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- Denis Giles
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By Yogi Ashwini
Asans are not exercises. They are the gradual process of evolution in the body effectuated under sanidhya of a Guru. They are to be performed gently and with internal awareness. A mantra is codified form of energy in the form of sound and must be channelized by the siddha of the mantra for expanding consciousness. It is through consciousness and heightened awareness achieved through asans and mantras that the body becomes healthy. When the body is healthy, one gets experience of the subtler world and is in bliss all the time.
In this series we have been discussing the asans and beej mantras for the various chakras and how one can activate them and strengthen the corresponding body parts. Last time we discussed the swadhishthan chakra that is present two inches above the mooladhar. Now we move to the Manipoorak chakra.
Manipoorak (Navel Chakra): Located at the point of navel, it controls at the physical level the small and large intestine, liver, spleen, and pancreas. It is largely responsible for the power of digestion. At the pranic level it is the seat of power in a human being. It is from here that the body draws prana when there is depletion, and this is where the body stores prana when there is excess. Its base element is fire. The beej mantra for this chakra is RAM.
Maintaining the awareness of Manipoorak chakra, start with the chant of RAM. Keep the chant deep and slow. Continue with the chant as we graduate into the asans for Manipoorak.
Dhanur Asan (Bow Pose):‘Dhanur’ means ‘bow’ and this asan looks like an archer’s bow when one is in full pose. Gently, maintaining ujjai breath, lie down on your stomach. Bend your knees and hold your ankles. Inhaling pull your legs and thighs up with both your hands while your upper torso is also raised such that it forms an arc. Tilt your chin out and look up. Maintain this posture for as long as you can along with chanting of the beej mantra. Exhaling come down and lie flat once again on your stomach bringing both your hands to the side of the body. The asan must not be practiced in case of people suffering with peptic ulcer, hernia, or cases of thyroid or endocrine gland disorders.
Vyaghra Asan (Tiger Pose): Vyaghra is practiced on all fours. As you exhale, you lower your head and neck towards your chest making an upwards curve with your spine. Simultaneously your right leg also moves inwards with your knee touching your nose. As you inhale, the head and neck move upwards making a downward curve with your spine. Simultaneously your right leg moves upwards forming a downward curve with the sole of the foot facing the sky. This is one set. Repeat this seven times. Once through, do the same with the left leg. Throughout the asan, maintain awareness of Manipoorak chakra and the chant of RAM.
Ushtra Asan (Camel Pose): ‘Ushtra’ refers to ‘camel’. This asan when done resembles the neck of a camel. Sit in vajrasan. Gently raise your buttocks off the floor and stand up on your knees. Inhaling, gently lean backwards, reaching for the right heel with the right hand and then left heel with left hand. DO NOT STRAIN. Push the abdomen outwards, keeping the thighs vertical and bending the head and spine backwards. Keep breathing in ujjai and hold for as long as you can with the chanting of RAM and then come back.
Those who find this difficult, can begin with Ardha Ushtra Asan. In this, sit in vajrasan. Gently raise your buttocks off the floor and stand on your knees. Twist to the right and with right palm reach out for the right heel. Simultaneously raise the left arm in front of the head such that the hand is at forehead level. Keep breathing in ujjai and chanting RAM, hold for as long as you can and then come back. Repeat on other side.
This asan must not be practiced by people with severe back ailments. Those suffering from enlarged thyroid should also be careful.
In the next article, we will discuss the properties, asans and mantras for Anahad and Vishuddhi chakras. It is advised that you visit your nearest Dhyan Foundation center to learn the correct way to practice asans. The effect of all these asans becomes manifold when practiced under the guidance of your Guru who channelises energy into each asan.
Yogi Ashwini is the Guiding Light of Dhyan Foundation and can be reached at www.dhyanfoundation .com.
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- Denis Giles
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China, has warned world leaders and politicians against meeting the Dalai Lama, saying it would be perceived as a ‘major offence’!
I smiled as I read this headline; I’d seen the Dalai Lama many years ago; a man who’s very personality exuded such peace and tranquility, one came away feeling blessed and sanctified. I’d not seen any Tibetan army around him, no soldiers with machine guns, not seen any sign of bullet proof vest on him; everything around him was about calm and quiet, and then I had watched videos of the Chinese army; marching in brutal formation to scare the living daylights of the viewer. Faces impassive, trying to feign harshness, cruelty and glazed warlike look, jaws jutting in defiance, mouths curled in surly grimace. Ready to take down any foe who stood in their way.
Yet, scared of the strong arm of peace.
The world has seen such muscle in many: Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Jesus, and others who changed the world not with guns but with a smile. Not killing bullets, but tender words. Not temper and angry rhetoric but gentle, soothing utterance.
