• Take something that is done involuntarily and change it into something you do voluntarily: Start by paying close attention to these involuntary actions:

i) breathing;

ii) heartbeat;

iii) digestion.

The medulla oblongata of the brain stem controls these actions, as well as reflex actions, which we normally pay no attention to. Breath is the easiest involuntary action to control and is used in yoga to develop mindfulness. Normally an awake, inactive person takes about 15 breaths per minute. During yoga practice this number can be decreased to 2 breaths per minute or increased to 25 breaths per minute. Typically the yogic breath takes 13 seconds, so there are about 5 breaths per minute. The breath can be divided into four parts:

i) inhale period;

ii) hold after full inhale period;

iii) exhale period; and

iv) hold after exhale period.

For example, a yogic breath (pranayam) may involve a 5-second inhale, 1-second hold, 6-second exhale and 1-second hold. Since such breathing cycles require focused attention they help enhance mindfulness.

• Add complex and controlled movements to an involuntary action: When movements are added to pranayam (mindful breathing), additional attention is needed, not only to the breath, but also to the overall form of the body. In addition, trigger words (mantras) can be repeated silently or aloud. We learn to be simultaneously attentive to the infinitesimal and the infinite.

• Place yourself under controlled stress and learn to use the pranayam to keep your mind calm: We each have a threshold of stress beyond which our mindfulness begins to fade. Yoga asans (postures) serve to extend this threshold so we can stay mindful under a higher level of stress. We are training our brain to learn new responses to stress. Over time our behavior, i.e., our response to stress, triggers changes.

New Tools for the New World

These tools can be used to broaden our repertoire to face the changing world with new choices and different support tools. Modern societies are characterized by greater choices in life–work choices, food choices, relationship choices, recreation choices… Since our brain’s wiring occurred mainly under conditions where choices were very different than they are at present, the new choices often cause us to take paths that are expensive and unhealthy. We may need to learn how to eat slowly, eat healthy foods (avoid too much sugar, fat, etc.), not blindly follow others, and learn about our own resonances (unique talents).

Since many of these activities are hardwired we need to slowly unlearn certain habits and replace them with other habits. Many of our tools to cope with stresses may also need reevaluation. Some of the new stresses arise from our jobs. For example, many of us now routinely sit in a chair for 8 hours a day–a highly toxic activity for our spine, abdomen, and our respiration. Many of us are surrounded by constant stimuli from the internet, from texting, from email demands, and pressures of deadlines. Many of us eat at our office or in our car as we run from task to task. At the end of the day we may be frazzled and reach for whatever tool relieves our stress—pills or alcohol or a run in the park. It’s during these times that the daily practice of healthy stress-relievers allows us to utilize more healthy coping mechanisms. Let’s work on hourly practices that prevent daily stresses to build up, and find more healthy coping mechanisms.

Small Things Matter, All Things Matter

In any area of wellness—personal fitness, relational fitness, work fitness—paying attention to both small things and to all things makes a big difference in overall wellness. Performing marathons and triathalons are not essential to remain fit. Even a few minutes of exercise done several times a day can improve your fitness. Small things like taking stairs, doing a few minutes of yoga practice during the day several times a day, eating mindfully, etc., make fitness achievable for busy people with lots of responsibilities. If a small amount of care is taken everyday and perhaps even every hour, we can stay well into our seventies and eighties.

So while doing a marathon or a triathalon may be a good thing to do once in a while, staying fit does not require these intense activities. Attention to posture, breathing, eating, and to relationships on a daily basis can keep us fit. Each aspect of wellness requires our attention. Imagine brushing and flossing only your front teeth, since they are the ones that show, and ignoring the back teeth. Many of the popular physical fitness regimes focus on a few prominent muscles—arms, chest, abdominals, and legs. Small muscles in the toes, ankles, and deeper muscles in the core, etc., tend to be ignored. But these muscles support our strength and contribute to our wellness. The strength of these smaller muscles help avoid a painful groin pull or aches in the lower back.

