Yoga for Children

Yoga for excellence & character building in children.

Children need a strong foundation of yoga from an early age to cope with various lifestyle related problems persistent today as also to lead a happy life.

For children who are custodians of each nation in particular & the whole world at large, I feel Yoga is the essential product of the twenty first century to lead them to perfect physical health & mental well-being. Through yoga it is possible to transform skillfully their vanity & competitive spirit into useful forms of energy. – B K S Iyengar

Why yoga for children?

o Improves circulation, vital to the proper functioning of the body
o Nourishes, stimulates & maintains balance of endocrine glands which govern their growth & development
o Helps establish a regular & easy menstrual cycle
o Improves digestion & respiration so that there is more energy available for a growing child
o Increases supply of fresh blood to the brain thus enhancing mental capacity
o Strengthens nerves thereby improving endurance
o Promotes proper structural development by working the joints
o Helps a child to become self-controlled & less prone to extreme behaviour by regulating endocrinal functions
o Corrects brooding & melancholy in girls by regulating pituitary & pineal functions
o Checks laziness & lethargy
o Builds self-confidence. Removes shyness & self-consciousness
o Controls the arousal of the emerging sexual urge
o Directs new found energy into creative outlets
o Creates predisposition towards Yogic principles of yama & niyama thus developing a child’s moral-ethical character
o Helps children excel in every aspect of life

Introducing yoga programme (Roots to Wings) for children above 8 years from 5th January 2011, every Wednesday, 5 to 6:30 pm. Each class would include yoga asanas, pranayamas, yoga games, concentration techniques, yoga philosophy through stories, role plays & much more. Please contact me for more details. Thanks!!

Celebrities & Yoga

Angelina Jolie, Kareena Kapoor, Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Aniston, Lara Dutta, Shilpa Shetty, Mallika Sherawat, Aishwarya Rai, Cameron Diaz & Carmen Electra have one thing in common. They all pratice YOGA!!!

Check out this article on Yahoo - Hot Yoga Celebs

Dance Workshop

Fantastic workshop!! We had loads of fun dancing with our superb instructors Dheeraj & Tejas (Shaimak Davar group). This was a rocking Saturday morning. We learned some gr8 rock & roll (dance style) moves, pepped up our moods and got the body moving to the tracks of 'munni', 'nakhare' and the like. Dance is not just about the fun, its also meditation in motion. We were completely absorbed in whatever we were doing out there. A great workout and body mind co-ordination are added advantages......... so put on your dancing shoes and let your body move to the music!!!

That's Dheeraj & Tejas to my right & left respectively. Yes, my son aarav (he's just 2) loves to dance & watch people dance, so he too was a part of the fun for a little while.

Pregnancy Workshop

"There is only one beautiful child in this world, & every mother has it"

- Chinese Proverb

We had a nice quiet group this Saturday (23rd) for pregnancy workshop. And the workshop too went smoothly with assistance from my friends & fellow yogis sonvi & rajsi. We concluded the workshop with some healthy snacks - vegetable handavo, potato chips (roasted with little salt) and variyali drink.

Garba & Yoga

The Navratri fever was high amongst us and we thought of grooving to the tunes of garba without the space constraint of the crowded venues. Agreed you can't match that tempo, but we had loads of fun doing garba with experieced and graceful instructors - Mital & Sonvi. We also had a nice lively audience, you see in the first picture.

ps: my regular yoga practice definitely helped me during that garba nite when i slept at 2:45 only to wake up fresh after 5 hours, without any soreness. Cheers to yoga!!!

Yoga & meditation

Well, if you want to associate meditation with weight loss, let's just say that you won't crave for that chocolate bar, ice cream that you normally do.....

We had two separate sessions of meditation one last month by Geeta & Jyoti aunty and one today by my dear friend Nimisha. Both were different yet beautiful. Thanks a lot to the instructors.

I believe, if asanas & pranayamas are like cake; then meditation is like the icing on the cake. It enhances the flavor of your life. And a regular practice of meditation is like the 'Diwali cleaning' of your mind (which should happen daily & not just before Diwali :-) ). Do i need to elaborate further??? I think not !!

