Chakras

Namaskaram,

Below is a good write up that I got from Yoga Philosophy Facebook Page. It talks about the 7 charkas in our body and what each and every one of that chakras means. The write up describes the dimensions that each chakra opens up to you and what controls them.

Yoga Philosophy - 7 Chakras

Image courtesy of Yoga Philosophy FB Page

In Hindu and tantric/yogic traditions and other belief systems chakras are energy points or knots in the subtle body. They are located at the physical counterparts of the major plexuses of arteries, veins and nerves. Chakras are part of the subtle body, not the physical body, and as such are the meeting points of the subtle (non-physical) energy channels, called nadiis. Nadiis are channels in the subtle body through which the life force (prana), or vital energy moves. Various scriptural texts and teachings present a different number of chakras. There are many chakras in the subtle human body according to the tantric texts, but there are 7 chakras that are considered to be the most important ones. 

Shatkarma (Natural Detox)

Namaskaram,

Master Nava will be hosting another detox session for those in Malaysia on the 15th of July 2014 at Kelab Komuniti Cyberjaya. Below are the details for more information on how to register for this event.

Event details:-
Date: 15th July 2014
Venue: Kelab Komuniti Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Google Maps to the venue
Time: 6.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.

For information and pictures of previous sessions, just to get a feel of what is it about, you can click here.

Walking on the grass

Namaskaram

Image courtesy of www.inquisitr.com

I dislike walking on the grass since the day I was young. I found it sticky, unusually wet, uncomfortable, dirty and so many things. Everytime, I had to go pick up clothes from the clothes line at home, I would quickly scout for a pair of slippers before my foot touches the grass. It can be world war 2 or even the most greatest emergency in the world, I will never step onto the grass without a cover on my feet. That was me, till last year January :) It took me 26 years plus to realize what a miracle can this tiny little flora can be.

First encounter

During my 1st detox session last year January 2013, the first thing that we were told to do was, sip in some sesame oil, keep it in the mouth for 15 minutes, while walking on the grass. As usual, I quickly fetched my slippers, but masters said, walk barefoot. Oh dear! I was already there, signed up for something i had no idea what is it about but I was confident it was going to be very beneficial, so I decided let's just give it a try, and so I did.

That was another longest 15 minutes of my life, not forgetting chewing the black peppercorns in the morning. That day did not encourage me to walk on the grass till i had a wonderful experience a couple of months back.

Ujjayi Pranayama (Victorious Breath)

Namaskaram

Image courtesy of www.allwomenstalk.com

Sleep is a very important factor  for a healthy life. It is important to have a deep, peaceful sleep. As important it is to have a beautiful sleep, it is equally to sleep without bothering the person next to you. Yes, I am talking about snoring.

Recently, my aunty asked me what can she do to stop her snoring. What is snoring and why do we snore?

ENT's Best Friend

Namaskaram

Image Courtesy of www.houstonent.com

My Respiratory Problem

Throughout my life, I wished I could breathe by my nose for one whole day without getting any nose blocks. It sounds ridiculous doesn't it. But Yes, I was literally wishing for such a simple thing.

Whenever I get up in the morning, my nose will have this dry block that feels like a thin layer is covering my airway and it is difficult for the air to get through. Hence, I use my mouth to breath, that could have been a huge contributor to my bad temper.

Mouth Breathing

A short explanation on mouth breathing and why you should not do it
For an example, you are sick and have a blocked nose due to flu. You are left with no choice but to breathe via your mouth. Can you count the number of times you have snapped at people and get irritated for no reason during this whole period of time? I am sure it is uncountable times.

Back to my story. In addition to my dry block, I tend to sneeze when there is a change of temperature in place i am in. E.g. When i move from a outdoor sunny area into an indoor air-con room, or vice versa, i experience this problem.

Many recommended me to undergo minor operations for my sinusitis, but i refused. I lived with it, hoping it will find some cure for it some day. Master Nava told me that cure when he noticed my dry block during shoulder stand during class. I am going to share it with you today.

Food and our body system

Namaskaram

Watch this amazing video shared by my yoga friend. Thanks Raja.
Thank nature for such a blessing. The solutions to all our problems are just amongst us.

Wishing you Peace, Love and Harmony
Om

Change

Namaskaram

Image Courtesy of greatblackspeakers.com

Yup, you read that right!

I am a risk taker, and I am pretty adventurous, but these segments of myself were concealed deep within me and I am finally out.

June 3rd, 2014, I resigned my job. Nope, I am not moving to another job, I am just staying home. :)

I always wondered, what would it be like doing that. Mind you, I am a mother of one girl and i have responsibilities and bills that i need to settle at the end of every month. But, I still chose to do this. Why? Simply because it makes me happy. It is nice to be jobless, let me rephrase that. It is nice to not go to work to work under someone and pick up tasks to complete them whether not you like them. Trust me, it is annoying. Especially if you hate what is being thrown at you.

