Manoj’s Answer:

This evening I was actively practising Ahimsa awareness whilst braving the nasty after office traffic on the LDP. In desperate situations like that the average Malaysian driver does not give way to other motorists. However, I took several deep breaths and compassionately allowed 1 car into my lane. 1 led to 2 and by the time the 3rd car tried to push herself aggressively in, I realised that that was my threshold and submitted to the reaction of my manas, which was to honk angrily.

QUESTION:  how do you practise Ahimsa without falling victim to opportunists?

MANOJ ANSWERS:

Namaste Hui Hsien
So heart warming to read how you are trying to apply the teachings into real life.. Now, let me try to answer your valid question through a story..
“Long ago there was a deadly snake. She was truly a pure embodiment of terror to the villagers of the neighbourhood. In fact the people of the village stopped using the path which runs via her pit, as she indiscriminately attacked and bit anyone going that way.

One day, a wandering yogi stopped by the village to rest. Next morning, after his sun salutes, he was about to resume his journey. The villagers then advised him not to take the path where the snake resides. But the monk went that way. And as expected, the snake rushed in to attack him. But somehow, the monk’s calm, fearless countenance, and total compassion towards the snake, affected it, and she then asked the monk as to how he is so fearless, calm and loving in the face of imminent death. The monk’s one word answer was, ‘yoga’. The snake then expressed keen interest to learn yoga. The monk started by delivering a lecture on ahimsa, and then said that he can initiate her into the deeper practices only after one year of ahimsa practice. He then bade goodbye to the snake, promising to meet her after one year.

The snake, like Hui Hsien, started practicing ahimsa in great earnest. It gave way to all the people walking that way, and remained extremely docile, never raising its hood, except while it practiced the cobra pose.

This change was soon noticed by everyone, especially the children. They started to twirl, tie and swing her around, while some snake charmers used her for their tricks.

By all this, in quick time the snake got badly injured. One day after some villagers beat her and partially burnt her for their entertainment, she barely managed to get back to her pit, after which she was never to be seen again.

One year passed, and the monk returned. He enquired about the snake, and the villagers told that the snake is no more. The monk anyway went to the pit, and softly chanted Om, three times. The snake slowly slithered out, her face still winced in pain. The monk asked as to what happened. The snake told the whole story and then concluded, ‘It is all your fault, holy sir. You advised me to practice ahimsa by not biting anyone, and look what I got in return’.

The monk then said, ‘ I asked you to only stop biting. Not to stop hissing’.

End of story.

So Hui, Hiss.. i mean honk! That is not a problem at all. See, practicing ahimsa doesn’t mean being submissive. You shouldn’t allow yourself to be subject to violence or exploitation in anyway. You can express anger. But inside, you should be aware of it. Dont loose yourself completely to that emotion. So, in your story you stopped at the point of your honking. Two scenarios can happen after that.

Scenario 1- You continue your drive, after observing what the anger did to your body.. did it contort the face? tensed the abdomen? stopped the breath? And then you let it go completely, observing your breaths, observing the sky, noticing the occasional irritation about the jam, enjoying the music.. then you are still in the groove.. perfectly ok.

Scenario 2- You continue your drive.. but there is an aggression.. some expletives spurt out from the mouth.. you strangle the steering.. body is tensed.. breathing is haywire.. but you are not noticing it.. you are saying that you will never let anyone cut you in the future.. and so on..

The second scenario is what we have to watch out. Where the emotion completely takes over and run you.

Yogic scriptures refer to three fundamental states through which an individual flows through

•  1) jagrat or waking state
• 2) swapna or dreaming state
• 3) sushupti or deep sleep state.

Though we take for granted our daily sojourn through these states, it is really a wonder as to how it all happens; why and how we are awake, or why and how we fall asleep, etc.

So, what exactly is a state?

In a physiological sense, a state can perhaps be described as a set of physiological conditions or processes which lasts for a certain period of time.

So for waking state, a specific set of neurological functions has to keep occurring, and for dream and sleep states too, specific sets of neuro-physio-psycho conditions have to occur. In fact, very similar to the yogic perspective on the three states of consciousness, neurologically too, there is a basic division of states into wakeful state (W), slow-wave sleep state (S) and desynchronized dream sleep state (D).