Crane Pose (kakasana)

Yoga is much more than just exotic postures, but when you get them, a lot changes within you!! Congrats you guys..... From the top its Rajsi, Sujal, Neetu, Sonvi & Tanvi... a very good execution of kakasana (crane pose). It is not an easy posture to get. Definitely requires a regular well-rounded yoga practice. But these girls did it & i m extremely happy for that. Improves physical emotional balance, concentration. And you'll also get those well toned arms & upper body.

Natarajasana

Nata means dancer and raja is the word for lord or king. Shiva is the King of Dancers. This pose reveals Shiva's attributes. Shiva represents transformation or change. He represents the dance of our lives, the changes, illnesses, relationships, the emotions, etc.

Shiva is also the deity of stillness, meditation, calmness, introspection and peace. Practicing this pose provides an opportunity to find the stillness within the motion. Because it's such a challenging balance, one must cultivate a quiet and focused mind. In order to remain still and balanced we must be completely present.

(from various sources on the net & books)

For me the biggest challenge was to open up the shoulders. To actually experience stillness within, the pose needs to be practiced more & held longer :)

Headstand

See the world from a totally new perspective. It broadens your vision!!! Sirshasana makes me feel calm & alert at the same time. It has huge benefits which are elaborated below.

This asana leaves so many positive effects on the body and mind that it is called King of the Asana. It enhances blood supply to the brain and calms it. It helps relieve stress and mild depression. The regular practice of this asana increases intellectual clarity, improves will power and respiration. It stimulates the pituitary and pineal glands. It strengthens the arms, legs, spine and lungs as well. It tones the abdominal organs and Improves digestion. It helps relieve the symptoms of menopause. It helps to cure minor (common cold, cough and sore throat) to major ailments like asthma, infertility, insomnia, and sinusitis.

Sugar Blues

In my regular classes, we tend to include one activity for the whole week which we practice for our own personal growth. (At physical, emotional, mental, intellectual or spiritual levels). The reason is I just don’t want all of us to do the workout and leave. I want each one of us to grow and go towards an ideal lifestyle. Moreover, when we practice as a group it is motivating and yields better results.

This week, let’s cut down our sugar intake……. How?
First recognize that you have white refined sugar in various foods and identify the sources. All processed food has that – which includes sauces, instant foods etc. you also have that in all beverages – aerated drinks, energy drinks, lemonades and tea, coffee. We also tend to add to sugar to various home made preparations. Other than these we have sugar regularly in desserts, ice creams, shakes etc. come to think of it, hardly a day goes by when we don’t have sugar multiple times.

So this week let us resolve to have sugar just once during the day, means in any one kind of food for just once. The reason for not cutting sugar off completely is not to induce a feeling of deprivation which may result in binging later on. Also sugar is addictive and its total stoppage might result in withdrawal symptoms which we might not identify.

Now the reasons why we should restrict our sugar consumption are as follows:
It has zero nutritional value as refining destroys all its vitamins and minerals.

Can cause nerve damage, chronic infections, dental decay, diabetes, obesity, tissue degeneration etc.

It is acidic – resulting in ulcers, psychological disorders and hyperactivity.

Apart from being cheap and heavy, it masks the flavour. Thus when sufficient quantities are added, inferior foods can be made to taste good.

It is bleached with phosphate of lime to give it sparkling white colour.

I have read a lot about sugar and taken this little piece of info from various sources – books and internet. You too can refer to various sources for more.

Craving for something sweet – use dried fruits (dates, figs, grapes, bananas, apricots, raisins, prunes, peaches etc.), unrefined jaggery. You can use these in various food & dessert preparations also.

Challenges of Pincha Mayurasana

Many :-

Firstly, it just feels awkward to start off with this kind of an inversion. Viparitkarni, sarvangasana, halasana, sirshasana are all still fine, but this is weird to start with.

Secondly, it's easy to get it on the wall. But the transition from the wall to slightly away to the centre of the room is really difficult and needs a lot of mental preparation (more than the physical)


Thirdly, you have to learn to fall on the otherside with grace. Because if you are going to make the transition from the wall to the centre of the room, you better practice that well, as you are going to fall many times over and unless you learn the grace of falling you will go into a shell & refuse to grow after that initial fall.


But as Shri Pattabhi Jois puts it "Yoga is 99% practice, 1% theory".


Last but not the least, getting these kind of postures give you a different high which only a true yoga enthusiast can understand :-)

The Ancient Accurate Wonderous Science of Yoga

This information is not mine. I received this amazing forward and i am reproducing it here exactly as i feel this should be shared.

