I am trying (to understand). In the process, I hope to share my experiences on this platform... When I write, I need to self-talk, read, re-read, (re-write)... Then I find gaps, my mis-understandings, errors both in my writing as well as in behavior. And I get lessons on what I need to learn/improve. Then I try. I fail. I re-try. I fail. Did I? No, because I tried again. This is my way of life to lead myself: Personally and Professionally. Checkout my other blogs and work at http://www.worldOFkaizen.com/

Wednesday 10 October 2012

Ball-Basin-Team Combine ! Maketh The Smile Divine !!


Ball-Basin-Team Combine ! 
Maketh The Smile Divine !!

The other day while doing some 'KU-TA work' I found a 'smiling ball' stuffed inside a 'museum', a drawer so termed where useless items in my house are kept for some future use. ('KU-TA work': An abbreviation in local language for 'doing something when there is nothing to do in particular').

Feeling sorry that the other items were poking such a 'smiling fellow' from all the sides, I relocated it near wash basin.

By the way, can a material-piece smile?  Just keep staring at that ball in picture to find your own answer.



Yes. 'I' found it 'smiling' in spite of the other items with sharp corners poking it. 
Due to it's resilience, it popped out at first opportunity when the drawer was opened.

Now as many times I go near the basin, the 'smiley ball' acts as a mirror reminding me to give a wide (mouthed) smile before looking into the mirror above it. Instruction to smile comes neurologically. That means while I splash water on my face the smiley ‘splashes smile’ on my mind.

Natural consequence is, my next moment is done (rather made happy) if not the whole day.

One day I set out to take a Volvo bus to Pune. No taxi in sight.

The 'smiley' reminded me to 'dwell' for a moment and exercise choice to pick up a happy moment from the frowning situation. 

Frowning moment                  Happy moment
(Dependent on Taxi)                (Independent of Taxi. Bus # 11 in action! Haha.. Old P.J.)

I 'smiled' and began walking down 'thinking' of making up for a couple of missed 'evening walks'. 
It turned out to be a 'smiley morning walk'.

On the way, said 'Hi' to my milkman. Saw a couple of morning business models of newspaper vendors. Heard/saw parent-birds chirping 'bye' to their babies just as I saw some mothers doing the same to their children while 'safely depositing' them in school bus.

I reached Thane bus stand to catch 0700 hrs bus. 'Starter' of the bus there got defective. 

They promised to put passengers in next bus that arrived at 0730ish. 
But that was canceled because the driver had "somehow brought it" from wherever (the workshop or the last lap of bus returning from Pune-Mumbai journey) "with defective brakes", I overheard.
Finally I could board on 0830 bus.

What is the cost to the concerned stakeholders? I have covered this in a separate article.

What did the 'smiley ball' in my head do?

It re'mind'ed me to film the 'whole show' that went on there between 0700 to 0830.

It was full of chaos of stranded passengers mixed with incoming ones for the next bus, with lack of official announcement, 'courteous' behaviour of the conductor and passengers 'sitting on conductor's head' while running around helter-skelter with luggage on seeing every sky-blue colour bus entering the depot thinking it was for them. I clicked.. video/audio taped.. made notes.. the fun went on and on with 'hangover' inside the bus post-0830 boarding.

The 'smiley' gifted me with an article and a short-multimedia-film in return to it's relocation that turned out to be a 'promotion' for it. Promotion because, there the ‘smiley’ could meet a 'variety of people' round the clock with a 'variety of moods' they exhibit in the form of  innovative cow's mooing kind and goat's bleat kind noises they create there. The 'smiley' hopes to influence their (as well as mine) mood for the good. 

Sounds over-stretched day-dream? Sounds philosophical? Sounds spiritual? 

To get over a 'frown(y)-mood' is not as simple as it sounds, at least not in case of an adversity. 

But isn't it more about a 'positive-self-talk' - isn't it the spirituality in reality? 
Isn't it about asking the self 'what and who is in (my) control'? 
Isn't it easier to control Me-myself to bring out an assertive 'action' rather than an aggressive 'reaction'?

Then why not exercise self-control (on emotional response) rather than blaming the 'external situation'. It is anyway out of 'my' control at the moment.

Many will agree with me that 'spur of the moment' emotional response/s do make one suffer. Of course, looking back many will also agree that the 'suffering' do turn out to be 'relative'. The 'theory of relativity' fame Einstein, one of the greatest scientists, was both philosophical as well as highly spiritual.

