The Center of Life, The Universe and Everything

Balance, Imbalance, Equilibrium, Lever, End-points, Center (Fulcrum or Pivot), Power, Weakness.
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Magic or Genius is the exertion of a small force across a large distance to do the impossible lifting of an enormous "impossibility".

"Nothing is impossible" 

"There are no accidents"

                                   [Master Ooogway in Kung-Fu Panda]

"Nothing is impossible when you have inner peace"

                                   [Master Shifu in Kung-fu Panda]

Tai Lung is zeroed (balanced/defeated) by Po.
Something is zeroed (balanced) by some-thing-else
Zero is the great balancer of opposites
----

Image of a Long Lever, Small Force, Large Output at a distance (courtsey of wikipedia)

Power: "Levers can be used to exert a large force over a small distance at one end by exerting only a small force over a greater distance at the other." [Wikipedia]

Stillness lies at the center between Power and Weakness.
Balance lies where there is stillness at all points along a continuum (of linkage).

In self-development when the student discovers the Power of using the center and the lever he constantly wants to exert his ego or will on the universe. Using his secret technique to dominate "things". This is the temptation of siddhi. Siddhi means success.
Problem is this leads to more and more karma. Once you disturb the lake surface enough there is no reflection no peace no balance. Power leads to pollution leads to disorientation and destruction.
----
Balance lies at the center.
Imbalance occurs only at the Ends of the Lever, the center always constant.
The more the distance between the center and the ends the more the imbalance due to the lever action.
----
(Meta) Physics and Mathematics
-5,0,+5
-10,0,+10
-100,0,+100
-infinity,0,+infinity
All of infinity is one at its center.
----
"Give me a place to stand, and I shall move the earth with a lever"
 [Aristotle via wikipedia]
There are 3 types of people in this world
Rogi (Sickman)
Bhogi (Indulger)
Yogi (One with everything)

Both Rogi and Bhogi are balanced by Yogi.
Weakness, Strength, balanced at the Center.
----
Quantum Physics and Entanglement

This also explains 'Action at distance' or 'pair of equal and opposite particles at infinite distance'
  or the Universe is one. The reason why a infinite variations is found is due to the range from -infinity to +infinity right through the center of variation where no variation lies at all.
----
Try to balance a ball on a cricket bat.
There are 2 ways to do this
a) Equal and opposite actions at both ends of the bat
ball balanced by anti-ball i.e. You acting as a mirror image of the ball. The pivot is the place of stillness where you become a total observer of the ball, so much so that you become one with it thus allowing you to mirror it (as in the snake and the master in Kung-fu Kid, who is imitating who)
b) Reduce the distance between the center of stillness and the ends i.e. bring the ball to the pivot or th e pivot to the ball. This is just what we described above. So these "2" methods are just 2 approaches to stillnes. Goal is same.
c) Connect your stillness center with the end-point centers.
d) a center simultaneously everywhere
e) Having no center but the center.
f) Tat tvam asi. (That thou art)


All these are just approaches to the stillness of the center. Many roads to THE self. THE center.
----
Zen Koans like "Nothing is impossible"
Here Nothing can mean multiple things:
a) no thing OR
b) nothing (i.e. zero).
Zero is (not) impossible - very much possible
No-thing is impossible - being no-individual-thing is also possible (through Zen or Yoga)
no-thing is not possible i.e. thing is possible (by replacing self with that)

Kakekotoba: (double-meaning of Japanese Koans) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakekotoba
----
Links:
Lever: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lever
Balance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_%28metaphysics%29
Confucius's Doctrine of the Mean : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_of_the_Mean
Six Simple Machines: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_machine
Ideal Machine (no friction or elasticity): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_machine#Frictionless_analysis
Linkage (between you, the center and the end-point) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linkage_%28mechanical%29
Action-At-A-Distance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_at_a_distance_%28physics%29
Quantam Entaglement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_entanglement
EPR Paradox: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPR_paradox
Kung-fu Panda : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kung_Fu_Panda_characters

