Talk on Application of Yoga in specific Health Problems

The next Swadhyaya Talk is on the Application of Yoga in specific Health Problems.
The talk will be taken by Mrs. Pallavi Shanbaug.

Date: Sunday 11th Dec 2011.
Time: 11:00am- 12:00 noon
Venue: The Yoga Institute.

All members are invited.
If you wish to become members or renew your membership, you can do so before the meeting.

About the Speaker
Mrs. Pallavi Shanbaug completed her yoga teacher training course in 1997.
Since then she has taught in the TTC and takes children's yoga classes at The Yoga Institute.

PLEASE NOTE: 
Swadhyaya is planning a 2 day trip for all members to Devlali on 8-9 January 2012. The details will be put up soon. 
As booking needs to be made well in advance, please contact us at swadhyayatyi@gmail.com if interested in joining us.
Members can also give their names during the next meeting. 


See you on Sunday!

Healing Through Dance

The founder Shri Yogendraji, brought yoga to us householders. He also introduced simple breathing techniques in the Yogendra Pranayamas. He was a great lover of music.

Shri Yogendraji 

On his 114^th birthday this year, The Yoga Institute was graced by a very talented teacher and dancer par excellence, Ms. Aparna Ramaswamy. She is a hypnotherapist, trained in EMI techniques in cases like depression, schizophrenia, etc. She is also a qualified Reiki healer. She’s currently pursuing healing through dance, specializing in Bharat Natyam.

Ms. Aparna covered three aspects, first being a little demonstration of the dance. She then connected dance and its movements to the principle of Ashtanga Yoga. Lastly she explained that as Samadhi is the final step in yoga, in her life through dance, she believes one’s life purpose should be to utilize one’s skill/ knowledge to help and heal others. She started her dance with the traditional Namaskara, seeking blessings from Mother Earth, following a graceful invocatory dance for Lord Ganesha, seeking his blessings for a successful completion and inviting the divine energy to enter the stage.

Bharat Natyam physically involves perfect form and it can thus be likened to the physical aspects of Yogasanas, Pranayamas, Yamas, Niyamas, etc. Dance also involves experience i.e the transition from the external world to internal preoccupation…Pratyahara. While physically dancing, breath awareness is as important as Pranayama (correct breathing) is while doing Asanas. There is a Shloka in Bharat Natyam:

“Yatho Hasta Tatho Drishti, Yatho Drishti Tatho Manaha,

Yatho Manaha Tatho Bhavo, Yatho Bhava Tatho Rasaha”

This Shloka literally translates as: Where the hands go, the eyes will follow; where the eyes go, the mind will follow, thus followed by Bhava and finally the dancer achieves complete immersion into the dance.

The purpose of Natya (dance) is therefore complete immersion of the Self. The dancer’s job is to listen to the music. The emotion and the Bhavas harnessed from that music tap into the energy from the dancer’s organic body, keeping the mind isolated. The eyes of the audience are thus engaged by the dance, the ears engrossed by the music, the brain captured by the language of dance, thus taking the audience into a meditative state.

Yoga and dance are the integration of the practitioner’s energy. If the physical self is dominant, the dancer is self-conscious, so it is impossible to focus fully on the dance. On complete Ishwar Pranidhan there is intense manifestation of Dharma. She also explained that the road of the dancer is not to act but to BE. viz. it is difficult for an audience to connect with a rasa if the dancer fakes the emotion.

One can use Natha (melody) to achieve balance in emotions and harmonize one’s energy. It can help transcend one’s anxieties. Ms. Aparna urged the audience to know how to manage their human emotions as a currency, positively, and get over them. One should ask whether that frame of mind actually depicts his true self as God made him.

- A Report by Vyoma Chauhan

"Teaching Yoga in Schools" Talk by Mrs. Sudarshan Saigal, 13th Nov 2011

An ongoing battle between students and yoga has proved to be a great challenge for most yoga teachers. How does one maintain discipline and generate an interest in children towards yoga? How does one bring forth the message of yoga to those who have a pre-conceived notion that yoga is boring?

Find out at the next Swadhyaya talk which will be held on Sunday, 13^th November, 2011.

Topic: Teaching Yoga in Schools

Speaker: Mrs. Sudarshan Saigal

Time: 11am – 12 noon (after Satsang)

Venue: The Yoga Institute, Santacruz.

