(Mind39)- One good Yoga exercise

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Though I don't wish to add the prefix ‘Yoga’ to this exercise, I will add it to satisfy the masses who think that it is part of Yoga 😉

I don’t know the exact origins of this exercise which is quite popular these days. It may be a few decades old. It tries to combine various aspects of Patanjali Yoga as well as Hatayoga in one single ‘one fit for all’ kind of exercise.

It has many of the Hatayoga asanas, breathing regimes, devotion, mantra chanting, aesthetics, all combined in one. Some Gurus even try to superimpose it with figurative aspects of Yama and Niyama as well!

(Mind38)- A Sanyasi’s stone soup!

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A sanyasi is a recluse who is supposed to keep aloof from worldly matters. He is not supposed to have any processions of his own, nor he is supposed to entertain any desires for pleasures.

But come on, he is also a human being! 

Once there was a sanyasi who had a desire to drink soup! But he has no resources. Nor he can ask anyone to make some soup for him.

(Mind37)- Is Asana a misplaced step?

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Yes, I often use verbal overloading or pun to make fun of situations or people. But not here. 

A few episodes ago, I compared the eight steps of Yoga to eight steps of a ladder. Asana is the 3rd step in the original Yoga of Patanjali. In the previous episode I have explained how the meaning taken on by the word asana these days, does not match the original meaning of the word. 

So, am I suggesting that Asana as propagated today is a wrong step in Yoga? A wrongly placed step can topple the person who tries to climb up the ladder 😉

(Mind36)- ‘Asana’ as in Bhagavad Geetha

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In the previous episode, we were discussing how the concept of Asana or Yoga posture as understood today, is quite different from what was stipulated by Patanjali in his Yoga sutra.

(Mind35)-What is the best Yoga Asana?

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Once someone asked Ramana Maharshi the same question. By the way, Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950) was a great Indian Yogi who spent years in meditation, before he started interacting with the world.

More is not always better

Some modern ‘Yoga’ teachers advise their students to perform Yoga postures at a faster pace and do it for a longer duration – more is always better! In fact one of the research papers on Yoga benefits even compares Yoga with some African tribal dance that is supposed to be very strenuous!