And always, yes always, it’s the strong arm of peace that’s won in the end!
The men of war, do come back victorious, but are soon sent packing home. Churchill won the war, but four months later, lost an election. So, with others across the world.
We all, I’m sure know Aesop’s fable about the wind and the sun:
The wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger. Suddenly they saw a traveler coming down the road, and the Sun said: “I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that traveler to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger You begin.”
So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveler. But the harder he blew the more closely did the traveler wrap his cloak round him, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair. Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the traveler, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on and took it off!
“You see my friend,” said the sun to the angry wind, “Gentleness works!”
Today I see Mr Windy Trump berating the rest of the world with his missile and machine gun, rousing a rabid Korean pup from his idle barking and building rifts and walls with the Islamic world. The same with China, as its soldiers glare and blow hate on countries that don’t follow its thinking.
Somewhere behind a cloud the sun shines, patient and waiting, hoping to envelop an edgy,oppressed world with peace and harmony!
I remember the Dalai Lama, and will watch as China crumbles finally, under the strong arm of peace..!
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- Denis Giles
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By Yogi Ashwini
In this series we have been discussing the asans and beej mantras for the various chakras and how one can activate them and strengthen the corresponding body parts. Last time we discussed the mooladhar chakra that is present at the base of the spine. Now we move to the Swadhishthan chakra.
Swadhishthan (Sacral Chakra): This chakra is located two inches over the Mooladhar at the pubic area. It controls the sexual and urinary system. It is primarily the seat of lower creativity, i.e. a duplication of the self or the body at the pranic level. Its base element is water. The beej mantra for this chakra is VAM
Take your awareness to your breath at the tip of the nostrils. Watch the rhythmic pattern of breath at this point and with every subsequent inhalation, make your breath longer and deeper. Maintaining the awareness of Swadhishthan chakra, start with the chant of VAM. Keep the chant deep and slow. Continue with the chant as we graduate into the asans for Swadhishthan.
Chakki Chalana: Sit with your legs stretched out in front. The soles of the feet meet such that the legs make a diamond shape. Keep the arms straight out in front of the chest with your fingers interlocked. Now swivel from the waist, bending forward and reclining back as much comfortably in a circular fashion, so as to replicate the movement of the traditional grinding mill made of stone. Maintain ujjai breath, awareness of Swadhishthan chakra and the chant of VAM. Make seven circles clockwise and seven anti-clockwise, inhaling in half circle and exhaling in the other half. This asan massages the pelvic and abdominal region and helps regulate menstrual cycle.
Parivritti Janu Sirshasan: ‘Janu’ means ‘knee’ and ‘sirsha’ means ‘head’. Sit on the floor with your spine straight and your legs stretched wide. Maintain ujjai breath. Gently, bend the left knee, pressing the heel into the perineum/vagina, while your right leg is stretched sideways, adjacent to the torso and not in front of it such that it forms a perpendicular with the other leg. Maintaining the awareness of Swadhishthan chakra and the chant of VAM, inhaling gently raise your left arm straight up pointing towards the ceiling, and then exhaling bring it down to the right side of your body such that your left arm is right above your left ear, keeping spine straight. Take hold of the right toe. Simultaneously stretch your right hand and clasp the middle of the right foot. Touch your head to the knee laterally and hold. Then gently inhale and come back to an upright position. Repeat these steps with the other side holding for the same duration.The asan must not be practiced in case of recent or chronic injury to the knees, hips, arms or shoulders.
Gaumukh Asan: Relax your body and fold your left leg diagonally in such a way that your left heel touches your right buttock. Now place your right leg over the left leg and touch the left buttock on the side with the right heel. After that, lift the right hand and bend it back and take the left hand to the back and hold the right hand. Your back and neck should be straight. Maintain ujjai breath. If practiced for ten minutes or more it will release tension and anxiety. This asan straightens your spine and improves posture. It stimulates kidneys and alleviates diabetes. It relieves backache, sciatica and rheumatism. Makes leg muscles supple and burns the fat off your thighs.
In the next article we will discuss the asans for activating the Manipoorak chakra. It is advised that you visit your nearest Dhyan Foundation center to learn the correct way to practice asans. The effect of all these asans becomes manifold when practiced under the guidance of your Guru who channelises energy into each asan.
Yogi Ashwini is the Guiding Light of Dhyan Foundation and can be reached at www.dhyanfoundation.com.
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- Denis Giles
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Subramanian G, a resident of Bangalore who had recently visited the islands as a tourist wrote a letter to the LG volunteering to serve in any capacity he can. Subramanian also suggested improvements that can be made for the benefit of tourists visiting the islands. A copy of the letter was shared with Andaman Chronicle.
