Culture

As I was reflecting on the past three weeks, I got a way to thread the different experiences I had. Thought I will share:

1. Culture of any country is sigma of individual cultures.
2. Country’s culture is ethereal. Ask anyone to explain their country’s culture and we will get million opinions for million people polled. Some would focus on food, others on dress, some others on the traditions etc…
3. If one needs to truly comprehend collective culture, then one needs to see / visit embodiments of such a ethereal culture.
4. Indian culture is embodied in the thousands of historic temples. Apart from revealing external beauty in the form of exquisite architecture, all temples express one idea – of unity in diversity. 5. I appreciated the principle of unity in three levels:
A) learning that Brahman alone is, through Gita & Upanishads study.
B) If that was still complex, meeting Gurus like Swami G & Swami P and listen to them explain the very same ethereal concepts of unity.
C) If that was still difficult for me to understand, then visiting temples to see the unity principle expressed in so many ways to suit so many different minds. Take few examples: Guruvayoor – expresses the concept of timelessness – the idol of Krishna has been passed on from one yuga to another by non-physical principles of air, guru tattvas. Take Singaperumal temple, that expresses the story of an ancient Avatara of that Unity principle to uphold dharma in the form of a lion-man, showcasing one of the unique ways of the unity’s expression. Or, Vadakunathan temple – built on reclaimed land of Kerala by Parashurama who was banished by his Guru, from this earth for killing all kshatriyas after he donated everything to a Guru, and expresses the unity in the form of Shiva – auspicious one.

I am but left wondering why we promote Taj Mahal, Gol Gumbaz, Bibi ka Macbara, Qutub Minar as signs of Indian culture?

Signing off this Sunday’s last note to this esteemed group before I board my flight to get back to US.

Hari Om Tat Sat 🙏

Notice to all my blog subscribers

Namaste,

You may have noticed that I have not blogged here in the last month or so. The reason I did not do was because I faced a technical problem which I could not solve. And, in the process of solving the problem, I created an entirely new website, http://happilyoga.com.

If you are following this blog, I request you to please visit my website http://happilyoga.com and please follow my blog once again there!

I tried to migrate all subscribers to my new website and blog but am still unsuccessful. Hence am writing this request.

As a bonus, I invite you to join my free online meditation group practice. All you need to do is register here, http://happilyoga.com/home/classes/

 

Improve Eyesight & Insight – Try Tratak Kriya

Amongst the six yogic cleansing techniques (shatkarmas; shat: six, karma: actions), Tratak kriya is an awesome technique. I would encourage you to try this for 21 days at a stretch.

I have been doing this regularly for the last three weeks and here is the key benefit I have seen: My eyesight seems to have improved.

Please read below for how I do it:

1. Light up a lamp with naked flame – like above. Use any oil, or ghee. I personally use sesame oil or ghee. It is also easier for me as I use the same lamp I use to light up in front of the puja room (where I keep a few images of ‘God’). You can use candle as well. If you are uncomfortable using naked flame, use a flameless option.
2. Place the lamp at about 4 to 8 feet distance from you.
3. Sit comfortably in any of the sitting asanas (Sukhasana, Vajrasana, Padmasana, Siddasana) and gaze at the light without blinking.
4. When your eyes begin to water, close your eyes gently and imagine the flame in between your eyebrows.
5. After a few seconds, open your eyes and repeat.

I do Tratak for 10min a day.

Why did I do this?

I saw that  my eye-sight was getting a bit blurry (despite my spectacles) – and I tried cleaning my specs quite often assuming that there was dirt in the specs. But that did not solve the problem. I realized that either I go to the optician to check my power again (within 3 months?????), or try tratak. This time around, I tried tratak kriya and it surely improved my eyesight.

Additionally, they say that tratak improves the insights one develops – I have not yet seen those benefits accrue to me. But, what the heck – sitting down for 10 minutes and doing tratak daily does not bother me much – all I need to do is to cut down my TV time by 10min!

What do you think?

