A few words..

After the last Asia trip, I came home okay. Then we ate at an Indian restaurant, which we have only visited once before more than a year ago and both me and MIL ended up with food poisoning. Wife and kids did not get hit although the little one complained of tummy pain, went into a fart spree and then declared herself okay. MIL and me were not that lucky. She was throwing up and I was feeling like an over pressurized cannister that did not know how and when it was going to explode for most of the weekend. 

So my yoga attendance in the last 5 days has been spotty at best. Finally made it back to class this evening. Walked in with low expectations but as usual there is the "now that I have made it past that door, better make the most of it" philosophy that kicked in and started doing the best I could.

It was almost the end of the class and we were doing the final stretching pose on the floor when the teacher mentions my name and says "pull your little thighs just above your knees up and towards each other and then stretch"!

Was trying to process that on the fly, given I have never heard anyone say that to me or another student before. 

The first question was "what are little thighs?" then my brain went "it is something between your real thighs and it is above your knees.. so even if we don't know what that is, just pull whatever muscle you can pull up and towards each other in that region!" 

So I tried to locally clench something in that area upwards and inwards and sure enough, like magic, my body went down a good six inches lower and towards my feet! It was MAGIC !

When we got a chance to do the second set, gave those "little thighs" a big inward curl and was able to repeat the stretch!

Have been doing this for 5 plus years. All it takes is a few words to click at the right time in the right way and there is a world of a difference in the result. 

Have come to the conclusion that teaching yoga cannot be an easy thing. Even if a person can do the poses and internalize how to use their anatomy to make changes, it is very difficult to communicate that cause and effect to another person using mere words. 

For all I know, what was moved may not be little thighs, but the learning continues. 

The Guru was back

Today was a mixed bag. Have almost recovered from the flu, except for the lingering cough and eye infection.

That said I dropped my MIL off at Bikram Yoga San Jose, earlier this morning. That was probably the hardest thing I have done. Get to the door and drive back!

The family had told me in simple terms "you can go to yoga class today but if you come back all exhausted and looking dead and sleep through the rest of the day like yesterday, then don't come back!" .  They know that there are times when I push myself to the limits, especially when it comes to trying things while still not being a 100%. Gave them the assurance that when I come home, they will see the same guy who left the house.

I was reminded of the off airport parking worker, who walks around my car and notes down the dings and blemishes before driving it into the parking lot. Kind of did that check in front of wife and kids and said "see this dude.. he is going to come back the same in 4 1/2 hours".

With that deal made, and with a lot of resolve, went to Jim Kallet's 4 hour special class. It is no secret that I respect this teacher immensely for his breadth and depth of knowledge and his abiilty to communicate what he has learned from personal experience to people in a way they can understand it. 

It was mostly teachers in the audience and he was like an irate VP of Technology, beating up guys in the technology transfer department on "following the specifications to the letter" (As a person who transfers technology, was able to relate to that personally!)

In between his "don't change the spec" topics, Jim was soft and mellow and addressed folks like me with very specific do's and don'ts.

One doesn't need to know how a CD player works on the inside to enjoy music, but knowing how to put the CD into the player the right way is a requirement!

Yoga is kind of like that. As long as you do the basic stuff right without hurting yourself, the results come. You don't need to actually know which body parts are being expanded or compressed in which pose for it to have the right result.

The class was like drinking from a fire hose. My brain could not grasp everything he showed or said in the last hour (notes or otherwise) but my usual goal of  "get at least 5 takeaways that you can remember from this class and put it in practice", was met! 

Over the next few days to months, will have to put those changes into the practice. He even gave us exercises to do while sitting on the couch and watching TV. That was interesting. Have already started doing "couch-a-yoga" as of this evening. In fact doing couchayoga while typing this post! 

There was a regular 90 minute class Jim taught, after the 4 hour class. One of the teachers told me "you can do it. stay for the class". Could have probably done it, but given what I would have had to face, if things didn't go as planned, decided to drive back home. 

