Yoga for me

I was having neck pain last weekend. My darling thought I watched too much dramas on bed, that’s why. Hehe! Although I made angry face in retaliation for his remark, somehow it was true. I watched a lot of downloaded dramas during the weekend. It’s probably my pillow that gave me a neck pain. Sigh!

The pain was quite intense that I forced myself to practise yoga at home last evening. Though it was just merely half an hour practice, I feel good today. The neck pain has lessen tremendously. Power of yoga. Hehe! It has been so long since my last practice that it took me quite some time to warm up. I did 4 rounds of Sun Salutation, some forward bends, a seated twist pose and tree pose. Of course, I ended my practice with savasana and it nearly put me to sleep. Haha!

I have read recently that many have questioned about the right time to do yoga. I, myself, have wondered many times and even tried to find the right time for myself to practice. Many said that the morning is best where you can do almost all kind of asanas to create positive energy needed to wake you up in the morning. Since I can never find myself wake up earlier than 6 a.m. to practise, my only best time is after work early evening. I’m not supposed to do asanas that are too invigorating especially near bed time. So, I have to learn which asana has which effect to the body. Here are what I have learnt recently:

1. Sun Salutations create heat and flowing movement connected to the breath.

2. Forward bends are calming and helpful when you are feeling over stimulated.

3. Backbends are invigorating and not recommended before going to bed at night.

4. Standing poses build strength, stamina and a sense of grounding, since your feet are rooted into the Earth.

5. Balancing poses cultivate concentration.

6. Twists detoxify the body and relieve tension in the head, neck and back.

7. Inversions which turn us upside down, literally change our view of the world and remind us of the impermanent nature of everything, especially when we are stuck in a rut.

Finally, always finish the practice with savasana. Then hopefully can sleep like a baby…ZZZZzzzzzz…

 

Mystery Shopper

Read this: Mystery Shopper and tell me what you think.

I found this article while browsing through Yoga Journal as I normally do for yoga reading. Its subtitle says “What do your groceries say about you?” and I started to think about what I normally buy for grocery. I started to think how healthy I choose to be. Seriously I’m not as healthy as I should to be a yogi. I started to think I should choose my food in more care.

But after reading the article, it’s nothing about that. It’s not about the choice that you make, it’s rather about appreciate what choices you have. Appreciate your food no matter how unhealthy your civic mind tells you. Sometimes it doesn’t really matter. The key is to have everything in moderate and don’t waste your food. And don’t forget to thank God for what you have right now. It’s always a blessing to have whatever you are having now.

 

Peaceful mind and body

Recently, I’m feeling lethargic, failed to concentrate and feeling a lot of negativity around myself. My mind rarely relaxes although I did nothing at all. I know something is not right and I have failed to remedy it. Making my mood even worst. I seldom talk in the office as my mind is full of unorganised thoughts. My colleagues have just commented about my silence state the other day. Although I blog more and probably chat even more online, deep inside me I realise I’m not as well as I’m used to. I just don’t feel good.

To ease my concern, I have started researching more about yoga and the way to be healthy. I learn that I have got it all wrong. I thought that learning yoga and perfecting asana or having the ability to do a certain pose, I would eventually be healthier and fitter. The truth is yoga is not just that. It’s much more than that. Breathing is important and I have learnt a bit about that in my yoga class. However, I find that I always fail to breathe correctly, meaning shallow breathing and sometimes I would forget to breathe too. Hence come my tense state of mind and eventually body. Later I found that to achieve a peaceful mind and body, yoga asana and pranayama (breathing) are still not enough. I will need to follow a yogic diet.

The purest diet in yoga is called Sattvic food which consists all the usual healthy stuff that we all know. Cereals, wholemeal bread, fresh fruit and vegetable, pure fruit juices, milk, cheese and butter, legumes, nuts, seeds, sprouted seeds, honey and herbs tea. Of all the following, I think I only manage to consume 10% of the mentioned in my diet. Pretty bad, hor? What to do? I dislike cereals and nuts and milk. I know I should eat more of this Sattvic food but it’s hard for me. Really have to force myself to eat them. Sigh!

Rajasic and Tamasic food are categorised as bad food in yoga. These are the food that I normally consume, unfortunately. Rajasic food is hot, sour, bitter, dry and salty. Sharp spices, strong herbs and stimulants such as coffee and tea, fish, eggs and chocolate are Rajasic too. Apparently, eating in hurry is consided Rajasic in yoga. Rajasic food feeds the body but promote activities hence making the mind and body restless. On the other hand, Tamasic food induces heaviness of the body and dullness of the mind. Tamasic food includes meat, alcohol, tobacco, onions, garlic, fermented foods such as vinegar, stale or overripe substances. Overeating is Tamasic in yoga.

So you see, my diet always consists of spicy and salty food. Coffee and tea cannot run away from my diet. I rarely eat fresh fruits which I know it’s my bad. Eggs every other morning. Alcohol sometimes as I love wine. Onions and garlic are main ingredients whenever I cook. So how? No wonder my mind is never peaceful, right? My diet is all wrong but I couldn’t do much about it. Unless I start a new resolution to follow yogic diet. Unless I have all the determination and will power. Sighhhh! In reality, there’s no unless. Sighhhhhh!!!!!!!

 

My yoga routine

Since all the YZ happenings, my darling and I didn’t go for any yoga classes. The effect on us is very fast and obvious. We instantly gain weight, especially around the belly. Why? The reason is simple. We eat late and sleep not long after eating plus no yoga sessions. For almost 2 months now. It’s not totally surprising seeing myself in the mirror now but I don’t wish to let this continue. I feel so unhealthy and tired. My darling has experienced the same effect. I keep on telling him to begin his cycling but timing and weather do a great part of it, so he never gets to it so far. For myself, I have begun my home yoga practise every morning for 10-15 minutes. Hehe!

