Practice Yoga regularly, with the wonderful, worldwide alumni of 30-in-30

Today is the 6th anniversary party of the Body Lyrics Gym where I work out.

The gym is launching its website and magazine at the party followed by a brief show of various fitness forms by the gym’s instructors. Then cocktails, dancing and dinner by the poolside.

Venkat, my yoga guru also teaches silambam, a traditional South Indian martial arts form and Tai Chi. He is doing a fantastic 4 minute silambam routine twirling a 6 foot staff with fire burning at both ends.

For the yoga section, we decided this morning to choreograph a brief 3 minute flowing yoga routine. We kept it simple because we only had the morning to rehearse.

Here is a link to the rehearsal video

We borrowed quite a few ideas from Paul Grilley’s Yang Dragon sequence from his Yin Yoga DVD.

After our yoga show, comes a cardio dance routine and finally a body building show by the spotters who guide gym members at weight training.

The stage for the performances has been erected across the middle of the pool.

I am looking forward to tonight.

I plan to video tape Venkat’s silambam routine and hope to post it at youtube too.

My mum is a better than fabulous cook.
My sis learned to cook and bake when she was a young teen. She would impress everyone with her prowess.
I learned to cook and bake. I impressed my friends too (though I am not in the same league as her or my mum).

My mum tailored out clothes when we were children.
My sis learned from her.
I learned from my sis.
Until about a decade ago I made most of my clothes myself and enjoyed the process of both designing/constructing as well as wearing my unique clothes. Now I find it hard to make time.

I followed my sis into several hobbies from reading voraciously to dance since my childhood. She is still a huge influence.

My sister took up yoga many years ago. This was one occasion when I wondered what she liked about her new pursuit instead of plunging in headlong. My perception was that it was too “slow”. When we holidayed overseas together, she would buy seemingly endless titles of Yoga videos. I would watch her practice sometimes, and they all seemed like the same set of poses. I remember once, talking her out of buying more DVDs when we were holidaying in Malaysia saying she was wasting her money on more and more of stuff that seemed no different from what she already had so much of.

My fascination with yoga started when she asked once, when I visited her if I would practice with her. I decided to give it a try. I dont remember which DVD we used, but I remember fumbling through it absolutely gracelessly.

And so I discovered a passion.

I learnt Yoga “formally” about a year ago.

I have added several DVDs to our yoga library since then.

I now realize how ridiculous I was to think one can have enough Yoga DVDs. There are so many wonderful instructors in the world and they all bring to the practise their special, unique perspectives. Just a little nuance here or a bit of creativity there is all it takes to make an entire session seem fresh.

Here is the list of DVDs I plan to order next:

a.
Shiva Rea is a favorite with both my sis and me. We have her “Yoga Shakti” DVD. She is lithe and graceful. Yoga Shakti is the best produced Yoga DVD I have seen. The filming, the locations, the practise itself, the DVD authoring – all spectacular. In this new DVD, according to the reviews, Shiva experiments with mixing in fluid, dance like movements with traditional Yoga. Cannot wait.

b. or
I recently read about Yin Yoga. In Yin yoga you get into and hold a pose for up to five minutes. It sounds great in theory, but I have never held a pose that long. I am tempted to buy both, but I regret my impulive Kundalini purchase of two Ana Brett/Ravi Singh DVDs and 1 Gurmukh DVD all at once, without figuring out if Kundalini is for me. The Gurmukh DVD I have not managed to get through a practise even once. Her style of Yoga is definitely not for me. The two Ana Brett / Ravi Singh ones are not at all bad, but too “fancy” for my taste. I like creativity but like my Yoga to still feel “classic”. Besides, Ravi and Ana use horrid, bollywood like music. (All bollywood music is not horrible, just the stuff Ravi and Ana seem to like. In any case, even great bollywood music does not mix with Yoga.) I rarely reach out for them. So while the blurb at amazon for both these Yin DVDs seems great, I think I should take it one at a time. But which one?

c. Amazon stocks two DVDs from Duncan Wong. This is a DVD of Yoga with a martial arts influence. The reviews talk about how artistically they are filmed (in black and white) and how creative the practices are. I am floored by the descriptions. This one is touted as Beginner Level, but the practise description makes it sound challenging enough for me. His other DVD is described as Intermediate / Advanced. I am not sure I could manage it. The descriptions seem like I could, except for the head and hand stands. (I can do a handstand against the wall, but not yet a headstand.) But then, descriptions can be misleading. A little voice tells me to get one at a time, but I am unlikely to pay attention.

d. This one I want because the instructor is of Indian origin. I dont own a single DVD taught by an Indian (Ravi Singh does not make an appearance on his DVDs. His voice instructs while Ana demonstrates). Yoga is of Indian origin. It seems only right to own at least one DVD by an Indian. The description of the DVD makes it seem interesting enough, though not exceptional.

e.
The reviews make this seem like a fairly challenging and happy practise. Litsa is compared to Shiva Rea. Want. Want. Want.

f.
I love this cover pic. This practise had 4 sub practices by different instructors and is highly rated by reviewers. But the reason I want it is because me instinct tells me this will be a good buy. Just look at that cover – dont you agree?

I am going to credit card heaven (also called amazon) soon to place my order. Any suggestions on what else I should be looking at?

I remember ever so often with a pang, my sister’s expression of regret on the flight home, because she had not bought Yoga DVDs after I talked her out of that shopping session years ago. Time to make up.