A key to total fitness is: Small Things Matter, All Things Matter. Study habits, relationships, work performance, etc., each benefit from this approach. A student can study everyday to review their work or they can “pull an all-nighter” before the final exam, hoping to catch up on missed study time. In a relationship (with your spouse or your child or a partner) you can be kind and responsible everyday or only when coaxed or prodded. You can brush and floss your teeth everyday or wait for a root canal.

Balance is key. Pay attention not when the problem becomes large, but take steps to minimize the large problems by being mindful of the small gestures and habits that nurture our relationships, our goals, and our physical health.

Every New Year’s day millions of people make promises to themselves to change some habits. Some want to eat more mindfully, exercise more, spend more time with their families, read more books, save more money, and so on. Many businesses depend on these resolutions and sign up millions of clients to help them achieve their transformations. Unfortunately, within a month or so most of these resolves fade away as if they were written in sand. Even very disciplined people find it hard to create new habits.

New habits and behaviors can be learned and incorporated into our lives, but simply knowing the benefits of doing something and even having resources to do something does not automatically translate into actually doing it. Doing it again and doing it again and repeating it solidifies the habit. To consistently develop habits that allow us to pay attention to our breathing, eating, posture, exercise, etc., we need help. The most beneficial aids come from a companion, a coach, a mentor, a partner, or someone who can give us gentle reminders at the right time. While nothing can replace a real person in this role, most of us do not have the resources to engage a personal guide at our side. This is where we can turn to technology.

Our next blog highlights ways technology can be your guide to a more healthy day.

 Exerpt from Achieving the Good Life, by Jasprit Singh, due in full publication Summer 2013.

If someone close to you has mild cognitive impairment (MCI, the early stages of Alzheimer’s) you may see first hand the fearsomeness of this disease. You may ask yourself, “what can I do to avoid that happening to me?”

There are many theories about memory loss prevention, and many great minds working on this issue, but so far none have found a sure-fire way to prevent Alzheimer’s. However, very compelling studies have found that regular exercise reduces the odds of getting dementia.

While the precise amount and duration of exercise to best improve cognitive health is not known, what is known is that “cardiovascular exercise, resistance exercise and flexibility are ‘neuroprotective’ to the mind and increase a person’s ‘executive central command’ ability to critically think and resolve life’s many challenges.”*

Doing the RussaYog workout, with its resistance movements and postures, the building up of the heart rate, and the great stretches that increase flexibility seems like a perfect way to build up your own resistance to disease. The free flowing rope, held in each hand, coupled with yogic asans allows you to use gravity to create stresses and experience a complete body workout, taking your mind and body to a heightened state of awareness and fitness. RussaYog includes over 200 trajectories that can be done using a rope, a length of fabric, a danda (portable staff), or no prop at all.

We all know that doing regular exercise is essential for our health, and now there is an added reason to make your workout a priority!

If you cannot make it to a class this week, then select some exercises from our YouTube channel.

core workout improves your heart and your brain!

Interesting articles about the role of exercise in protecting against dementia:

Preventing Alzheimer’s: Exercise Still Best Bet

Can exercise prevent memory loss and improve cognitive function?

Exercising for Brain Reduce Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease

dropping marbles can appear to be a free-for-all

We live in the age of science. Air travel, computers, cell phones—science and technology impacts our lives. Knowledge from medical science has aided our wellness. Science has removed some of the mystery from many illnesses and natural disasters. More people now accept that poor health is a result of germs, viruses and parasites. Natural disasters are viewed as a result of shifting weather patterns and tectonic plates, rather than due to the wrath of God. Despite these advances, disease and death still create uncertainties and pain. Scientific techniques help us understand the rules that run the Universe. The techniques are based on the empirical method of observation. In this approach a detector that ideally does not interfere with the observation is used. Then a set of rules is provided. The scientific method has supplied us with greater understanding of the universe and also provided us all the ‘magical’ technologies that we love to use. Some of the laws that govern us fall into the following categories:

• Laws of the Natural world described by physics and chemistry. These laws govern ideas like how technology works, how the planets move, how planes fly, and how carbon is emitted when we drive a car. These rules are not something we can alter, but through their understanding we can develop new technologies, some of which can help us. The natural laws are not ones we can characterize as fair or unfair or good or bad. We cannot pass a referendum to alter these laws.

