Manasa Yoga | Learn Yoga in SS2, Petaling Jaya

Hari Raya Closure & Classes at Manasa

Manasa Yoga — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:50:57 +0000

Hi everyone,

This is to inform you that Manasa Yoga studios at SS2 will be closed on Friday SEPT 10 (Day 1) for Hari Raya Celebrations.

On Day 2 of Hari Raya, Saturday SEPT 11, the studios will reopen with limited classes held only in the morning. There will be no afternoon classes on this day. Please note the following to see which classes you could come for if you are in town.

10-11AM Basic Relax Class by Lily will be at STUDIO 2 (Students who usually come for the 7AM Saturday morning class or the 4PM Saturday afternoon class are welcome to join the 10 AM class)

Saturday Advanced class will be rescheduled to the morning. Note the following new time and venue ONLY FOR Saturday SEPT 11.

9-11 AM Advance Class by Manoj will be held in Studio 1.

All classes will resume as normal on Sunday SEPT 12, 2010.

Happy Hari Raya to our Muslim yogis at Manasa.

Yoga Talk: Samasithi standing postures

Manasa Yoga — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:53:02 +0000

Listen to Manoj guiding a group of enthusiastic Medical students deep into the Samasthiti standing postures

MIND & SPIRIT: Stretching for good well-being

Manasa Yoga — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:11:32 +0000

Looking for a practice to detoxify your body, improve your posture, increase muscle mass, and calm your mind? Then yoga may be for you.

Today, yoga is practised by millions worldwide. While many associate it with the latest fad at the gym, it’s actually an ancient practice that connects the mind, body and spirit through different body postures, controlled breathing and meditation. Yoga originated from India as a discipline to get a deeper understanding of oneself and subsequently, the universe.

Manoj Kaimal, founder of Manasa Yoga, explains: “We’re made up of four bodies — the physical body, the energy body, mind and the intellect. From a yogic viewpoint, health in its truest sense is a state of balance in all four bodies.” The physical body is kept healthy through a regular routine comprising various postures called asanas. We nourish our energy body through the breath or prana. Breathing exercises called pranayama teach us proper breathing so all cells are oxygenated and the energy body can be radiantly alive.

Yoga teachings also stress on the importance of being constantly aware of one’s emotional and mental states at all times.

“An imbalance in any of the four bodies will affect the overall health of a person. If he approaches the practice just from a physical angle, body-strengthening asana practices won’t benefit his overall health as he may face an unstable emotional state due to his attachment of getting into a difficult posture which he can’t achieve.

“Appreciation of the body is crucial to cultivating a positive relationship with it. Many of us are too critical of our physical body, judging it to be too fat or too old,” says Manoj.

There is a wide range of benefits from regular yoga practice, including: ■ Lower blood pressure and pulse rate; ■ Improvement in function of major body systems such as gastrointestinal, circulatory, respiratory and immune; ■ Better quality of sleep; ■ Increased body awareness resulting in intuitive understanding and respect for the body; and ■ Balance in hormones and neurotransmitters, which induces a positive outlook on life and stable emotional state.

Manasa Yoga focuses on the mind (manas) and its entire practice revolves around redirecting the mind away from its tendency to identify with only the body, getting it to stretch towards the underlying spiritual reality. Manoj says: “One of the primary objectives of yoga is to be aware of the present. At Manasa Yoga, we guide students to be present in each moment of movement, hoping that they bring this awareness to their daily lives. “Clarity and wisdom will come when we realise the wholesome and unwholesome tendencies within. As we learn to discern, we can then make conscious choices and steer towards wholesome states such as compassion and joy.” So, during classes, the yoga instructors don’t do the asanas, but instead walk around the room to assist students to move into the various asanas. This way, students won’t form a rigid picture of what an asana must look like as different individuals have different levels of flexibility and strength. Students are taught to respect their bodies, to listen to their natural body language, and to not push themselves too much as that may cause unnecessary injuries.

