"Hello World\n"

The Center of Life, The Universe and Everything

2011-06-12T11:54:00.001+05:30

Balance, Imbalance, Equilibrium, Lever, End-points, Center (Fulcrum or Pivot), Power, Weakness.
----
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

2011-01-06T22:21:00.001+05:30

Principles of the Dog Stretch

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

Mathematical Principles

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

Application

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

Research

Analyze video of a dog stretching himself. Most probably the Surya Namskar pose known as 'Parvat-asana' is inspired by this natural stretching exercise.
Get hold of any material researching a dog stretching esp. with regard to computer point-based models
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

2010-12-01T02:12:00.000+05:30

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

2010-10-04T15:58:00.002+05:30

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

2010-01-06T11:51:00.015+05:30

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

2006-10-29T16:58:00.000+05:30

[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

2006-10-05T19:02:00.000+05:30

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.

Health: Stretching, Mudras, Pranayama and 5 Elements

2006-10-04T18:27:00.000+05:30

Transcript of my chat with Rupesh

>>>>>>>>>>>
Guru: Hi.
Rupesh: i am looking at brad appleton , thnx for the linx
Guru: Welcome. I've been meaning to write (a blog) on stretching for many years now.... your mail was the last nail.... ;-D
The blog is still in draft stage and will need some rework before its good enough to post.
Many good blogs have started as mail conversations....
Rupesh: cool, man , good to know about it so I can apply them to my routine
Guru: Yep.
Actually I found Brad's FAQ a bit intimidating when I first read it....
finally I evolved my own take on stretching.... mostly static yoga-asana based stretching....
Esp. the part on breath control is a key one....
Rupesh: i tried the breathing while doing yoga and sure makes a difference
Guru: It's almost like doing trance in the stretch pose....
Remember PattabhiRam?.... meeru chaaaala haaiiiigaa unnnaru....
Rupesh: :)
Guru: 20 minutes of this and both mind and body feel refreshed....
I've started doing Shavasana after my Jogging... helps me relax fully before setting out for office....
Anyway I've found that each asana requires something like 20-30 days to "set" in....
Rupesh: thats true, I read somewhere that it takes 21 days for something to become a habit
Guru: While writing to you did some research on ligaments, that was a missing piece... "they stretch under tension"... I always knew that sub-consciously, but now I know it for sure.....
The Vakra-Vajrasana really lenghthened my inner knee ligaments... when I come home from office I can feel it stretching like candy... :D
Rupesh: cool, so you can do full splits now?
Guru: Nope.... I've wantedly not tried to do them...
Though I'm sure that my stretching must have improved a Lot....
The more I try harder the sooner I give up the exercise...
so I'm just trying to enjoy what I do....
I'm satisfied that my joints are not atrophying even though I've got such a sedantary lifestyle in office....
Rupesh: that makes sense
Guru: That's enough for now. If and when I achieve full-stretch will be a happy day...
Rupesh: r u doing it everyday as a routine
Guru: but let it come when it wants to....
Yep. Since many years now.... The gaps were when I tried too hard and had some inflammation of the joints... but those were lessons well learned...
So now I only try to improve or maintain what I can achieve everyday....
Only doing a day's worth no more. Same with jogging and weights....
If a break happens I let it.
Pick up where I left off once I feel like it again.
This way seems to work for me. May not work for all.
As you can see blogging has made writing very easy, I tend to write a story where a few words will do.... :D
So mostly blogging involves blabbing a lot and then trimming it down to a smaller size.
As Lincoln once said "Please forgive the lengthiness of my letter, I had no time to write a small one"....

Rupesh: well, i enjoy reading about yoga and stuff , so I do not have any complaints man
but the good thing is that I do not have to look through 10 books to find what I want to , instead I can read ur blog and get it right away

Guru: Yeah. That's the intention. Many times I write blogs for myself to note down all the good points and critical things for future reference. A kind of shortlist from books etc for easy reference.
Did you try orkut.com?
Its a social networking site....

Rupesh: the essence

Guru: Yup.

Rupesh: I train with black belts in tkd every class

Guru: Sahi hai...

Rupesh: and its explosive if i add some breathing into the kicks
even with limited motion ,
but I still have to learn to the 'Yell" thing

Guru: I'm exploring this area also....

Rupesh: i am sure u do it when used to do karate

Guru: Yeah. Initially it was somewhat strange. But I learned how to do that.
For me the trick was To create an echo in the confined practise area...

Rupesh: well, I havent go it yet , but I am sure it has to do with ur breathing

Guru: Started the thing from the belly button and let go with a blast....
As if trying to know over the opponent with the blast.
There is a Simha-mudra in Yoga, it involves a mirror.

Rupesh: right :)

Guru: Try it once.
Helps to focus the aggression and let it out under control.
We learned some Acupressure somewhere along the way....
It says that you can control the emotions and energy flow in your body using mudras....
It works. I tried it in jogging...

Rupesh: mudra? like a pose?
or a seal?

Guru: Have to learn Pranayama... for that.
Yeah mudra means seal as well as pose.
Most mudras are done with fingers touching one another.

