No New Asanas Given On Tuesdays

Just a little trivia or reference for Ashtangis. Just discovered from this post from another blog (good blog, particularly if you live in Sydney and practice Ashtanga), no new asanas are given out on Tuesdays. How interesting. Something new to learn anyway. The reasons are given out in that post. Good to know.

Last Month of The Year

How sneaky. How could it be December already? Yet, it's true. Shops have already put up their Christmas decorations for some time. Even my mother in law has trimmed the Christmas tree in her house.

Every year I'm always rushing to get presents on Christmas eve. Each time I swear the next year will be different. Well, my Christmas tree has yet to be trimmed. I still have not done my shopping for Christmas. But, I have already got two presents to give away, which I think are just perfect gifts for Ashtangis.

Perfect because the pendants have Guruji's famous phrase inscribed on them - "Do your practice and all is coming". Perfect because the proceeds go to a charity that is driven by the excellent Tracy, whose blog contains details of the charity and how you can purchase the pendants. Perfect because it is Christmas soon and it's a time to celebrate and a time to share. Perfect because you will have something to remember the wonderful gift Guruji has introduced to us yoga aspirants.

Oh, and I have one for myself, too. :)

Sometimes Teacher Knows Best

At this new place I go to for morning Mysore classes, I've been given so many poses that I've now completed the entire Primary series. Whilst I am excited to get them, it also meant my practice is now much longer and more tiring. Initially, I was a bit hesitant about moving past Navasana. That's because my mind was all geared up towards Marichyasana D. I still can't bind on my own yet, but with help, I could bind.

Now, my mind has to expand towards learning new asanas. It is mentally quite tiring! One day, after trying Garbha Pindasana, teacher asked me to jump back whilst still in lotus. I looked up as if she was crazy. She just smiled and told me not to think so much and just do it. So I did it - I think I fell on my face a little but the legs somehow managed to shoot out back. Wow. Even though I collapsed in a heap at the end of it, I was exhilarated. After that, my belief that I could do it became stronger. This is now where I got to :


Thank you, thank you for believing in me. (Though, my nose is now a bit flatter from all the efforts in Bhujapidasana and this new transition!)

Four Asian Leaders

Got this in my email the other day. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did :-)

Some are smarter than others...


General Musharraf, Dr Mahathir, Gloria Arroyo & Lee Kuan Yew were sitting in a train.

The train goes through a tunnel and it gets completely dark for the next 8 seconds. Suddenly there is a loud kissing sound and then a slap!

The train comes out of the tunnel.

Arroyo and Musharraf are seated across each other, both looking perplexed.

Mahathir, seated across LKY, is bent over holding his face, which is very red from an apparent big slap.

All of them remain diplomatic and nobody says anything.



Musharraf is thinking : ' These Malaysians are all crazy after Arroyo. Mahathir must have tried to kiss her in the tunnel. Very proper that she slapped him ! '



Arroyo is thinking : ' Mahathir must have moved to kiss me, but kissed Musharraf instead and got slapped. '



Mahathir is thinking : ' Damn it, Musharraf must have tried to kiss Arroyo ; she thought it was me and slapped me instead. Shit !! '



Lee Kuan Yew is thinking : ' If this train goes through one more tunnel, I could make another kissing sound and slap Mahathir again !! '

Bhujapidasana

Is one of the asanas that I'm working on. This is how it should look like. Of course, mine looks nothing like that. This is a clip of how I fare this morning:


I've had another go at it.


I'm working on jumping straight in. Maybe the flexibility is preventing me. Maybe I'm just not sure how to go about it. You can also see my difficulty in getting the chin on the mat. There's this fear I have of falling on my chin. I've squished my nose a few times. My weight either gets too far forward or too far back. Anyway, it's a work in progress, along with a whole lot of other asanas. But it's fun trying to get there.

Win-Win

A term normally encountered in the business world. Probably was made popular in the 90's. I first came across this concept when I hear my grandfather defined a good business deal as being where both parties gain, even if one has to compromise.