One of the foremost gurus of yoga, sage Patanjali points out that sleep is not just a passive dropping off from the wakeful state, but a dynamic process of specific waves (nidra vrttis) in consciousness which brings about that state. In yogic language, any avastha or state is one where vrttis of similar function cluster together and last for a time. And for the state to last, it has to rest on a particular process for a particular period of time, the term for supporting factor being alambana.

So, for example, for the wakeful state, the consciousness seems to rest on the high rates of discharge of cells in the appropriate areas of the brain such as the mid brain reticular formation.

Similarly, for sleep to last too, a certain specific set of waves has to occur. From my very limited knowledge of the neurological aspects of it, it seems that sleep rests on the synchronized waves of activity occurring in the anterior hypothalamic areas, basal forebrain region as well as on the actions of several sleep promoting substances which the body produce.

In insomniacs, somehow these areas perhaps are not firing in a way which brings about the change of state from wakefulness to drowsiness, finally to sleep.

Now, whether yoga can bring about the harmonious functioning of these requisite mechanisms, I cannot guarantee, but based on anecdotal evidence, the answer is yes.

Many students taking yoga for the first time have provided the feedback that the first ‘benefit’ they notice is that they seem to sleep better; they fall asleep quicker, easier, and they enjoy a more sound sleep.

Another of our core students, who is a medical doctor herself, Dr. Shyama Nair, currently based in the U.S.A, was suffering from insomnia when she joined our classes. Over a period of time, her condition improved, and now she has no problems falling asleep and sleeping.

In some of the rare nights where I personally struggled to fall asleep, it was always due to some emotional issue, which the intellect or buddhi could not resolve. Doubt, fear of some uncertainty, worry, simmering disappointment, etc. were the clear factors involved in my staying awake. This kind of emotional environment also brings about an overdrive of sympathetic nervous system, which then makes it really difficult to let go and sleep. I knew that I had to take my awareness off these stimulants, and for which I had often resorted to a thousand-breath observance challenge, with the focus on exhalations, so as to stimulate the para sympathetic nervous system. This settled me as my awareness got dislodged off the other concerns, and the furthest I had gone in the breath counting was around 300-400 before really feeling drowsy and falling asleep. Having said that, I must mention the same breath counting technique has not been equally effective for everyone.

Anyway, here are some general tips which may be useful:

• Forward bends such as child pose, standing forward bends, seated forward bends, etc. are recommended as part of your yoga practice. You can perhaps do them after work in the evening, before dinner.
• Do these postures with the aid of props.You should especially focus on keeping the eye balls relaxed, and the skin of the temples relaxing towards the ears. Focus on calm, long exhalations throughout the practice.
• Along with the exhalations, also focus on a letting-go of events of your workplace, or other incidents of the day.
• Try to really get present in the moment
• By bed time, perhaps on the bed itself, it will be useful to take restorative postures such as supta baddhakonasan and viparita karani, where you have your legs up on the wall.
• Remember, awareness is the main tool of our Manasa teachings for dealing with anything, and you can start observing what the mind is resting upon when you settle down in your bed.
• Sometimes you might catch certain patterns of mind, where it settles on certain people, or certain past events, certain injustices, possible bleak future scenarios etc, which evokes a restless, aroused state.
• It would be good to do a savasana practice, and along with a release of muscles, also focus on a release of such personalities and events from your mind. An attitude of karuna (compassion and forgiveness) will foster a serene state of consciousness which is conducive to sleep.
• Another simple step you can check is, whether you can arrange for a completely dark environment, as it is found that even the falling of subtle rays of light impede the sleep producing functions of the anterior hypothalamic areas of the brain.

All these steps, for thousands of practitioners, have brought about the functioning of the specific mechanisms of sleep, and we wish the same for you, too.

Kapala means skull and bhati means ‘shine’. Kapalabhathi thus implies ‘that which makes the skull shine’. The skull or head also stands for intelligence, and hence the term is also referring to ‘that which makes our intellect sharper, brighter’.