Rupesh: makes sense

Guru: When you're doing stretching one mudra can make for calmness and steadiness... the one thats shown for meditation....
Touching the index finger to middle of thumb....
Peace, calm and steadfastness...

Rupesh: cool, i had to try that ,we get here a tv channel called fit tv and they have some yoga and martial art shows, not completely westernized

Guru: I've got 2 VCDs with Yoga lessons on that by that daadhi valey baba on Aastha TV....
I think he teaches pranayama also...

Rupesh: cool, i can see if they have something interesting ,

Guru: acupressure tries to control chi-flow/prana-flow using needles, points etc.. mudras also do the same....
but by breath-control you can control it without even raising a finger....
Some mudras will activate the energy, some will make it burst forth, some will steady and some will reduce energy flow....

Rupesh: i may not remember all this, do u have it on ur blog?

Guru: Kinda like Warm-up, Action and Cool-down.
Don't worry this chat is going into the blog!! :D
Many chats and mails make a blog..
Many of these things are in my mind, they only need a seed to crystallize on and such chats are the best.. kinda like a faq in the making...
I've got a few books on acupressure therapy which talks about controlling energy flow through mudras...
5 elements stand for Wind, Heat, Earth, Metal, Water....

Rupesh: excellent material

Guru: Wind is like children running here and there without aim, asking questions, boiling with energy, anger, growth.
Heat is like teenager, passionate, commited, energetic, ambitious, lustful, idealistic
Hotness is related to Heat. Its like the heat after the sun sets, balmy, more relaxed, satiated, comfortable, like after climax.
Earth is collecting, gathering, storing, looking further than today.
Metal is regret, discipline, past, sadness.
Water is fear, death, despair, wisdom, cunning....
These 5 elements form an unbroken ring. Water/Fear leads to Wind/Anger.... and the cycle continues.
Each of the 5 fingers stand for an element.
Thumb being Wind, Index Heat, Middle Earth, Ring metal, Little Water.... Isn't it a strange co-incidence that Ring finger has metal ring on it....
I think it is to increase committment and steadfastness in the person wearing it.
The Meditation Mudra is what is known as Yin-Dryness/Metal mudra...

But more on that later.
You must be busy working... I'll elaborate more on this in an email and blog. I'll just paste these points and write some more.
I've gotta leave for home now.

Center - The origin of everything

2006-09-28T14:51:00.000+05:30

5 elements are like 5 fingers stretching outward and back from the centre of the hand.
Homo/Hetero is like the palm and the fingers.
Neutro is like the middle of the palm.

Energy MUST change form between the 5 (continuous) types.
In order to attain control over the 5 types, we must go 1 level higher/deeper to Yin/Yang level.
Above that lies the Neutro level, the eye of the storm.
Shoonya or Center is the where energy comes from.
Something comes from Nothing/Stillness.

This zone of calm is where lies the balance. Nirvana = Where none of the 5 waves arise and subside into the calmness of the depths

Health: "Be Like Water, My Friend", Yoga and Stretching

2006-09-27T12:37:00.000+05:30

This is a transcript of my mail conversation with Rupesh
>>>>>>>>
Hi Rupesh,

This is an awesome collection of info and links on stretching: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretching
Brad Appleton's comprehensive "Stretching FAQ"
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stretching/SM00043/RETURNTOOBJID=DA0576C0-D1A7-4CEC-89966330AC25C727&RETURNTOLINK=1&slide=5

I've read the FAQ before, but the secret lies in patiently applying the principles.
"There's a difference between Knowing the Path and Walking the Path"

bye,
Gullu
>>>>>
Hi Rupesh,

Best of Luck on the Belt-Test in TKD!!
Its quite good to hear that you're doing Yoga stretching....
Its more a type of static stretching compared to the more activated stretching used in the martial arts. I like to think of asanas as:
"Hold the position which you want to be comfortable in"
ie kind of like setting jelly in a bowl. Hold it there long enough and you get the shape.
Of course our body is not jelly (the bones are too hard, but the joints are not).
But over time the ligaments do behave somewhat like that.

If you're interested look up "Mandukasana". Its the same way a frog sits, stretches out the hip joint while actually give full range of motion in rotating the hips. I found that slowly stretching some parts helps to reduce the strain. I followed the following sequence to improve my stretching :
1) Vajrasana (toes pointing back)
Effects - improved the upper hip and inner hip joint. Allowed me to sit on the floor in between the two legs.
2) Supta Vajrasana
Effects - improved the back and upper hip joint.
3) BhooNamana Vajrasana
Method - Do the Vajrasana toes pointing back, bend at the waist and try to lay the chest flat on the thighs. Keep arms at the side or behind the back.
Effects- totally freed up the back and top of the hip joint.
4) BhooNamana Padmasana
Method - Do padmasana, bend forward with your hands joined and pointed forward, and slowly lower your head until it touches by sheer force of gravity and relaxing of muscles and slow stretching of ligaments.
Effects - totally frees up the inner thighs (like butterfly exercise) and the lower back.
5) Vakra-Vajrasana (toes pointing at right angles to legs) (soles of feet pointing backward)
- improved the inner knee joint extremely allowing the lower leg to move independantly of the thigh. Had to do Ardha form (alternating left and right legs) for quite some time before doing the full asana.
6) Ardha-Mandukasana (alternating left and right legs) same as above but knees kept as far apart on both sides as possible.
- improved rotation of thigh bone on the hip joint (now the inner thigh is able to touch the floor).
7) Mandukasana (just started doing the mandukasana directly just a few days back).
- improved the stretching at the pubic bone where the inner thighs join the center point!!
I can actually hear the click of the joint and feel the slide as the ball and socket joint in the hips and thigh bone, makes the inner thighs slide forward and touch the ground. I guess this will be less noticable as time goes on and smoothness increases in the joint rotation.

