A year of Yoga...

It was this week, last year that the MIL and myself entered the Bikram Yoga studio in San Jose to sign up for a "10 days for $20" trial deal.

The logic?

We either survive the first 10 days in which case we continue or we spent 20 bucks to find out that this stuff is not for us!

5 days in and we were hooked for not one or two, but a whole host of reasons to the point where we were thinking "Why did we not try this before?"

A year has rolled by and

- I weigh close to 140 lbs now. A weight that was last recorded in early 2002 when I was still exercising, could do a Cha-Cha-Cha on a dance floor with effortless ease and had a stomach like a wolf! Cutting back from 157 lbs, this is a welcome change.

- Have had 4 sick days in the last year since starting Yoga. Mostly due to extraneous causes like inhaling strong chemicals, getting things stuck in my teeth etc.. The body's resistance to germs that the kids or sick co-workers bring has improved significantly. There were almost a dozen sickness events per year in the previous 6 years (specially since the little one was born)

- My ability to stay calm at work in situations where yours truly used to turn red in the ears and openly express instant displeasure at the state of affairs and earned a nickname "The General" has also improved significantly. Can control my head much better these days. Can be the voice of reason and calm now. Also listen more and talk less. Something that every manager has to work hard to do.. which happens to be a side effect of doing yoga. That is a "Win Win", no?!

Last but not least, wife has a "headache" and that means no hanky panky? No big deal. Go sit in the lotus pose, meditate and sleep like a baby! This used to bother me as well, but not anymore. There is a willingness in the head, across the day, to work with the cards you are dealt with and make the most of it.

The kids came to the "Kids Yoga Class" yesterday and Jr. did very well. The little one just lay on the mat and watched others for the last half hour but given her age and attention span, it will take some time for her to get used to this (don't want to force anything on an opinionated girl!). Today both of them were more than wiling to click a few pictures of me doing poses from the floor series.

So.. here they are..

San refuses to acknowledge the six pack in "Six Pack Sundar" but the kids definitely do.

Jr. even knew what a six pack was (apparently "The dairy of a Wimpy Kid" book has a chapter where kids draw six packs on their abdomens with their mother's mascara!) and said "Yes, I can see it!"..

Thanks to Bikram Choudhury, Michelle Vennard and BYSJ! You have given me quite a comeback!

The Yoga journey continues!

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Ups and downs

Lets see..

+ in last 6 days?

Come back to reality nice and smooth after a nice trip to Hawaii

Dinner with friends and relatives over weekend

A beautiful Photo book in the process of delivery, thanks to Shutterfly

- in last 6 days?

Two trips to the hospital to take care of pus in hand

Way too much antibiotics than this body can handle

No yoga in 15 days

Think we should call that even!

Did try Yoga in Hawaiian bay waters..

Could not resist the chance to pose..

But right now a poster child for "man with PMS" aka Yoga withdrawal..

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7am Arivu (Seventh Sense) - Tamil Movie

Friday night.. a last minute impulsive decision to go watch the new movie staring Surya in the theaters with MIL and Cousin..

Off we went with some lowered expectations as the movie got mixed reviews.

Came out thinking "damn, what a different movie! This is definitely a new for Tamil cinema these days. Has been quite some time since we came out of a Tamil Movie thinking.. "

Consider my General Knowledge to be above average, what with being on Quiz teams from a young age but one thing I did not know was that Da-mo, the patriarch who is credited with bringing Zen Buddhism to China and also reshaped Shaolin Kung Fu to China was actually a South Indian Pallava prince! Somehow that part was never taught to us in our history books. Neither was the fact that today's Kung Fu had its origins in Kalaripayattu (which was the original martial art form that this Da-mo or Dharuma (or Bodhidharma as he was referred to) learned in India. Did know what Kalaripayattu was! That needed no introduction.

It was an interesting movie, simply for bringing to light, the lack of interest in self promotion in India and Indians alike.

If you are interested in knowing more watch this video series. This guy did an awesome job of explaining BodhiDharma. Do not know if he ever completed the book. If any of you know kindly drop a note. Should be worth a read!

Every twelve years or so my life encounters something that is beyond my grasp. Something that I have found a new respect for that teaches me that "just because we do not comprehend something, we should not dismiss it. There is a lot we do not know and cannot explain with our limited mental and physical capacity".