Connections between Yogic Parvatasana, Dog Stretch, Geometry, Levers and Arches

Principles of the Dog Stretch

1. Triangle to get Top-to-Toe stretch
2. Arching action from Top-to-Toe to extend the stretch

Mathematical Principles

1. Shortest distance between 2 points is a Straight Line and between 3 points is a Triangle.
2. Longer distance between 2 points is a Curve.
3. Longest distance between 3 points is a Twist (Refer to Twist Therapy and Twisting Yog-Asanas)

Application

1. Use the Lever Principle with the Triangle ( fulcrum being the eye-of-the-storm )
2. Use inspirational breathing to create the minuscule arch to extend the stretch
3. Use muscular arching to really extend the stretch
4. Use opposite sided stretching to really extend the play (rusted-screw)

Research

1. Analyze video of a dog stretching himself. Most probably the Surya Namskar pose known as 'Parvat-asana' is inspired by this natural stretching exercise.
2. Get hold of any material researching a dog stretching esp. with regard to computer point-based models
3. Get hold of Yoga Anatomy info, Physiotherapy info, Mathematics behind Levers, Arches

• Hatha Yoga Anatomy (book)
• Strength Training Anatomy (book)
• Breathing and Stable positions must matter a lot in Olympic Sniper shooting. Seek out any papers on this.

Related

• Focused Stretching with Yoga Asanas

Bye-Bye Meru Cabs and Thanks for all the Fish

I really enjoyed using Meru Cabs for the last 2 years or so.
Initially, it was really good service at a cost-effective rate.

What Meru Cabs was providing:
1) It saved me the hassle of haggling with an auto-wallah who might take advantage of my situation (20-30 Rs extra, remote address, time of night, rainy season, traffic-jams, busy-routes).
On top of all this the meter was many times rigged to run at double the speed. Then the predictable  last-minute insistence that I'd not bothered to mention the backwaters I'd trapped the autowallah into driving into. An extra 20-30 rupees would assuage his nearly broken trust in humanity though. The "Auto-Stands" where literally you see the autos standing around, auto-wallahs so busy chatting with one another that they can only be "bothered" to put on their brown coats for "miserly sums" of anywhere between Rs. 200 to 500 to ply to a busy area like Forum mall.

2) I'd been using CitiTaxi services for nearly a year when my wife was pregnant and needed to travel safely over Bangalore's worsening roads. The glorious (un)certainty of booking a cab which didn't show up at all. Calling the Citi-Taxi guys till the last possible minute or booking the cab the day before didn't help any. Every call to them got a promise "Don't worry Sir!! The cab will be at your door-step 30 minutes before only". No sign of the cab at all!! Despite giving driving directions to 2 or 3 different people (staff and drivers) it was interesting (to say the least) that the said cab had not even been dispatched. The fact that the Airport has now shifted to such a convenient close by location (NOT)!! only made things better.
 
Till I found the efficient Meru Cabs. I could now avoid All the glorious certainities above for the guarantee (almost) that I'd get a cab when it was convenient to me and my family.  I ended up paying  more but got an A/C car on time and conveniently by phone booking.

Unfortunately the Golden-Era has ended with a change for the worse.

Meru Cabs Level of Service Today:
1) Since some time now I've noticed that Meru Cabs has taken a "Take-it Or Leave-it" attitude towards its own customers. They're essentially doing the same things and more than my earlier dear Citi-Taxi used to do. If you're off the trade-routes you're out of luck. Meru Cabs mostly refuses to service anybody in HSR Layout. We'll see what we can do is the usual answer. The additional charge of Rs. 25 for short term booking and Rs. 50 for advance bookings on using the call-center is laugable at the least.

2) Meru-cab drivers ask to go through the call center even though they're just waiting around. The concept of a taxi which is not plying the roads is quite interesting. Quite similar to the auto-wallahs

3) They do provide an free offline SMS service (which I presume is serviced at off-peak times) where the call-center guys call you when you send an SMS. But this is only a few hours later so no good if you're in a hurry. Also seems like they give advance booking for airport based booking but not otherwise though the distance may be enough to give good business i.e. HSR to Airport is ok, but not HSR to Malleswaram?!!

4)The online net-based booking system also operates on the same offline model with replies taking 5-6 hours for a taxi booking.

