Combining two interests

Yoga and Photoshop..

call it what you want, but these two pictures were a good time pass.

Jr. volunteered to take the individual shots. She said it was more fun to keep clicking and watch me do yoga than have to do the Yoga herself.. also she got to yell "body down, stretch forward" a few times. (had taught her to repeat the right keywords at the right times to motivate me). 

One of my teachers Matt always tells me "Sundar, you have to take it one millimeter at a time. Trust the process. It is a process. Go for progress instead of perfection". Every word is etched in my head. 

Being a process engineer by background, this Process is asymptotic and can be imperceptible on a day to day basis.. but, a millimeter a day adds up to 36.5 centimeters a year.. that is more than a foot! That assumes you come every day. Sometimes a weeks break can reset you more than 7 millimeters.. but that is another story. 

If you keep going and practice routinely, you can see the millimeters add up.

Will leave you with these two pictures of the half moon pose backbend 

and standing bow pose

both of which were incredibly difficult for me to do as a beginner and as a regular student in every class.. Was probably going back or forward only to the first step you see in the pictures. Today can do slightly better than the lowest bends in these pictures given all the poses we do prior to doing this (in heat) compared to directly jumping into it without any warm up at home. 

Matt was right.. those millimeters all add up over the years. 

All that said summer is always a tough time to keep up the regularity of the practice. So the process takes an erratic path and some semblence of regularity is regained in fall.

Was originally going to spot the 10+ things wrong in every pose, but today has been a good day. So instead I took a different approach, admired my handiwork on photoshop and decided all those things can wait. 

They are going to take a lifetime to fix.. and I am surprisingly okay with it!

Hope all of you got to do or try some Yoga on International Yoga day on Thursday. If you tried it for the first time, hope you had a lifechanging experience and you keep coming. If you got your regular yoga done, go you! 

It takes an inner will to be absolutely selfish to go do Yoga on a regular basis. The only way you can take care of others if you take care of yourself first. 

The post Yoga Rose.. and a recreated photo

Ever since I started picking up a rose after doing Yoga on Fathers day (Bikram Yoga San Jose gives out roses to dads on Fathers day when they come out of class.. I love this!), we started taking a picture in our yard with the kids and me.

Did this in 2015 and 2016. Last year Jr. was in India with my parents and I was travelling and we missed this.

This year we were all under one roof. Happy that I did not fly out this Sunday and my trip was pushed out. 

Given busy schedules my MIL rushed out and we took the picture on my iPhone. Last two attempts she took the picture on my Canon 5D. (you can tell the difference)

you can see how fast the little one is growing.. those old clothes are all gone. 

It was fun to do this.. 

Jr. barely fits into that jeans and net shirt. My hair still ebbs and flows.. the good thing is that we are all doing well and are having fun.

A big thanks to BYSJ for the nice thought. Keep them coming!

The big weekend

Mid June brings us two events within a few days or sometimes on the same day.. Our Wedding Anniversary and Father's day.

This year we had a anniversary lunch instead of dinner as the little one had a party to go to. Their calendars are sometimes busier than ours. We skipped the trip to Ghirardeli's for ice cream this year. 

Apparently there is a plan for a suprise 25th anniversary party from the kids.. IF we last that long together (overheard that in a conversation between the kids)

I get to go do Yoga for Father's day. They let me have what I need. So far so good..

It is amazing that this girl managed to live with me for 19 years. I am not easy to live with..even I have a tough time living with myself. So definitely deserves all the credit for what we have going..

Message to my kids. Don't bet against your mother, ever! If she says we will make it to our 25th anniversary, we WILL! 

This year, there was some gardening work on Father's day. Many a tree, shrub has been planted in this house "in the name of the father" and few survived.. the pomogranate tree that gave our front yard its beauty died after we did the room extension that came too close to it. Cleared it out and planted something else in its place in hopes that this will be the new star of the front yard. Counting on Yamagami nursery plants being better than Home Depot ones! 

Happy father's day to all the dads and kids who celebrate father's day! We are now past the age where the kids bring trinkets as gifts. They don't even try to be nice to me on father's day.  Maybe this new trend will change again after a few years.

Apparently there is a facebook forward that shows a kid's message to his mom saying "Happy mothers day. Your mothers day would not be possible without me. I am in the front room waiting for a gift" or some such thing. My kids tried to point that out to me.. My response "I will celebrate fathers day to thank my dad and I am not even expecting anything from him!".

They do still love my "sambar flavor" Maggi and for that I am eternally grateful..