Would love to hear your thoughts,

 

 

My Meditations on Insight Timer App – Update

My guided meditations on insight timer app are being used by a lot of people. There are several good reviews. Check out the stats below

The key data I track is how many people have the guided meditation in their favorites – this is a measure of how often they are likely to use my guided meditation repeatedly.

• 282 people have favorited my meditations (average of all four techniques)
• 1425+ people have played my meditation atleast once (average of all four techniques

This means that 20% of the people are likely to repeat using my guided meditation technique to beat their stress.

Am so glad and so blessed to note that people are finding this useful.

Reviews of 3 Meditations on Insight Timer App

In the last fortnight, I published three guided meditation practices on Insight Timer. 

I was amazed to see the response to the three meditations. 

I was able to reach over 3600 people, and over 600 people rated the meditations, with an average of 4.4* on a scale of 5*.

More than 300 people have favorited the meditations. 

I hope that there will be at least 100 of them who will take up the 21 day meditation challenge and practice 21 consecutive days of 20min /day meditation

Deep Breathing Tutorial – Register Now

I am launching a 2 month donation-based FREE online breathing tutorial.

Every weekend, [Sat & Sun, 0608-0628AM PST] join me and learn how to breathe right.

Here is the description of the event, and link to register

Space is limited to 25 attendees.

 

How Does Meditation Help?

Here is what a few friends wrote about how meditation helps them. They have been practicing 10-25min daily for the last three months.

PC says

I think it calms me down. Between three kids, new house, new job, taking care of parents, there’s so much noise in the head. I don’t think I’ve been able to quieten it all down, but I know it helps to slow the mind during the day. And it helps me get to bed really quickly at night, which may not be the intended purpose! 🙂

RG says

I went to the dentist today to follow up on an implant. For the soreness he gave me pain killers. I’ve decided not to take any and use meditation to see if I can handle it – let’s see how long this lasts! Need to go for 2-3 days…

And I asked him who was the winner – medication or meditation. Here is his response:

Meditation it is…at least this time!

PV, a well known music teacher in Bay Area says,

Today I had the pleasure of meditating with my students at the end of music class. They were all saying that it was relaxing! I used the guided 13 min session.
Students said thanks to Rajesh !!

PV also says this about her meditation experience:

Totally positive. In fact it is addictive. I look forward to the time with my eyes closed , thinking about nothing. The repetition of the phrase attitude of gratitude is a daily reminder for me to be a good citizen on a daily basis.
I don’t start things very easily but when I get into it, I take it very seriously.
Thanks for introducing me to meditation!

RB says:

The biggest difference is how I react to situations. I just feel I am taking a more tempered, composed approach to everything. Of course, others are the best judge of my reactions. But feel like there is an increased sense of acceptance of things that don’t go my way.

RB also says:

Had severe nasal congestion and headache all day. Attempted meditation a couple of times and gave up. Finished 20 minutes meditation after the conversation with Rajesh. Accepted my breathing issue and headache as “normal” and continued as much as I could. It’s been better since then. Glad I avoided medicating myself and chose to meditate for minor ailment. Thanks Rajesh!

How about you?

Are you ready to take up the 21 day meditation challenge?

Talk to me!

Course Sequence for My Beginners’ Yoga Class at Milpitas Temple

I feel fortunate to facilitate a beginner yoga class in the VEDA temple in Milpitas. Apr 15th was the first Saturday for the class. We have nine more Saturdays to go.

In the next nine Saturdays that we would meet, my goal is to help the participants learn basic asanas that improve health & well being. Here attached is a slide deck of the course sequence I will follow. While I will not complete the entire sequence on day-1, I intend to complete it by the time we meet six times.

More importantly, I plan to help them understand the mind-breath-body connection. While asanas will be used extensively to work on the body, I will emphasize how to combine breathing with asanas.

Lastly, my goal is to help integrate yoga in their daily lives (yoga = ‘union’). What use is yoga if it does not integrate into each of our lives?