I got this by trial and error. Many times I attempted these asanas all at once and tried too hard to get the stretch. The result was pain in the joints and giving up new asanas esp. for months on end. Finally I found out what works and what doesn't and how much is good enough.

An aside on Breath control: I found that doing the asana and observing/counting the breath helped me to settle into the asana like jelly. I gave up thinking about the stretching so much and just enjoyed the feeling of relaxing all my muscles. So much so that the first thing I do after coming from work is to do the asana. This gets the stiffness of sitting in a chair for 8-10 hrs and driving 1 hr. out of my body. Watching the breath become lighter and slower and the heart-beats following suit is so good its like taking a gentle sunbath!! :D

If you think about it, jelly IS made from gelatin. The stuff that you get by boiling the collagen in the ligaments joining the bone joints. As John Little says strength comes from the joints and I guess so does flexibility. Searched for the exact medical terms on wikipedia and came up with this:

>>>>>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligament (wikipedia)
In its most common use, a ligament is a short band of tough fibrous connective tissue composed mainly of long, stringy collagen fibres. Ligaments connect bones to other bones to form a joint. (They do not connect muscles to bones; that is the function of tendons.) Some ligaments limit the mobility of articulations, or prevent certain movements altogether.
Capsular ligaments are part of the articular capsule that surrounds synovial joints. They act as mechanical reinforcements. Extra-capsular ligaments join bones together and provide joint stability.
Ligaments are slightly elastic; when under tension, they gradually lengthen. This is one reason why dislocated joints must be set as quickly as possible: if the ligaments lengthen too much, then the joint will be weakened, becoming prone to future dislocations. Athletes, gymnasts, dancers, and martial artists perform stretching exercises to lengthen their ligaments, making their joints more supple. The term double-jointed refers to people who have more elastic ligaments, allowing their joints to stretch and contort further. The medical term for describing such double-jointed persons is hyperlaxity and double-jointed is a synonym of hyperlax.
>>>>>>>>

They were showing an episode on National Geographic about a few Shaolin monks who start a special training exercise which stretches their hip ligaments into hyperlaxity. They do this at a young age and the stretching they get is so much that not even Old Age can take the stretching away. They're able to turn their toes to an amazing 180 degrees.. I'm sure these guys could brush their teeth using only their toes for holding the toothbrush!! :D

Though we may not need such phenomenal stretching, the principles at work are the key to understanding and applying them. In practise we have limited time and effort to allocate but using these ideas can give great results over time. If we allocate 1 month for every year of our life, that comes to just under 2 years to get back the stretching we've lost. This is with least amount of pain, effort and time. 20 minutes of this static stretching will easily suffice.

Since we're still young it may not even take that much time. I've also found that each new stretching exercise makes the joints able to do movements in other exercises. Thus the rate at which results improve increases quite fast. At one point there'll be very little resistance to being comfortable in any asana.

In martial arts apart from the physical aspect is the punches and kicks, the more dynamic aspect. This of course is an area in which I've not Personally done That much. What I've known or done is from JKD. For a long time now I've not really done much in other areas and have chosen to concentrate only on stretching... I always feel that I can join the Dojo once I get the stretching. Strength and Stamina are not that much of a problem for me.

I've started a bit of weights, more reps and less weight. This is already making my arm joints much stronger. Total arms in around 20 minutes.
Recently started jogging. 30 minutes divided into walking, jogging and a small uphill sprint before cooling down with jogging and walking. Its quite exhilarating to feel the familiar rush of air in the lungs on a fresh morning and the quietness of the streets.

This conversation became quite good, I'm turning it into my next blog. :D This will be a good sequel to my earlier blog on Yoga: So that takes care of your question on new blogs. Many of my blogs are saved as drafts and don't see the light of day until I find time to polish and finish them to at least a rough blog before publishing. So you'll find that my site suddenly sees lots of new additions. You can keep the RSS feed for my blog, so whenever new additions come in you'll see it in your RSS reader. Try http://www.google.com/reader.
See my blog on "Blogging without Blocking".

bye for now,
Gullu.

On 9/27/06, Rupesh Reddy wrote:
So I read both of your blogs and I think they are cool,
Have you guys got bored or busy ,because I have not seen any recent ones,
anyways , my TKD is going well, as you guys know I have my yellow
belt test on Oct14th , I have to learn not master :) 9 kicks , 4 blocks ,
3 stances , punch and 2 different palm hill strikes , phew !!