One thing Jim said that resonated with me this time? 

"This Yoga helps you with your day job and with your family. That is what this is about. Does it matter if you can do everything the way everyone else can do it? No. The only thing that matters is that you try the right way."

When driving home the second time today from the BYSJ, had a smile on my face. Had given it everything I got, made the right calls w.r.t. family and myself and learned a lot. 

ps. I lost horribly on a game of Ticket to Ride with the MIL and kids after coming home, but I lost with a big smile on my face! That is Yoga in the works.. 

The adventures of Sundar, Episode 435: starring Pukelady and YogaYoda

The last two weeks have been interesting to say the least. Went to Asia for yet another business trip. Everything was same old same old. Yet another Uber driver who has fled the middle east gave me his story as we went to the airport on an early Sunday morning. Made it through the trip. Then San requested some urgent support back home. So I moved my confimed biz upgrade seat to an earlier flight in economy class. That was a mistake.

Just like in T20 cricket when you get someone out on a "no ball" and the guy comes back and hammers you for a six on the free hit, I got a double whammy. There was a lady on the flight who decided to throw up an hour after the flight started. Now, throw up may not be the right way to decribe it. She more like "sprayed up". The rest of the 10 hours was spent smelling puke and just taking sips of air to be able to breathe but not get too much into my lungs.  All that breath control from years of yoga practice, didn't work! 80/20 breathing vs. pukelady wasn't even a close contest. End result was that I was going through flu like symptoms within 24 hours after landing. 

Last weekend and the early part of this week were a blur. My wife decided to not say a single word throughout this. Usually she goes on a rant. This time she was all TLC. Someone must have taught her that this tactic might produce more guilt/hour than the lecture and sure enough, they were right. 

Stuff at home and work took a hit because my voice was gone. The last three four days have seen me steadily improve, spending more time at work and being more active at home. So it is natural to want to get back to the Yoga room as well to speed up the recovery. 

The plan was simple. Start in the last row and keep moving up as I feel better. Did start in the last row and moved up last two days. 

Went to yoga class this morning with the MIL. It was taught by the YogaYoda, Jim Kallet. Decided that this would be a good class to graduate from second row to the front row.. yes. why not pick the hottest spot in the room to check if you have fully recovered from the flu?!  Guess I did not think this one through.

While Jim did say the usual "you should know how much to push yourself. this is going to be a slightly longer class. so pace yourself. Sit down if you feel dizzy. Take a break and get back".. I took it the way my mother tells me "if that is what you want to do, please go ahead".. which usually translates to "if you want to call yourself my son, don't even think about it". 

Now, don't laugh. Every one of my Yoga teachers bears a close mental resemblence to my mother. They have eyes in the back of their head and can know if I am even thinking of giving up on some pose, even if they are in some other part of the room, much like how my mom can remotely control my emotions from the other side of the planet. So it was natural for me to take it that way.. 

It was a great class. Did struggle through the middle of the class, because I did not pace myself. 

Jim continued to amaze with his words of wisdom. When you are that experienced, it shows! 

My MIL has never met Jim and was telling one of the teachers before class "I am already past 60. getting old. so some of this is getting difficult" and the teacher told her "the guy who is going to teach this class is older than you!"

Wrote this about Jim's all day class from four five years ago.. he is doing another such class tomorrow. Not sure what shape I will be in to go. Right now, just happy that I got to take his regular class!

It is an experience not to be missed. 

Walking the walk, talking the talk

Before we begin, this is a yoga post.  Not the usual experience in hot room post but rather a perspective on how the world is reacting to Yoga today based on latest media reports.

Three things sparked this post and I will list them in chronological order:

1. A friend of mine who knew I do Bikram Yoga but not much about the Yoga or Bikram recently told me "dude, I saw in the news that the guy who came up with this yoga you do is accused of a lot of bad things. So be careful with the yoga you do!"