I loved this job for a while, because I was handling a job scope and project that I loved and it made me happy. It was tough and not a day went by that I did not curse it under my breath, but I loved everyday of my life when I was involved in it. The day it ended, I lost my interest. Things were getting boring and low. There was not a challenge that was worth taking. I lost my spirit to work, so I decided to quit.

Some may call me irresponsible or selfish. But hey! I need to be happy and sane from within to raise a Happy Sane CHILD. The inner peace and happiness matters more than what I wear outside and how my hair looks like.

So yeah! I am jobless and I love blogging. It is nice to stay up late and think about doing the things you love without worrying about getting enough sleep to get to a job that no longer makes you happy.

Think about it and do that one thing that you always wanted to do....your perspective about life will change ;)

Peace, Love and Harmony
Om

Nadi Shodhana (Channel Cleaning Breath)

Namaskaram

Image courtesy of gracefulwaves.com

The Headache and everything that follows along

Have I mentioned about how much I suffer when I have a migraine attack. It starts with a slight twitch at the side of my head and that twitch penetrates to my whole head, and creating a tension belt headache. It gets so painful that after an hour or two my senses around my heads numbs and I feel nausea, dizziness and loss of focus. I also suffer from temporary amnesia e.g. I drove to my parent's when I am supposed to be driving to work, forget the spelling of certain words, cannot seem to remember my telephone number. Scary? Yes, it is.

I am not sure if this is called migraine, because I never bothered to check. I have been through a very sick period in my life which led me to each and every top medical centers in Kuala Lumpur. I hated checkups, medical routine and whatsoever they call it. At one point, I just quit. I told myself, if I'd die, let it be, but I am not going to die this way for sure. Here I am now, a decade, typing about it in my blog :P

Yoga Mail by MAYI

Namaskaram

Many of you would have heard of MAYI in Malaysia. This stands for Malaysian Association of Yoga Instructors. The founder of this organization is Master Manisekaran .

MAYI has a quarterly publication of yoga newsletter they call Yoga Mail. They have now included all of their publication online for you to read through. It is beneficial to read this newsletter. There are information on healthy food, asanas and the benefits, experience of other students and some yoga tips and guides.

Here is the link.

Peace, Love and Harmony
Om

Menstrual cycle - A blessing in disguise for women

Namaskaram

Image courtesy of res.mindbodygreen.com

Blessing in disguise

Master Nava always says that women are very lucky because we have a menstrual cycle to tell us if we are healthy and signal us if something is wrong with our body. I know some of you might be cursing to hear such a compliment. At first, I was equally skeptical to accept the fact that the menstrual cycle is indeed a blessing in disguise for me.

Do you know that every woman should have a 28 day cycle and every cycle should be painless? This is how it is supposed to be. A perfected menstrual cycle is 28 days (start counting from the 1st day of your period to the 1st day of your next cycle), nothing more, nothing less. Certain women experience at least 2 days of pain before their period and 2 days of period after they get their period. Some of these women go through very bad pain that they tend to vomit, have dizziness, loss of appetite and many more. This should not be the case at all.

Take me for an instance, during my younger days, I was an ice-cube addict, I chew on ice-cubes and literally take them off from my freezer and put them in my mouth. Yes, I was an addict. This contributed to massive pain before and during my period. It was just unbearable. Fortunately, when i got pregnant with my 1st child, i stopped it for the benefit of my baby. Consequently, the addiction stopped. After my pregnancy, my period was at 32 day cycle and it has been that way since I did my 1st shatkarma (yogic detoxification, I shall write more on it later). After my 2nd detox session, my cycle started to drop from 32 to 31, 29 and finally to 28. It has stuck to it since then. My period starts without a fuss and ends without a fuss, the only I know I got my period, is if i got it, no pain, no fuss. It just came and went, it bothered nobody. Isn't that just nice.

Besides shatkarma there are other yogic lifestyles and yoga asanas that you can do to regulate your cycle.

Free the Mind

Namaskaram

Image courtesy of bwog.com

We all had our hard times throughout our lives. Life is never meant to be easy, hence all of us have our share of bad times to go through. It is part of learning to improve and moving on. Some of our experiences, let it be from during our childhood days or some traumatic event such as accidents, can affect our mind deeply. These events are stored in your subconscious that acts like a repository.

 In Freud's opinion the unconscious mind has a will and purpose of its own that cannot be known to the conscious mind (hence the reason why it is called the "unconscious") and is a repository for socially unacceptable ideas, wishes or desires, traumatic memories, and painful emotions put out of mind by the mechanism of psychological repression. Excerpt from Wikipedia on Subconscious.

These events can create many psychological issues that affect us. It is responsible for all your phobias, unexplainable anger, judgmental character, and the times where we just hate something and we do not know why. This is where it all comes from. Therefore, we need a way to clear it, throw those rubbish away from our mind, so we can have a more focused thinking that is not affected by all this experience.