All members are welcome. Those who wish to become members or renew their membership, please read the membership details on the blog by clicking this link- http://swadhyayatyi.blogspot.com/p/membership-details.html

About the Speaker:

Mrs, Sudarshan Saigal completed her Yoga Teacher Training course in 1989, following which she travelled to Kuwait to design a sponsored yoga program. Then, since 1990 till today, she has been teaching yoga to secondary school children of J.M.L. Secondary School, Khar, Mumbai.

She has also travelled to Madhya Pradesh to teach yoga at a cement factory, Haryana and Rajasthan for yoga workshops and has taught yoga to MTNL employees. She co-ordinates and teaches in the Hindi 7 Day Health Camp. She also conducts classes for ladies at the Guru Nanak Mandir on Linking Road and has experience in teaching a Parkinson’s Disease patient, a Cancer patient and a patient with an operated spine. 

Important Note:

Due to the new TRAI regulations, many of our members have stopped receiving SMS announcements from Swadhyaya as their numbers are registered in DND. If you wish to start receiving the messages again, please visit this link- http://site6.way2sms.com/jsp/dnd.jsp

Hope to see you on Sunday!

Regards,

Swadhyaya Managing Committee.

Talk on Basic Understanding of Chakras

Swadhyaya is happy to announce the much awaited talk on:

"Basic Understanding of Chakras and Why to Keep Them in a Balanced State" 

Speaker: Mrs. Jagruti Thaker

Date: Sunday 9th October, 2011

Venue: Yoga Institute, Santacruz.

This talk will give us a basic idea on: What are our 7 major Chakras? How are they formed? What are the areas of our body and mind they have effect on and why it is necessary to keep them balanced. 

About the Speaker

Mrs. Jagruti Thaker, age 46 is a Trained Yoga Therapist from the Yoga Institute. She has completed 3 years in Foundation, Diploma and Advance Yoga from Mumbai University and Passed four Examinations in Clinical Hypnotherapy.

She is also adept at Crystal and Spiritual Chakra & Aura Healing and Distance Healing.

She conducts workshops on Self Chakra and Aura Management, How to Understand the Power of Our Mind and use it for our best...

Hope to see you on this Sunday for a fruitful learning experience.

P.S. Those members who have registered for DND on their mobile phones cannot receive our sms announcements for the talks. We request you to de-register from DND if you wish to continue with our sms updates. 

11 Sept- Talk on 'Challenges & Rewards of Teaching Yoga in India & Abroad'

Swadhyaya, The Yoga Institute Alumni Association, is proud to announce the next talk which is an interesting, informal interactive session on ‘Challenges & Rewards of Teaching Yoga in India &  Abroad’ by Daniel Fonseca and Jeenal Mehta Fonseca.

Date: Sunday, 11^th Sept, 2011

Venue: The Yoga Institute, Santacruz, Mumbai.

Time: 11:00 am – 12:00 noon (After Satsang)

ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS:

Daniel Fonseca

Daniel Fonseca was an adept of Martial Arts and Artistic Gymnastics, which helped him to build up physical strength, agility, sense of coordination and balance at very young age. He started performing yoga techniques spontaneously during his teenage years and eventually was introduced to the precise Hatha Yoga system and also the fluid Vinyasa Style. When he found that yoga was more than just physical exercise, he started studying the Ancient Philosophy of Yoga while still in Brazil, his homeland. He spent a few years in Europe and after a long pilgrimage throughout Northern Spain in 2005 he made his way to India where he is living since 2006. Daniel has a graduation degree in Tourism. He is married to Jeenal Mehta Fonseca and together they have founded the Wise Living Yoga Academy.

Jeenal Mehta

Since a young age Jeenal Mehta was interested in Bhakti Yoga and started studying and applying this philosophy in her life. She qualified as a Personal Fitness Trainer in 2000. For 2 years she trained clients with challenging histories of obesity, diabetes, arthritis, hypertension and postural disorders, etc. at “Talwalkars” in Mumbai. She is also a Certified Personal Counsellor from Heart to Heart Institute of Human Technology, a successful trainer to clients for anti-smoking and an addiction-free lifestyle. She then qualified as a yoga teacher from The Yoga Institute.