2. Indian media reports in last month have a flurry of articles on Shri Shri (Art of Living), his recent event near Delhi and his tweets on cricket matches and articles on Baba Ramdev, another popular Yoga teacher/activist for his statements on what constitutes patriotism and the follow up internet memes about "does yoga help grow a brain?"

3. An article in YogaInternational which claims to debunk Bikram Yoga

Here is my perspective from personal experience.

Bikram Yoga worked for me. It continues to do the job for me. It has been nothing short of a miracle for me. By extension, I can say "Hatha yoga worked for me" and "the heat worked for me". Now what do I mean by "worked"?

Walked into the hot room for the first time, five years ago,  being 18-20 lbs over weight, depressed and having a range of other health issues after an accident in what can only be described as a downward spiral at work and home. Within a month I was back at my normal weight and feeling positive. With a fresh energy that made me a better person, it helped me through even tougher times at home and work over the next few years. Bikram Yoga turned that downward spiral into an upward spiral with positivity reinforcing more positive things. 

Could this be just me? The answer is No. It was definitely the Yoga. It is true that I work my ass off in the hot room and give it everything I got,  but still, it was the Yoga that made a difference. There is something magical about the way this sequence is put together that it worked, for me.

Does this work for everyone? The answer again is No. I happened to be at the right place at the right time in the right mindset. Had nothing to lose by walking into the room and everything to gain. The visual and non visual changes made me go back into the room, over and over and over again. More than 20 people have joined or tried Bikram Yoga after seeing me change over the last five years, but only 4 are still doing it. They all have their reasons for dropping out. Don't like the sweat, the smell, don't like to wash my hair so often, it is too long a time commitment, I am already flexible enough, etc. etc. None of them told me they stopped coming, because they injured themselves or they were afraid of their image because of what they hear in the news about Bikram or any of the other prominent Yoga teachers. 

Does it have to work for everyone? Hell, NO! If you are not serious about making a change and cannot take an opportunity to turn your life around, no yoga is going to work for you. The folks who have issues with the heat have tried other yoga and it works for them. The folks who have issues with 90 minutes have tried other forms of yoga for shorter times and some of them are very happy with the improvements. 

Does Bikram Yoga work? The answer is Yes! Have seen many miracles like me out there over the years. The folks who see the benefit come repeatedly. It seems to be a hit or miss thing. Based on the stats I collect, chances are, if you are a type A personality, Bikram Yoga has a higher chance of working for you. 

If you want to get results from Yoga you need the following basic ingredients:

- Right Teacher :There are tons of youtube videos on the poses and how to do them, but there is no substitute for a teacher who goes over the nuances. The devil is in the details. It is very easy to hurt yourself by doing the wrong thing in a yoga class (I am told it is easier to injure oneself in normal temperature classes compared to hot room classes) and blame the yoga for your injuries. A teacher who is qualified and has been through this learning experience first hand works better than a Youtube video. 

- Right method : Know what you are doing.  Not based on what you think the right thing is from your mind or just from your bodies feedback. If I only listented to the voice in my head that told me what my body was capable of doing, should have quit yoga after day 2. Listen to the teacher.

- Right commitment : Consistency and sincerity in any practice will help move it in the right direction. That goes for any learning. Practice makes perfect and in this case it is an asymptotic relationship towards perfection. 

- Right mindset : Keeping an open mind to learning new things first hand as opposed to infering from other people's experience definitely helps. 

I have only done Bikram Yoga in the last five years but the things above are generic enough for learning anything new, be it a musical instrument or a new language and chances are, with any type of Yoga, a right teacher, technique, dedication and mindset will go a long way. 

All that said, all three of those things that prompted me to write this post go towards three things.

Do not link the Yoga to the Yogi:

Yoga has not changed over the years. Pretty much every posture that you can do with the hardware a human being has, is out there in all its variants and documented extensively in stone to paper to 0's and 1's.