Indian-born Manoj was introduced to yoga by his grandfather from a tender age of eight. A voracious reader with an inquisitive mind, he read the works of Swami Vivekananda and Swami Sivananda while other children his age were busy reading storybooks or playing with their peers. He studied yoga with Guruji Pattabhi Jois in Ashtanga Yoga Research Centre in Mysore. He’s also trained in the B.K.S. Iyengar School of Yoga, Sivananda Yoga Vedanta and by other teachers.

An accountant by profession, Manoj came to Malaysia in 1997 to work as a project manager. But life took an interesting twist three years later and he was inspired to set up the yoga school Yoga Life Mind & Body Centre in SS2, Petaling Jaya, with wife Sandhya. He has been sharing his knowledge on yoga by contributing articles to local newspapers and magazines. He has also been invited to speak at scientific and yoga conferences locally and abroad, including the International Yoga-Ayurveda conference in Rishikesh, India, set for February next year. At present, the 39-year-old is conducting a course with Dr Sivalal Sadasivan for Monash Medical University students on the application of physiology and neurophysiology to evaluate how yoga can contribute to one’s health and well-being. You can meet him at the Q&A session titled Everything You’ve Always Wanted To Know About Yoga But Didn’t Know Who To Ask at 8pm on Friday at The Violet Flame, Bangsar. Call 03-2095 9868 or email info@thevioletflame.com.my to book your seat.

Originally posted in NST: link

No classes at Manasa Yoga on Merdeka Day (Aug 31st)

Manasa Yoga — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:31:01 +0000

Manasa Yoga will be closed on August 31st for Merdeka Day celebrations BUT don’t let that stop you from practising.

Join us for Manasa Charity Yoga in the Park at 7-815AM Merdeka Day at Taman Tun Park. Minimum contribution of RM25 per person of which every cent goes to support the home for abandoned girls in Kerala, India.

The M.A.N.A.S.A. Code of Practice

Manasa Yoga — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 00:05:08 +0000

The M.A.N.A.S.A. Code of Practice

M: Mindfulness. The practice of being continuously aware of events happening outside as well as bodily and mental responses inside.

A: Attention. The practice of attending on a chosen practice. Say, if your practice intention for the day is compassion, then really being attentive to your thoughts, words, actions and expressions to see how you can allow this capacity to blossom. Or, if it is about developing concentration, then attending to breath as continually as possible through the day.

N: Naming. The practice of mentally naming whatever is arising in the mind, whether anger, dislike, contentment, delight, or whatever the emotion is. By naming, a space develops between you and the experience, thereby rendering you free rather than getting caught up with emotions.

A: Accommodating. A practice of not reacting to the emotion, such as trying to push it away in aversion.. (‘why am I sad’.. ‘this stupid anger’,.etc), nor liking it so much that you cling to it.. let it just be..

S: Svadhyaya. An investigation, or an applying of the ‘what is this?’ question to whatever is dominating in our awareness. Say, anger is dominating, but what is anger? Anger is a word..but what is this in terms of experience? How is body experiencing? What is breath experiencing?

A: Anatma (Not-I). The practice of ‘non-selfing’ with thoughts, feelings, ideas etc. For eg, anger is felt. But instead of identifying with it as ‘I am angry’, acknowledging the feeling as just a feeling, and that it is a process of mind and ego, that it’s not who I am.. I am the witness.. I am free.. I am consciousness.

Yoga in the Park for Charity on Merdeka Day

Manasa Yoga — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:39:17 +0000

This Merdeka Day, wake up early and join us for a great early morning outdoor yoga practice in the natural surroundings of TTDI Park. Celebrate the nation’s independence, feel good about yourself and do your part for charity all in one go.