I wake up at 6 a.m. nowadays and drink some water. Prepare myself a morning drink, normally tea/coffee. I normally drink it after my practice. I unroll my yoga mat and place it in the middle of my dining area where there’s a mirror. I always start my practice in this sequence but I change it now and then whenever I remember all those poses I have learnt:

1. Hero pose (Virasana) – I like this pose coz it’s a relaxing pose where you calm yourself with breathing slowly.

2. Neck exercise – I just do some simple neck exercise, turn left and right, rotate etc. Just to loose my muscle.

3. Cow pose (Bitilasana) – from hero pose, I go to cow pose and inhale.

4. Cat pose (Marjaryasana) – cow pose normally goes together with cat pose. Exhale in cat pose. Do these cow and cat a few times. Coordinate inhale and exhale with each pose.

5. Child pose (Balasana) – rest in child pose for a while before I start sun salutation.

6. Sun Salute – this really make me sweat…normally do 2 sets…really wake you up.

7. Eagle pose ( Garudasana) – occasionally I will do it if I remember…haha

8. Mountain pose (Tadasana) – resting and calm down

I did these more or less for the past three days. After this workout, I went for a quick shower and then change for work. I feel much better in the morning but what I feel lacking is a healthy breakfast. I also wish to see how determined am I to maintain my yoga routine. I hope I prevail. I hope to see a better me in the next few weeks or so. Hehe! Wish me luck.

 

YZ Cheras

Latest news! YZ Cheras has been closed due to outlet lease ended. My consultant Jess called me last Saturday to inform me that. The outlet is being auctioned, she said. She also told me that I still can go to other outlets in Klang Valley since my membership is still on-going.

I don’t plan to go any, actually. I’m too lazy. I have lost hope with YZ to provide clean and good environment to practise yoga. I don’t think YZ members will hear any good news in the near future. I do hope I’m wrong though. Hehe!

 

YZ News

I got a call from my consultant last night. She told me that classes are on-going now but there’s limited. Only 4 classes in the morning and 4 classes in the evening. Not so sure about weekend though. This will continue until end of this month. The negotiation between the new investors are still on-going. The fate of YZ is still uncertain but somehow a bit brighter with the hope of these new investors to continue YZ. Apparently, out of all the YZ outlets, they are going to choose 5 outlets to continue whereas the remaining will probably be shut down. Not sure yet about their new arrangement but this is only initial news according to my consultant.

Regardless I still hope YZ continue its business. So many are at stakes here. The teachers, the members and the staff are all implicated. Pity them without a definite future in the company. I truly hope everything will turn out better but of course this will surely take time. We all just have to wait and see.

 

In need of workout

My spine is stiff. I’m fat. I’m tired. I have sleepless nights. I’m in need of my yoga. It has been two weeks without my yoga. Soon, I won’t be about to even touch my toes. Hehe! Because all my muscles are so stiff. Sigh!

So since two days ago, I tried to find some time to do little workout at home and in the office. In the morning, I do a bit of stretching and forward bend. I love stretching especially on my waist and hip. I also love to stretch my legs. I love to stretch my spine too. It feels so good. In the office, I try to do seated forward bend and some twisting poses.

I really have to be disciplined. I know I’m bad. I’m lazy. That must be changed…hopefully can…hehe!

 

Yogazone Notice

Here is the latest notice from Yogazone. Everyone is disappointed of course. Many are still clueless. Some of us who are following news in JogaJess blog are glad to know more news other than the simple notice from Yogazone website.

From the comments in YogaJess blog, some are talking about the resume of classes. It will be the best news of all if that’s possible. Everyone is waiting to see what will happen. Truly hope things will turn better soon.

 

Yoga classes

Today is the day they promise us something. But until now I didn’t hear anyone talking about it. I went to check yogazone website and found there’s classes only for Monday. Yet the classes are so limited. Just around 5-9 classes today and that depends on location too. Sigh! Not sure is this a good sign or bad. Just hope it will get better. Probably later will call and find out more. Sigh!!!

 

Yogazone

I’m sure this is the most shocking news since last night for us anyway. To many, it was news today. Some unlucky ones had to get the news when got there for classes and found none. This is truly shocking to many. My darling and I were shocked but not at all surprised. We were just shocked that they have resulted in such approach which definitely cause great damage to business. We have actually come to know something was amiss in Yogazone a few weeks back. At first, we just dimissed it as normal as we just went for class once a week. So, when I saw the shower room was unclean, I was thinking perhaps there are a lot of members and the cleaners were not fast enough to clean up. 

We had better understanding when my best friend Ms Pinky told me about the rumours that Yogazone is not doing well. At that time, we were totally shocked and surprised. Such a big company which has great potential to expand in business, is not doing well. Definitely a big problem. Then Ms Pinky showed me a blog where there’s a heated argument about this issue. The best part to read about this is there’s a TJ replying. Not sure whether is it the real TJ the owner or someone who pretends to be him. Anyway, if you want to read it, check out Jess’s blog…it’s a cool blog regardless this hot issue.

I also got an sms from the consultant who signed us up two years ago yesterday. She told me through this sms that there’s no class from 28 July until 3 Aug due to restructuring of management. I’m glad that she’s responsible enough to inform me, so I gave her a call today. Of course the situation at her side is not doing very well. She would have to endure all from angry members who got there too late to be informed such news. But I’m proud of her for still staying put or probably staying until the end to see what happpen. I would say she has courage and I truly hope things will get better for the staff and members. But right now, all we can do is wait and see and probably hope. Sigh!