  

About Wise Living Yoga Academy

Wise Living Yoga Academy is an educational body affiliated to The Yoga Institute, Santacruz. It offers yoga training & counselling for individuals or groups, yoga for the corporate sector, organizations, yoga seminars, workshops and wellness retreats, Yoga Teacher Training Courses and other Certification Courses. The sessions include Classical Yoga philosophy, conditioning & meditative practices, abstraction & concentration, asanas (postural training & exercises for body awareness, strength, stamina & flexibility), pranayamas (respiratory practices for bio-energy control), kriyas (Yoga physical hygiene), yoga mental hygiene, relaxation practices & meditation for development of perfect health - physical, mental, moral and spiritual. For more information on the Academy, visit: http://www.wiselivingyoga.com/index.html

A Karma Yogi Amongst Policemen

Of late, the present police administration in the city of Mumbai has decided to give training in the science and art of Yoga to the police personnel of various ranks through The Yoga Institute at Santacruz, Mumbai so as to relieve a part of the enormous stress that they have to undergo in the course of their duties. And so it feels apt that a life of a real karma yogi who lived amongst their own rank be highlighted.

The person referred to is Arvind Patwardhan who had served the police with rare distinction in not too distant a past.

Patwardhan came from humble beginnings. He had lost his father when he was very young and therefore he and his younger brother were brought up by their widow mother in the house of their maternal uncle who was a police prosecutor at Kolhapur.

After he graduated in science, he joined the police as a sub-inspector when the administration recruited graduates for the job and after an initial training of a short duration, posted them in Mumbai. This was some time in 1948. Soon after we had won our independence from the British. In due course he also graduated in law on his own and had further training at the police training college at Nasik.

Soon after he was posted in Mumbai and had been provided residential quarters, he decided upon bringing over his mother and younger brother for his education under his watchful eye. Unfortunately the brother developed truancy and hence the mother decided to take him back to Kolhapur. Patwardhan felt that he had failed in his duties to his mother and younger brother and therefore as an act of retribution, decided not to start a family of his own and therefore remained a bachelor all his life.

He was, however, extremely committed to his job and had made investigations of frauds in Banks and other corporate bodies - his speciality in the C.I.D. where he spent most of his tenure. He was also put in charge of the police computer division when they first started computerization of police working in the city,

He led the life of a real karma yogi and never expected any reward for the work he was doing though he spent almost 18 hours every day in the work entrusted to him and thousands knocked on his door for help in all sort of police matters in which he was adept.

He had simple habits and mostly ate one meal a day and that too when he was totally free of visitors at the Sardar Graha, opposite the office of the Police Commissioner and the C.I.D. where Lokmanya Tilak used to stay when in the city.

He slept on a bare mat and did not have any belongings except a few books and a pair of suits of clothes for daily necessity.

He was decorated with both the President’s Police Medal for meritorious service and the President’s Police and Fire Services Medal for distinguished service and had also earned the Chief Minister’s Medal for the best investigation of a year. He also rose to the rank of the Dy. Commissioner of Police prior to his honorable retirement.

He was a good penman and had scripted two books namely “Me Mumbaicha Police” and “Me Mumbaicha Inspector” and was also editing the police magazine brought out by the State Police for a long time.

He was also called upon to give talks on detection of frauds at various banking institutes and other such professional bodies and did so unremittingly. On his retirement, he was also appointed by a bank as their legal advisor and served them too with distinction almost till his late age and disablement, without expecting any reward or gain for himself.

Needless to say that he was totally free of corrupt practices and being used to a life of thrift, used to donate large sums to worthy causes and left a large part of his savings in the form of National Savings certificates for posterity.

It is only to be hoped that those policemen visiting The Yoga Institute would draw inspiration from the life of this illustrious son of India and mould their lives accordingly in the spirit of Yoga.

- Contributions by Amrut Desai, retired Asstt, Commr. of Police, Mumbai and a Sadhak of The Yoga Institute.

Plateau Of Flowers- A trip on the 30th Sep-2nd Oct 2011

Swadhyaya is planning a trip of 3 days to Kaas Plateau, Satara,Maharashtra from 30th Sep - 2nd Oct 2011. As there are limited seats available please confirm with the commitee members or email us as soon as possible. This is the last batch going to visit the Plateau this year.