Time: 700 – 815 am

Date : Tuesday August 31

Venue: TTDI Park (Taman Lembah Kiara)

Level: All levels

Fee: Minimum contribution of RM25 per person

(of which every cent collected is donated to Mahila Mandiram Girls Home in Thiruvananthapuram)

The funds raised are directed to support Mahila Mandiram, a Home for Destitute Girls in Thiruvananthapuram, India. It is a well-known social service institution which is striving for the betterment of women in every area of their life including providing shelter for poor women and orphan girls regardless of religion and caste.

For more information on the home, please visit www.mahilamandiram.org

Map to Taman Tun Park

A note on friends and the roles they play

Manoj — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 05:10:27 +0000

Namaste all!
Last week was Friendship week, which I came to know thanks to some messages I saw in the Facebook. Then on tuesday morning, in the morning class I gave a talk on the subject, about which I have been requested, or rather, ordered by some students to write. So let me try that, to the best that I can remember.

The class started with me asking this direct question, ‘Who is a friend’?
‘The ones we go out and eat with’. Michelle said.
‘Friends are people who stand by you when you need them’ somebody else said.
Parul then said that friends are special instruments who guide us or help us along in our journey.
All of the above written are answers highlighting different aspects of friendship.
In a scriptural sense, I then talked about an episode narrated in the epic Mahabharata, where Bhishma, one of the central patriarchal figures of the family gave a talk to prince Yudhishtara on how to rule his kingdom. Among the many topics covered in that amazing talk on leadership, Bhishma also talked about friendship. He categorized different types of friends which the prince should discern. They being
common friends, the kind of friends with whom we share some common likes and dislikes, can share jokes, can have dinner together etc (kind of what Michelle said).
contrived, dubious friends- referring to those people who make friends with those personalities purely because it is uplifting to their social esteem, or socially more advantageous, to be known as a friend of say, that movie star, that sports star, the prince/ princess, etc.
dangerous frinds- those whom you find an ease to converse with, who seem to be very sincere when they ask you personal questions, and when they say they will never reveal what you say, but who later will reveal all of that in the most distorted way, creating lot of damage.
spiritual friends- a special and rare category of people, termed dharmatma. Meaning those who uphold the dharma. These are friends whose qualities of dharma we try to automatically emulate, not the way they dress, or such things, but their commitment to dharma; which makes us more compassionate, more connected and more evolved human beings. Now, dharma means many things, and just for simplicity we can say it stands for righteousness, moral responsibilities etc. For eg, anyone who moves around with Waikuan, Susan Kee etc will atleast start to think about composting, about minimizing plastic usage etc. Whenever we visit Lenghee or Laypeng, we feel so inspired by their absolute commitment to recycling. They and many among you are really holding up that dharma, the responsibility of each and everyone who is living on earth. In fact all of you have inspired me and sandhya in some way. Christina’s love for plants. Madeline standing up for abused children. Julin helping Burmese refugee children. And so on and on. Now, your friends, when they move around with you, a part of them will automatically wish to emulate these wonderful qualities of dharma in you. And you also might get inspired by qualities in them.
Now, if we look over from Mahabharata to Yoga sutras, we find Patanjali telling that if you want to stabilize the mind (manasa sthithi nibandhana), the first quality you should develop is your capacity of maitri, which is from the root mitr, meaning friend. Only after cultivating the attitude of friendliness can we ever aspire to develop other qualities such as compassion, goodwill, equanimity etc.
Other great ones also speaks in the same language. For eg, once a close disciple of the Buddha, Ananta, had some difficulties in the path. He must have been supported during this time by his friends. Later, Ananta told Buddha that he understands now that friendship accounts for 50% of success in ones spiritual journey. To this Buddha said, ‘not 50 %, but success in the earlier days of practice is entirely dependent on friendship’.
Another incident which highlights the importance Buddha gave to friendship is revealed in his talk to another student, Magiya. Magiya went for a solitary retreat, despite Buddha saying that he was not ready to do so. But nevertheless Magiya still went. But soon, though sitting in the solitude of a beautiful mangrove, Magiya started to get overpowered by sensual thoughts, and he found his meditation practice really struggling. He rushed back to Buddha and asked why he could not continue his retreat despite being motivated and having clear intention. Buddha answered that one has to have five favourable conditions before one goes for solitary retreat. Of this the first and most important condition is having good spiritual friends. The second is having enough knowledge of Buddhas teachings so that he can have meaningful discussions with his spiritual friends. And so on. (meaning I dont remember the next three conditions).

