Interview and Favorite Yoga Poses (August 2017 Newsletter)

August is time for the annual fitness issue of (614) Magazine, freely available in many locations around Columbus. Check out the interview with Sipra on page 63 (excerpt below). 

If you had to give one advice to yoga newbies, what would it be?

You must find the right class for your temperament, and you must do it on a regular basis, which is at least three times a week. Yoga does not work in your body like the new, improved, super-strength Excedrin for one ailment at a time, to mitigate the discomfort. Yoga works on each and every body system, physical and mental. Slowly and surely, everything will fall back into balance and you will experience a euphoria that doesn't dissipate, no matter what. 'Svasthya' is the Indian word for good health. It is not the absence of disease, but the body in balance, always returning to its natural state of wellness, a sort of homeostasis. 
 

Well-Being: Favorite Yoga Poses

In her interview with (614) Magazine, sipra was asked what her favorite yoga poses were. There wasn't space for her to explain why she chose three of the simplest poses. Here are her explanations of the hidden depths of these basic postures:

• Sukhasana (simply sitting crossed legged with the heels tucked deep): This pose is truly what yoga is supposed to do to put one in a 'good space' (sukha), and to create in the individual a sense of balance and stability (sthiram) - Patanjali in Sutra 2.46, 'sthiram, sukham asanam', or poses should create a sense of balance and ease. This basic pose is powerful and stable and gives me a sense of being deeply rooted in the earth from where I can draw on solid, neutral, grounding and healing energy. 
   
• Balasana (child pose): Simple, simple, simple - folding forward from kneeling till the forehead touches the ground and the hips rest on the heels, with arms resting by one's side this pose replicates the position of the unborn child. Melting into the earth in this pose activates a sub-cellular intelligence in the brain, which brings it back to the place in the womb. It is a place of unconditional love from the parent, a place of complete safety and security, and a place where no thoughts or worries intrude, since thoughts are the results of earthly experiences, and there have been no experiences before birth. 
   
• Tadasana (standing with arms by one's side at easy attention): How simple can this be? Well, not so easy when you think of all the small motor actions that create this simple pose. Coordinating left and right sides of the body - medial and distal; lengthening up towards the sky and rooting down into the ground. Arranging with preciseness and careful alignment the left and right hips and shoulders, rotating joints of both arms and legs in opposite directions, slipping the kneecaps up towards the quads to release the hamstrings at their origin. Feet and hands carefully and consciously arranged. Along with all this goes the steady focus of the gaze or 'drishti' to activate the parasympathetic nervous system.