It seems Meru-Cabs doesn't need the business that's coming its way.
Well Goodbye and Best of Luck,

The Wisdom of Paradoxical Quotation Pairs

Whenever I see inspirational mails with quotations (often conflicting ones) I used to get a bit confused....
Many quotations advise you to do Exactly opposing things and you agree with both views.
It's all a matter of perception/opinion or circumstance.
I've thought a lot about this and just wanted to share some of the thoughts.
Example:
1) "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world, but the unreasonable man tries to adapt the world to himself - therefore, all progress depends upon the unreasonable man." [Samuel Butler]
    Hmmm... Seeing something positive that can be done in something negative.

2)"The happiest people in the world are not those who have no problems, but those who learn to live with things that are less than perfect." [Anonymous]
    Ok. See something positive in something that can't be helped.
 But if you had to choose between Progress OR Happiness it's somewhat confusing.
Other Conflicting and Paradoxical common-sense advises but on the same topic:
1) "Look before you leap" or "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread"
    Simple Interpretation: Be careful.
    Negative Interpretation: Don't take risks in anything.
2) "Luck favours the brave"
    Simple Interpretation: If you're brave, things will work out
    Negative Interpretation: Success is a matter of luck
    This was kind of confusing me for a long time as I could see the sense in both statements.
Then I found some quotations which seemed to join both these "opposites".
1) Unifying Interpretation:
    "Look before you Leap" i.e. look before but don't forget to take a leap also (if required)
2) Unifying Interpretation:
        "Brave are those who fight their Fear." i.e. NOT those who are ignorant of fear
    This allows the brave to attempt things other people don't even try.
    So they MAY choose a way of doing things which succeeds. This is the LUCK factor.
Rationale for Luck Factor:
1) Brave people fight their Fear.
2) People don't try new things because of Fear (=> So they have 0% chance of succeeding at it)
3) Brave people attempt things which other people don't.
4) Some Brave people may chance upon a way which succeeds. => %age of Success is between 0-100%
5) THAT is why you should fight your fear => so you can free your mind to do all kinds of approaches.
6) It increases chances of Success from Zero Percent to X%.
7) So you can Learn from Failure since you are being positive about it.
8) More importantly since Failure is also possible => makes your life more positive
9) And Use it later to increase your chances of Success
10) If you repeat this process over many such new things you will Average out.

Your performance would follow a Normal Distribution or Bell Curve i.e.
        a) 60% chance of moderate success in untried things over your lifetime.... NOT bad at all !!!
        b) And of course 20% chance of failure (from which you can learn something with a +ve attitude)
        c) And a further 20% chance of Super Successes!! NOT BAD AT ALL....
So if we add it all up we come up with:
        a) 80% chance of success (moderate or super)
        b) 20% chance of failure which again feeds into future successes due to what you learn from it.
This gives a very good picture of being innovative/fearless.
Then why is it that we don't follow this principle?
    a) It has more to do with Weightages we attach to Failure and Success.
    b) That is why most religions/philosophies ask you to be detached from Success/Failure i.e. give Equal or NO weightage.
Different cultures also seem to influence this:
    1) In India the Weightage applied by society to Failure "almost" outweighs any gain through Success.
        "If you don't succeed with a Nobel Prize its just a fluke"
        If you fail however it gives you the stamp of failure which becomes very hard to live down.
        Other peoples perception affects you and you start believing in the stamp/label you're given.
        A self fulfilling prophecy.
    2) From what I've heard/read about it -
        In the West esp. the U.S. people don't think much of an earlier failure so they keep trying.
        Sooner or later they find something that they can be good at.
        I heard of a truck driver/fitter who became programmers!! in the US/Israel.
        How many times would you hear that over here. It's seems to be not so rare there.