The temple has agreed to lower the donation from $100 to $60. Their goal is to get more people do yoga and reap the benefits in their lives. In full disclosure, I am not getting paid for this course. All donations will go to the temple.

If you are in South Bay, I encourage you to join.

 

Superchargers For Your Mind?

I don’t own a Tesla but several of my friends do. So, I was not sure of what supercharger means, till recently.

Venu, a friend of mine, who meditates regularly for the last 90 days, shared the below video on how meditation is a supercharger for his mind.

Check out how Venu uses meditation to supercharge his mind, here

Would love to hear your thoughts!

 

 

3 Inspiring Quotes From New Meditators

I picked three recent quotes from three of my batch mates who have been practicing meditation for the last few weeks:

RC said:

I used to have this issue of waking up at 3 am and not being able to fall back asleep because I start worrying about all the different things on my mind. I realized that I am not doing this anymore. I just wake up when my alarm goes off at 6. This is huge for me. Thanks again for taking us all on this journey with you.

L said:

Started seeing the real benefits, definitely is generating +ve energy, feeling less tired…

SM said:

….Even in a relatively short few days, meditation is teaching me to accept things without grudge or guilt.

What is your benefit?

Would you like to learn meditation?

 

Meditation Quotes

Meditation Quotes

Here are two good quotes:

Spring Detox Update – Day 5

I successfully completed Day 5.

My weighing scale shows 155lb, a drop of 5lb in 5 days!

My waist measures 34”, a drop of 0.5″ in 5 days!

That’s awesome.

Except for the lower back pain I had the last two days, everything worked well. And as I suspect, the lower back pain is probably a manifestation of toxins getting out of the system.

I am not continuing the next five days as I had to break my fast with a customer breakfast meeting.

All in all, good!

Spring Detox – Day 4

As in the last time when I detox’ed during the fall, I had lower back ache. Unable to sleep. The pain is quite severe and I feel it is like some toxins trying to get out of the body. 

All in all feel good. High energy levels. 

Weight dropped to 155lb. 

Spring Detox – Day 3

Ok, I admit that I ate more fruits than was needed – just felt like it. 

Followed the regimen of lesser quantity, healthy food. 

Scale shows 157lb. 

Like the fall Detox program experience, i started to have back pain – especially In my lower back: not too worried about it. 

Day 4-6 like I know from last time is when the toxins start coming out of the body. 

All in all, feel good!

Spring Detox – Day 2

Uneventful day.

Less thoughts of food. More calmer & energetic. 

Weighing scale shows 157lb!

Spring Detox – Day 1

Yesterday I started out my 10 day spring Detox.  

I start off with the weighing scale measuring 160lbs, and waist measuring 34.5″. Let us see where I land after ten days😄

Put simply, I am off tea/coffee, ALL processed foods. More importantly, I eat only as much as my stomach can take – not as much as I can stuff into my stomach. 

Uneventful day for most of time. No major mood swings. 

1 Min Deep Breathing Challenge Survey

Hi!

If you have taken the 1-min deep breathing challenge (per my blog post earlier), I would love your feedback.

Here is a link to a short 30second survey here

Thank you in advance!

1 Min Breathing Challenge?

Have you taken the 1 Min Breathing Challenge?

Here is what you need to do:

For every waking hour in the day, spend a minute by breathing deeply – using your diaphragm.  Look at a slide on deep breathing in this link from my earlier post.

The challenge will essentially make you more conscious of your shallow breathing style. Not just that, it will bring you a sense of centeredness, lightness in the body and in itself will help you beat daily stress.

My core group of meditation practitioners of about 44 is currently taking this challenge this week and are seeing enormous benefits.

Do you want to try?

Would love to hear your feedback!

 

What Is The True Reason?

Does asanas help in right breathing / breath control (pranayama) or vice versa?

I tend to believe asanas help in right breathing & breath control. 

Likewise, pranayama helps in withdrawal of senses (pratyahara).

Still more, pratyahara leads to Dharana, dhyana and Samadhi. 

It seems that each of these steps is focusing on pushing us to the one till samadhi!