The first one was Siddha medicine. When allopathy left me for dead at 12, a 97 year old chain smoking bearded Yogi (who was always in Padmadsana when he treated me) cured me by looking at me, feeling my pulse, looking at my eyes, mouth and feeling my skin and then declaring "this kids blood is not pure. we have to purify it" and went on to give me some heavy metal cocktails that purged my system and brought me even closer to death but revived me. At that time my parents and relatives thought it was nothing but magical. Everything he did has an explanation in modern medicine. Arsenic in small doses can be a cure! Bismuth is used in pepto-bismol ! All said and done he did with baspams, legiyams and thailams (powders, gels and massage oils) what the antibiotics of the early eighties could not do.

My post on that aspect is here. The movie literally echoes my sentiments in the conclusion. (It was funny with the reference to turmeric!. should have started writing movie scripts last year!)

Another 13 years later, there was an encounter with Nadi astrology. Indian astrology is dismissed as gobbledygook by westerner scientists. Don't need to say more. If I can tell you that by analyzing a hair root, I can tell the persons ethnicity, eye color, diseases they are prone to etc. etc. 50 years ago it was laughable. Today we call it genomes, bio-markers, etc. and to the educated few it is not laughable. If it is possible to believe that so much information can be gleaned from a hair follicle, why not a thumb print?

Old posts on this topic Here and here..

Thirteen more years later when physiotherapy said "this is as far as we go!" Yoga has come to the rescue. Initially hesitant that sitting in a hot room at 105 F and 40% humidity would do anyone any good, have seen what can happen if only you believe! Again, it is magical. Folks who are seeing me after a two or more year gap say "you have become younger".

It is a crying shame that there are more Yoga studios in the San Francisco bay area than in Chennai. If only they had taught yoga in the schools in India instead of teaching us "march past" to the beat of a drum maybe my bow legs would be straight by now!

My legs are bowed like my fathers. Maybe it is genetic, maybe it is a vitamin deficiency of sorts but when I bring my thighs together and me feet together, my knees separate. Asked one of my yoga teachers, "how long do you think before this corrects with yoga?" and she said "usually it takes only 7 years".

Will let you all know how it goes in "only 7 years"!

What else is there to encounter another 12 years from now?!

Do watch this movie for the documentary aspect..

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Pumpkinography continues..

This year the Halloween weekend has been a hectic affair with Grandma traveling, an exam week at Tamil school and Jr. having her annual day function at her music school.

Got together with the cousins for a couple of hours as the weekend got to a close and carved a pumpkin.

It has become an annual event since BB started this as a tradition of sorts in 2005!

This years effort..

and the lineup photo!

Work is hectic but interesting and the busy schedules have kept me from doing a lot of things like Blog at least twice a week, call family members on phone more regularly, take more photographs, check out DPS etc. In a few weeks will get used to the new routines and will get back to these missed things more frequently.

One thing though that has changed is that I am not checking facebook status anymore. So much that Facebook sent me an email saying "Hi Sundar, here is some activity you may have missed on facebook"... Guess when you are trying to find time to go take a bio break every now and then, Facebook activity is not going to be on the priority list!

On the bright side, back in the Yoga room. Was sitting out a few poses the first few classes post surgery, but yesterday tried the entire sequence. There is great progress with the hand. Has been one month since the surgery as of today and managed a locust pose today without any pain!

The festival and birthday season is here and things seem to be on the right track. What more can one ask for?

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Stomach Bug vs. Yoga..

Bug won!

Woke up with an upset stomach today and bunked yoga, worked from home.. which is more difficult than working at work.

Somehow the respiratory system has found its immunity with Yoga but the digestive tract is still susceptible to bugs brought home by kids or colleagues.

Maybe this would have been a week long down event but thanks to the diet and exercise we are now down to one day events.

The ban on taking tablets of any kind is in force!

On the bright side, have learned to "Lock the knee" after five months of yoga. Turns out that one has to build enough muscle strength in the upper thighs to do this! Previously when I used to try and imitate the other experienced folks in the room, an attempt at flexing the thigh muscle would not get a response.. now we have a response.

Solid, concrete, one piece, unbroken knee!!!

Very happy. Hope to return to Yoga and work tomorrow.. stomach permitting.

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