Being human (and yet to attain equanimity) emotions are inevitable. But there are other ways to dissipate them. One I know is the way Japanese express their anger on boss. They hit (not their boss but) a punching bag hung at their workplace. I keep a 'moving punching bag' with me. I hit my left palm with the right one (a soft blow of course to avoid frowning palm/s later). Then 'self-energize in a minute'. At home, I stretch muscles, punch in air, then 'self-energize'.

Near every other 'imaginary' wash basin wherever/whenever I go for a break, now an imaginary 'smiley ball' there reminds me to consciously look for opportunities to 'be happy' in each 'frowning' moment or 'adversity'.

What has changed? Nothing but my mind, my perspective, my paradigm did!
And what a bonus? The so-called useless item lying there for a couple of years, the 'smiley ball', is 'found' so useful. Nothing and no-one in this world is useless actually.
Or how about saying, nothing in this world is worthy until someone (else) 'finds' it worthy.

Thoughts are Things-In-Mind! Things are Thoughts-In-Reality, Thoughts-In-Action

P.S.: Just lost a couple of paragraphs because inadvertently I clicked 'close' instead of 'save'. A momentary frown but suddenly realized (m)I(nd) can re-write. I did. A couple of good paras appeared.. Happy? Yes!

Bored. Frowning at me? 'Smiley' is re'mind'ing you to log-off and switch tracks to another activity).


Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post.


Monday 8 October 2012

Overworked? Tension? CPU of the mind hung-up?


Overworked? Tension? CPU of the mind hung-up?
Exhausted? But still must catch-up with next commitment?
Then what do you do?

Self-energize meditation minute!

How to do that?

There are ways to do that but not in a minute. 'Humming Yogic Breathing' for instance takes a few minutes. It also may disturb others as it creates humming sound of the O~~M mantra.

Other way is to perform 'Shavasn' an asana done in corpse posture. But here I am suggesting it to be done un-conventionally in sitting posture. Sounds idiosyncratic isn't it?

Yes, I have been doing it effectively as an idiosyncratic 'corpse-sitting-in-chair'. But even a Sitting-Shavasn requires a few minutes. Also sitting somewhere might be a little bit of a constraint when one is at work.

Then how do you self-energize silently in a standing posture almost anywhere-anytime in no-time?
Why not to be an idiosyncratic 'standing-corpse' if it is beneficial?

So perform 'Silent-Standing-Yogic-Breathing' (S2-Yogic-Breathing for jargon-freaks), the term I coined after improvisations practised by me.
(Caution: Guided practice is always advisable. People with ailments such as Heart disease, Vertigo, etc. should avoid performing the act especially in standing posture.)

Keeping in mind primarily lay-person as a reader, I have used a mix of lay-terms and technical terms. I hope the reader pardons me for mixing them.

'Silent Yogic Breathing' step-by-step

Briefly, the bare minimum steps (that I performed one-by-one graduating to the next stage over a period of time) are as follows. 

Preparatory stage:

Catch a minute. Catch a corner if possible so that you are less disturbed.
Stand in a comfortable position leaning against a support like a 'standing-corpse'.
Close eyelids gently.
Relax all the facial and body muscles including eyelids as well as eyeballs by 'visiting them  with mental eyes'. (Eyes dissipate maximum energy. So more and faster they are relaxed, that much you gain).
Take a deep breath as a 'pilot (breath)'.

In stage-1:

Take a deep breath after the'pilot breath'.
'Listen' to (i.e. associate with) the SOHUM sound subtly made while inhalation and exhalation respectively.
Exhalation should take more time than inhalation, usually in the ratio of 2:1. Witness the duration without forcing yourself to attain the ratio though.
Just before opening the eyes, do 'palm-gliding'. You need to rub palms against each other, hold them over eyes covering them for a couple of seconds and then smoothly glide over face touching eyelids as well.
Begin 'opening' the eyes gently at the start of exhalation-cycle while at the same time looking into 'Zero (i.e. 'thought-free' condition)'. Let the 'opening' process dwell as much as possible enjoying the 'Zero'. You may find that sometimes eyelids take more time to open. Both eyelids may not open at the same time. Let it happen naturally. Slower, smoother and gentler the better!


(Stage-1 itself being capable of energizing, you may like to ...defer the next stages... until getting the first-feel of first round of benefits.)