The cool thing is most of the people in my class are either black belts or lower belts ,
So Our master pairs the lower belts with the black belts most the time in the class,

So every class start with some punches and blocks for 10 to 15 minutes for warm up, some people get there a little bit early and chat with others or stretch before the class begins anyways , after the warm up , lower belts pair up with the upper belt and practice different kicking techniques , we switch holding the 'Wat ever you call that punching thing which in a square shape ' back and fort the nest 45 minutes ,

after that we do some push ups and sit ups and after the class I hang around and do some yoga stretching stuff , but some of the other students free sparring for a while, off course wearing all the protective gear ,

Yesterday I practiced the punching and palm hill strike techniques , my main problem was that I was leaning forward and up right and punch was going more inside out like a boxing style punch , my master corrected me so my motion was more balanced and circular and straighter ,

I have also noticed that no matter what you do in TKD , a kick , block or a punch , everything ends with a snap , body usually moves in a circular motion , one example is a round House kick , were the energy is stored in your hips till end and then flows to the foot right before contact "BAMM" , satisfaction of delivering a perfect kick = unlimited ,
As we have learned from the JKD books , hips play an important role in most of the hand techniques , but TKD focuses more on kicks ,

So, Happy kicking and screaming till next time,

Rup

Good Quotes

2006-08-09T12:15:00.000+05:30

Good quotes some of which made their way into my email signature.
Too good to be lost!!

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." [Lao Tzu]

"After all is said and done, more is said than done." [Aesop]

"Small Minds discuss People,Middling minds discuss Events,Great minds discuss Ideas." [Anonymous]

"It is not who is right, but what is right, that is of importance." [Thomas Huxley]

"There are 2 things you can give your children - Roots.... and... Wings!!" [Anonymous]

"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood." [Marie Curie]

"Good Decisions come from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Decisions" [Anonymous]

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" [The Beatles]

"Television is a medium because anything well done is rare." [Fred Allen]

"Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation." [Saint Augustine]

"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained."
[MarkTwain]

"TV is chewing gum .... for the eyes" [Frank Lloyd Wright]

Silvery Fishy Story

2006-07-06T00:47:00.000+05:30

Many years back I'd read an Article in Newstime (a local paper).
It talked about how people in West Bengal had come up with a novel way
to make use of Sewage using simple techniques.

They would make use of wasteland/barren land.
Initially bunds are created and sewage water is flooded into this.
The water is allowed to rest for a month or so.
Gravity leads to settling of the particulate matter which forms a layer over the barren land.
Exposure to Sunlight with its UV rays leads to sterilisation of the waters.
Once the waters become clear, fish eggs are put into them.

The growth of algae and insects due to nutrient rich water leads to fat fish growing.
Soon they are harvested and sold off at the market.
The layer of sediment broken down due to oxidation and bacteria makes
the barren land fertile over a few repetitions. This can later be used for farming.

I don't clearly recollect the articles take on the presence of Heavy Metals and pollutants in the sewage. What happens to those? Or is the sewage not having these things. I wonder...

Living Healthy: Fruits and Veg - Where More is Less

2006-07-01T03:11:00.000+05:30

A normal adult requires a Total Sum of 1500 Calories per day.

Keep the Breakfast light,
Soup/Fruits and Vegetables in Lunch,
Normal Dinner.

Fruits and Vegetables contain fiber, simple sugars, are tasty with lots of vitamins and trace elements. They contain lots of water and help in detoxifying wastes from the body.
Constipation is cured.

The following are ideal for a mid-day snack or whenever you feel bored.
Fruits - soft and hard fiber
Salads
Sprouts,
Soyabean nuggets
American Corn
Mushrooms

The Senses ComeAlive!!

2006-06-29T03:49:00.000+05:30

In Hyderabad the electricity situation is really good ("touch-wood"!!??).

The fact is we're so much addicted to electricity that we realise the fact only when we've got to do without it. So many times it has happened that we start cursing the electricity board when they shut the power... as the pitch black envelopes you...

You feel a sudden sense of the now pulling at you... you start responding to what is around you more than what's "running" in your head... say the movie that you're watching.. or discussions about politics or 100 different things.... "Noise" as they call it in Electronics....

You start hearing the small noises, real ones... And your ears start reaching out into the darkness... this must be how our ancestors must have reacted to Their surroundings... ears peering out into the night.... sniffing it for the tell-tale signs of the leopard prowling under the trees... I guess Instinct is so much a part of us.... we don't realise it...

Slowly as your attention attaches to your hearing you suddenly realise that its not that dark!! The inky blackness around you slowlys parts into a black-brown semi-haze...The dim shadows of familiar things bulging out in awkward angles... As the surroundings organise themselves the odd shapes seem more like ordinary things....

You shake out your sea-legs... reaching out from your perch on a chair.... a bed... out towards the void....
Slowly your fingertips sense the world around you... Your memory of obstacles... chairs, sofas, carpets under your bare soles... sharp edges of cupboards, the touch of cold walls separating you from the rainy world outside.... The wariness as you approach the delicate glass or china gingerly...