Backto the Tradeoff between Progress OR Happiness:
I've observed that Wisdom is in knowing when to apply which kind of CommonSense.
Wisdom deals with paradoxes esp. unifying opposites.
So let's attempt to unify these two opposites
One Interpretation could be:
1) To be happy - learn to accept things which are less than perfect.
2) To progress - learn to NOT accept things which are less than perfect
"Things you NEED to change be unreasonable about, otherwise accept them and move on to a happier life".
Key is to - "Choose your battles (time,place and scope)."
I know that this is a rather long winded and too detailed analysis of advice any grandma could give in seconds.
But then that's the problem with being too analytical.... you feel the need to break down things too much!! :-)

Focussed Stretching with Yoga Asanas, Triangles, Levers and No Pain

For alternative info on stretching Refer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretching

I think I've found some way to help in the full stretch...
By making a slight change in technique combined with a combination of asanas may help to reduce pain totally and effort and possibly time also....

I've worked out the preliminary theory right now.... and applied it to paschimottanasan and mandukasana

Some key factors are Anatomical:
A tendon (or sinew) is a tough band of fibrous connective tissue that usually connects muscle to bone as in your ham-string.
A ligament joins one bone to another bone as in your knee.
Fascia connect muscles to other muscles.
Tendons, ligaments and fascia are all made of collagen.

Example:
1) In a thigh flex the tendons and muscles in the thigh bicep work together with tricep tendons and muscles. The bicep contracts and the tricep elongates.
2) In a leg extension the opposite happens with the bicep elongating and the tricep contracting. This generates a pulling force extending the entire leg.

1) Removing stiffness:
Getting the Initial "Play" in joints i.e. stretching the ligaments (not muscles)
2) Stretching the muscles and
Using the Lever Principle (increasing stretching limits)
3) Using the Right Asana Combinations (for full range of flexibility)

Q1) Why are Joints stiff?
Short Answer - Due to shortened Tendons!

[Getting the Initial Play]
A Stiff Joint is held together by atrophied/shortened/inflexible Tendons.
This is similar to the cartilage that forms the Outer ear. Flexible to quite an extent.
But be careful as obviously its not "as" flexible as the ear!!

1) Take the example of a tree branch that you want to snap off.
It usually makes sense to bend it at the joint to the main trunk.
Some branches are dry and brittle and snap off with a snap.
But for our purposes imagine that this branch is tawny/unbending.
In such a case you try to weaken the joint by bending it in all 360 degrees.
If you only bend it in one direction you won't get the "give/play".
But you can increase the "play" by bending in all directions.
Once you get some freedom of movement the "play" becomes easier and easier to achieve.

2) Imagine a rusty nail which is stuck in the wall. You put oil to moisten the cement particles and then remove as much cement round it as possible. Then you try to bent the nail and rotate it in 360 degreess to free up the grip of the cement. Though you don't want to literally do this in case of your body.... I hope you get the basic analogy to loosen up and get play in atrophied tendons.

3) Imagine a joint made up of hard/stiff rubber strips.
These rubber strip joints connect 2 rods/bones.

The idea is to create a slight play in the Tendon, this gives us the ability to use the Lever Principle to increase the play in the Tendon.

To create the initial play go through entire range of motion in the joint i.e forward, backward and sideways bends. Taking turns at increasing give in the atrophied tendon. Mostly we concentrate on forward/backward bend ignoring the side stretch. If we also do the side stretch it gives a bit more additional play in the other stretches.

This is a non-linear process so you'll see the stretch becoming very easy suddenly with previous average stretching improvements.

Doing so without pain requires:

1) Minimum and focused use of force
This suggests a very gentle but strict method.

2) Use so-hum breathings to gently make the entire body expand and contract. You'll observe that in a fully relaxed position at the point of maximum tension in the stretch, the very act of breathing in and out will transmit extra stretch to the stretched muscles. Doing so for a few minutes will stretch the muscles to higher limits.


[Using the Lever Principle]

Ok. So now we've got enough play in the tendons to try for more stretching.
Let's take the example of a Equilateral Triangle for Paschimottanasana.
Keep back straight with Head thrown as far back as possible. This automatically makes your back straight and rigid


Mostly problem is when you move away from the strict triangle required to get the stretch.
Either you bend the back or bend the knee or bend the elbows. If you avoid any bends in these areas and only allow a bend in the tail bone area "S2" it will totally stretch the ham-strings "S3" area. Imagine that the rest of the body "S1", "S4", "S5" is made of flat and hard wooden boards.
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lever

[Focusing and limiting Stretch in precise muscles with different asanas]
1) Sarvangasana - increases body temp. and length-wise flexibility

2) Halasana - stretches the spine from neck to tail bone.