In stage-2:

Add  'palming' followed by 'palm-gliding'.
Add eye movement to stage-1 along-with awareness of breath in the abdominal, thoracic and clavicular region. Eyes should move beginning from 'tip of your nose' (known as kaki-mudra) to 'between your eyebrows' (shambhavi-mudra) at the end of inhalation; and then going down towards 'tip of your nose' during exhalation. Similarly breath moves in the abdominal, thoracic and clavicular region in that sequence and vice versa.
Add awareness to Antara/Bahya Kumbhaka, or Breath Retention when you Inhale/Exhale respectively. Add awareness to time taken for breath components (lnhalation : Antara Kumbhaka : Bahya Kumbhaka : Exhalation in the ratio that may evolve to 1:2:2:4).

In stage-3:

Internal awareness should move among the seven chakras i.e. from root to apex and vice versa in that sequence. (Read the explanation that follows).

In stage-4:

This is the stage to learn on-goingly. May be one can study further and improvise to suit her own needs. Self-study may elevate one to a higher plane.


I know that a layman would have liked to read less of technical stuff. A bit of that follows hereunder. So, surely a busy reader and a practitioner may like to keep off the following stuff until some other time. Earlier the better so that you know "Why to do what you do and how do the steps benefit you?"

Generally the energy, that is otherwise consumed by muscles-in-use and mind that wanders elsewhere, gets re-directed as a laser beam (during meditation) towards focusing (the mind) on breath thereby making it 'thoughtless' and 'relaxed'. Relaxed mind improves mental as well as physiological processes of blood circulation and distribution of 'Prana (the life force)'. Being complimentary to each other, they not only conserve but even 'generate energy' when get synchronized.


You may take a LOGICAL READING BREAK here ....


To understand the improvisations done, you may first understand 'Yogic Breathing' that may have a few versions depending upon it's source.

In Yogic breathing, as Yogi Ashwini advises in an article titled 'Fight Nicotine Addiction' polished in DNA daily, "one needs to sit in vajrasana. As you inhale and exhale, you fill your breath in the abdominal region, move it to your thoracic and then to your clavicular region" and vice versa while internally chanting the mantra SO while inhaling and HUM while exhaling. Some Yogis advise chanting OM loudly as Aa-Ooo-M in place of SOHUM. 'Aa' (as pronounced in Appeal) - 'Ooo' (as pronounced in Oozing) - 'M' (as humming sound).

"... your internal awareness should move between the seven chakras in your body, taking the Mooladhar to correspond with the nose tip, a little above that Swadishthan, followed by Manipoorak, Anahat, Vishuddhi, Ajna, and the Sahastrar. Keep your eyes closed throughout this kriya. One inhalation and exhalation completes one cycle. Repeat this seven times. This kriya will ensure redistribution of prana in the body..." says Yogi Ashwini. (Mooladhar, the root. Sahastrar, the apex).

Improvisation in the 'Yogic Breathing' as practised by me to suit my conditions is as follows. 

Improvisation-1

When short of time to sit down to do it (for instance, for seven cycles as suggested in above article), a single spiritual breath cycle (even standing in a lift/corner) can do wonders.

'Catching a minute' is not as difficult (as converting a non-catch into a 'catch' as South-African cricketer Johtny Rhodes does it).

Improvisation-2

The silent yogic breathing gets more rejuvenating if you spiritually 'listen' to (i.e. associate with) the SOHUM sound subtly made while inhalation and exhalation respectively. Yes you can 'catch' the sound if you 'watch' for it. Of course, to 'listen' to this and 'associate with it', initially you may need some guided PRACTICE. The So+Hum (Saah: + Aham: equivalent of Tatt-wam-Aasi) actually should remind oneself in the positive context of enhancing 'self-esteem' (that 'I am blessed with enormous energy and power by HIM to make a difference to the world') thereby shedding oneself of the 'ego', shedding inferiority complex in particular.

In fact for a novice, awareness of 'SOHUM sound' may be is an easier option before graduating to Chakras.

Improvisation-3

After the first cycle, do 'palm-gliding' before opening eyes unless you wish to skip this if hands are occupied or you feel awkward to do so in public. 'Palm-gliding': Rub palms against each other, hold them over eyes for a while covering them and then gently slide over face touching eyelids as well. Not only does such gentle touching and gliding sensitize facial cells but also transfer universal energy to them.