Over time, folks have come up with routines that are optimized towards different results. The most popular ones seem to take a "greatest benefit for the average person" approach. They are like Children's Tylenol. Works great for most kids for most ailments. Then of course you cannot expect to cure cancer with it. 

Do all Yoga teachers who have created a successful routine or a successful franchise or following, required to be perfect human beings? It is a fallacy of human kind to venerate and elevate humans to god status and then see their gods go down in their own eyes. Goes for politicians, sportstars, movie stars and definitely Yoga gurus! People may be fallible and not perfect all the time. That does not mean the works they create are bad. It is very much possible that someday I will lose my mind as an older person, but that does not take away everything I do till I reach that age. 

Before you decide to believe others on Yoga's efficacy, try it yourself : 

Yoga in this context is like religion. There has to be faith first. Then there is the way. Then again, there is no "one way". The way you want is the one that works for you and that doesn't have to work for everyone. 

The difference between Yoga and religion is that in Yoga, a set of physical exercies and breathing has the ability to transform minds even though nothing is being said about the mental transformation in the class. You come in day and and day out and do the exercises, but it changes the way you think, about yourself and your relationship to everything around you. You know it is the exercise because, you get these brilliant moments of clarity in the middle of struggling through the exercises.

You have to try Yoga with the right pre-requisites. If someone else got injured doing yoga, died during yoga training (first time I heard that was in this Yogainternational article) etc. etc. one of those pre-requisites was not there. If you are not the type who is good at taking instructions from a teacher, chances are you are likely to injure yourself. Same goes for the other pre-requisites.. right teacher, right method, right commitment. 

Don't take my word for it : 

We live in a world where the lines between opinion and fact are being blurred by Like buttons and 140 characters at a time, a world where it is difficult to differentiate between a genuinely researched news article and an infomercial. It is also a world where people with responsibility, following, power and money are the ones most likely to abuse it.

I can request you go to find a Bikram Yoga studio and try a class with a teacher who went to teacher training with Bikram himself, to ensure you are not going to injure yourself and come out with a positive learning experience. Chances are you might end up in one of the 1000's of studios that claim to be Bikram Yoga but have teachers who teach whatever they want for however long they want. It is like buying coffee at the Starfucks store, where the lady on the cup looks very similar, but you drink at your own risk!

Finally, Yoga is getting a bad rap either because of some Yogi's words and actions, mistakes by the press or people like you and me believing blindly in what others say or do. The fact that Yoga has survivied for thousands of years is a testament to its ability to prevent ailments and enable faster healing, not to mention its ability to open minds for a lot of people. There are some who say it will work for everyone. I am not going that far. It might work for you. 

I for one, am happy that it works for me!  

The day after...

This year saw another 60 day challenge at BYSJ and I did finish it. There was a time when odds of finishing the challenge looked bleak. There was an international business trip for a week, then San went to India and was gone for 10 days and there were days with meetings in the morning, noon and night that made it very difficult to wake up before 5AM and go to class. 

There were a lot of doubles over weekends that enabled the count. A nerd has to do his nerduty! So here is a typical 60 day challenge in our house.. (you have to click to see the comment clouds)

It almost always has the same highlights as far as our reactions. This year started with me picking an "angel card" at BYSJ. It said ..

Harmony gave me some thought. The idea is to remember this word and try to think of this word when you are in tricky situations, before walking into the yoga room, and keep it in your mind for the entire year and see if it makes a difference in your life. 

A few days after picking the card, made it a minute before class started. I always make sure that people behind me can see at least a sliver of themselves in the mirror. This time given I was going in front of folks, looked back at the lady in the last row and she gave me a thumbs up. A yoga mat is still 2 feet wide and one can move within the mat to accomodate and I was constantly making an effort to be on mat's edge. At the end of the class another woman comes up to me and says "you should not do that. even if she says she is okay with it, you need to give her more room".. or something to that effect. For a second, I was going to tell her all about my mat edge exercise and how the woman got a lot more than a sliver etc. etc. Then I remembered "Harmony"! So I said "thank you" and came out with a win-win feeling. The harmony thing works at home in a lot more situations with the wife, but not with the kids and it definitely does wonders at work. I have significantly curbed my urge to do bad things to some of my colleagues. 