3) Bhoonamana padmasana - stretches thighs and coccyx area.

4) Dropping a Leg on the side while lying on back - stretch the outer thighs
Lying forward on single folded thigh with other leg extending bacward.

5) Mandukasana - stretches inner thighs.

6) Janu Shirasana - stretches hamstrings.

7) Trikonasana - stretches entire inner legs.

8) Paschimottanasan - stretches entire hamstrings.

Chi and Prana

[Transcript of my chat with Rupesh on Chi and Prana]
Rupesh: anyways , i was going to write to an email about some new discovries about chi or qi I started to stuy
Guru: Great!!
Rupesh: i was wondering how it was different from prana in pranayama in our yoga
transformed into chi/ki/qi in oriental martial arts
Guru: It's the same AFAIK.
Rupesh: I have bought some books about qi gong and start reading about it and practice some the techniques to feel it
AFAIK?
Guru: As Far As I Know.
Try to get this book "The Science of Breath" by Shri Rama. Himalayan Institute Press.
An excellent book as it explains the scientific basis for many of the concepts in pranayama.
Not very common in yoga books.
Rupesh: cool, i will look for that, but i did notice that prana transformed its name in martial arts but also the purpose
like in tai chi , i have there 4 different styles
2 are for healing and 2 are used for martial arts to defend themselves
Rupesh: oh, k , well i was trying to find the transformation between the prana in yoga and using chi in martial arts
Guru: How are the healing chi different from the defence chi?
Rupesh: and I was planning to practice chi breathing first
and incorporate that into my forms in TKD
Guru: Do they teach you that in the class?
Rupesh: so far I have found that the healing and martial chi are one and the same but chi in general has lot to do with your imagination ,
especially during the practice of making your chi strong , you imagine ,
Guru: We'd brought a book on Chi Gong and Sex :D
Rupesh: like you are as strong as be able to lift the earth or as tall as the skies or as delicate to float on the water
no kidding , that would be a side effect of chi of course
Guru: Tantra related Chi practises...
But the things you said are similar.... imagination....
Essentially Kundalini is raised during these practises....
Rupesh: well, they do not teach much about chi at my school , unfortunately , may be in the upper belt levels
Guru: Ok.
Kundalini is the lowest chakra and related to sex.
Rupesh: I suppose , but I am sure I will find the Answer
Guru: The person who started teaching Yoga at Shao-lin would also have taught the Tantra practises to his disciples...
Rupesh: where and when and how yoga and martial arts understand the concept and use it
Guru: That's how Chinese kung-fu got hold of all the Chi meditations...
I think his name was Da-Mo in chinese and dharma something in India....
Rupesh: that makes sense, it does look like the concepts passed on from yoga to martial arts than the other way
Guru: Yep.
The chinese picked up a LOT of stuff from India...
They named it differently in their own fashion later....
Rupesh: I have read some where about bodhi dharma , one of the budhist monks taking from india to china or shaolin
Guru: Get the book I told you about.... it'll make a lot of things clear.
Most yoga books try to hide the Real meaning behind the bandhas and kriyas....
Rupesh: but i believe chinese did enhance it and practice and made the concepts stronger
Guru: They all give the warning that doing these practises incorrectly can lead to physical and mental damage....
Usually saying something like "The forces unleashed by these practises may be beyond the capacity of the unguided student to control...."
Rupesh: a stong pill with a warning
but without practicing how would any reach to that point
Guru: That's what I also feel...
and if you think about it a bit....
