Here I am, setting up to do jal neti in Chamrajanagar, Karnataka, India.

Jal neti, or nasal irrigation, is a beautiful cleansing process that removes excess mucus and pollutants from the nasal passage and sinuses. It relieves allergies, colds, and sinusitis. Jal neti can prevent and treat other disorders of the ears, eyes and throat, as well as respiratory tract diseases such as asthma, pneumonia, and bronchitis. The practice rinses and therefore opens up the nasal passages, which can help relieve mouth breathing. In addition to this, jal neti helps reduce muscular tension in the face which results in a fresh and youthful appearance. It can also treat and alleviate anxiety, anger, depression, headaches, and even improve eyesight.

So, what is this incredible practice? Jal neti involves putting 6 to 12 ounces of warm saline water (or other ayurvedic tonics) up one nostril and allowing it to come out the other. To do so, one uses a neti pot, a ceramic, plastic, or bronze vessel that resembles a small teapot.
The practice may sound a little uncomfortable and awkward at first. In fact, when I was first introduced to neti last year, I never imagined that it would be come a routine practice for me. I have since been able to reap the benefits of neti. It has even improved my singing and chanting.

a little demonstration… I know it’s not the most flattering shot!

A bit about the history of neti:
Jal neti, which means nasal cleansing with water in Sanskrit, is an ancient ayurvedic cleansing technique. Jal neti and sutra/dhanda neti (a practice in which a waxed thread or thin rubber tube is inserted through the nose and out the mouth) are classified as one of the six cleansing techniques mentioned in hatha yoga. These purifying processes, called the shat karmas (“six actions”), also included dhauti (internal, head, and thoracic cleaning), nauli (abdominal strengthening and massaging), basti (enema and other techniques to wash and tone the large intestine), kapalbhati (frontal brain cleaning. see related post), and trataka (internal and external gazing on a fixed point).
While jal neti has been practiced for centuries in India and other Asian countries, it first became popular in the West during the second half of the 20th century. Today, you most likely can find a neti pot at your local health store.

As jal neti should first be practiced under the guidance of an experienced instructor, I am not providing step-by-step instructions. If you are in the New York area and would like to learn, I will be conducting individual or small group classes for just $15. Bring your own neti pot or purchase one from me. If you are interested in scheduling a lesson or would like to learn more, feel free to contact me at sophiesundar@sophieherbert.com. You can also inquire about jal neti at your local yoga center.

Clarity Statements

1. These are the ways my childhood affected me.

2. These are the problems that I cause myself.

3. This is how I work on myself.

4. This is who I am.

5. This is what I want to add to my life.

Each statement is an essential building block to the one following it.

25% of any sales will be donated to Energy 4 Orphans, a non-profit that I am the New York coordinator and web designer for. To learn more about the organization and our goal to construct a much needed girls campus at the Deenabandhu Trust orphanage in Karnataka, South India, please visit our website.

I cannot send this invitation without expressing my deepest gratitude to Nielsen Bainbridge and curator/framer Gibson Glass. Your kindness and generosity has provided so much form to this show. Thank you Gibson for devoting so much of your time and energy on this project over the past three months.

Hope to see you there!

Stain Bar
766 Grand Street
Brooklyn, ny 11211
(L to Grand, 1 block west)
718.387.7840
daily after 5 p.m.

Also, I am due for an update about my experiments with macrobiotics… sneak preview – it was really interesting to try, but due to complications, I am back to a more well-rounded diet.

Lastly, I’ve added a page with my New York yoga class schedule.

Before leaving the city on Friday, I taught a morning class at East Yoga in Alphabet City. En route there on the Q train, I came across an article in the New York Times Metro section that was particularly moving… or maybe it’s just particularly New York.
You can read A New York Slice of America, July 3: 128 Riders United by clicking the title.

Finding balance in sari. Tamil Nadu, December 2007

While we were out for a drive the other day, my mother mentioned that her physical therapist friend has been treating a rising number of patients with yoga related injuries. This brought to mind something a very wise teacher of mine once said. It was something along the lines of, “Yoga has and can never hurt me. I have only hurt myself by misusing (misunderstanding) yoga.”