I think this is what I mainly spoke about on tuesday’s class.
Then went about telling the students who were present in the class, and now to all of you, the fact that even Bhishma said that friends of the category of dharmatma is rare to have.
However, all of you Manasa student-friends are people belonging to this tribe- the ones who are sharing the dharma which every living person should uphold, which is, to be awake for life, to be awake to each moment,.to be present for the body, for the breath, for the mind, to really be alive to life as it unfolds moment by moment.
And along with improvement in your practice along the years, I see that many of you have blossomed to become good yoga friends. In fact when some people ask me whether they get anything free for paying the registration fee etc, I sometimes tell them that they will get something free if they stay for some time, which are good friends.
So, all of you kind of satisfy the first requirement told by Buddha, that is having good fellow spiritual friends, or atleast those who are trying.
But the next point is the key, that is, talking about the teachings, about that which was taught or discussed in the classes. After class do we do that? Or, have we transformed our spiritual dharmatma friends to the level of common friends by talking only about yoga clothes, websites, other workshops to attend, which teacher to hunt, politics, restaruants, movies etc?. Buddha clearly laid the idea to his students to talk about his teachings among each other, as such talks within the cocoon of friendship will foster their understanding.
Then, taking the friendship day as an opportunity, and at the risk of sounding a bit egoistic, I went on to tell the students present that what I am teaching is my humble effort in passing on what patanjali and others have taught; which I do so in the way that these teaching have blossomed in my consciousness after many many years of almost continous contemplation and looking at the world, into movments, into moments, into words, into body, breath as well as this ego, (which some people think is a bit high), as well as the mind, its tricks, its stories and so on.
And then I requested all regular and commited students to do just this, to talk about the teachings, to talk about the concept spoken in the class, and not keep on saying, ‘ I didnt understand a word he said’. Instead you can just be open and talk among yourselves, as well as with me or Sandhya.
Talking and discussing is important. As well as exercising the right of a yogi friend in admonishing other yogi friends. So, you see your friend constantly talking about the body, about the deficiency of body, then you have the right to advise them. Ok, first say Omm to silence them and to remind them of yoga, and then say, ‘dont be so critical of body.. body is not at fault, in fact even your desire to shape up the body is not at fault; but your clinging to this desire, clinging to see the result of the desire, this is not good. You have a healthy body now, everything is impermanent. Enjoy the health, the presence of a functioning body. Don’t just see it like a thing which has to be dressed up’ etc.
So, coming to today, what was discussed yesterday? The 6 part inhale and exhale?? What is that? How about that part where you heard something like, the 6 part breath linked to the 6 stages of life?? Then what about elemental awareness of breath??
Now I dont want to be the party pooper.. you can definitely talk about all the fun things too.. but after you finished the yogi talk first..
Looking forward to join in one of your upcoming group talks, bye for now..

“Alambana”- The Practice of Yoga with Support

Manasa Yoga — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 15:56:02 +0000

“Alambana”- The Practice of Yoga with Support

A Manasa Intensive Workshop

Manoj Kaimal will be conducting a Manasa Intensive “Alambana” The Practice of Yoga with Support this September.

At this workshop, you will learn how to enter postures using a chair as support, which among other things:

makes more advanced postures accessible for entering and staying
enables you to stay longer in the pose
allows you to contemplate deeper on the subtle nuances
enables you to enter a deeper state, both physically and mentally

Suitable for all levels. All students are strongly encouraged to attend.