On Mon, Wed, Fri I take Yoga classes at my gym with Venkat (my Yoga guru).

On weekends, Venkat usually comes home. Sometimes we go running outdoors. Sometimes we workout together at home – resistance training or dancy aerobics. Sometimes we practice Yoga together. I try to get Venkat to practice to one of my Yoga DVDs. From Rodney Yee, to Shiva Rea, Baron Baptise, Yoga Zone, and more, I have quite a collection. Venkat always groans at my fascination with “American Yoga”. (The one exception is Alan Finger. Venkat is impressed with Alan Finger’s style of instruction and he never protests if I pull out one of his DVDs.)

A few weeks ago, he called me to the gym to practice Yoga with him on a Sunday. He had organized for his friend to be there to shoot us practising. He said I could have my own Yoga DVD to add to my collection.

This particular segment has my nemesis – forward bends. I am working quite hard on getting the curve out of my spine so that I can achieve a nice, flat fold, but progress is so slow.

Venkat was so sweet, he did not do a complete bend from cobbler so that he would not contrast too much with my inflexibility when we shot this.

Since this video, I have finally managed to get my forehead to meet the mat in Cobbler. It works best if I have done some cardio just before Yoga (that makes me looser for some reason) and take my time easing into the pose.

We did not rehearse before we shot. Venkat told me the sequence and we did it just once before his friend arrived to shoot. So I fumbled quite a bit. I want us to shoot a better rehearsed video again.

I had to reduce the video quality, to make the size of the clips small enough to post online.

I have not been doing as much of this as I’d like to of late.

Here, NYC, is the video.

All 43T Friends – Promise to watch at least 45 seconds.

Venkat asked one of the trainers at the gym to shoot the mirror image while we rehearsed in the studio. He shot our backs instead. :)

I am down to alternate days instead of everyday unfortunately.

I must make time to write more about my Yoga practice here. Doing so makes me practise regularly somehow!

Here is something that made me laugh.

This one made me go ‘Touche!’

Last month Venkat, Balaji and I had attempted 108 Surya Namaskars (54 sets). It had been challenging, but I can recall tougher workouts that I did at the gym that month.

A few days ago Venkat suggested doing 108 sets of Surya Namaskars this weekend. A whole 216! I agreed at once, and then forgot about it in the hustle and bustle of my work week.

Today Venkat and Balaji came over for weekend Yoga as usual. Venkat was all set for 216 Surya Namaskars. I did not have a chance to think. Neither did Balaji. We found ourselves doing Sun Salutations with Venkat under the moonlight in my balcony.

We managed to complete about 120, with just short breaks to grab water and wipe the sweat. At 120, I called for a break. Balaji decided to opt out. After 5 minutes, Venkat and I resumed. After 36 more, I wobbled mid salutation. My chest and tricep muscles were refusing do cooperate on Chaturanga. We took another 5 minute break. Venkat suggested I do the remaining Sun Salutations beginner style – lowering myself to the floor off my knees rather than off my toes. I agreed.

We did it. We made it through 216 Surya Namaskars (me with atrocious form and Venkat quite effortlessly to the last salutation). We were both sweating. Venkat moderately. I looked like I had walked in the rain. My hair was plastered to my scalp and there were large wet patches on my clothes. This pic is us at the end. Venkat was saying that he had not met someone who could match his craziness in a long while. I think that was a compliment.

We finished with Halasana and a few forward bends. This was tougher than any workout I can remember in a long time. When I showered after Yoga, my arms were so tired, shampooing my hair was difficult.

Now, I need to sleep.

Venkat’s late morning Yoga classes at the gym have two new students. Both are ladies who have practised Yoga for over ten years. Venkat mentioned that they teach Yoga. I must find out more about this because one mentioned she is coming back to Yoga after a break of a year or so. They signed up with Venkat to refine technique. They are amazingly flexible. Their grace and form is excellent. I enjoyed practising with them today. I must take a real camera to class soon and shoot pics to post here.

I was concerned I may have regressed. My last Yoga session was on Feb 5. 12 days without Yoga. But it was wonderful. If anything my forward flexibility seemed better!

Venkat and Balaji came home. Venkat suggested that we do not use a DVD like we normally do during weekends at my home. We did poses to work on flexibility guided by him instead.

We did a very interesting stretch to open the hips. This was my first time with it. Here is Venkat in the pose.

Here is my version.

Here I am in the Upward Facing Bow pose (Dhanurasana) soon after. I think the hip-opening helped me get higher.

It felt wonderful to practise Yoga again. Especially today’s lovely session with Venkat. I wish I could make a video film of every session with Venkat!

Today, it was Yoga at the gym in a class with Venkat.

I did not practise much Yoga at all. I was given a separate routine from everyone else. Venkat converted a bench built into one wall of the Yoga area into a makeshift ballet barre by elevating it with Yoga mats. He made me work on ballet stretches to increase my hamstring and inner thigh flexibility.

He then asked me to sit with my feet opened wide against the wall. I kept inching forward opening my feet closer into a split with the help of the wall. He asked me to sit there as long as I could. I must have sat there for five minutes.

When I did my Yoga forward bends after this, I went further than I have ever managed so far.

Working on flexibility is hard work. I feel more exhausted than after a tough workout. But I also feel quite wonderfully looser around my hips. I plan to do the seated split against the wall as often as I can manage.