Our culture can nurture an air competitiveness that sometimes drifts into unnecessary places. It can float off the streets and into yoga studios. Yoga is, has, and should never be about group competition, but instead about understanding, caring for, and enhancing the mind-body connection on an individual level. In many ways, there is no such thing as an advanced or basic posture. As H. David Coulter states in his book The Anatomy of Hatha Yoga, “Practicing with total attention within the body is advanced yoga, no matter how easy the posture; practicing with your attention scattered is the practice of a beginner, no matter how difficult the posture.” The more I progress in my study of yoga, the more wonderfully complex the poses I once considered “basic” become. I am always realizing subtleties I never knew existed.

I grew up in a relatively competitive environment. When I began practicing yoga, this mindset followed me onto the mat. Over time, however, I have found that yoga has helped me become less insecurely competitive with those around me and more honestly able to embrace and develop the skills within me.

Yoga is about constructing sturdy foundations by working with the available resources. Each individual has a different comfort zone and set of limitations that should always be respected. Yogasanas are about building and nurturing physical and, as a result, mental stability in a slow and controlled manner. By listening to your mind and body and staying within the framework of your limitations, your asana practice will certainly flourish. This will spill over into other aspects of life.

Blind girls practicing yoga at the Ranga Rao School for Visual Impaired Girls in Mysore, Karnataka, South India. Photographed by Sophie in August 2006.

In his work, the Yoga Sutras, the great Sanskrit sage Patanjali mentions asana in just 3 of the 196 aphorisms. (The performance of asana is just one small [yet very important] component of the path of ashtanga and hatha yoga. Asanas are intended to help purify the body and mind in order to prepare for seated meditation.) In this brief sutra, Patanjali sums up so much:

sthira sukham asanam

or

Steady and comfortable posture/seat

By working towards finding this composure in every asana, we can more easily carry this groundedness off the mat.

Embrace and love your practice as it is today and everyday. Find a practical balance between fearfulness and fearlessness while still respecting your limits. Remember each day is different.

One more note- Many yoga injuries occur during transitions from one pose into another. Remember to maintain control and comfort as you flow from one asana into the next. Allow the breath to guide you.

Honor your body, be aware of the climate. Sophie in Borovoy, Kazakhstan, March 2007.

Sundar playing around on a trip to through the largest mangroove in South India.

Sundar assisting me with tittibhasana in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, North India in 2005. (a slightly blurry photo…)

Performing the same arm balance at Deenabandhu in March of 2008.

I was reading the New York Times Magazine in a lovely community garden in Alphabet City yesterday. Two brief articles caught my attention.
The first is a commentary about stress and illness in The Way We Live Now section. It’s an interesting investigation about the connection between mental states and physical maladies.
The other article is a one-page interview with Robert Thurman, titled Seeing the Light.

Have a wonderful weekend and stay-tuned for more soon.

I did a little weekend gardening…

“Yoga is not for him who gorges too much, nor for him who starves himself. It is not for him who sleeps too much, not for him who stays awake. By moderation in eating and in resting, by regulation in working and by concordance in sleeping and waking, Yoga destroys all pain and sorrow.”

Fabulous and sometimes stressful New York. The Brooklyn Bridge on the first day of June’s heatwave.


This don’t always go according to plan… Try to modify with a smile. Sundar fixing a rickshaw in Delhi.

A few weeks back, I decided to eventually experiment with a macrobiotic diet and write about my experience and exploration. Well, the time has come. Until recently, I knew next to nothing about macrobiotics, which means “large/ long life” in Greek.
My palate was first wetted (literally) back in April at Souen, a wonderful macrobiotic restaurant by Union Square. (There is also one in SoHo.) Since this dinner with my friend Joe Young, I keep hearing radiant things about macrobiotics.

Macrobiotics is more of a lifestyle than a diet. It helps the individual find more harmony with nature by balancing yin (stimulating forces) and yang (strengthening yet stagnant forces). This is achieved through the consumption of nourishing foods in a balanced and very conscious manner. Unlike many standard Western diets, Macrobiotics frames grains as the center of each meal. Whole grains and cereals should make up 50% to 60% of the meal, vegetables 25% to 30%, legumes and beans 5% to 10%, and miso soup 5%. The rest of the diet includes moderate amounts of fish, nuts, seasonings, sweeteners, and beverages. It is also advised to drink generous amounts of bancha tea, a Japanese green tea made from matured leaves.

