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.