If the 'connection' (Yog) did happen during the previous steps, you can actually feel the universal energy flowing from palms entering into your body through eyes while they stay covered during the breathing cycle. Hence as a next improvisation one can add 'palming' (i.e. palms covering eyes for a few breath-cycles) to the process followed by 'palm-gliding'.

Improvisation-4

Spend at least one exhalation-cycle time in 'opening' eyes very very slowly and gently while at the same time looking into 'Zero (i.e. 'thought-free' condition)'. That means so far you were busy in 'Zero thoughts' by anchoring yourself on SOHUM Breath and now at the end of the cycle, with whatever extra dwelling of time possible, you are extending the 'Zero' condition before opening your mind to external thoughts i.e. to the business on hand in the so-called reality.

You are now more energetic, more focused, more committed and less worried.

Improvisation-5

Add awareness to Antara/Bahya Kumbhaka, or Breath Retention on Inhale/Exhale.

A typical round of breath cycle should involve: Inhalation 1: antar kumbhaka 2: exhalation 2: bahya kumbhaka 4 units of time. Although it may take many years of practice, at the end of matured stage the ratio evolves to 1:2:2:4 with inhalation taking 1-unit i.e. 12 seconds as some Yogis evolve. Evolution is important rather than forcing the time-line during breath cycle. A common person may increase the duration of inhalation, kumbhaka and exhalation as per her capacity and capability in natural way while, as far as possible, keeping the ratio fixed.

Improvisation-6

So it takes just a couple of breath cycles to complete 1-energising cycle. Mind you, an average person takes 12-15 breaths per minute i.e. 4-5 seconds per breath i.e. 8-10 seconds for an 'energising cycle'. One certainly gets more time than that while switching over to a new task or standing in a lift or waiting in a queue. You are anyway standing there. You don't even need to make a physical move 'to catch a minute' let alone magical moves like Johnty Rhodes.

I often saw some people, especially Japanese, 'snoozing in standing posture with their neck hung over (their own) shoulders'. Sometimes you may see them 'snoozing' sitting in a chair (even on dias). Someone one day may do research on this. But may be there is some link of this so-called 'snoozing' to Zen-meditation of Japanese origin during which one is expected to powerfully meditate on the topic on hand just as on the subject SOHUM during silent yogic breathing.

Anyway one can perform a number of such 1-minute 'energising' cycles like 'charging cycles of an electricity storage battery' as and when one is willing to 'catch a minute' in order to store the energy for immediate future use.

If one consciously repeats these cycles as 'drops' of 'standing-meditation' with commitment and consistency, over a period of time the habit will make you capable of creating an ocean-full storehouse of peace and energy within a few seconds.

Reading this may make the process appear to be difficult. But doing it is much easier and beneficial to total health.

Improvisation-7

The first stage itself is capable of giving good mileage towards the primary objective of '1-minute energizing'.

Next stages demand additional and simultaneous focus on more than one areas. An average learner may find it difficult. Hence next stages may be considered optionally only by committed long-term players. In fact, even after graduating to the next stages, one can still stay focused only on one area at a time (in terms of breathing region, timing ratio, chakras, connection between number off breaths and number off heart beats per minute, etc.) within a breath cycle. This is the improvisation until you graduate to handle multi-focus.


These improvisations are made primarily to facilitate energizing anywhere-anytime in no-time. These in no can substitute 'Yogic Breathing'. However wherever applicable, one can adopt these improvisations to such conventionally advocated proven positions including to 'Shavasn lying down', or 'Surya Namaskar', etc.

Acquiring such ability to energize anywhere-anytime in no-time, however, has certainly become a necessity because human beings, unlike machines, don't have a 'spare battery' to charge at one go. Perhaps that's why nature God has gifted her a 'unique and most powerful charger' in the form of 'mind' (to make something 'much more and bigger' possible if it chooses to be creative to find solutions to problems).

A key checkpoint to check if you are doing this right: Check if you have acquired the capability to make the 'energizing' cycles 'thought-less' until upto the 'dwelled' time when YOU yourself are able to exercise choice to 'associate with the external world' at the end of the cycle.

Happy 'energizing-cycle'!

(Extract from the forthcoming publication on YOG that is a compilation of improvisations done by Shyam and Sanjivani Talawadekar (Yog Teacher) over the years while practising Yog).

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post.