Summer 2025 Bikram Yoga 60 day challenge

After the India trip and father’s day, had still not gone to the Yoga studio for a few days. I really did not want to face the string of condolence hugs. Then came International day of yoga.

We went there to smiling faces. Bikram Yoga San Jose has been home for me for 15 years now. Was not going to miss this. Got to pose with my poster to everyone’s amusement.

Then came July 1st. Was sitting there before class and was reminded that the challenge started. In spite of San giving me the look, signed up. There were conditions. No skipping hikes or other duties. No complaining of any kind as far as time constraints go.

Started on 1st and finished the challenge 5 days early. Felt good to be back in the hot room regularly. It was the best therapy I could ask for. Wanted to do all the 60 classes in my usual corner spot. Managed to do almost 90% of the classes in that spot. Everyone asks me why I pick that spot. There is a back story. BYSJ’s first manager was a wonderful man named Chris Cannavero. He left us too young. He always used to goad me into doing things with his sarcastic wit. When BYSJ moved into the new studio in 2012, he set up thermometers in different parts of the hot room and asked a few of us to keep watching the temperature through the class and report the temperature range. I was in the corner spot and it went to 112 F and for the most part stayed at 108 F. He claimed after that exercise that the corner spot was the hottest.

A few days later I went back a few spots and he called me a wuss for chickening out of being in the hottest spot. After he passed away, I just go to that spot in hopes he is giving me energy when I am about to collapse in a heap or when my brain tells my body to sit down. It may be my imagination, but my % of sitting out poses has become negligible over the years. Just will myself to do it. Now I can add my dad to the list of folks giving me energy every time I put my palms out facing the ceiling.

Every challenge is different, every class is different, every set is different, every side is different. Yoga is something that works on me at glacial pace. It works though!

There was a lot of clutter in my head and yoga helped me still my monkey mind, at least 90 minutes at a time.

A video clip..

A heartfelt thanks to Michelle and all my teachers, fellow students, friends and family for continuing to support me on this yoga journey!

The little student

A conversation with the little one.

Me : Why did you drop it?
Little one : because
Me : Why ?
Little one : Because!
Me : Because, What?
Little one : Blank stare

I finally found out what was going on!

The little one thinks that the word "because" is a universal explanation by itself, for all her deeds. She actually thinks that the words follwing the "because", is some separate sentence or loose conversation! She has picked this up from her elder sister.

Bad teacher, Bad student!

Everytime we ask Jr. why she did or did not do something, she starts off instantly with a BeCAUse!!! (yes, she does exlaim the because) and then pauses to think for a reason (which is 99% bull and 1% genuine) and gives a reason.

Here is an example:

Me: Why did you pour out all the toys on the living room floor when it is already your bed time? Didn't your mom just clean the room?
Jr.: BeCAUse...
Jr.: My cousin is going to come here tomorrow evening and we will need all the toys to be on the floor, so it is ready to play!
Me : The bulls are really proud of you honey!
Jr.: The bulls are proud of ME?
Me : Yep.
(I actually say that to her.. she does not know what I mean, and so far is happy that someone is proud of her. When she asks me why the bulls are proud of her, I will have an explanation)

I know. I know. It is tough to teach a 4 year old the art of Sarcasm.

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The ties that bind!

When it comes to binding two surfaces together, there are many approaches. In fact gluing two surfaces or nailing them together would probably result in a much better bond than just using some form of rope or thread. However, when it comes to bonds that last, they always have "tying" associated with the bond.

Caveman probably used rope like material long before he came up with nails or glue! Maybe that is the historical reason ? But in retrospect, humans have associated permanent or long standing bonds with a tie.

The earliest and strongest is the umbilical tie ! Somehow even after the bond is broken physically, it leaves behind an imaginary connection that allows a mother to remote control her child, when he is 13964 Kilometers (or 8678 miles) away. A mothers ability to make a grown up child cry over a few words during a phone call, and the even more amazing ability to restore the same grown up child and make him wipe off his tears within a few minutes by calling him back, has to do more with the imaginary connection than the phone connection!

Then of course comes the tie that follows the umbilical tie. The "aranakayaru" tie! A black thread that the dad ties around a baby's waist on the day the kid is named as an attempt cast off the evil eyes! Hope this tie works as well for me as it did for my daddy!

The third tie that I can remember is the tie that initiated me into culture and religion. I am refering to the Upanayanam ceremony and the sacred thread that has been slung across my shoulder since I was thirteen! Although I have not been as faithful to all the duties and daily prayers that I agreed to perform, I still have not forgotten them. Just do them at my own terms and have come to accept it for what it is worth!

The fourth memorable tie is the tie that binds me to education and my profession! Well, I am talking about the colorful sash that my co-advisor tied around my neck during my Ph.D. graduation ceremony! Something to remember for the rest of my life. I have been studying all my life, but that moment stood for a milestone along that path. It was almost like stopping in Coalinga on a long drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles and smelling the cows, except much nicer!

The last and most important was the knot I tied around my fiance's neck to get her to be my wife! Of course she was my fiance for a total of one week before she became my wife! Cannot put my finger on it, but was it the knot, the circumstances under which it was tied, the audience at the event, the rituals ? Guess it does not really matter because somehow it gets etched deep down into your head and can still resurface from that depth real fast!

The same ties keep going over and over again, generation after generation, binding people in an inextricable way.

Ah, the ties, they do bind !

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