• Rules of biology and medicine. Compared to the rules of the material and inanimate world these are more complex. These laws are usually figured out through empirical studies. How is cancer caused? How do certain drugs work? How does healing occur? How can pain be controlled? How does one avoid dementia or Alzheimer’s disease? Western medicine has standard approaches to answer these questions based on carefully controlled studies. There are also alternative medicine approaches that often come from ancient wisdom. Some of the ancient wisdom has been found to be in agreement with medical science. Some ancient wisdom, on the other hand, is not in agreement with science. The reader needs to have a set of personal guidelines that allow him/her to decide when to follow modern science and when to follow ancient wisdom from sacred texts and practices.

This post is a series of posts on the First Limb of Yoga: Yam, the Rules of the Game, from the upcoming book, “Karma Wealth and Wellness: Mindfulness in the Age of Science and Technology,” by Jasprit Singh

Please view a brief video by Jasprit that uses marbles to illustrate the concept of the empirical method and how science deals with the inability to predict complex phenomena. What is sometimes called “miracle” for the scientist is an event with a very small probability. The underlying laws of science are fixed, even when the outcome is unpredictable.

The phul-walla attempts to make a sale as the taxi stops (photo by Sara Schneider)

A Gymkhana During Daylight

The flyover from Mumbai airport was teeming with life and romance on this St. Valentine’s Day in the land that embraces all forms of spiritual expression, from the sacredness of the mother cow, to the celebration of Saint Valentine—in any form.

Here in Mumbai along the swanky Marine Drive along Chowpatty beach and beyond to the Gateway of India in Colaba district couples, families and friends gather to sit on the breakwater catching the breezy warm night air under the moon’s suggestive smile. The more modern and daring young couples share a scooter seat, face-to-face, sneaking an embrace or even a kiss under the thin veil of the moonlight.

Pleasant Regent Hotel

On the way to morning yoga at Gateway of India

Along the way to the Regent Hotel shadowed behind the famous Taj Hotel, we passed several Gymkhanas—wedding tents. Not your ordinary tent, these clubs lit up the night sky like a Bollywood movie set replete with shimmering curtains, pink and red chiffon swags draped between golden pillars. The limousines were depositing glittering sari-clad guests, children in their designer outfits, and men in their embroidered kurtas, vests and other finery. Each Gymkhana—Hindu, Sikh, Muslim—projected its own majesty, symbols of the esteem that the institution and tradition of marriage holds which is alive and well-financed in India.

Our slow crawl through this urban center allowed us to take in the sites and sounds and sensations of a festive Mumbai evening. Phul-wallas deliver your dozen-rose bouquet right to your taxi window, giving those who forgot to mark the occasion for that  special someone one last chance to declare their love. If real roses are not your preference, then a fun bouquet of heart-shaped balloons may strike your fancy. Stalled in traffic, from the comfort of your ‘cool’ car your shopkeeper comes to serve you!

Regent hotel is a fine hotel of marble flooring and staircases and plenty of amenities including as many Arabic language TV stations as you like. With the room service menus written in Urdu or Arabic, the Dubai-based television, the custom of keeping tea available in the lobby, as well as the presence of many guests dressed in abayas (covered dress) or taqiyah (skull caps): it’s safe to say that the hotel caters to those from Arabian countries.

A murder of crows motivates the yoga practitioner to strengthen foucs!

Our trip to Mumbai coincided with visiting French dignitaries which made our morning walks pleasant, since the road in front of the Gateway was closed to traffic, and well guarded. Our threesome, Sybille, Sara, and I, doing yoga under the majestic Gateway prompted some curious onlookers to ask Jasprit, camera in hand, if he was shooting a commercial and did he need an extra photographer?

