SIMPLE WORDS

Dr. Patanjali J. Yogendra

A famous lecturer was asked the formula of success in public speaking. “Well”, he said, “In promulgating your esoteric cogitations and articulating superficial, sentimental and psychological observations, beware of platitudinous ponderosity.  Let your extemporaneous decantation and unpremeditated expatiations have intelligibility and veracious veracity without rodomontade and thrasonical bombast.  Sedulously avoid all polysyllabic profundity, pusillanimous vacuity, pestiferous profanity and similar transgressions.

“Or to put it a bit differently,” he concluded smiling “talk simply, naturally, and above all, don’t use big words."

Isn’t it true in life – the best things are the simplest.  What does it need to communicate your innermost feelings – a simple nod, a smile, a genuine handshake, a pat on the back or I would go to the extent of saying simply, good feelings in the heart.

This is what the Yogins classified as the highest mode of communication.

Published in the October 2011 edition of Yoga & Total Health Magazine. 

Headache

Kavita Mirchandani

Headache is a complaint which all of us experience sometime or the other.  It is not actually a disease, but a symptom of many different disorders.  Headache really makes a person feel miserable.

The causes are many.  In migraine or hemigrania, usually one side of the head is affected, left or right.  These headaches recur at intervals and are frequently accompanied by vomiting and disturbances of vision.  Women are usually more prone to these headaches.  Migraines are also due to mental tension, emotional strain and insufficient sleep.

Sinusitis causes headaches felt in the forehead due to infection of nasal sinuses.  Meningitis pain is felt at the base of the skull along with stiffness of neck and rise of temperature.  Strain of eye muscles or increase in number causes pain in head.  Deficiency of red blood cells leads to poor oxygenation.  Brain tumor causes headache.  Premenstrual tension, constipation, menopause, constant exposure to the sun, insomnia and hangover due to drinking as well as cervical spondylosis causes headache.

People seek instant relief and resort to the easily available aspirins and other common tablets.  But this is very wrong, as aspirin has been known to cause various unpleasant side effects like stomach upset, heartburn, nausea, vomiting and many such gastro-intestinal problems.

In case of yoga students, regular practice of Asanas and Kriyas reduces the chances of suffering from a headache.  Massaging the forehead gently, Jalaneti and Anuloma - Viloma help.  Basically change in attitude through practices like Anitya Bhavna helps us to keep this dreadful complaint away.

Published in the October 2011 edition of Yoga & Total Health Magazine.

Cherish Work, Cherish the Path

John C. Kimbrough

We are all involved in some sort of action all the time. Action is Karma and Karma Yoga reminds us that we should perform actions that fulfill our responsibilities to ourselves and others. How we do our housework, the work that earns us our living and how we use our free time, are all part of what the practice of  Karma Yoga consists of.

But many of us resent our duties and responsibilities or complain about any kind of work or extra effort we have to put forth. We may have a bad or lazy attitude about our families and their well being, or the work or job that we perform each day.

As to why we have got into this state, well it could be a love of convenience and comfort, the influence of television and the desire to be entertained and feel pleasure.

But our work can offer us many things if we look at it with a healthy attitude. Yoga suggests that we learn to cherish our work because not only does it allow us to earn a living and support ourselves and our family, but it also gives us the opportunity to direct our time and energy to something each day that is constructive and wholesome.

In addition to understanding that we can grow and evolve in numerous ways because of our work, we also want to cherish the path – the path that yoga offers us.

Why should we cherish it?
Because it offers us a way to better health and a better understanding of ourselves and others. It also provide us a means to live in a manner that is relatively free from conflict within and with others.

It is sad and at times frustrating to see all the people who live in free societies, with healthy economies and a high standard of living, to be somewhat lost and confused. Certainly the daily news reports from any newspaper all over the world show us stark examples of people who have lost their way. And sadly, it seems that things are getting more and more out of control.

If we can focus our day around our family and cherish the work that we do at home and at the factory, school or office and also cherish the paths that show us a healthy way to live, we will be engaging in a two pronged approach to life that can bring us much health and happiness.



Published in the October 2011 edition of Yoga & Total Health magazine.

Tryst with Destiny

Smt. Priyamvada Waghmare

Being led to The Yoga Institute in 1985 was the first occasion when one felt that a higher order of things governed our movements, our thinking, our very own being! Why else would a person like me, a person who made fun of my own father- who practiced Asanas behind closed doors over an hour for years; come to a place like this? One had never felt yoga was something serious and worth considering in life! It took a lot of difficult, trying times to smoothen the rough edges of the self. Constant doubt persisted. A fear whether one had chosen the correct path? Nothing on this path came easily! There was so much of striving yet so little gained. The effort did not seem to commensurate with the results.