It is amazing how much Western science has taught us. Today, for example, kids in grammar school learn that the sun is 93 million miles from the earth and that the speed of light is 186,000 miles per second. Yoga may teach us about our Higher Self, but it can't supply this kind of information about physics or astronomy.

Or can it? Professor Subhash Kak of Louisiana State University recently called my attention to a remarkable statement by Sayana, a fourteenth century Indian scholar. In his commentary on a hymn in the Rig Veda, the oldest and perhaps most mystical text ever composed in India, Sayana has this to say: "With deep respect, I bow to the sun, who travels 2,202 yojanas in half a nimesha."

A yojana is about nine American miles; a nimesha is 16/75 of a second. Mathematically challenged readers, get out your calculators!2,202 yojanas x 9 miles x 75/8 nimeshas = 185,794 m. p. s.Basically, Sayana is saying that sunlight travels at 186,000 miles per second!

How could a Vedic scholar who died in 1387 A. D. have known the correct figure for the speed of light? If this was just a wild guess it's the most amazing coincidence in the history of science!The yoga tradition is full of such coincidences. Take for instance the mala many yoga students wear around their neck. Since these rosaries are used to keep track of the number of mantras a person is repeating, students often ask why they have 108 beads instead of 100. Part of the reason is that the mala represent the ecliptic, the path of the sun and moon across the sky. Yogis divide the ecliptic into 27 equal sections called nakshatras, and each of these into four equal sectors called paadas, or "steps," marking the 108 steps that the sun and moon take through heaven.Each is associated with a particular blessing force, with which you align yourself as you turn the beads.Traditionally, yoga students stop at the 109th "guru bead," flip the mala around in their hand, and continue reciting their mantra as they move backward through the beads. The guru bead represents the summer and winter solstices, when the sun appears to stop in its course and reverse directions.

In the yoga tradition we learn that we're deeply interconnected with all of nature. Using a mala is a symbolic way of connecting ourselves with the cosmic cycles governing our universe.But Professor Kak points out yet another coincidence: The distance between the earth and the sun is approximately 108 times the sun's diameter. The diameter of the sun is about 108 times the earth's diameter. And the distance between the earth and the moon is 108 times the moon's diameter.Could this be the reason the ancient sages considered 108 such a sacred number? If the microcosm (us) mirrors the macrocosm (the solar system), then maybe you could say there are 108 steps between our ordinary human awareness and the divine light at the center of our being. Each time we chant another mantra as our mala beads slip through our fingers, we are taking another step toward our own inner sun.

As we read through ancient Indian texts, we find so much the sages of antiquity could not possibly have known-but did. While our European and Middle Eastern ancestors claimed that the universe was created about 6,000 years ago, the yogis have always maintained that our present cosmos is billions of years old, and that it's just one of many such universes which have arisen and dissolved in the vastness of eternity.

In fact the Puranas, encyclopedias of yogic lore thousands of years old, describe the birth of our solar system out of a "milk ocean," the Milky Way. Through the will of the Creator, they tell us, a vortex shaped like a lotus arose from the navel of eternity. It was called Hiranya Garbha, the shining womb. It gradually coalesced into our world, but will perish some day billions of years hence when the sun expands to many times it present size, swallowing all life on earth. In the end, the Puranas say, the ashes of the earth will be blown into space by the cosmic wind. Today we known this is a scientifically accurate, if poetic, description of the fate of our planet.

The Surya Siddhanta is the oldest surviving astronomical text in the Indian tradition. Some Western scholars date it to perhaps the fifth or sixth centuries A. D., though the next itself claims to represent a tradition much, much older. It explains that the earth is shaped like a ball, and states that at the very opposite side of the planet from India is a great city where the sun is rising at the same time it sets in India. In this city, the Surya Siddhanta claims, lives a race of siddhas, or advanced spiritual adepts. If you trace the globe of the earth around to the exact opposite side of India, you'll find Mexico. Is it possible that the ancient Indians were well aware of the great sages/astronomers of Central America many centuries before Columbus discovered America?- the M! ayans or Inca-s!!!

Knowing the unknowable: To us today it seems impossible that the speed of light or the fate of our solar system could be determined without advanced astronomical instruments. -as Sanjee argues!!How could the writers of old Sanskrit texts have known the unknowable? In searching for an explanation we first need to understand that these ancient scientists were not just intellectuals, they were practicing yogis. The very first lines of the Surya Siddhanta, for of the Golden Age a great astronomer named Maya desired to learn the secrets of the heavens, so he first performed rigorous yogic practices. Then the answers to his questions appeared in his mind in an intuitive flash.Does this sound unlikely?

Yoga Sutra 3:26-28 states that through, samyama(concentration, meditation, and unbroken mental absorption) on the sun, moon, and pole star, we can gain knowledge of the planets and stars. Sutra 3:33 clarifies, saying: "Through keenly developed intuition, everything can be known." Highly developed intuition is called pratibha in yoga. It is accessible only to those who have completely stilled their mind, focusing their attention on one object with laser-like intensity. Those who have limited their mind are no longer limited to the fragments of knowledge supplied by the five senses. All knowledge becomes accessible to them.

"There are [those] who would say that consciousness, acting on itself, can find universal knowledge," Professor Kak admits. "In fact this is the traditional Indian view."Perhaps the ancient sages didn't need advanced astronomical instruments. After all, they had yoga.

A special class

We had a very interesting session this Saturday, 13th March 2010, with yoga trainer Gurpreet Singh, (from the Bharat Thakur yoga clan teaching in Moscow at present) seen on the extreme right in the first picture . He was here in Ahmedabad for the weekend and his friend turned out to be my student Meera who was sweet enough to arrange the session with us. The highlight of the session of course was partner stretching (cudnt take those pictures as was busy enjoying the session) towards the end of the class which made everybody relax and unwind.

I am always very keen on inviting other teachers to the centre as it gives all the members a refreshing change from my 5 days a week sessions. Moreover, i strongly believe that there is something to learn from all whether he / she is a beginner or a seasoned instructor. Everyone is a different human being and their classes reflect their experience, training and thoughts which are bound to be different. It gives me a different perspective and opens up my mind.

A few weeks back i had Nipa (a friend and a yoga trainer from New York) take a session here. The highlight of her session was her absolutely articulate instructions and her way of conveying YOGA to the class.

It's a delight to get flavors of YOGA from around the world.

Yoga and sports

Last Saturday, i held my tennis racquet after a gap of almost 10 years. i love the game i picked up in school and continued playing till college, and would definitely like to keep going. The reason why i m writing this and its connection to yoga i chanced upon when i was giving my first session of play (after a long sabbatical) an after thought.

All those who have played tennis or any other sport for that matter must know that it requires a lot of strength, stamina, reflexes, concentration, co-ordination etc. My first day of play was a surprise to me, i m not saying that i was hitting aces and winners, i could barely connect at first but i observed a few interesting things.

- my reflex action was quicker

- my shoulder and arm strength had improved

- my wrists felt stronger

- my racquet was less wobbly while doing strong volleys

- the day after soreness was NOT there

- i was covering the court well and anticipating better

- i was less breathless

All this after 10 years of not playing!!! I attribute this solely to my yoga practice (yoga lifestyle, asanas, pranayamas, concentration). So i firmly believe that whatever you are doing in the world in any field and all sport, yoga can help you get BETTER.

ps: above is a pic of Rafa Nadal one of the best amongst the current players

NOW......!!!

MySpace Codes!
It's been a while since i posted here. What made me come out of this sabbatical was just a quiet observation. Read on:

i was on my way back the other day and there was a marriage procession on the street with a music band playing and a few people dancing in a group while the rest were walking alongside. What caught my eye (and heart) was not this. There were a few hutments alongside the road and i was amazed to see the children of slum dwellers also dancing to the tunes, laughing and enjoying. They lived in shanty homes, could barely manage to fill their stomach (with food they would not have choice of) had old clothes and unkempt hair. Yet they taught me to LIVE IN THIS MOMENT and not worry about the past or future. They taught me that happiness is but a state of mind which you can enter at any time provided you want it. You don't have to depend on your circumstances to be happy. Well can i say that those children are more SPIRITUAL then us. I might not be able to do justice to what i actually felt but in a few words, I WAS HUMBLED.

The one thing that i can learn is to keep this picture in my heart and refer to it whenever i get disappointed, disheartened, saddened or unhappy. For you all, i am sure there are certainly some "pictures" you have come across in life, some worthwhile holding on to.