A special experience while visiting the Gateway plaza is to sip a steaming shot of ‘expresso’ chai offered by many of the chai wallas who wander the tourist spots, thermos of strong sweet tea in one hand and a stack of tiny plastic cups in the other, with one eye on a potential customer, and the other eye looking out for police who will whisk them away if caught conducting business without a vendor’s license.

Surrounding the Gateway of India is a large plaza, boat launches, and a private yacht club, cordonoed off with metal barriers. Every now and then guards near the Gateway loudly bang their stick on the metal barriers surrounding the complex (plaza) which sends hundreds of crows into the sky in a movement of black cloud, reminiscent of Hitchcock’s “The Birds.”

The sun rising beyond the Gate welcomes the crowd gathered for a boat ride, a morning constitution, or just to snap a photo. Of course, it’s also a perfect spot for impromptu yoga!

please read more of our blogs of India here, please subscribe to our youtube channel, and ‘like’ us on facebook!

Before the morning light reached the streets of Amristar the sight of a tandoor drew us across the street to a small dhaba advertising paranthas. The only customers so far this early morning, we sat to have chai and salivated at the thought of breakfast. Not just any breakfast. This chef had already heated up the tandoor, formed the dough, chopped the onions, boiled, mashed and seasoned the potatoes, diced the chilis and set each scrumptious ingredient into neat piles on his workboard. We stood close to the tandoor fascinated with his methods.


He uncovered the top of the tandoor, pleased to have a small crowd gather, videotape and photograph his skills. Inside the tandoor the coals glowed red. Waving us to step back, he tossed a handful of water into the tandoor where it sizzled, signaling its readiness to receive the dough.

He quickly rolled out one slice of dough, filled it with the potato and spice mixture, and slapped it onto the inside of the tandoor. He made 6 altogether. Using long tongs he extracted the baked parantha and transferred them to a plate. With a dose of yoghurt and a dollup of butter (and optional spicy pickle on the side) we enjoyed the perfect Punjabi breakfast!

enjoy the following brief video (and many more on our russayogi youtube channel):

Tea Plantations of Munnar

Tom (pronounced ‘tome’) Matthew was our escort to the gorgeous tea and spice country of Munnar in Kerala. The 126 km distance between Kochin and Munnar was estimated to take 5 hours. Tom spoke in English, answering Jasprit’s questions. Most Kerala citizens learn Hindi in school, but many do not practice it. They are more comfortable with their mother tongue, Malayalam, and for those whose business it is to interact with tourists, English is the more common language.

Christmas ad in Malayalam (in February)

About 29% of Kerala is forest and there are 44 rivers making it a very rich State for agriculture: spices, cashews, rice, and tea, to name a few.

Kerala has the most Christian churches of all of the States of India. Tom is Christian, so he, like all non-Hindus, is not allowed in Hindu Temples. Only Hindus. There are 1000 boys to 1400 girls, so the dowry system persists here. The people of Kerala on average are the most literate in the nation. They also have excellent health care, which primarily focuses on prevention. Although Ayurvedic medicine is pervasive throughout the State, most Keralites use “Western” medicine for serious problems, and use Ayurvedic for ongoing issues, for prevention, and for various ailments.

A well-stocked Kerala medical toolkit would have a combination of Western drugs and herbal oils, teas, and wraps.

In Kerala it seems that any action performed on the body has some relation to Ayurveda: meditation, prayer, chants, massage, wraps, drinks, diets, martial arts, pedicures…

Wait a minute. Martial arts? This is what I heard from the English-speaking MC at the traditional Kalarippayat (Kerala martial arts) performance. The Kerala martial artists discipline includes the use of weapons like swords, sticks, and knives.

Yoga is part of Kalarippayat training

Nimble jumps and quick slashing makes Kalarippayat a risky venture

A traditional treatment based on the Ayurvedic system has been developed to treat bone and soft tissue injuries that result from the practice of Kalarippayat.

Usually ointments and wraps are used for 3 weeks to heal the injuries.