You realise the the table which seemed so small in the day, suddenly feels like a long stretch... seemingly endless... though known to be finite... Things seem different seen through the sense of touch. The polish on the chairs, so smooth and hard, cold to the touch.... all these sensations lost in the "day-light" of the night...

A few "knee-jerk" reactions later you become more confident and able to navigate the familiar maze of your house... stubbing a few toes if you're lucky... scraping a knee or two in your new found confidence!

The "oh-so predictable" calls to each other as you reach out to one another through small shouts of "Nobody move... I'm coming there...!!". The search for the candles or torches in their favourite "hiding places". The glow of the gas-stove as the match-box has disappeared somewhere, though the candles were found. As the glow comes on and the darkness gives way... the other senses too give way to our Masters - the Eyes...

The glow seperates like an Aura round the candle... an irregular ball that reflects off the floor.. the ceiling, yet leaves some corners untouched. All the scattered people "busy" watching TV earlier... come together to the dining table or hall and start talking about things past... old incidents and relations come alive and refresh themselves...

The eyes now reassured of light.. seek less of it... and extra torches/candles are doused - all but one... The mood shifts from one of being put out.. to one of gathering and chattering... I wonder how different we are from the nomads gathered around a wood fire... seeking warmth and company in the open sky with only moon and stars to twinkle on them....

You feel a sense of belonging.... as the mood settles and the rhythm of the wavering candle as it slowly waves around... like a slightly hypnotic wave unpredictable yet comfortable....
flickering yet steady... Now even the candle is sometimes put out... to relax in the inky calmness of the night... as "Antakshari" starts with songs favourites of each one... as we let go of sight for sound, of seeing for hearing and feeling... The night embraces the mind... relaxing and comforting...

Soon the power-cut changes from an unwelcome intrusion to a happy accident to a welcome friend... lost for a long time in the day-to-day "hurly-burly". A long lost friend finding his way back into our life... As children the power-cut meant playing "Hide and Seek" with the neighbouring children.. using hearing and strategies in lieu of direct sight. Today they're few and far between. I guess that's a good thing... I think...

I can somewhat understand why the story "Country of the Blind" by HG Wells had such an ending...

Health Tip: Reduce Headaches, stress and colds

2006-06-02T16:38:00.000+05:30

Do you have constant headaches with sensitiveness to light, noise?
Do your eyes burn or are very tired? Is it one-sided headache?
Do you have constant colds?
Constipation or loose motions?

My younger brother suffered constant headaches since childhood.
He even had to be admitted to hospital, but to no use.
Finally he found the solution to his problems himself.

a) Do jal-neti/Nasal Flush
b) Take nasal steam bath.
c) Most of the colds are due to excess heat in the body.
By taking curds/yoghurt you can reduce the amount of heat.
d) By reducing constipation also heat is reduced in the body.
Eat a good mix of soft/hard fiber in the form of
salads, fruits, sprouts, american corn, soya nuggets.
e) Just above the lips where the 2 nasal nares join the face are 2 accupressure points
Rub the points gently until you feel the nose flowing. Blow your nose.
f) Do a gentle face massage esp. under the cheek bones (pressure points) and around the eyes.
The softer areas above the ears tend to have the blood rushing and pumping causing pain.
Gently massage them and feel the tension easing away.
g) Give an oil message to your hair. Put in water drops for fast evaporation. The oil absorbs the heat and the water evaporates fast leading to instant cooling. Esp. helpful when done at night as hair can be left oiled for the entire 6-8 hours. Gives a lot of relief to the eyes. Feel the tensions of the day oozing out as the scalp massage makes you float on the clouds.
h) Lot of tension accumulates in the shoulders, the neck and the lower back. Massaging esp the pressure points will relieve this pent up tension.
i) Give Reiki/Light to the Solar Plexus, the belly button, the ears and the eyes. This constitutes laying on of the hands forming a cup over the body. Slowly warm energy flows through the person giving the Reiki and into the affected person.
j) Do gentle yoga esp. Supta Vajrasana to relieve tension in the legs, lower back and the stomach.

Origin of Words

2006-05-24T18:22:00.000+05:30

I found an interesting link on the Origin of words!!
I thought of sharing it with the others who might be interested.

For example the word 'pug' as in pug-marks comes from the Hindi word 'pag'
as in pag-chinhh ie foot steps.

Etymology is the study of the origins of words: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology

You can have a look at the funny, interesting and engrossing book 'How to build a better vocabulary' by Morris Rosenblum, Maxwell Nurnberg
A paperback edition, it is available quite cheaply.
Though mostly used by TOEFL students it is very interesting :-)
Many words have interesting stories behind them. Like the phrase 'Cutting the Gordian Knot' which is explained in the book. It starts every chapter with a funny and apt Cartoon. I especially liked the one which goes - "No, No. This is a stalactite and That is a stalagmite'

Happy Reading

Travelling Genes?? Women Hit the Road

2006-05-23T10:38:00.000+05:30

Came across this interesting factoid (is it a fact or just fancy statistics??)