Visit http://natureindiatour.blogspot.com/ for complete details.

We apologize for giving a short notice.

Sun 14th Aug- Talk on Asana and its Variations

Swadhyaya is conducting a session on this Sunday, 14th Aug, 2011.

The session will be on "Asana and its Variations" by Mr. Ramendra Jagtap (Asana teacher for the 7 month TTC).
The session will be held at The Yoga Institute, Santacruz at 11 am after Satsang.

See you there!!

Report of Children's Camp at Orphanage

On the 9^th and 10^th of July, 2011, Swadhyaya organized a 2 Day Children’s Yoga Camp over the weekend at an orphanage called Manav Sava Sangh in Sion, Mumbai. The camp was held from 10:30- 4:00 pm and included children of varying ages.

Many teachers from the Yoga Institute, Santacruz volunteered in this camp and together, they made it a great success. Given below is some of the sharing the teachers have done about their experience during the camp:-

“Soulful puppy dog eyes, the ability to trust a stranger who gives more than 2 minutess of attention and affection and complete open-mindedness. These words pretty much sum up the orphans Swadhyaya visited on 9 & 10 July, 2011.

The age of the children ranged from 5yrs to 15yrs. We had tried to make them play such games that can be played by all together irrespective of their age. Games like following the action, passing a table tennis ball to one another with a straw, organizing a dance teacher (which was a big hit, by the way)!!

The moment we announced that we were going to do some asanas there were some loud groans."Hum asana se bahut bore hote hain," to quote them. But they did not yet have an experience with the dynamic teachers of The Yoga Institute. All the girls and boys were giggling and walking around on their toes like palm trees, acting like they were becoming chairs for us to sit on and hissing like snakes and in between two activities playing catch and kook with the volunteers!

When they asked and were told that we were going to come the next day to play with them, some of the volunteers had the smaller kids jumping up onto their backs and hugging them and holding hands too !! It was an overwhelming experience, especially for me as even though I see and feel unconditional love in my own children every day, I am, after all their mother. But these children, for whom we were mere strangers, who had come to give them only 12 hours out of 48, they were absolutely trusting, accepting with a 100-watt smile whatever we gave them and crying because it was time for us to leave.

I had tears in my eyes, bidding them goodbye. I wished that I could take as many children home with me as I could. It greatly changed the way I see my kids...they are fortunate that they were born and are brought up with parents who are there to see to their every need...BUT I feel we, as parents, are even more lucky to be blessed with these angelic and innocent forms of God...children.

Thank You Swadhyaya for giving me this opportunity.

And I greatly appreciate the efforts by Manav Seva Sangh to provide these children with the basic comforts that can keep them happy.” 

- Vyoma Chauhan

“We take people and things for granted in our life. Inspite of having everything we continue to complain about what we don’t have. Like the children at Manav Seva Sangh were taken such good care, unlike other orphanages where there is not enough place for all the inmates. They had all the material things around, but still their eyes looked around for someone, whom they can call their ....family. That emptiness was there but still they were lively, happy and had an enthusiastic approach towards life. They wanted to study, earn a living and make their lives worthwhile. They all were from different backgrounds, some used to live on roads, for some this was a day care centre, some were picked up from garbage bins. But there was tremendous faith. Faith that they are taken care of, their talents encouraged. It wasn’t like any other orphanage that I have seen. Even hygiene was taken care of, which in Mumbai itself is a rare site. 

A question that would strike all is... how much faith do we have? In the higher self, in ourselves? Most of us inspite of having knowledge of Yoga, inspite of teaching Yoga Philosophy, get shaken easily by the ups and downs in life. Our Faith is shaken, rather lost. The answer to this, is within us. We need to see where and why our faith is lacking.

We have to make the best of whatever life offers us instead of complaining. We don't value this because we are overprotected by our loved ones, our family. Wheredo these children have that much. They are such a large group, still they are so happy. Above all God is there, he is taking care of them. They could have wasted their life but he got them here, showed them the right path and is taking care of them.”

- Geeta Udasi

“Teachers from the Institute should go to such places much often where there is lots to learn. For us, we feel we are down to earth but it’s not easy. When these kids hug you, don't want to leave you, you feel like taking them home but you can't. You can’t do anything. They will be attached to us. We spent just a few hours with them and they were so attached to us that they wanted us to come everyday. We should teach them Yoga in such a way that they know the difference between attachment and being dispassionate. Someone or the other should visit such places regularly. It is a good learning for us.”

