Read the previous part here… “Sounds interesting. Why don’t you tell me what happened to the monkey,” pleaded Damanaka. “Now, listen,” said Karataka and began narrating the story of the monkey… कीलोत्पाटीवानरकथा The story of the monkey who removed the wedge A merchant once started building a temple in the middle of his garden. Many …
वर्धमानो महान् स्नेहः सिंह-गो-वृषयोर् वने ।पिशुनेनातिलुब्धेन जम्बुकेन विनाशितः ॥ १ ॥ vardhamāno mahān snehaḥ siṃha-go-vṛṣayor vane |piśunenātilubdhena jambukena vināśitaḥ || 1 || The increasing true friendship between the lion and the bull in the forestwas destroyed by a deceitful greedy fox. Long, long ago, a merchant named Vardhamānaka (he who is prosperous) lived in a town in …
It’s been a long series – I don’t know when I started and how many posts I made since then. I don’t like to count. All I know is that I have been writing everyday, practising everyday and learning everyday. Yesterday, was the last post on the series of the 21 exercises that followed the …
Exercise 21 Discovering your swara Difficulty level – 1 (easy) Time commitment : As indicated throughout the day We spoke about knowing the breath, through a preliminary exercise, and we practiced Chandra-bhedana prānāyāma as well. We spoke about preparing for death, and today, the last day of the sadhana exercise series, we will speak about …
Exercise 20 शवासन – Śavāsana Difficulty level -3 (very difficult) Time commitment : 10-15 minutes, after every yogic practice The standing joke in yoga classes, is that everyone’s favourite pose is śavāsana. Most people think of this āsana to be easy, but nothing could be further from the truth. Yoga Guru Shri B.K.S. Iyengar has …
Exercise 19 उद्यान अवगाहन – Forest bathing Difficulty level – 1 (easy) Time commitment : One hour every week We spoke about connecting with nature in an earlier post. This exercise is an extension of the “walk in the park” aspect of that exercise. A few points to note: No devices – Not even a …
Exercise 18 Chandra-bhedana pranayama Difficulty level – 2 (moderately difficult) Time commitment – 10 minutes, thrice a week in Week 3 This is the first cross-nostril prānāyāma that we will practice. While the prānāyāma has many levels, our attempt here is to get familiar with the process of breathing through one nostril, and observing the …
We had some good exercises this week. We deserve a story! As the frog said, “the one with thousand tricks sat on the head of the fisherman, the one with hundred tricks is hanging by the fisherman’s arm and I with only one trick am happily swimming in the water.” Two fish named Sahasrabuddhi and …
Exercise 17 Freeing up your time – Part 2 Difficulty level – 3 (difficult) Time commitment : (-45) minutes everyday A few days back, I had spoken about freeing up your time. This is the second part of that exercise. The first thing we need to do is to be aware of how we spend …
Exercise 16 Rediscovering food Difficulty level – 3 (difficult) Time commitment : At every meal and throughout the day We have spoken about perspectives, basic breathing exercises, āsanā practice, meditation and mantra japa. All these steps are beneficial, but they don’t amount to much if you don’t take care of what you eat. We are …