who taught the first guy to discover this stuff....
he would have learnt this on his own...
Rupesh: comparitvely , wonder why oriental people are known to hte world more active in there daily life than indians
every time we see on tv , oriental guys are practicing tai chi every where , even in the busy cities like hong kong or singapore or bijieng
Guru: It's the weather I tell you....
They've got cold weather....
Helps you do Tai Chi....
Even our own yogis went to Himalayas to do tapasya...
Just kidding...
:D
Rupesh: anyways , like someone said "practice is the mother of all the skills" we have lot say , that is indians aobut our culture and wealth but no practice
Guru: I think that Pranayama is also done by equal no. of people....
The only thing is the chinese arts are suited to practise by people not interested in mind control....
The benefits are also more tangible.... than in pranayama...
Most people think OH!! I just sit in a corner and breathe....
Rupesh: i guess, but yoga is very popular here, probably a yoga master can get laid more than geek
Guru: the first thing you think of in Tai-Chi is the slow motion hand waving... as if the person is inside the sea waves...
:D
Good place to practise Tantra chi huh?!! ;-D
Rupesh: goof
anyways , its just pity sometimes to hear people talk about yoga and see through them that have no concept what so ever
they wouldnt even understand what name of the posture means
Guru: Yoga guys are very round-about when talking of the concept.... don't give it to you direct....
I think an american yoga expert would be much more direct and to the point.
Rupesh: but we do have people out here who go all the way to china or some orient country and learn martial arts out there and teach it here
who really study it
which i think is pretty cool,
Guru: Yes. They're more action-oriented....
Both the Europeans and the chinese/Japanese....
more yang.
Seems like we're more Yin in that sense.
Rupesh: but i was reading about the food types which fall under yin and yang
all the indian food looked like yang
Guru: Chi Gong/Pranayama allow in many stages to control different aspects of our body and mind....
Rupesh: which I thought was interesting
Guru: Uh,huh....
Rupesh: what>
Guru: According to acupressure 5 tastes are sour, hot, sweet, salt, bitter
They in turn are related to the 5 energies Wind, Heat, Humidity, Dryness, Cold
in turn related to Intelligence/Anger, Laughter/Passion, Greed/Calculation, Sadness/Discipline, Fear/Wisdom
The first 2 energies are Yang energies....
Last 2 energies are Yin energies and the middle one is more balanced...
Sent at 8:07 PM on Friday
Rupesh: ok
Guru: So the Yang foods would be sour, hot.
Yin foods would be salty, bitter.
Rupesh: but what about the food, all the spices we are yang food rather than fruits and veggies which are yin
Guru: With Sweet foods being humidity ie balanced...
Rupesh: so how would indian people form balance other than eating yogurt at the end of the meal
Guru: It's not that straight forward.
we eat curd which is sweet or sour....
Exactly!!
The reason is Spicy food lasts long in our hot conditions....
Rupesh: and oriental people on the other hand do eat lot of sea food which is yin but add spices as yang
Guru: if you don't have a fridge then this type of food lasts long...
example is pickle....
Spicy and salty....
lasts verrrrry long...
Our food is not that salty as its impossible to have that high salt in normal food...
If you look at the "tadka" put into daal it has mixture of all the tastes.... including bitter(methi seeds, mustard seeds etc)...
This has its origin in Ayurveda which prescribes Kheer as the best food for yogis...
Light and easily digestible...
Ok maan!! It was nice talking to you... but gotta leave for home now...
I'll include this chat in my next blog posting!!! :D
Rupesh: ok, drive carefully, will yap some other time
Guru: Bye