Kapalabhati is normally done before other pranayamas. It is very helpful in long meditations, too. During those sessions  when one may face dullness, it quickly counters the fuzziness and brings about a certain resplendent quality to consciousness.

In the ancient texts of yoga such as the Gheranda samhita and Hatha yoga pradipika, the kapalabhathi is given as a cleansing, purifying technique.

Additionally, disorders caused by phlegm are supposedly kept at bay, and it also helps to clear the sinuses. Though not stated in the ancient texts as such, the strong exhalations lift the abdominal viscera and diaphragm up towards the lungs, which enhances the expelling action of the exhalations, thus helping to cleanse the lungs.

Alternate nostril breathing refers to a pranayama called nadi-shodhana in Sanskrit. Nadi stands for pathways of subtle energy. In yoga, other than the gross body in which energy and intelligence flow  primarily through nerves, great importance is given to the  subtle energy body or sukshma sharira. This subtle energy body too is suffused with innumerable energy channels through which subtle energy, termed prana, flows. These pathways are called nadis. Though the nadis are innumerable in number (72,000 to 3,50,000), the three most important nadis which yoga practitioners should be aware of are the (1)sushumna, (2)ida and (3)pingala.

Sushumna runs up from the base of the pelvis all the way up into the skull and it ends at the crown of the head. The ida and pingala originate  from a point called kanda, which is somewhere in the region of the root of spine. The ida nadi spirals around the sushumna and ends at the left nostril. It corresponds to moon energy, relating to reflection, withdrawing, calmness, coolness, etc. Its gross body counterpart could be the para sympathetic nervous system.

The pingala nadi spirals around sushumna and ends at the right nostril. It corresponds to sun energy, relating to qualities of action, engaging, effort, radiance etc. Pingala nadi of the subtle body can correspond to the sympathetic nervous system of the gross body.

These energy channels tend to be impure or blocked, which prevents a free flow of prana or vital energy through them, leading to effects in the gross body, such as diseases, fatigue, etc. The nadi shodhana pranayama is the principal pranayama meant to clear this channel of  blocks, which will lend itself to greater health and vitality.

Through its connection to the brain, the alternate nostril breathing also balances the two hemispheres of the brain, apart from the aforementioned effects on balancing any excesses in the drives of sympathetic and para sympathetic nervous system.

MANOJ ANSWERS

In a lay sense, Asthma is basically a condition where the air ways are inflamed and constricted, with a tendency for excessive mucus production.

Yoga, can definitely be of help to people affected with Asthma, along with conventional medical treatment .

However the opinions of different yoga teachers might differ as to the techniques recommended. For e.g., Kapalabhathi is one technique which is often suggested for asthmatics. So is Ujjai breathing.

But in our opinion these forceful pranayamas should be introduced to the affected student only later, as in asthmatics there already exists an excess of tension in the muscles around the airways, and sudden practice of such techniques can increase it.
Secondly, most asthmatic are rapid breathers, meaning they breathe short, and hence take much more breaths than a normal person would.

Though the inhales of the breaths bring in oxygen, the continuous exhales release too much carbon dioxide than it should. This in itself is said to be one of the triggers of symptoms of asthma, where the body’s intelligence tries to prevent the loss of carbon dioxide by narrowing the airways, getting the cells to secrete more mucus etc.

So techniques such as Kapalabhathi, which focuses on rapid forceful exhalations can sometimes make the situation worse.

Ujjai too, if the patient over forces the exhalations to its maximum length, can also be counter productive as forced exhalations tend to narrow the bronchi.

So, rather than focusing on one or two specific techniques, the direction of practice in our school would be to make the students aware of their body, breath and habits.
Then they themselves might discover aspects about themselves which might be contributing to the condition, such as

• chest and rib cage areas are tight and constricted, which is one factor for shallow, rapid breathing.
• breathing rate is high, much more than the average 15-18 breaths per minute
• the triggers for asthma attacks. Is it atmospheric irritants, allergies, emotional trauma, etc?

