Day 1 : New Dawn

Date : Tuesday, October 1
Day : 1

I woke up thinking about this beautiful  A.R Rahman and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan song : Gurus of Peace. We sang it in school for our annual day, it is just such a beautiful song. It talks about love, harmony, peace and freedom. And of course when maestros like Rahman and Khan saab come together, it has to result in something as magnificent as this. In fact in my growing years, whenever we hosted people for lunches and dinners, my father had his standard tracks / albums / artistes to play : Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Yaani and Sultans of Swing. 

Anyway, so I woke up with that song in my head and it played in my head when I brushed my teeth, got ready and on my way to the MRT. I had to force it out of my head when I got to the mat this morning. I almost slept off. Haha. But I forced myself up and did 2 suryanamaskars to get myself back. And sat down in Jnana mudra with my eyes closed. Jnana mudra does to me in a seated position what Samasthiti does in a standing one. I sit with my legs crossed, hands on my thighs with my palms facing up and touch the tips of my index and thumb fingers, forming a circle. The circle has various symbolic meanings. A gesture usually found in Buddhism and Hinduism, it can mean the Wheel of Dharma. It can also represent the union of the body with the mind, of self with the universe.  It creates a constant flow of energy and information and is often referred to as the mudra of teaching. You can read about mudras here. Of course, it's important to keep breathing and if you can lengthen your exhale more than the inhale, to soothe down the nervous system. 

5 deep breaths in this pose and June, my lovely lovely teacher walked in. I love June's classes. She has a lovely voice that is soothing in itself, you can just listen to her speak and go into meditation :) The class for this morning was : Hot Hatha. This graphic below shows a Hatha practice:

                                         


The class was unusually full, and surprisingly completely black (in terms of attire). We began by grounding our feet and started with the ardha-chandra padha hastasana. I never did this pose correctly for a long time and often ended up with a painful back.  Until one of my teachers taught me how to get into it. In yoga, like most other forms of exercise and sports, you start slow and eventually reach the pose to it's fullest after a minute or so. Instead of rushing into it even if your body allows you. It's about going down, and stretching and twisting a little more with each breath. Because every time you inhale you are giving your body the space to bend,stretch or twist and every time you exhale, you go deeper into the pose. There is a symmetry to everything and it's not about who bends the most or the fastest. The practice was amazing, like all early morning practices. What i love about the Hatha class is that it's just perfect, not too much, not too little. It has breaks in between for a sip of water or to catch your breath. I have seen myself go deeper and deeper into these poses in the last couple of months. 

I am now working on two poses : 

1) Dandayama Janushirasana : Standing Head to Knee pose
2) Padangustasana : Toe Stand.

I'm almost at final expression for each of these, but I want my body to get there eventually and not push too much. Both of these should get better when I get better at balancing. 

The practice ended at 8am with a lovely shavasana. It has to be my favorite pose in yoga I think. Haha. If you ask most teachers, they will tell you the secret behind it's importance. You are working your body into all these different kinds of poses and postures to ready it for the final shavasana and the relaxation it brings. 

After a nice shower and getting ready, I ran downstairs to say goodbye to June. I can never seem to leave without thanking my teachers for the practice. I think it's just rude to not thank. And Ta Da! look what I had waiting for me : 

A Goodie Bag

Which Includes : 

$ 10 Hipwidth gift voucher

 Organic Tea 

Epson Salt

 

Coconut water & energy bar

A folder with tips & tricks

Now who doesn't cutely packed gifts early in the morning! I shall click a picture of my tracker when I go for my evening practice. What a good start to the journey. I'll be back tomorrow with a post. Until then, namaste.