........

Quite a few months NO actually a year passed before we had our next conversation :

bhallu, dipti and myself had attended a 'shibir'/workshop on Suryanamaskar, Pranayam and Meditation conducted by our communities Swamiji.....
Everyday for the last 1-2 months we used to practise that in the mornings....
Rupesh: cool , i have tried that for a while but I was not able to calm my mind
i still have the tired feeling , to go back to bed kind of thing
Guru: esp. the meditation and mantra-japa....
Rupesh: good , i have not tried that
that is sitting meditation?
Guru: Yep.
Rupesh: do u do breathing with it?
Guru: Yes.
Rupesh: visualization?
I think proper breathing and visualization are key for the posture to work
Guru: Yes you're supposed to concentrate on the mantra and the deity you're praying to...
Essentially I found out the reason why it's so difficult to stay in one position....
Rupesh: u know that the oriental martial arts emphasize chi(qi) and flow of it in there art forms
Guru: It's mostly about balancing the weight of your head around 3 kgs....
Rupesh: thats part of my exercise to , balance
Guru: A small change in head posture leads to imbalance....
Rupesh: i feel that in my kicks every day , allignment
Guru: I found that I can easily stay in the seated meditation posture if I'm conscious of my head movement.
Normally I could easily meditate for 30-45 minutes at a stretch without feeling discomfort/pain....
The body actually would start feeling a bit weightless due to lack of posture problem....
Though found a bit of stiffness on getting out of the meditation esp with the cold weather....
Rupesh: thats something i feel in the standing meditation too
Guru: Might help to wear some light clothing in that....
Rupesh: yeah
Guru: You should definitely talk to Bhallu... he's further out in the meditation experience...
Rupesh: cool
Guru: He's following Brhamari pranayam, and Bhastrik which makes the mind really calm and you don't get distracted by thoughts unless you want to...
I tried out these techniques and found that they work!!!
Only thing is normally when I start doing things welll suddenly I feel like giving it up....
Rupesh: never heard of em
Guru: :-) :-(
These are reallllly simple techniques in yoga.... 1st one is making a bees sound while breathing out and the 2nd one is bellows breathing rapid....
The good thing is after a take break ... 1 month or so... I normally get back on track without a problem.....
so hopefully I'll start doing the meditation again very soon.
Rupesh: sounds intresting
Guru: It works and is reaaallly simple...
Funny thing is in the past these techniques were taught only to select few....
Try to find the book "The science of breathing" by swami rama....
search for himalayan institute....
Rupesh: i think i have that one
Guru: It's a newer publication by swami rama....
http://www.himalayaninstitute.org/
Rupesh: i have the one called science of breath
by ramacharaka
Guru: That one is different book....
This book is really VERY good...
http://www.himalayaninstitute.org/Shopping/s-37-books.aspx
Meditation and Its Practice, Living with The Himalayan Masters,
(books that we bought)
Path of Fire and Light, Volume 1,
Path of Fire and Light, Volume 2,
Science of Breath,
Stretching Without Pain (just found it on the website)
Actually I've gotta find and buy these books here in Bangalore...
Bhallu bought these in Hyderabad...
Man those are the best books on Yoga and Meditation that I've seen...
He introduces the subject very logically without mumbo-jumbo...
and clearly tells you WHY you're doing something....
he doesn't just say "Do this and it'll help" he'll tell what happens when you do it, How to do it and why you should do it.
Rupesh: u mean swami rama?
Guru: Yep.
He was the Shankaracharya of one of the 4 maths founded by the original shankaracharya....
He doesn't talk like a Mathadipati at alll.... more like a logical person like you and me but with more insight and experience...

Sights and Symbols

I'd read a modern Indian short story named "The Mighty Hand of Hanuman".
This scene made me think back to that story.
Driving by on the way to office on my scooter, I saw a strange sight.
On a 90 degree turn parked in a thicket alongside this bylane off the road was a huge Yellow Claw lying extended and prostrate as if in a prayer of supplication.
Its Chunky metal facets, dull yet metal bright, resting the massive weight on to the scattered "murram-matti" on the black tar road.
The feeling was as if this behemoth were slowly sinking its teeth into the black skin of this road.
The Orange colored body of this gentle giant with a single claw telescoping forwards, Bright Yellow in color.
Like a Crab coming up from the ocean swells to rest on land before foraging for food along this "sandy" shore.
Praying to the blue sky with wisps of a white cloudy beard for a good harvest of rocks and boulders.
Tons to be shifted by end of day. The peace of prayer before the work ahead.
The human laborers soon swarming like the Sucker Fish beneath a Great White Shark.

Today I looked out the window and saw a Picture-Perfect scene!.
A Lone Tree, trunk knotted with bark rough and tawny wood inside.
Quite lopsided, its branches on one side near totally lopped off.
A small 'tala'/pool of water near it, reflecting the sheets of rain-drops falling in drapes of white.
The mud around brownish red, with tracks of heavy vehicles forming small sluices of water.
The only contrast was a hard cut dam of granite blocks forming an artificial ridgeback mini-mountain
Near the horizon were some trees looking like shrubs, misted over by the waving curtains from the clouds
This whitened scene with a road running through it, black tar and the zebra signs contrasting against the wet outside.
From inside my cozy a/c quarters I could look out on this beautiful scene.