my experiences of San Francisco. I have also been studying a lot about Yoga and I have changed a lot too since I went to India and KYM. My understanding of Yoga has gained a lot of depth as well.

Vinyasa power feels like Bollywood yoga and Disney combined in one. Everything is perfect, color coordinated, sweet, cute, lots of songs, nice outfits and so predictable. I have decided to go Indie and try other styles. “Hatha” seems to make sense to me as the asanas are done at a much slower pace and does not feel too scripted. I keep reading about Yin. I will try that as well. Ultimately, I will be happy in a yoga class which does not use music. Silence must be encouraged and that is the style what I enjoy the most. Astanga fits the bill for most part, but just a little too aggressive for me.

I am looking for a style that has no music and a little mild. I hope this is not too much to ask. No offense to Sade, Marvin Gaye, Beatles, Reggae, Rock, Trance and others.

I am writing this as I read about this guru called Nithyananda. Normally I do not like to write about such people, they do not deserve my time and space on this blog. This guy has this ashram just outside of my home town, Bangalore. I heard about this guy the entire time I was in India last year. The youngest swami in India. One of the yogis that I had met was a follower of this man. She would meditate on this man and she had told me so much about him. I kept thinking to myself, what would happen if this guru is a fake. It would be such a waste of time and energy. I simply don’t trust anyone who lives in an ashram and claims he is a guru. True to that thought, I read there is so much confusion caused by this man.

There is still no luge track in India, where Keshavan was born 28 years ago 2,500 metres up in the Himalayas.

“We use the natural facilities, the natural track,” Keshavan explained. “With a few friends we get together. You beat a ski course and you beat a luge course.”

Even after having competed in a few Olympics before, he says he simply puts together his own equipment. He is compared to the Jamaican bobsleigh team that competed in 1988 and went on to become the crowd favorite.

This happened 10 months ago. Sivananda ashram in Kerala is notorious for its factory style boot camp yoga teacher training classes, it is absolutely ridiculous. I have been practicing yoga for many years now that I know what I can do or cannot do. I usually will not push myself to get into any contortion my body is not ready to do. But in this class I did not even realize when I was getting hurt. The teacher is simply yelling into the mike to go into the poses deeper and deeper. The blocks are only in the mind and not in the body. All I remember is after the session I limped back and cannot remember walking correctly ever again or sit without pain even in a simple sukhasana.

The next day I spoke to the teacher about it and he tells me these injuries are mostly in the mind. Huh! I did not know that a block in my mind can hurt my knee so bad. I thought what a ridiculous explanation for my injury. I left the ashram after that and will not step back into it. This is not my first injury in all the years of my yoga practice. I have been injured before and I know injuries are great teachers to stop and make you think. It never made me question my choice of teachers or the course. I was the one always at fault. But not this injury. This should not have happened. Anyway, I have to deal with my knee injury and the wrong yoga choices I had made. Sivananda ashram is probably the only event in my life that I regret getting myself into.

I have complete faith in Yoga that it can heal my knee back. If I do the right kind of Yoga, as in KYM style of therapy yoga or at least mindful yoga. I do like this Indian saying a lot- do not give a garland to a monkey.

And then I read an article in the magazine Hinduism today, that some nut case has patented this sequence as “Superbrain Yoga”. I could not believe the nuttiness involved in patenting something that is followed in a religion for hundreds of years.

The nut who patented Thoppu karanam goes by the name ‘dates of life’. Click on the piture to read the article.

Indian Railways has been one of my highlights traveling in India. For most part, the trains were on time and it was way cheaper than traveling by bus, with the exception of Shatabdi. Shatabdi was an especially nice train, with great views. Non-stop from Mysore to Bangalore in less than two hours!