April 28th, 2011
Wow! What a highly inspiring yoga session we had this morning! Ramanji and Atulji's combination was dynamic. We had warm ups leading to yoga nidra. The importance of anulome/vilome was re-emphasized. Here is an outline of steps leading to yoga nidra.
1. Anulome/vilome for one hour (split through out the day - a minimum of 15 minutes in one sitting).
2. Do Brahmari - bee humming sound (very good to empty mind from thoughts)
3. so-ham exercise in bed.
Our deep gratitude to Ramanji and Atulji for these wonderful techniques. Along with the AsAnas, Raman-ji and Atul-ji inspired us that we could all live a "dis-ease" free life if we sincerely followed the techniques. We had a number of seniors tell us after the program that today's session was quite beneficial to them. One senior mentioned to me "I have had sleepless nights for years and though I have been doing yoga, today there was something new that I learnt". As for the details of this exercise, I am giving Raman-ji's and Atul-ji's email for those of you who would like more information or questions answered. (rapsrp@yahoo.com) and (atul@amrelitech.com)
After the session, Raman-ji mentioned that the members in our senior program have a lot to offer to the community. By practicing the prAnAyAmas and sharing with our family members, we are breaking the pattern of transferring genetic dis-eases to our future generation. He also expressed an interest to hear from the seniors about their experiences on the beneficial effects of doing these exercises. We have all promised to practice one hour of anulome/vilome, everyday, this month. I hope we will have many more seniors sharing their experiences the next time we meet.
We had our lunch followed by Mr. Sat Kapahi sharing his insights on the retirement community. Some of the key issues that seniors face were brought up during this discussion. We have just scratched the surface, if there is an interest to discuss this topic via email, we could start a discussion thread through the google groups that was setup recently. I will send another mail on google groups so you know the names and get comfortable with the group.
I would like to acknowledge our wonderful volunteer drivers who drove seniors from the Redmond library and Cascadia bus stop. Mr. Sat Kapahi, Mr. Shyam Oberoi, Ms. Hetal Karia and Mr. Devraj Sharma. Wouldn't it be great to see more volunteer drivers step in?
A very special thank you to Mrs. Marakatham for hemming the tablecloths. She took so much care to iron out the corners before stitching them. Thank you to Poonam for making the senior lunch, to our anonymous sponsor for the lunch this month and last month and to our super- volunteer Devrajji who does so many different things that, he continues to inpire the volunteer spirit in many of us.
Have a safe and wonderful month practicing the prAnAyAma and we will see you in the month of May.