Subramanian noticed a general lack of co-ordination in the four activities that happen in North Bay - snorkeling, scuba diving, speed boating and sea walk. To begin with the time allotted by boat owners for a visit to North Bay is just two hours. Upon landing at North Bay, Subramanian discovered that the four activities he had already paid for at Rajiv Gandhi jetty were being handled by four different private companies. The shacks being managed by these private companies were not well marked and it took Subramanian 15 minutes to figure out where he was supposed to go. There was no one to facilitate coordination or respond to tourist queries.
After 15 minutes had lapsed, Subramanian realized that there would not be sufficient time to do the four activities that he paid close to Rs.10,000 for. Furthermore Subramanian found that the four activities were overbooked and there was some confusion about securing slots. Since the tickets for these activities are not sold at North Bay but are sold at Rajiv Gandhi jetty, it was only in Port Blair that Subramanian managed to get a refund on the activities he had missed out on. Subramanian mentioned that he had to plead his case for a refund because the tour operators were skeptical that he had skipped an activity due to lack of interest rather than lack of time.
A few small adjustments could improve the tourist experience at North Bay vastly. To begin with tour operators should sell activities only at the venue i.e. North bay rather than at Port Blair. It seems unfair to charge tourists for an activity in advance, when they have no criteria to evaluate whether they would like to participate in an activity in the manner in which it is being offered. Moreover tourists would then only pay for those activities they actually participate in rather than those activities they hope to participate in, avoiding the rigmarole of cancellations and reservations. Furthermore better sign boards, markers, informational pamphlets and if possible a coordinator or an information booth of some sort will help tourists navigate North Bay much better and make the most of the two hours they spend there.
Subramanian contracted food poisoning on 2nd October and was rushed to the CHS at Rangat at 9 p.m. Despite the fact that it was Gandhi Jayanti and a public holiday, the nurses at the CHS called two doctors who were on leave who promptly showed up. The doctors even agreed to discharge Subramanian at 3 a.m. in the morning on the 4th of October so that he could catch the early morning bust at 9 am at Middle Strait. Subramanian said that the care he had received was far better than any hospital in main land. He concluded his letter by declaring that he can never forget the love and affection he received and that though this was his first hospital admission, it was something "truly worth remembering".
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- Denis Giles
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Love transcends religion, caste and other manmade barriers! Much prose and an equal number of lines of poetry have sprung from the hearts of writers and lovers expressing this emotion called love! But, the greatest symbol of love is the Taj Mahal in Agra! Millions fly across the ocean, to gaze in awe at the magnificent structure a grief-stricken ruler built for his beloved dead wife. The moonlight glaze, the marble sheen, the minarets all speak of an eternal love, that lives on through this spectacular structure, But,
In the state where the Taj stands, a bachelor Chief Minister finds a sentiment, which in his mind is greater than love, “The Taj,” he says, “should remind us of thousands of laborers who built it!”
He sees not love. He feels not grief, but hears the sound of pickaxes on stone, craftsmen on marble, and the monument in his mind is dedicated to those workers.
Not to love.
“Sir,” says a local as a foreign couple get their picture shot with the Taj in the background, “What do you feel as you stand over here?”
“Love!” says the tourist, “A love I would strive night and day to ignite into our relationship!”
“Sir, but this is about Kishorebhai the mason!”
“Who’s that?” asks the tourist, as his eyes and those of his wife gleam with love for each other.
“Kishorebhai, was the one who worked under Prakashbhai!Kishorebhai carried the stones to Prakashbhai, and Prakashbhai cut them into blocks, which Kishorebhai carried back and laid as the foundation!”
“Very good!” says the foreigner as he asks someone to take another picture of his wife and him, hugging.
“And sir, those tombs you saw inside..”
“Ah, we cried to see those graves of Shah Jahan and his wife, together even in death!”
“Was made by Kishorebhai’s brother!” continued the local, “In fact Prakashbhai it is rumoured also had his brother-in-law working with Kishorebhai’s brother on the tombs!”
“Oh really!” said the foreigner as he disengaged himself from the loving embrace of his wife and they both looked adoringly at the Taj. “Beautiful!” whispered his wife, “Will your love for me be like this!”
“I wish I could pluck a flower from these gardens and give you my beloved!”
“Ah sir, meet Harishbhai, the gardener!” says the local, “It is his gardening labour, you have come to see isn’t it?”
The tourist and his wife walk arm in arm towards the edifice of love. They do not see masons, nor hear artisans, but only what true love is. A love which they feel is available for every couple, and who’s expression in its majestic awesomeness is found in the Taj.
“Did you tell them about Kishorebhai and Prakashbhai?” asksthe local’s wife to him that night.
“But they were only interested in love!” he sighed wearily. “Somebody should tell the chief minister that..!”
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