                              -  Agnes D’Souza & Leena Nanjiani

“Even though I am not a member of ‘Swadhyaya’, I got the opportunity to accompany their team to an orphanage run by ‘Manav Seva Sangh’ on one rainy Saturday. I was intending to do some selfless work and in the process impart valuable knowledge to socially challenged kids. But now in retrospect, it was me who returned enriched.

Firstly we were all surprised to see clean and contented kids of all ages simply enjoying themselves on a school holiday. We exclaimed, “They don’t even look like orphans!” because we had expected to see a bunch of sorry looking, deprived, agonized kids, in whose lives we intended to bring some brightness and happiness. But doesn’t yoga say that the situations around us are neutral – but they affect us differently depending on how we react to them? These innocent kids were happy because they chose to be so even in an orphanage.


One particular girl who touched a chord in my heart was a ten year old who brought a set of brand new crayons and sketch pens from her possessions for an activity. Everyone used them and in the end, all pens and crayons were with different kids. I got worried about what I would tell this girl when she would come to reclaim her set. Surprisingly, she never asked for it again. Can we even imagine to expect any of our ‘rich’ spoilt kids to do this? Wasn’t she already practicing Maitri, Karuna, Mudita, Aprigraha, Acceptance, Sharing and many more concepts we were wracking our brains to introduce to them in interesting ways?

Most importantly, I felt all of them were practicing Ishwar Pranidhan as they were happy and content, probably because they did not have the bondage of one family. They know they are God’s children, just as we all are but they seem blissfully nonchalant about their ‘orphan’ tag because when all doors of so-called civilized society were closed on them, God has blessed them with one door opening into a universal world devoid of caste, creed, religion and even family. They all belong to ONE BIG FAMILY – the Family of God.

- Ushma Shah

“There are two main things I learnt from our visit to the children at Manav Seva Sangh:

1. We need regular reminders of how lucky we are to have whatever need and not take it for granted.
2. Spending some time with children is essential for good health.

It was an energetic, active and ultimately tiring but satisfying day. The biggest challenge was to keep the kids’ attention on current activities and improvising in the last minute, depending on the crowd’s mood. When working with kids, you cannot keep a fixed plan. Keep a general idea of activities to be done, lots of back-up plans and finally, go with the flow.

One needs to be the children’s friend more than a teacher to keep the interest alive. It is the only way to connect with kids, especially teenagers. No one likes a sermon. But when both sides share something, interact, have fun while learning, it makes it worth the while.

The kids, like any other kids, were reluctant to learn yoga, expecting it to be boring. It is one of the biggest challenges any teacher faces – breaking the prejudices towards yoga. There were many children who were willing to do certain activities but refused to do others. I think that if that is the case, we can find out what they like and work around that. Yoga lives in everything we do. I think we can explain yogic concepts through almost any activity; we just need to use our creativity.”

- Ankita Shah

Orphanage Camp

This month, Swadhyaya has organized a children's camp at the orphanage, Manav Seva Sangh, Sion on 9th and 10th July 2011 (Sat-Sun).

(Please note: There will be no talk this month)

Timings: Sat- Sun, 10am to 4 pm.

Volunteers are most welcome and especially Marathi speaking teachers are also required. 

Anyone interested can inform Geeta: 9820502725 or Vyoma: 9920516034 regarding the day and time you are available or in case of any other question. 

Address: 255/257, Manav Seva Sangh, Sion West, Mumbai 400022 (Landmark: Near Sion Hospital)

Donations of clothes, shoes, stationery, books, toys, bags, school bags etc. can be given at the book shop of 

The Yoga Institute, Santacruz by Friday 8th July. Please do not send money or food items. 

About Manav Seva Sangh

Shri Manav Seva Sangh, a non governmental organization, is located at Sion in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

It focuses on the development of the poor and needy people living in the villages. In pursuit of this broad 

aim, they have started an adoption center, crèche, child guidance center, day care center, home for senior 

citizens, vocational training center and medical center. Services are also offered for children who are slow 

learners and those with specific learning disabilities such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculi.