Yoga with 400 people at Grameen

Today was pretty neat. 




I taught desk yoga at the corporate settings of the Grameen Phone head office - better known as GP House. They have a fancy cool office, being there makes you feel like you're not in Bangladesh! I met my old college buddy Naureen who works there and was kind enough to buy me coffee (from their office coffee shop) and fill me in on details.



There were over 400 participants I was later told, and I also estimated from the photos. I've never had stage fright even though I can be rather a shy person and the whole experience was really humbling as well as fun for me. The whole point of this entry is really to state that I feel grateful for having been given the opportunity to share my meagre knowledge of yoga and how it applies in daily life in small ways.

I've had about five messages from various people who attended who said they had a good time too....woo hoo!!!

The future can only get better? 

Yoganika at Yogaspire

I was real happy and grateful to have been a part of my student and friend Rajesh Ramakrishnan's photo exhibition titled “YogAspire” with my buddy Samir Obaid at the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre, Gulshan in Dhaka. The exhibition continues till 21st June and then moves to the Bangladesh National Museum 21st June 5 pm for International Day of Yoga. 

I'd gone with my mum and she seemed pretty happy about the whole affair too. Here's photo of Samir and I goofing around at the show...

Press coverage today for the ongoing Yogaspire photo exhibit by Rajesh Ramkrishnan featuring Anika's Yoga and Samir Obaid

1. http://theindependentbd.com/arcprint/details/3353/2015-06-13
2. https://allmedialink.com/inauguration-of-exhibition-of-pho…/
3. http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2015/06/13/96417/print
4. http://www.unb.com.bd/print/photo-exhibition-1
5. http://www.daily-sun.com/…/Ashraf-Mahmud-to-perf…/2015-06-13
6. http://www.en.banglanews24.com/fullnews/bn/111894.html

Please go see this if you have time! 
Namaste + lots of love

Herbal magic - the benefits of triphala

I discovered the magic herb called #triphala a few years back while digging my nose into a book by Kartha Singh Purkh called Herbal Defence. It was said to have amazing healing properties by cleaning the colon and improving the overall health of the gut as well as the rest of the body. 

I mean who doesn’t want clear glowing skin and long flowing hair… a healthy body and mind? 

I thought as much....

When I told my (incidentally Indian) mom I wanted #triphala from India she made a wry face and said why? It tastes horrible…apparently she had to have it as a child and grew such immense distaste for it that she never gave it another thought as an adult. 

Funny how the very things we try and escape from have a crazy way of coming back to us — mostly to teach us what we need to learn.

My grandmother used to make her own triphala at her home back in India. Nowadays you are lucky enough to find it in nearly ever #MeenaBazaar outlet - available in the powdered form. You can start by mixing a teaspoon in half a glass of water and leave it to steep overnight. Drink it first thing on an empty stomach in the morning. 

What good will that do? Well, simply put it makes you poop out all the bad shit literally. In addition to about a thousand different benefits.

This herb, a combination of three potent fruits known as #amlaki, #bibhitaki and #haritaki is a grand mixture that sweeps your #colon clean of all leftover undigested matter that may have accumulated there for YEARS. 

In short it causes the body to start to detox. It’s removes dead and leftover tissues and other residual toxins from the body, brings down cholesterol and high blood pressure, improves circulation, balances hormones, improves glandular health (and of courses helps you poop better — much much better). Don’t worry also if the poop is very weird poop at first. This too bowls over. 

Triphala contains tons of vitamin c thanks to the amlaki and this fruit enables the body to cool down i.e. lowers pitta dosha — bad temper and anxiety anyone? It helps balance all the three doshas intact and if you don’t know what they are keep reading this blog I shall soon blog about them too.

Triphala is highly nutritious and reduces inflammatory conditions of the stomach and intestines and no, it will not give you acidity if you have it first thing in the morning.

As a strong laxative #bibhitaki cleans the stomach as well as tones it. It cleans and heals the lungs, urinary system as well and gets rid of parasites, mucous and destroys kidney stones. #Haritaki is referred to as the king of medicines in #Tibetan medicine. It brings vitality to the heart, improves stomach health - rectifying constipation, diarreah or indigestion. It lowers high blood pressure and cures asthma. 

You might fall sick the first few days of consuming triphala so it is best to increase the dosage slowly. Start with a teaspoon in the morning and build this upto one tablespoon. You can keep using it, there are no side effects. If you do fall sick remember that these are just detox symptoms and will blow over in the next few days leaving you healthier, much more vibrant and did i say beautiful glowing skin? Yeah that too.

Try it! Let me know how it goes…

Namaste

How does one recover from lots of yoga?

The other day someone asked me how many hours of yoga I do in a day....