WORKSHOP DETAILS

Time: 11 AM – 2PM

Date: Sunday, September 19 2010

Fees*:

Early Bird RM 95/- (Register and pay by Sunday SEPT 5)

Regular RM 115/- (Register and pay between Monday SEPT 6 and Saturday SEPT 18)

Same Day Sign-up RM 130/- (Pay on Sunday SEPT 19)

(*There are NO REFUNDS and NO TRANSFERS.)

Please note that the initially planned Abhyasa Workshop will be rescheduled to a later date.

Manoj Kaimal to be Speaker at 2011 International Yoga & Ayurveda Conference in Rishikesh

Manasa Yoga — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:55:47 +0000

Manoj To Be Spreading Manasa Yoga Beyond Malaysian Shores

Manasa Yoga is proud to announce that our founding teacher, Manoj Kaimal has been invited to be a presenter on Yoga at the 2011 International Yoga and Ayurveda Conference in Rishikesh. Some of the aims of this conference are to explore the traditional unity of Ayurveda and Yoga, to help students and practitioners of Ayurveda understand Yoga, to highlight the benefits of integrating Ayurveda and Yoga into a comprehensive healing system, to interact with and be inspired by the great teachers of Ayurveda and Yoga, and to heal ourselves and heal our planet.

For more information on this international event, or if you just want to check out our teacher Manoj’s bio, please go to: www.ayurvedaconference.com

Can you ‘experience’ your body?

Manoj — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:16:26 +0000

Namaste all

Recently I discovered that some of my instructions in class was not being clearly understood, especially this one, ‘now just experience the body’.

What I mean is most of us are conditioned to view the body, or relate to body as this ’shape’, of certain age, to be made shapelier or muscular, to be trained to do handstand or backdrop, etc. Personally, I have seen many people very critically viewing their body when they see it in the mirror, or photo. ‘Am I looking slim? Have I put on weight? Am I still looking young? Why cant I do foot behind head? My body is so stiff’ etc

All these do not reflect a friendly, open relationship with the body. This way, we are not relating to body as this unbelievable mass of intelligence, this wonderful gift of nature, on a ’as it is’ basis, but simply selfing ourselves with it, taking it for granted, and in many cases not respecting it, and either abusing it through carefree eating, drinking, smoking etc, or in the desire to look trim, trying to torture it, starve it etc. An appreciative awareness of body is very seldom seen, but which is hoped to flower in yoga practice.

Anyway, when I say in class ‘experience the body’, what I mean is not about sensor-ily sensing the parts of the body, such as sit bones, arms etc. It is also not about thinking of the body nor visualizing the body. Also, don’t try to experience it with your preconditioned knowledge. Existing knowledge is a thing acquired in the past. Don’t let it project into this moment, or into future. Let it stay in the past.

It is more about simply opening to your intention of experiencing the body, and see what slowly comes up as an experience, and being prepared to be content, even if nothing comes up. You have to drop whatever commentary which might simultaneously occur, even as you are trying to experience the body. Just simply be. It is more of a direct experience of body by your awareness.

Direct experience, instead of non sensory experiencing, this term might be again a bit confusing. Don’t bother much about it. Just be open. But know that, your perceptions in your mind too are not sensory. But many times, you might have heard yourselves saying, or connecting to thoughts in a very sensed way, such as ‘I feel weighed down by my thoughts’, or, ‘he/ she was warm to me’ etc. These are sensory terms, but in fact non sensory experiences, experienced directly in your mind.

Similarly, along these lines, an experience might occur.

Be fully in the present.

A sense of covering, a sense of presence will eventually occur, which might be felt along the qualities of hardness or softness, warmth or coolness, tingling or throbbing , lightness or spaciousness, brightness etc. Let your awareness become as intimate with the experience as you can.

Exhale, and relax. Let all ideas, pre conditioned knowledge, everything drop.

Open. Listen. The elements of the body, earth, water, fire, air, space… experience.. energy.. intelligence..

Till later