To create more supple limbs a massage by foot is given from 4-6 a.m., the optimum time for massage.

The MC explained that nowadays Ayurvedic massage has become popular, especially among tourists who schedule massages at all hours of the day because “they cannot wake up early to experience the authentic and true time for massage.”

…and did I mention pedicures?

Yes, on our way to Munnar Tom stopped at Deepa World Spice Center where we took a tour of the plantation of many spices and herbs grown in this region, including the Queen of spices:

cardamom flowers grow close to the ground even though the plant can be tall

cardamom, and the King of spices: Pepper.

pepper plant

Did you know that white pepper is black pepper without the skin? Same plant.

Or that Tulsi (Holy Indian Basil) contains mercury, but is also a great immune booster?

Here are a few other facts about spices of India:

Dark chocolate is cacao with the seeds

Touch-me-not plant is good for headaches and migraines

Hibiscus flower is an excellent shampoo and conditioner

Asparagus is used to treat impotency and to help lactation

The rubber plant is tapped and the liquid is mixed with formic acid and water to create latex. An average rubber tree lives for 25-30 years, then its wood can be used to form plywood or other furniture.

Excess consumption of pineapple creates heat in the body, so is not good for pregnancy.

10 kilos of cardamom pods yield 2 kilos of seed used for cooking.

Too much cardamom thins the blood, so one whole pod, if consumed, should be taken with a glass of milk.

The clove comes from a flower bud. The oil of the clove is extracted for many uses, so the usual clove spice you buy at the store contains very little oil.

As we concluded our tour of the plantation and were leaving the gift shop, loaded up with wonderful spices, aromatic soaps, and hand made chocolates, we stopped for one more Ayurvedic treatment: placing our feet in a tank of water so that the tiny Thai garra rufas could eat our dead skin! Yes, this is apparently an Ayurvedic treatment as well (one that we skipped at the Schipol airport in Amsterdam, despite enthusiastic reviews).

toasting with a tasa of chai while feet are being “treated”

Sara and I dared to drop our feet into the tank of dozens of little fish who immediately started their work. Ticklish. Odd. Strangely relaxing. Ten minutes was enough to get smooth peds. Who knew that Thai fish were used in Ayurveda?

At the Ideal Ayurvedic Resort near Kovalam

Receiving an Ayurvedic massage involves first meeting with an Ayurvedic doctor who takes your blood pressure, checks your pulse, asks your age and inquires about your general health. If you have no “issues” with your health, you’ll be ordered a daily body massage (Marma), topped off with a special head massage (Shirodhara) which is also recommended for those who suffer from migraines. I signed up for one massage each. The description, “body massage with herbal oil herbal powder by hand to tone up the body and improve blood circulation” sounded invigorating to me.

When I arrived I was asked to be seated on the porch until my therapist, Annida, had completed her work with Sara. When I entered the massage hut, Annida gave a welcoming smile and asked me to strip. Completely. All of it. Reassuring me that she was a mother of two and has seen “everything” she put my clothes on the window sill of this 8 by 10-foot softly lit room that housed two massage tables, one stool, a step stool and a table with a gas burner and a large cauldron. Plus shelves stacked with cream-colored light cotton sheets bordered with a narrow band of ochre embroidery; the sheets are used to wrap satisfied customers.

The massage began with the instruction to be seated on the stool, head at the level of Annida’s bodice. The massage staff wear the same rust- and sienna-colored saris which match the hues of the surrounding red earth. Annida began by touching my eyes with her fingertips, then bringing her hands to her heart, in a gesture of respect and blessing. Her hands, filled with herbed oil poured from small brass pots, vigorously massaged my scalp—front, top, sides and back—in confident and comforting strokes. Closing my eyes, giving into the slippery oil and experienced hands of Annida, letting go of awkward, vulnerable feelings, my body quickly became an oil slick. Sliding onto the table, face down, endless trails of scented oil waking every pore. Flipping onto my back, more pressure, more oil. Just at the edge of discomfort, I yielded to her practiced hands. My favorite part was her deft thumbs pressing and stroking my forehead, cheeks, nose and chin, circling my eyes. 

