Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Power Yoga: Five days trial

I had a close encounter with a weighing machine after several months or maybe years.
The number on the screen SHOCKED even me and I am pretty easy going about these things. After all what is in a number.
All the same, I decided to do something about it and randomly veered toward  a 'Power yoga' class because I stumbled across a deal on Snapdeal at a fraction of the stated price and because the classes are held barely 500 yards from our house.
So far so good. After the normal procrastination of beginning it from tomorrow, next week etc. I finally made myself get up and go on a Monday evening.
Soon I was running stationary on a black vinyl yoga mat. The exercises were more like aerobics than yoga ( as I know it from past experience). The yoga instructor was a pleasant lady who made us do more and more, striking war-like poses, bending this way and that and pranayama, all within the stipulated one hour session. Whew!
Needed Amritanjan to assuage my aching joints and back that night. The next session was after a gap of a few days due to election, guests in the house at the exact time that I needed to go for the session and so on.
It was more relaxed with us doing more pranayam than asanas.
I felt great and virtuous at the same time.
The third session was with another yoga trainer as I attended it at a different time. This instructor was a young energetic girl with a lot of over-weight people in her class.
She was determined to make everyone sweat and bend in all directions and hold the positions for interminable periods agonizingly counted while she checked her emails, sms-es in between.
I feared for my spine and realized that my own brand of self-practiced yoga at home was probably much more suited for me.
I went back for another session with the nice lady, more to extract the fourth session of my promised five sessions than anything else.
She was all for stretches on this day. I stretched, bent , sweated and breathed heavily. It felt good and wholesome.
The bad thing was the phones ringing almost throughout. They took some of the serenity away. Some of the students even took the calls right there or walked out to do it.
I decided to forego the fifth session and instead went for my customary brisk walk in the evening. I followed it up with a yoga practice in my own home. I did all the asanas that I had learnt earlier and also did some pranayam(breathing exercises) before concluding with the chanting of OM. It felt just as good and nothing hurts.
Moral of the story: I am going to walk and practice yoga every day. No excuses or procrastination. And about the weight> Nah, I really don't care as long as I feel good and am energetic and can get into my clothes.

Holi Vrindavan style: In Noida



Yesterday, we had the good fortune to go for a Holi event organized in AVCC Noida. We had no expectations and thought of doing it as just something to do on a week day evening.
What we found was surprisingly beautiful and enjoyable.
It was a typical Vrindavan Holi celebration by the Bansuri group (I think).
There were beautifully dressed and beatific looking Krishna, Radha, gopis and sakhas. The songs were lilting, ably sung and accompanied by dholak and keyboard.
There were dances and Krishan leela.
To make it even better, there was an electronic fountain type machine spewing fragrant flower petals on all.
It was really a wonderful experience.
My phone camera does not do justice to the event but here are links to depict what we experienced.