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.
I have always fancied having someone guide me in my Yoga studies. A lot of books say that great progress can be made when you have a guru, as a guru can show you the way. Sounds great, but I am pretty sure I am not going to find anyone who can fit this role. Of late, I do not want it either. I am afraid that the person will let me down. Last year, I was at an ashram in India. I thought I liked a teacher who could explain things very well. I also felt he practiced asanas and everything else that he was talking about. Integrity is super important for a role model. Then I got to know he was after a girl in my class. There is essentially nothing wrong with that. Just that he had claimed a completely different lifestyle in class. That was the last time I ever wanted a guide, teacher or a guru. Now I look for inspiration among my own friends, yogis or non yogis.
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.
I still recall the valedictory function at KYM last year, on February 27, around 19:00 hours, Chennai time; after one month of daily practice of asana, pranayama and dhyana, my mind had reached a stillness that I had never enjoyed before; that whole month was plenty of new experiences, emotions and new knowledge.
One year later everything seems changed. On February 27 I woke up suddenly, at 3:34 am, Santiago de Chile time, shaken by the most violent earthquake that I had never experienced before. During 90 seconds I was convinced that I was living my last minutes on this world; I was terrified, not because of dying, in some way I was surrendered to death, but because I thought that it would be very painful. I live in an eleventh floor apartment, and I thought that the violence of the movement would break the building: I felt like being swallowed by the unlimited power of nature; I was minute, weak, insignificant in front of such almighty energy. It was the terrifying force of nature, the fecund pṛthivi, the unconscious prakṛti; “Mother Nature” brought death, destruction, chaos, pain and suffering to my land, in a way that I never imagined. The force of the nature crushed us.
Olympics and the Cauldron remind me of going to a Hindu temple during a major festival. Lines everywhere and you see a glimpse of the sacred. Same thing here. The Olympic cauldron has been fenced off. Last week there was a thick cloth covering the fence. It was kept quite secretive. This week there is a slightly better view, but still there is a huge fence.
The design of the cauldron is beautiful. In the night, it has the icy blue feel to it and it is so Vancouver, transparent glass. I love it!
This is not a film review. Although I thought the film by the same title was quite nice. This post is about my Yoga education. I was not very sure about teaching yoga when I had signed up for the training. I could not do most of the asanas in a picture perfect way. I am way better now, but far from perfection. Anyway, I was simply drawn to Yoga. After quite some time battling with injuries, I have decided to teach.
I like teaching Yoga. It gives me a completely different aspect or angle of yoga. Sometimes I refer to my notes as to how I can explain something in the most minimum of words. When I taught my first class, I was using a few sentences to which my student was not responding. I mean, I know this asana so well, but how do I convey it to the other person who is relying just on my words. I try to demonstrate and then all goes well. But that is incorrect, a few glitches of being a first time instructor. I have improved it since then and I also remembered one of my teachers say that the yoga instructor should be able to convey every single move just by dialog. When I practice on my own, I do not need to work on how I should convey this. Teaching classes add this layer to my practice which I enjoy. I also notice that trying to come up with a class structure keeps my home practice interesting. I refer back to my notes and there is so much out there which I sort of forget to practice in my self practice. Or a pranayama technique which I have not practiced in ages. All in all, teaching yoga improves my home practice.
Recently I heard about this film and I watched the trailer. Looks interesting. It sounds like this film is following Sita Sings the Blues model. Pay what you can. For more information on the film, check out Shyama on MovieSet.
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