There are a number of foods that should be avoided, including potatoes and other vegetables from the nightshade family such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. Spinach, avocados (sigh…), and beets should be avoided or used sparingly. Meat and eggs, which are very yang, should be avoided, as should dairy, which is yin.

It is suggested that food be chewed at least 30 times before swallowing. While at the Deenabandhu Trust orphanage and the ashram in India, I took my meals in silence. This forced me to focus on and be more grateful for the food I was putting into my body and chew it thoroughly. I often find myself mindlessly eating in New York as I am rushing around or wrapped up in a conversation.

There is much, much more to write. I will introduce more about Macrobiotics in upcoming posts, including a brief historical background. I am currently reading 2 interesting and informative books – The Macrobiotic Way by Stephen Blauer and Micho Kushi (who is responsible for helping spread Macrobiotics in America and runs the Kushi Institute of Macrobiotics in Becket, MA) and the lighter The Hip Chick’s Guide to Macrobiotics by Jessica Porter. I must get my nose back into the books to expand my knowledge about Macrobiotics and the specific culinary techniques. I am also looking forward to learning more about how and why Macrobiotics has long been used to prevent and help treat cancer and other health conditions.

Over the past two days, I’ve been eating delicious brown rice with curried kale and tofu and other scrumptious grains and veggies. I’m easing my way into Macrobiotics, still allowing a little piece of dark chocolate here and there. I still have full or partially decaffeinated coffee in the morning. This transition requires that I cook in more. Doing so is not only wonderful and more nutritious, but cost efficient. I’ve stocked up on barley, millet, seaweed, nuts, veggies, tempeh, and tofu. I have been more or less vegetarian (well, pescatarian because I eat fish) for the past 3+ years, so not eating meat is not an issue. (I did resume eating meat for a short time due to health reasons, but that’s for another post about moderation and extremes…)
Thus far (which isn’t very far…), I feel energized and happy with this transition.

p.s. photos coming soon…

How long should I wait after eating before practicing asana?

Just as you don’t eat right before going for a run, it is important to have the stomach (and preferably the bowels) as empty as possible before performing yogasana. Not only will this precaution help reduce discomfort in the practice, but it protects healthy and wellbeing. Asana can work far deeper than the body’s surface. Many poses provided a self-massage to the internal organs, such as ardha matsyendrasana (seated spinal twist) and other twisting poses. Inversions, such as sirsana (headstand) and sarvangasana (shoulderstand), powerfully affect the digestive system.

yum.

So how much time should I allow between a meal and practice?
In general, it is suggested to wait 4 hours after a large meal and 1 to 2 hours after a very light meal.
B.K.S. Iyengar states in Light on Yoga:

“Asana should preferably be done on an empty stomach. If this is difficult, a cup of tea or coffee, cocoa or milk may be taken before doing them. They may be practiced without discomfort one hour after a very light meal. Allow at least four hours to elapse after a heavy meal before starting the practice. Food may be taken half an hour after completing the asana.”

Waiting to eat for some times after practice is important as well. This helps the entire body receive the full benefits of the asana.

If you practice in the morning on an entirely empty stomach and experience light-headedness, try having a light snack, such as a banana, nuts, or other fruits, an hour or two before.

Green and young coconut water is very energizing and nutritious. It can be enjoyed a little before practice.
If fresh coconuts might not be available where you live, try packaged Zico or Vitacoco.

Some bread I baked at my old apartment in Astoria, NY. It’s best to wait a few hours before practicing after eating something like this.

The first is a quote by Swami Sivanada.

“A desire arises in the mind. It is satisfied, immediately, another comes. In the interval which separate two desires, a perfect calm reigns in the mind. It is at this moment freed from all thought, love, or hate, complete peace equally reigns between two mental waves.”
- Swami Sivananda

Secondly, I would like to share a New York Times article from March of 2007 that feature the dear friends Nick and Lela of my great, new roommate Priya and my wonderful body-work and yoga teacher friend Ruthie (who I hope to write more about soon.)

The article, “Young Yoga Teachers” is worth a read.

What I find far more wise, interesting, and inspiring, however, is Nick and Lela Beem’s response on their website. If you can, please read it.
I have never met Nick or Lela, but hope to one day soon.