Today, at 42 years in age, I begin to think that this can be applied, not just in business dealings, but also in conversations. So often, in a confrontation, I would go all out to win my argument - sometimes to the point of belittling the other person. How nice if the next time I'm in such a situation, I can remember this concept of win-win. Even if I think I'm right. A compromise is always possible.

As I thought about this, the person who has the best ability to apply this and who has consistently apply this concept of win win in all aspect of his dealings, at work and off work, is one of my uncles. To me, he is the person I aspire to be. I know I have no chance to get there, but to even be half the person he is, would be something. He has a quality with people that is rarely seen. And his dealings is the fairest I have ever encountered. I has always thought of his quality as diplomacy, but today I begin to realise that he has always achieve a win win situation, even in normal conversations and with all sorts of people.

So, I write this post as a reminder, win win is always a consideration in all actions.

Cold Calling

The door bell rang. As I look out towards the gate, I noticed a group of well dressed people walking past, leaving one behind. I asked if I could help. He turned out to be an evangelist, of what I did not have the chance to find out. I did smile and pointed to the cross on the wall to say I'm good and thanked him for his time. Somehow the message failed to get across. It probably did but was ignored - how rude, and I was trying to be polite.

So, I was less polite after that and said I am already a committed Catholic and I am not interested to hear about it. To which, he pointed that his group has a different approach in interpreting the Bible that would give a more meaningful life. What is that suppose to mean? I shouldn't have given him the time of the day, but I replied that there are many different paths, and many will lead to the same destination. But I have chosen my path and I respect his decision in his choice but I don't want to explore any more alternative approach. Of course, his persistence is admirably unwavering, which left me the only thing that came to my mind at the time - turning my back and just closing the door.

What irked me was :

1. He did not seem to respect my choice and my commitment to it,
2. Why was he wasting his time on someone who has found his faith, when there are other lost souls in the streets, such as the homeless and the drug addicts,
3. How judgmental they are to other religion other than theirs, without really knowing what the other relligion is,
4. They just do not listen to a polite brush off, these encounters often end on an angry note.

Maybe I should learn another way of brushing them off. I did lose a bit of my temper and raised my voice in frustration. Next time, I shall incorporate some ujjayi breathing if I feel the anger rising. Maybe the sound of the breathing, or the mere spectacle of me doing ujjayi will scare them off!

Sun Salutation A

Note that this is not how I normally do my sun salutations. If I did, I'll be knackered by the time I reach Sun Salutation B! Anyway, just a little fun for the camera.

Pictures Taken At Unfortunate Times

After Mysore

So, it's been a month and ten days since I got back from Mysore. The trip has certainly done wonders for my practice. My practice is quite regular now - helped a little by the presence of a new teacher, who teaches Mysore style classes at the Westin hotel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. So, now I have the choice of classes at ss2, morning Mysore classes at the Westin or self practice at home. Once, I even set the alarm at 4.30am to practice. How dedicated is that?! But, just the once. Ok, not so dedicated after all.

Practice has been great. Two days ago, I practiced at home and managed to get my fingers to touch (ET style) on the first side of Marichyasana D. That is huge for me. The teacher at the Westin have been giving me new poses almost each time I go! Yesterday morning, I've got Supta Padangusthasana. I'm not quite sure I'm ready for so many new poses - but she is a great teacher, so I surrender to her instructions. We are working on getting my chin on the mat in Bhujapidasana. Not easy! I've squashed my nose quite a few times and I still haven't got my chin to the mat.

So, that's the yoga front. On other matters, I've got a new iPhone and I've open a Twitter account. I'm very thrilled with my iPhone - it's so different and much cooler than my old phone. I'm still don't get the fuss about Twitter. I can see it's a great tool for those in the retail and news industries. But what do ordinary joes like me do with it besides tweeting about the food we eat, the weather or the mood we're in? Still, no harm giving it a go. Maybe I'll start spamming up the net with random tweets and see if I get some irate responses!

Well, new blog, new phone and regular practice - I feel like a new person ...