On many occasions one felt close to the Gurus, especially close to Hansaji. Hansaji is basically a mother at heart, ever loving, forgiving and caring. She expresses herself through her looks, words, gestures and actions. When in difficult situations, even though one may have not really done any ‘Smaran’ of her name, just out of nowhere, rings the telephone bell and her voice resounds on the other end, “How are you and what are you doing?” A reminder to maintain equilibrium perhaps or so would be the effect at that moment atleast! Pains/ aches/ Haematoma marks on the legs, you voice your complaint to her and your marks miraculously disappear. What is happening God? As one got closer, she could read the face and the mind too! Even before a problem was voiced, a solution was offered.

Our most recent experience is related to an incident that occurred on 9^th May 2011. The driver was bringing the car home to take me and my luggage to Pune where an urgent issue had to be addressed. The driver was under mental duress due to personal issues, slightly in his own world, speeding along with emotions that could not be held steadfast. It was 10:10 am. In the heat of the moment, he knocked down a man who was apparently crossing the street but could not be seen due to a passing bus. The man was injured; the driver took him to a hospital with the help of some strangers and later reported at the local police station. What happened after that was no less than an ordeal.

A whole day to write down the FIR, put the driver behind bars, taking into custody the accident vehicle, taking the statement of the opposite party etc. etc. A lot of physical as well as mental harassment. Around 03:00 pm there was a call from Hansaji asking whether we were on our way to Pune!

On her learning about the incident, help came pouring forth. Calls went to and fro to top ranking police officers who helped streamline issues. The Yoga Institute has been offering free of cost training to police in Mumbai since over two years. Hansaji’s personal interaction with police personnel was paying rich dividends to us. A by-product of her goodwill showering blessing in disguise on us?

What followed for the next few days was all goodwill! Monies being returned to us, all paper work being expedited, release of the driver on bail and of course, the car being handed back to us. Hansaji personally spoke to the driver and tried to talk him out of his stressful mental condition.

What touched me is the fact that would any of us have gone to such great lengths to help anyone? What are we? Sinners, strugglers on the path of yoga, trying to find our own bearings and here we find a mother who cared more for us than even our own mothers would care. What more can one find in this one life? A Sangam of Maitri, Karuna, Mudita and Upeksha lies right here. What we need to do is take a fill with both our hands and drink as much as we can in the hope that we learn to live easily, selflessly, for the cause of others as we see our Gurus do, day in and day out. Here is a place which offers a potent medicine in the form of simple living and high thinking! A cure for all our worldly diseases of the mind. Here is a heart that truly cares – The Indweller is God himself!

Published in the October 2011 edition of Yoga & Total Health Magazine.

Our Viewpoint

A boatman was asked by a passenger who was a stranger to the area, “What kind of people live on the other side of the river?” “Well, the people on the other side are indeed very wicked, very bad,” was the reply. However, the stranger in his travel on the other side did not find anyone bad. In fact, the people were very good. He then asked the people on the other side, “What kind of people are on the opposite bank?” The people generously said “Well, the people on the other side are good people.” The stranger narrated what the boatman had said, they replied “Well, one or two persons may have had bad?? experiences but you can’t say all people are bad”. The stranger realized that goodness and badness lies in our own self.

Bura Jo Dekhan Main Chala, Bura Na Milya Koi, Jo dekhu dil khojke, Mosay bura na koi! (I went out in search for the crooked, I met not a single one. When I searched myself, I found none worse than me. )


As this Doha by Kabir suggests, we should not have a negative angle. But, by family background, by education, by culture, we have many prejudices. We do not see things as they are but rather as we like to see things.


We love our habits, our opinions, our beliefs, our ideals. We, as a result of such a strong way of thinking, also suffer. A child that is taught by his family to see only wickedness suffers a lot and is critical with all. He is apprehensive, tense; there is less of joy and selflessness. We should, at least, understand that our thoughts are not entirely our own. They are acquired from other sources. Many opinions are emotional and conditioned.


Yoga is a de-conditioning of wrong opinions. It makes us free from strong emotions, attachments, beliefs which are the cause of lot of our problems. We can learn a lot by putting ourselves in another person’s position.


In Ahimsa and Satya this is suggested. Try to realize how the other individual feels and suffers. Try and understand if your hurt is a grievous; done out of cruel intention, done by yourself or allowed to be done by others and you just instigated it; whether the hurt is through thoughts, words or actions. To understand another person and to appreciate.

Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra



Published in the October 2011 edition of Yoga & Total Health magazine.