Yogzilla

Ever since I got on the minimalist bandwagon, I have stopped buying things. It does not interest me anymore to be heavy, which I learnt as part of my vagabonding. To be lugging too much around saps energy off of me. I do not even own a full time mattress. My room is quite empty, with a few books, some clothes and a few yoga mats. I do a Walden every morning.  Walden must be any minimalist’s best friend. I remove the futon mattress out of my room every morning and move it to the futon in the living room. Then the bed room transforms into an empty space where I can “do” yoga.  It is finally spring  in RainCouver (that does not mean that the rain has gone away!) and every one talks about spring cleaning. While everyone does some cleaning in the  spring, I pretty much do it every day. I hardly own anything and it is such a relief to be so light throughout the year. I am lovin’ it!

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For more on how  iPad will change your life, here’s Attaining Nirvana through iPad.

What is Canadiano? It is like Americano, but way better. This is what the barista told me with a wink.

You know, this can happen only in Canada. You can walk into a bank and ask for a bunch of loonies in exchange for a few dollars. The banker will not laugh or hide a smile. He will say, yeah sure, I can get you some loonies in a moment. What other country on earth can anyone do that?

Ok, a loonie is a one dollar coin. A toonie is a two dollar coin. It took me a long time to get over this.  Loon is the national bird of Canada and the one dollar coin has a loon on it.

Yoga and a full time job sometimes don’t work out well. I know really well that I need to practice my asanas  when the work gets demanding. Even a short yoga session improves the day a lot by helping with the breath. In spite of all this knowledge, what happens in reality is something different. Sometimes, I skip my practice as I wake up later and need to be at work at a certain time. I know what it takes to get my practice in the morning. To let go of the day at 10 pm in the night.

With the internet access at my finger tips, it is quite difficult to stop reading whatever it is and retire. The constant connection to the universe is affecting me. I notice the clock at 10 pm and I am not yet ready to sleep. My alarm clock goes off at 4.30 in the mornings. I automatically put it off. When I wake up, it is too late to practice. I did not worry too much about issues with time when I had taken time off from life.  There were no complexities, no variables. I had the entire day to think about yoga. Now with the limited time, I need to plan the day quite well. I do understand that there is always time in a day for what you like doing. Internet is  what I need to give up for a few hours.  It is all clear. I will try to cut myself off the net after 8 pm and see if that will help me keep up with my daily practice.

[Īśvara] was also the teacher of the former [teachers], because with him there is no limitation by time. Read more…

I am not sure what it is. Is it my vagabonding through India to study Yoga or is it Vancouver or is it my injured knee? Western “vinyasa” does not make sense at all to my body. This is the style I have practiced for so many years until I went to India. My teachers at my teacher training in San Francisco were primarily trained in this style, for they were direct disciples of the California Yoga queen Shiva Rea. I used to enjoy this style a lot. Not anymore. I am trying to figure out what happened.

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.

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I am not fond of using music for my yoga practice. I enjoy yoga without music, for I can hear myself better, feel the joints open up and feel the flexibility increase as the class progresses. I think yoga is all about going independent of all dependencies. It is about getting rid of all the layers, not about adding things. I think it is okay to use music in a public class, as everyone is at a different stage of evolution. And for many, it is just a workout.

Using music is alright, if the music used is good. I am aware of the reggae, rock, trance and all the variations.  In San Francisco, the music choice was quite decent. Even though the Sanskrit was butchered in all the new age lounge music, it still had a rhythm. Om Man-ee pad-meh hooooom. During my teacher training in San Francisco, I was even taught how important music is and how it must be used to build a tempo. Personally, I do not want to use music as it is a distraction to go to Apple music and buy the songs. It costs extra and it is unnecessary nuisance. If I do use music in my class, I make sure it is interesting.

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