With regards to constricted rib cage, students can be encouraged to a sequence which includes lot of supported backbends. Postures such as supta virasana would be of great help in opening up the ribcage as well as the frontal lungs. Also, the parasympathetic tone tends to be in excess in asthmatics and this too can be countered through backbends, as backbends stimulate the sympathetic drive. In supported backbends, inhalations tend to naturally deepen without strain, and unforced long inhalations are said to improve air passage relaxation.

Once the body and the rib cage is prepared, then slowly the pranayama techniques can be introduced.

Also, in many people, emotional upheavals trigger asthma, due to the neural connection between emotional centers of brain and the airways. In fact neural regulation of the airway and resulting influence on inflammatory processes are now becoming increasingly recognized.

To summarize, there is no direct, simple solution to Asthma through yoga, as by a particular asana or pranayama. But by improving awareness of body through asanas, along with naturally deepening breathing, as well as insights into one’s mind can holistically aid the affected in combating the disease in a very effective manner.

MANOJ ANSWERS

Headache, though a common malady, occurs in different people for different reasons. For eg, it can be due to the swelling of  sinus cavities in some,  eye strain in another, as well as high blood pressure, indigestion, menses, emotional upsets, exposure to sun, etc.

However, the most common type of headache is what is categorised as tension headache. It occurs due to excessive tightness of the muscles of the neck, shoulders, scalp and jaw. Tension headache too, on its part, can occur due to a host of reasons. Such as when the head is held for a long time tipping to the front of the spine, typically when we are using a computer. Then the muscles of the neck and shoulders, especially the trapezius and the semi spinalis capitis are in a state of constant tension, eventually precipitating into a headache. In yoga asana practice too, sometimes a sequence of backbends can induce a tension headache, if the student is continuously trying to move the head back, which compresses and tenses the back of the neck.

Remember, in Manasa, awareness is the refuge. Just start noticing how you hold your head as you flow through the activities of the day. A posture where the back is rounded and the head is held forward can surely lend a hand in developing headache due to muscle fatigue. It can also cause shallow breathing due to the closing of the chest. This has the potential to trigger the sympathetic nervous system, which among other stress reactions, also contracts the muscles more, eventually cascading the headache into a full blown migraine.

So don’t wait for yoga at the studio only. Start on the asana principles at your workplace itself; every now and then take a neck break from work; align your head over your spine; roll your shoulders back and down; and if your arms were always held in front of the body, then you can take them back into the reverse namaste position, and press the shoulder blades down, simultaneously lengthening the sides of the skull upwards. Take some nice deep breaths.

To your question whether to come to class or not, you definitely can. But best to avoid sequences where the arms are taken up and back repeatedly (eg. sun salutes) as they can again tense the muscles around the head. Also abrupt changes in pressure at the skull area, such as quickly moving from standing forward bend to standing arch, and then again to standing forward bend, might caused the pain to flare up.

Go to class, but with the permission of the teacher, do the following modifications to your practice:

·      Opening sitting awareness, instead of sitting, lie on a bolster placed spine-wise, with a folded blanket under the head. This position helps to open up the chest facilitating deep breathing. Make sure that every now and then you gently slide the back of the head away from the neck, while pressing the shoulders towards hips. This will help decompress the area. Do not be directly under the glare of light. To relax the tension around the eyes, you may also place an eye bag over the eyes.

·      In active practice, if the pain is already there, avoid postures that can potentially tense the shoulder and neck area. Unsupported downdog, standing postures with arms lifting up against gravity, etc. are best avoided. Instead, spend a longer time in child pose, forward bends (head supported, making sure that neck is long and shoulders are not tensing), supta virasan, supta baddha konasan and viparita karani.

Remember, though I seem to be advising against the more dynamic asana practices, there can be many who will vouch that the same practices have relieved their headaches. So there is no single correct answer. If the headache is caused by emotional reasons, where the mind just cannot ‘un-cling’ from the agitating currents of thoughts, an active asana session with strong emphasis on alignment and breath can really help to do just that. Once the student gets a release from that loop of thought, perhaps she might get a release from the headache, too.