From ibnlive :
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/accidentally-porn-hot-on-web-trail/10728-11.html
"Among other surfing trends in both the sexes, it seems more
men visit sports and investment sites (42 and 39 per cent respectively) while at work
than women (18 and 20 per cent respectively).

Women, on the other hand, seem keener on travel and shopping-oriented sites (60 and 53 per cent) than men (52 and 43 per cent)."

And here's the interesting part Curiously I observed in matrimony search that almost 80-90% of women claimed Travelling as a hobby. Is there a link here?

I'd read somewhere that Men tend to spread their genes by travelling a la' Sindabad the sailor with a home in every port... and that women tend to spread their genes by small jumps nearer to their place of birth. Hmm... come to think about it, women travel just as much, as their husbands homes may not be close by.... Anyway just a thought....

Health Tip: Yoga (Reconnecting to Yourself)

2006-05-21T12:16:00.000+05:30

Most people will tell you that Yoga is something spiritual, special even exotic. It may be!!

NOTE: I'm NOT a yoga teacher. I'm more self-taught from books. I've experimented on my own to come to these conclusions. If you're interested read on.

This is a more pragmatic and working approach to the physical and associated mental relaxation achieveable from (ir)regular and (ir)reverent practise :-)

For the last 10-15 years I've been practising some asanas and actually worked on integrating it into my life more than increasing the repertoire of asanas. I've tried to find a small core of exercises which help me keep flexible and supple with the minimum of resistance, time and effort.

I find that the more you become rigid in the 'doing' of these 'flexibility' exercises the more likely it is that you'll become an all-or-nothing person. More likely nothing than all!!

People have all kinds of arbitrary, illogical, unthought-out objections, rules, 'prathaas' which end up destroying their one chance of keeping the practise of yoga in their daily lives.

Yoga is not special!! Make an asana a part of your life. Do it while watching TV, reading the paper, listening to music ie do Not view it as a special activity. Do you consider brushing your teeth as special? Most probably not. Well so is an asana. Its just something you do. The less you notice that you're doing something special the more likely that you'll continue to do it.
A good way to do a Padmasana is to start sitting cross-legged on the floor instead of sitting on a chair. Big deal!! My whole family tree has been doing that since centuries.

Be like the Cat!! Look at a cat. When it wakes up it stretches... It's not making a song-and-dance about Hindu Heritage and culture and Yogis and spiritualism and the whole shebang.... It does the stretch and moves on. Period. But while doing it, it enjoys the experience of a goooood stretch.

Observe the feeling when you get up from a cramped day at the office. Notice the difference after the stretch. You're undoing the crampedness of your office with the stretch.

Simplify: There are very few prerequisites for doing asanas. Yoga is minimalistic. It requires no special equipment, timings, or groups to do it. I regularly do asanas while travelling in a train! I'm up there on the top while doing a padmasana or vajrasana. You can do a 'Uddiyaan-Bandha'-like exercise while pissing!! It helps to remove gas and reduces pressure on your bladder!! Helps in avoiding urinary stones. Its just a practical thing.

Timing:
Don't bother with timings, I never do!! Doing something at 4 'o clock is the best time according to the shastras or something!! Known as the 'Brahma-muhoorta' it is the hour when your mind is at it's most relaxed and aware. However "The Best is the enemy of the Good"!!.
Most of us will not achieve the Apex of most things that we do (at least not in more than one field) We can only be the best in some thing. Choose your goal. If you want to be the best at Physics save your mental energy for that. Be good in the rest of the things you do!!

I normally do my asanas before going to sleep or in the evenings!! The body has become quite flexible by that time. Most Mornings its quite stiff, at least for the first 20 minutes or so. Why bother!! I get good sleep this way.

There are times when I've remembered that I've got to do my asanas at 3 'o clock at night.
I did them for 30 minutes or so and fell right back to a deep sleep. At other times I just went right back to sleep and didn't do the asanas for weeks-on-end.

Duration:
Some days are better than others. Deal with it!! Enjoy the good days and move on!! There'll be days when the simplest asana is not easy. There's always tomorrow. 20 Minutes of light stretching is good enough. On good days 1 or 2 hours may feel worth it. Be flexible in your approach.

Breaks :
There have been breaks in my practise for months on end. Big Deal!! There's so many people who've never even done a Padmasana. I continue my asanas when I feel like it!! It also seems to give the brain a chance to differentiate between the cramped feeling induced by laziness versus the relaxed floating feeling of the asanas. Enjoy the feeling!!

Perfection:
So many asanas in so much time!! Don't bother. Pick a set of asanas which give you the opposite twist if you want to. It's not mandatory. The sages are not riled up 'coz you didn't follow up the Halasana with the Bhujangasana. Do what you're comfortable with. Don't make silly rules which you can't fulfill anyway. Aim Low!! you're not competing with Bharat Thakur or the Iyengar Sisters!! ;-)

Understanding:
What is the effect of an asana on your muscles, and state of mind. It is easy to observe the feeling of relaxation following a good piss!! All kinds of muscles in the body and mind have tautened for a long time and finally found release... The same thing applies to asanas.