I almost slid off the table as I sat up to have the excess oil toweled off, then wrapped in cotton cloth and positioned on the next table. Two cloth strips placed at my brow line a slow, steady stream of heated oil reached my third eye and wove across my forehead mesmerizing and lulling me into sleep.

Birds calling, rooster crowing, tuk-tuk tooting in the distance, drip-drip, stirred me awake, my skull and hair soaked with oil, the ladies speaking Malayalam language quickly, discussing wash day. Towels, sheets, coverings to be slapped and beaten, then hung on the lines amid the palms and red soil where the baby buffalo feeds on the rich green grass. 

Keep the oil in your hair for an hour. Sit in the sun. Let it soak in. Namaste.

To continue our journey to Munnar

we headed up winding 2-lane roads into the gorgeous hillsides.

teens carrying stalks uphill

Up to the Flower Garden on the hillside. Beautiful. We witnessed teens carrying on their backs long loads of stalks up the hills. They were fit and trim. Instead of climbing and lifting weights for fun, they were doing it for a living.

firey flowers exotic and beautiful

I must have snapped photos of every gorgeous flower on that hillside.

Look for them in our next book, Karmic Wealth.

multitude of color amid the hilly landscape

Return to Kochin

Strike over. Massive traffic jam. Normal life returned. Extracted from the rush, we approached the chawk (roundabout) near our hotel.

Escorted by 3 elephants.

Welcomed by a topless male band in a parade.

Nice to be at Good Karma!

(stay tuned for our next blog that gives a glimpse of the the amazing musicians who played in the streets while the dancers pranced on the backs of elephants!)

Rail Gardee Coming

The distance from Trivandrum to Ernakulam is 213 km. In a 2nd class coach this means several stops and a 5 hour-train ride through palm-lined green rice paddies and small villages of Kerala. What could be an uncomfortable journey turned out to be surprisingly cushy. We each had our own berth, which doubled as a bed…pillows and blankets aplenty. The ride was smooth and cool, despite the 33 degree celsius temperature outside. The Russian family with three young children looked frazzled and weary. They had made their reservation on a 3rd class coach without air conditioning. Fortunately, they found space enough in the AC coach and could ride to their destination in relative comfort.

A comfortable sleeping berth in 2nd class AC car

On such a train the food shop comes to you. The coffee-walla came with his pot of coffee and cups. The biryani man had two foil packets of vegetable biryani left. A little packet of raw onion and one of spicy pickle included. We didn’t encounter the pani-walla until after we got off the train at Ernakulam. His repeated call of “waterrr-waterrr-waterrr”  with his trilled “r” made us chuckle.

The main challenge came when we reached Ernakulam station and needed a ride to our “Good Karma Inn” in Kochin, 15 km away. The taxi and scooter drivers were on a two-day strike. Upon our arrival that afternoon at the train station in Trivandrum our driver was approached by labor supporters who were angered to see him defy the strike by transporting us to our destination. As we left him, we saw one of the labor leaders hop into the back seat of our driver’s cab. The driver had a worried expression on his face. In Ernakulam we were told that the only excuse for a taxi driver to take passengers during the strike was for medical emergency or weddings.

Jasprit set off to find out how to get transportation from the train station. No cars we visible. Even scooters were scarce. As he went on his search, we pondered what it would feel like to ride a cow or buffalo, or even hitch a ride on the back of a stranger’s motorcycle?

Jasprit returned and motioned for us to hurry. We went over to the police stand where a uniformed policeman sporting a fine mustache stood at his post. His erect posture and air of confidence told me that he believed he was doing his duty to order service for us. Apparently he informed a cab driver that Jasprit was with the Army, making us a fare he couldn’t refuse.