So you are free to try out for yourself, and if you find the active practices worsening your pain, then go by the more restorative practices as mentioned above.

Having said this,  if these lifestyle postural awareness and adjustments together with asana and breathing practice don’t bring any relief, make sure you get a quick medical examination done to assess other possible causes of your headache.

MANOJ ANSWERS

In the first place, whenever an injury is involved, it is better to directly visit a teacher and discuss. Also, do not see yoga practice as a substitute for proper medical treatment. In fact, It would better if a proper diagnosis is obtained from a doctor so that the yoga teacher also knows exactly what your specific problem is.

Now, coming directly to the question, there is a wide variety of issues related to the word ‘knee injury’.

Some of the common problems with which students come to classes are knee strains and sprains, which generally refer to over-stretched tendons and ligaments respectively, menisci injuries, etc.

During the stage of recovery from injury, care is taken by teachers to prevent students from extreme flexion of the joint (bending the knee), as well as heavy weight-bearing at the joint, such as standing on one leg. Efforts are directed towards a slow cultivation of movement, energy and awareness around the area without stressing the joint. Yoga props are used for the purpose. And once pain has subsided, the teacher looks into related issues which might be causing or exacerbating the condition. For eg, many times, tightness of hip muscles such as the groins and buttocks contributes to knee injury. Increased flexibility in these areas can prevent recurrence of such injuries.

Extremely tight hamstrings (muscles at the back of the thighs) are another contributing factor to knee pain and injury, especially anterior knee pain. They tend to keep the knee joint slightly flexed all the time, and the person, without knowing it would be going about walking, running etc, all the time on slightly bent knees, which causes excessive patello-femoral (knee cap- thighbone) forces leading to pain and injury.

The non weight-bearing hamstring lengthening postures in yoga can be of great help in this case.

Imbalance in the strength of the quadriceps muscle also can cause injury and pain, especially in the form of an unstable knee cap. The knee cap which is designed to slide up and down along the trochlea (groove at the end of the thigh bone) can sometimes be pulled more towards the outside of the groove. This, among many reasons, can be sometimes due to weak or non engaging inner quadriceps muscles. Yoga asanas done with proper awareness and activation of all four muscles of the quadriceps will lend a helping hand.

In short, you can do yoga, after getting clearance from your doctor. Make sure you discuss your condition with the teacher, and be sensitive to pain, and bring it to the notice of the teacher, so that he or she can give you suitable modifications or props.

MANOJ ANSWERS

If you are referring to learning the postures or asanas of yoga in a general sense, perhaps you can, though I have to say that, for a beginner, there’s no substitute for a teacher’s eye. The video is a one dimensional teaching medium which doesn’t cater to the unique body and energy patterns which you would have. The specific hands-on adjustments and personal pointers which can really open you to the knowledge of your body require an experienced and knowledgeable teacher with whom you have a good rapport. However in the absence of one, you can start off with the instructional videos of reputed teachers and schools.

Also, yoga is not just about stretching your legs, body and shoulders. We have to see stretching as stretching and not as yoga. Though the asanas superficially give the impression that they are stretches, the Sanskrit word asana derives its root from ‘as’ which means ‘abiding’. This, among other things, means that asana is a tool by which we cultivate the quality of attentive steadiness or the ability for sustained abiding in a chosen object of focus, instead of the usual scattering, vacillating tendency of mind.

However, if you only learn exclusively from videos, it is easy to get lost in a stretching mentality. When I sometimes see or overhear students in disgruntled tones comparing their postures with what they see in pictures and videos, I think they are paying more homage to Narcissus than Patanjali. This quickly brings about desires, comparisons, disappointment, arrogance etc, which in a collective sense, becomes the antithesis of yoga, which stands for a resolved, harmonious, serene state of attentive, receptive consciousness.

You need a good teacher to slowly stretch your awareness away from this kind of movement of mind, such as ‘how to become’ like that model in the video or the magazine’, and instead move you towards the ‘pure being of you’ as in this moment, which will give rise to a state of  fulfilment, peace and happiness.

So, as an answer again, videos are good as supplements but can never be substitutes for an actual yoga class.