Meals : Most people don't do Yoga 'coz "I've just had a meal!!" "You've got to maintain a gap of 3 hrs or at least 1hr between asanas and meals" BullShit!! for two!!
There are 2-3 reasons why a gap is 'recommended'
1) There are some asanas like Paschimottanasan which put a squeeze the stomach. Well!! Don't do this immediately after the meal. Use your brain!!
2) There are some asanas like Vajrasana or Even Padmasana which divert blood from legs to the rest of the body. These are recommended after a meal as the stomach is able to digest food faster. Also these asanas will activate your intestines. Go to the toilet and relieve yourself. It'll help keep the body clean!!
3) Even asanas like Paschimottanasan Can be done following the relieving Vajrasana. If it feels uncomfortable back off, go to the toilet or fart or something to relieve the uncomfortableness.
Something like one hour down the line it's ok to do this asana. Anyway most obsese/fat people find it difficult to do this asana!! so Big Deal!!. If you're young and flexible enough it should not matter so much.
4) Your stomach is an acid-filled pouch which partially digests the food. It then passes it on to the lower small intestine. More digestion goes on with absorption. The large intestine is responsible for holding the crap!! Due to certain bad-habits people get constipated.
The effect of a)Gravity b) Leaning/Hunching forward c) Wearing belts or tight clothes d) Being Fat and constipated. This leads to Hernia where the intestines are forced out of their cavity to the outside. PAIN follows!! There is a way to counter act these bad-habits.
a) Drink more water.
b) Eat a good mix of soft and hard fiber. Soft fiber allows moisture to remain in the feaces and hard fiber aereates them. This allows for smooth bowel movement. People are not afraid of eating 4-6 times a day (snacks and all) but going to the toilet the same no. of times scares the shit out of them!! :D
Crunchy Apples, Sprouts, Chana, Salads, Carrots, Soya chunks (Nutrela) are a good source of hard fiber.
c) Most important give an opposite pull up on your intestines/bowels by
1) Exhaling strongly followed by pulling in your stomach towards your solar plexus.
2) Hold this for a few seconds. If you're constipated do this slowly over time.
3) You can pull your intestines up bit by bit. At some point they will reach the limit of pulling up.
You're creating a vacuum to pull up the intestines. This will make the intestines stick to the walls of their surroundings and give a strong/gentle squeeze to them. If you hold for too long the intestines may draw up more than necessary resulting in a cramp-like state. Just relax and inhale slowly to reduce the vacuum.
4) Don't forget to Inhale slowly and release the intestines back to their original position.
This in a way counter acts the effects of gravity and other assorted bad habits.

If you're too constipated. Drink a few glasses of water. Do Bhoo-namana Vajrasan (ie namaaz position). This will squeeze out the crap!! :-) Fart a few times to relieve the pressure.
Get someone to gently massage the belt area around the navel. There is a pressure point 3 fingers directly below your navel. Press this point a few times. This will help in releasing any gas.
Go to the toilet a few times.

Observe your breathing:
Count backwards from 100 to 1 or 50 to 1 (with each breath)...
This will distract your logical left brain and bore it into sleeping. By observing the breath you automatically slow it down. As the breathing rate slows down so does the counting rate which results in the left brain being forced to cope with boredom in between counts. You'll lose track of time and may lose track of the count. Congrats!! You've achieved relaxation!!This gives your right brain a chance to express itself. Creativity and calmness follow. Your heart rate is closely linked with your breathing rate. This slows down the heart rate. The knotted muscles in your stomach release and start frilling up and down with each inhale and exhale.

Blogging without Blocking

2006-05-11T12:05:00.000+05:30

Have you ever thought
"I've got a lot of interesting things to talk about... It's just that I can't think of anything to write"
(OR)
"I wish I could write something, I don't know what but..."
(OR)
'A recipe for Free Flow Bloggage'

1)Save the IDEA!
Start a stub or Draft Blog with Just the Title
and maybe a reminder about what you wanted to talk about.
Common source of ideas you mention in conversations with friends....
Like "hey did you know this..."
"I saw something funny today..."
"It was great in Darjeeling at this time of the year... I remember"...
Anything that would make interesting conversation is a good starting point.

"I feel..."
"I think..."
Opinions.

Interesting mails that You wrote lying around in your mailbox.
Chat conversations with friends still accessible through your chat client.
[Note: This Blog is derived from a chat conversation with a friend on how to increase blogging... See bottom of the blog]

2) Grow Mt. Everest an inch at a time!!
Jot down each thought as a word on a line by itself.
Don't worry about grammar or completion.
Capture as many thoughts as you can before they disappear.
Now you can go about elaborating and expanding each word into a sentence by itself.
Once you have this working set, Expand words into sentence.

When you have enough sentences, Group them into paragraphs.
When you have enough paragraphs. Rearrange them into Intro, Middle, Conclusion/Summary paragraphs.
This process takes anywhere between a few hours to 15-20 days.
Depending on your idea flow and enthusiasm or time available.