I never really think about it but now that I do, I think it would be about 3-4 hours a day, most weeks it is seven days a week. I have my daily self practice as an #ashtanga yoga practitioner. We wake up early morning and do our practice six days a week. Once a week we take a day off. On that day we rest and usually take a castor oil bath. Aside from self practice, I teach about ten classes a week. 

Talk about being yoga-ed out (read sore)! I am stating all this to get to the point where I tell you that I got a #castor #oil bath today. 

The castor oil once applied on the skin (just like any other oil massage, including the entire scalp area...which is the part of the body where maximum heat builds up according to Sharath Jois) needs to sit for about 15 minutes to an hour. This is followed by a shower. The rest of that day is to be taken easy, with as little activity as possible and lots and lots of self care. If you leave it on too long, you could end up with a bad case of the sniffles....so remember to take it easy.

In short, castor oil baths are great during this summer heat, which incidentally reminds me so much of South #India where I studied yoga and learned about this sort of #ayurvedic treatment. In addition to removing #pain from the muscles, tissues and joints, castor oil also removes residual toxins or ama as they say in ayurveda from the body and above all deals with pent up heat. I had busted my knee in India and my yoga buddy, also a #bharat #natayam dancer told me nonchalantly to rub castor oil over the pain. 

Your knee pain is no biggie her face had appeared to say. It was from then on that I understood the healing properties of this oil. Now I recommend it to people like my mom who suffers from arthritis of the knee, or those who have sciatica or back pain. Castor oil contains #ricinoleic acid (any #BreakingBad fans reading this?) which has potent anti-inflammatory qualities. 

Castor oil is available at any pharmacy in Dhaka at about 150 taka per bottle. 

So that's it...spread the word, spread healing and love -- wherever you go.

Yoga citta vritti nirodah ~ Yoga is the cessation of the modifications of the mind

Yoga citta vrtti nirodhah ~ Yoga is the cessation of the modifications of the mind

I have been having thoughts about deconstructing thoughts. This has lead me to think up an innumerable sum of thoughts really since we can have so many millions of thoughts. Lest we permit ourselves to think them. 

Small thoughts, long thoughts, deep thoughts, shallow thoughts, connected thoughts, uplifting thoughts and sad ones. Thoughts that inspire, move, awaken, create, master, analyse, impose, infuse, vacillate, juxtapose, surrender and let go and the list can continue till infinity. Makes me think of an endless ladder leading to the sky and the rungs you can climb on it have no ending.

A single thought has the ability to lift our spirits up or to drag us down. This makes me question (again another thought - since we are in the process of deciphering) — What really is a thought? Can you contextualise how an individual thought is formed? 

A basic deconstruction would imply that a thought is a mere fluctuation of the mind. They make me think of waves on an otherwise calm ocean. Or of fluffy multi shaped clouds in the sky. 

Can you separate the mind from the body or do they work as one? Can you distinguish the differences here? I often pose this question to myself and others. 

What William Blake or Aldous Huxley called the doors of perception (otherwise referred to as the mind or Sanskrit manas) happens to be an abstract concept. There is no doubt of its existence however we cannot touch or see the mind, we can only think or perceive of its existence. 

As such dharana or concentration or dhyana meditative absorbtion are among the limbs of yoga.

The body on the other hand is a physical entity, replete with form, weight and colour. The relationship between the mind and body is a symbiotic one, neither one can survive without the other. 

Both the mind and body are capable of experiencing joy and sorrow. The mind interprets emotions and labels them and the body interprets signals sent from the brain (mind) to a particular portion of the anatomy. 

Would this lead you to think that there parallels here? Would you want to think incessantly or just have life experiences happen to you without attempting to decode each and every mystery? Would you suppose there can ever be an end of thinking and if so what would that state be like?

Time for you to ruminate on my thoughts and perhaps leave me some of yours. 

Just breathe :: Puraka ~ Rechaka ~ Kumbaka

Just Breathe :: Puraka ~ Rechaka ~ Kumbaka

Lately, I have been thinking, talking about and trying out a whole lot of breathing! 

In Sanskrit, the word puraka is used to mean inhalation. Rechaka is exhalation. The pause or gap between the breaths is referred to as kumbaka. This kumbaka gap or space is infinite, timeless and can help extend the life force within the body.

The word Prana means life and yama means extension of this life force. Your life force or "aliveness"is encapsulated by the breath for it is within a puraka and rechaka that our entire lifetimes are sealed. 

So let's work on a simple exercise today....

Breathe in as slowly and attentively as possible for about 10 seconds noticing each and everything about the process as you do so. Then hold or retain this breath for another 10 seconds, slowly exhale for 10 seconds and repeat the process. Do this for about a minute. If you wish you can leave me a question or comment about your experience.

Have to go out and teach a class now...more later and by that I mean real soon!

Just breathe