We piled our bags onto the 3-wheeler, all four of us hopped into the back seat (which is built to fit 3 at best), and he drove us about 50 yards away where another driver took over, with instructions to take a detour to avoid the areas of the road where strikers were known to be surveying the streets for stray cabs with customers inside. A warning from the government had been issued promising strict punishment for any strikers who smashed windshields. Fingers crossed, we put our trust in our new driver who proceeded on the detour around the city, over the bridge as the sun set glowed on the river, past motorcycles and pedestrians and cyclists (hardly a car in sight), down dark streets, to a narrow road, right to the doorstep of Good Karma Hotel!

Good Karma Inn

The manager was relieved to see us. He had not been certain how we would be making our way from the station. Later that evening, he had to go out to fetch some other customers from the airport.

We were very thankful and slept well that night. The strike was to last one more day. We would find out in the morning what a daytime Kochin looked like during a strike.

early morning kochin

empty streets of Kochin during the two-day strike

early morning yoga overlooking the fishing nets, and overlooking the trash on the beach!

early morning yoga overlooking the fishing nets.

early morning forms of meditation

Please read more of our blogs on India, and visit our FB albums.

There is a difference between vacationing and traveling. Between going to one place and staying there for three weeks and going to a new place every couple of days for three weeks. Learning to stay healthy and happy in the latter situation can become increasingly more challenging as the days go by, but finding a routine has seemed to help on our trip to India.

I am not normally a super early riser. I do not sleep in late, but back home, my alarm usually starts chiming around 7am. I knew going into this trip (based on past experience with Jasprit and Teresa) that our days would start with the sun and end shortly after the sun disappeared. It was a welcomed change of pace.

I did not know what to expect in terms of our yoga routine. After two mostly inactive months of travel/vacations prior to my month in India, I did not know what to expect in terms of my ability to handle our yoga routine. Would it be the kick-me-in-the-butt three hour workouts I endured during RussaYog teacher training? Would it be just some morning pranayam? I was up for the challenge of either but was scared of the unknown.

When Jasprit said, “See you at 6am,” upon arriving at our Delhi hotel at 1am after 24 hours of air travel to the other side of the country, I swallowed hard and made a vow to keep up.

As you have probably experienced with exercise in your own life, there is always the battle and always the reward.

Each day here has been a similar series of morning patterns for me:

1. Drag myself out of bed at 6am cursing the alarm and praying that the workout will not be hard.
2. Dig through my backpack of clean and dirty clothes and try to predict if I will be sweating a lot or not.
3. Walk outside the hotel. Sometimes in the dark before sunrise. Sometimes to the sun already awake.
4. Drink a cup of chai.
5. Head to a beach or park or open area.
6. Start our morning pranayam.
7. Feel better.
8. Start our morning workout.
9. Feel even better.
10. Walk home sweaty, smiling, and feeling great.

It is in that moment of the first inhale and exhale that the mind settles. The sleepy state peels away like a snake shedding its skin, and I am left smiling at the sunshine, at the ocean, at the trees. Sometimes it takes longer to shed the morning grumbles, but in general, just a little focus on your breath and easy movement can awaken the mind and body for the day.

On days where the workout continues into a harder one, I have had to really stay committed to keep in the right mindset. The more we more south, the more the heat increases, and the easier it is to want to just sit down in the shade and become a sloth.

I don’t know that I would have the self-discipline to do even a little bit of yoga every morning on a three week trip without the help of Jasprit and Teresa. But, the effects of our practice are very noticeable, and I have managed to stay pretty well-rested and healthy in mind and body throughout the whole trip.

It is nice to see we are not alone also. In every location we end up at, there are Indians working out right alongside us. Doing their own pranayam practices or calisthenics. Or laughter yoga! That is the absolute best. You are walking around in the pretty quiet morning atmosphere, and then, out of nowhere, laughter breaks out in the distance. The loudest laughter you can possibly emit, and you cannot help but break into a smile.

Traveling is draining but rewarding. Yoga is challenging but rewarding. The combination creates balance. One maintains the other. The days pass before you know it, and when you think back, you will not remember the drain or the challenge, only the rewards.

Chardi Kala!