There are still some old drafts that I haven't posted.
Their time will come.

3) It's more like making a scrapbook of random thoughts and ideas which you can share with friends in far away lands and in time visit years later... Enjoy the process of setting aside some memories for tomorrow.

4) Express Yourself!
Write it more like as in a conversation with a friend. This avoids getting stuck on format and concentrates on the "what you want to say". The chat session for this blog below is one such example.

5) Finally publish the draft version as a full blown Blog. It's no good waiting for the perfect blog.

6) Share your blog with everyone. Add a link to your email signature to your blogspot. This will ensure that your blogs get the attention they deserve. I regularly mail my blogs to my friends just in case they don't read from blogspot. It's just a rough pad for writing good emails. It's better than just forwarding stuff onward.

>>>>>>>>>
[Original Chat conversation : in Hindi]
Jab bhi kuchh aisaa soojhta hai to mein ek stub article daal detaa hoon....
Nahin to achhe ideas gayab ho jaatey hain....
Idea save karke rakh diya to baad mein build karna easy hotaa hai....
Whenever I get some time... I just fill in some points in the blog...
To be expanded later.... Helps to keep the momentum going...
So the blog builds up over time.. as a draft and one day when I feel its good enough to post I post it....
Till now I've managed to post a huge no. of blogs in this way and more drafts are in the pipeline all the time....
Somewhat like emule!! :D
First thing I did was to search for any interesting articles I'd written in my mail box.... Uploaded those as drafts....
Then slowly edited them to make them more readable....
>>>>>>>>>

How to meet Interesting People

2006-04-15T14:59:00.000+05:30

Why is it that you come across most people who don't match your wavelength?
The Theory of Insulators made up as me and my brother took long walks in our colony, has some answers.

Note : Here by Interesting I mean how much of a match exists between you and the other person.

Imagine a cart-wheel with spokes connecting you the center of the wheel with the rim of the wheel. These are the not-so-alike people on the wheel rim.

Each one of these people in turn form the center of their own wheel. It's a good chance that they know someone who matches your tastes more.

Short Answer make friends with people who're unlike you (maybe even not too interesting or downright boring/irritating!!).

They'll have friends whom you're dying to meet.

Insulators :
They are people who're not quite like you but who know people directly or indirectly whom you'd like to meet i.e whose wavelength matches yours.
The more unlike you the insulator is the more likely he knows someone you really would be interested in.

------
There is another Theory about People called 'Six Degrees of Separation' (there's even a movie with Will Smith in it.)
It says that between you and ANY other person in this world there are only (max) SIX people forming a chain of acquaintance/friendship.
-------
The website called Orkut.com (and Gmails invitation system)
exploits this Network Theory to build communities of interest and friends. If you search for any person who's a member Orkut will show you his profile and the path/links of common friends you share with that person.
-------

"One website to rule them all and in the website bind them"

2006-04-15T14:52:00.000+05:30

Using RSS Feeds to get pull all your favourite sites into 1 place.
A onepoint access for all the sites you visit or are interested in.
Get all your favourites sites and links on Your own google homepage :
Link : www.google.com/ig
Link: www.google.com/reader (for RSS feeds)

Using Strong Passwords

2006-04-15T14:34:00.000+05:30

This is a good article I found somewhere

>>>>
Some tips on selecting a password :

A strong password is a password that is difficult for others to determine by guessing or by using automated programs.

To create a strong password that is easy for you to remember but hard for someone else to determine, try one of these techniques:

Merge two or more words, and combine the words with numbers and symbols. For example: Walk[My]Dog, Po#34tato, Champions=1995.

Abbreviate a phrase you'll remember. It could include numbers and symbols, or words that you can substitute with numbers or symbols. For

example: I ride my bike 5 miles each Saturday could become the password

Irmb5meS.

Use punctuation and numbers to combine the initials of people or objects from a familiar group, such as your favorite athletes, friends,

movies, books, or historical figures. For example: Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, and Joan of Arc could become the password 1G,2AL,JA.

Drop all vowels from a favorite saying, and then add numbers or symbols. For example: Walk three dogs could become the password Wlk3Dgs.

To be strong, a password must:

Contain at least seven, but no more than 16, characters.

Combine three of the four different types of characters:

Uppercase letters (for example: A, B, C).

Lowercase letters (for example: a, b, c).

Numerals (for example: 1, 2, 3).

Symbols (` ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ + - = { } | [ ] \ : " ; ' < >

? , . /).

Not be a common word or name, or a close variation.

Some service providers require that a strong password also:

Not be the same as any of your four previous passwords.

Not be a minor variation of your old password. For example, if your

old password was Champions=1995, a new password of Champions=1996 would

not be acceptable.

Important

Don't use one of the above examples as your password!!!!

Don't write down your password.

Never give out your password in an instant message conversation or

share it with anyone else.

If you have more than one e-mail account, for instance, one for work

and one for personal use, you should use a different password for each

account.

So...just go to Hotmail and check out how strong your password is!!! jus njoy with gr8 paswords.........use atleast one special symbol in ur password.........
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