There are many things I learned during this challenge, thanks to my teachers and friends who pushed me and taught me things that go beyond the poses. During my "I am not sure if I can keep going through with this phase", one of my teachers comes up to me while I am breathing and touched the place where my stomach starts and says "tuck your tummy in". After class I tried to correct him by saying "this... is my tummy!" and he laughed. He said "no my friend. you need to tuck here!".  

A picture is worth a 1000 words.. this one is worth a 1000 classes.

Yes. After making it into that hot room for more than a 1000 classes, I was working hard and sucking up my gut.. but not in the right place! The next 10 days was a real struggle to "undo things in Live mode" in every class. It is incredibly hard to breathe when you pull that part in, once you figure out how to do it in the first place!

My best poses became non-existant and some other poses became a revelation. A lot of my teachers were wondering "what is up with this guy. He is in the first row and struggling". I wanted to move back to the last row just like in my beginner days and slowly move back up to the front, but my teacher said "No. That would be a bad move. Stay in front of the mirror and do your best!". So stay I did and watched in agony as I failed and failed for almost two weeks. Then I got it!  Maybe I did not have certain muscles to do it earlier and they developed in two weeks.. who knows! That was the big revelation over this challenge.

There were many things that kept me going during that phase in the hot room. A 74 year old wheel chair bound grandma with Parkinsons, started coming to class. At first she was outside the room, then she was wheeled inside the room for the first half of class, soon she made it 90 minutes in the chair, then she started bending her hands down while in the chair, and after 30 days she was able to stand up and hold the wall and try poses.. now she walks! The support she got from her son, family and teachers was incredible. There were so many times the entire class clapped and cheered when she did what we all thought was impossible!

Yet another miracle, right in front of our eyes. Every day I see that grandma, I wish my grandma or my mom could have come to the hot room instead of undergoing surgery after surgery for replacing joints! If DNA that I have inherited is any indication, chances are my knees and hips are going to give out a lot earlier than the average person and I might get the shakes like my dad. My sincere hope is that doing yoga will postpone the inevitable.. 

The last thing about any challenge is to go do Yoga outside the room. When I packed my mat on day 61, my wife and kids were saying "What?! we just let you go 60 days and accomodated you a lot and cheered you. Can you take a break now. Why do you want to go today?"

My response was "do you see the guy who runs the 5000 meter race in the Olympics? after he wins and crosses the finish line, someone hands him a flag and he keeps running another two laps with the flag, all happy and smiling! he is not going as fast, but he is still going strong and keeps running! Today is my victory lap. I can go in without worrying about finishing the challenge and smile through the class, have a great time!"

They actually understood that. I also had a great 61st class.. and 62nd and 63rd class, and will keep going till travel catches up again. 

They always tell you "the real yoga begins when you walk out of that door". Both our girls went on one week trips as part of science camp on different weeks. 

Jr. went to Yosemite and the litte one went to Santa Cruz. We were really worried and thinking about the kid that was away a lot.. They both came back exhausted but happy and it was wonderful listening to them talk about their trips. The little one picked up knitting and is now making everyone scarves and beanies. 

Here is the arabian beanie meanie.. 

and yes.. I tried growing a beard over 20 days during the challenge, in an attempt to get the girls to get grades in return for shaving it off. The blackmail exercise did not work as they showed me that they are better at blackmailing me! It was three girls against the beard and they won!

The yoga does begin after we step out. Harmony is all about wearing your kids pink blankie and the beanie she just made for you and feeling on top of the world that there is so much love in your life!