If you’re in the United States, I hope you’ve had an enjoyable long weekend. I spent a bit of time on the North Fork of Long Island with my family, which was lovely.

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.

“Without firm foundations a house cannot stand. Without the practice of the principles of yama and niyama (social and self discipline), which lay down firm foundations for building character, there cannot be an integrated personality. Practice of asanas without the backing of yama and niyama is mere acrobatics.”
- B.K.S. Iyengar, the 1st Requisites of Yogasanas, Light on Yoga

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.”

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Enjoying the heat of a steamy New York Sunday morning. The humidity is actually ideal practicing yogasana and I look forward to a somewhat gentle self-practice before teaching in Park Slope this afternoon. My experiments in Macrobiotics have been going well and I apologize for not providing more information over the past few days. Read the rest of this entry »

The following is a quote I find very grounding and try to remember if I feel my concentration involuntarily shifting elsewhere. It is quoted in B.K.S. Iyengar’s Light on Yoga. He does not directly reference the source.

“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.
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The latest blog topics seem to be food.

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.
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The following is a very good and important question:

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.
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Before heading out to class this morning, I wanted to share two little things with you.

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

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When I first started practicing yogasana, I never imagined I could possibly find steadiness or comfort in arm balances. Not only did I feel that I lacked the required strength to perform these balances, but I had a fear of falling flat on my face.

Sundar performing bakasana, crane/crow pose, in Tamil Nadu last December.

I watched my yoga teachers in wonder as they effortlessly lifted their bodies and hovered their torsos above the earth for long intervals of time. For a while, I shied out of trying to follow them. Read the rest of this entry »