Yoga Demonstrations In Pictures

I know that the Deepavali light up along Serangoon Road has not yet ended so the mood for celebrating Deepavali is still around this month. Anyway, below is a picture set of a basic yoga demonstration in the same venue where I witnessed a classic Indian dance.

A teacher speaking before an audience, an a yoga practitioner demonstrating some basic stretches like “reaching for the sky” and “bending one’s body” backwards. A simple enough set of stretches to warm up one’s body for the next set of yoga exercises.

Ok, now the picture above shows a pose to stretch one’s hamstrings and the lower and upper legs. You can do this by mimicking those runners at the starting line as if waiting for the gun to fire. Instead of looking downwards, you look forward (look straight ahead) with both shoulder and arms aligned to the knees (which bends 45 degrees). The other leg is rested and laid straight backwards.

I call this one the triangular body stretch (I could not remember the name labeled by the speaker). Stand straight then bend forward with the palms of one’s hands touching the floor. Try to get a 90 degrees bending at the hip. Feet stays flat on the floor. I tried this one and it ain’t that difficult to do (even with the bulges around my tummy, heck).

I remember this stretch from some article in the Internet about radical body stretches. I’ve tried this before in the gym and it benefits the upper and lower back as well as the lower tummy. This pose tries to mimic the arching rise of the King Cobra when confronting an enemy - another animal or man.

Next teacher and student demonstrate a good breathing exercise wherein one tries to breathe fully through the nostrils with gentle force (as if slowly blowing a blocked nose with colds). Exhale then inhale quickly (this exercises the lungs from within). You can do an effective breathing exercise while in a relaxed lotus sitting pose (simply cross one’s legs and sit up straight).

The practitioner did an astounding head stand only with the forearms used as support along with the top of the head. She slowly bent her knees with her feet and lower legs hanging horizontally in the air. I can’t do this on my own of course (nor will I want to sooner or later).

Even the next one looks painful and really impossible for beginners. Her mid and lower torso, hips, legs and feet are all straightened upwards with only her neck and head resting horizontally. Her forearms support her back while doing this pose.

More weird and astonishing yoga poses that the woman demonstrated before a mesmerized audience. While her head and neck lie resting horizontally she let her feet and legs bend backwards (overhead) with her toes touching the floor mat. Amazing what the human body can achieve.

So ok, this time she bends her knees while arching upwards her hips and buttocks. She rests her neck and head on the floor mat. Her forearms support her back while her lower legs support her thighs. She looks like a bridge here thus I label her pose as a bridge body stretch.

This reminds me that Linda Blair’s The Exorcist when she does her creepy walking down the stairs with her hands and feet. Now look at her hands and feet which both point on the same direction. If in the previous one she looks like a bridge, this one she looks like one of the arches of the San Francisco Bridge.

This time she relaxes. She sits, relaxes, and slowly rotates to her right to give that good stretch for her upper body. She switches sitting position and then rotates her body upper body to her left.

As the speaker stated, to do this yoga pose correctly, have each leg set apart forming a triangular space in between. Now reach out to one side (left or right) and try to stretch the arm horizontally in a straight line (one arm reaching down to touch the knees). Do these while keeping everything straight. Feel that good stretch. This one I plan to do one of these mornings.

Nope, in this picture she is not in pain nor is she being possessed by demons or evil spirits. She simply demonstrates some simple exercises for the face. Try crumpling one’s face inwards as if eating a very sour type of fruit or viand. Then after 3-4 seconds release and quickly open wide each eye and the mouth. Do this for several repetitions. This really stretches every muscle in one’s face and is very beneficial for blood circulation. Yup, exercise that chubby cheek!

I can’t express enough what she did here. She looks like a rocking contraption in her pose while she reaches out backwards to grab her ankles. She looks like an imperfect loop here.

Really, I like to mimic what she did here - standing and bearing her entire body weight on both forearms. Utterly unique and albeit difficult, but it does look simple and fun.

Ok, now she did something which required the support of the speaker. She looked like a scorpion in this pose - her arching forward feet and lower legs, straightened hips and upper legs pointing upwards, and fully rested forearms, neck and head on the floor mat. I imagine this pose to be torturous to anyone even to the yoga practitioner simply by looking at it (appearing very difficult to do, painful and punishing to the neck and the torso).

18.Nov.07 Getting Things Done, Photo Series Comments (4)

How To Pack Your Things Smoothly

I’m currently writing this post while doing some packing and stuffing into small boxes the trinkets, clothes, toiletries, books and other countless bits I’ve accumulated for the past one year and 4 months of current stay here in Singapore. In short, I’m preparing my things for my transfer of residence (this weekend) to another place somewhere near where I work. I’m living with an officemate and temporarily occupying one of his children’s room. His family from the Philippines will return by next month, so I had to find another cozy place to stay. Luckily, two of my other officemates heard about my search for room vacancy and I eventually bagged one of the rooms of the flat they’ve newly rented.

Packing things can be one stressful task. Since I’m one of those “untidy, unorderly room” type of guy, just picking my shoe is already an uncomfortable activity for me. Makalat talaga (messy indeed).

But here is my own list of what I should do in order to accomplish this effortlessly:

1. Do packing ahead of time. This I did in order not to cram in my already tight schedule and accomplish more important things later in the week. If packing all things can’t be done in one day, then make an effort to pack a related item or two one day of a week. I started packing last Sunday. This lessened the things I needed to attend to today.
2. Start gathering clothes and bundle each item into classified groups before placing them in my suitcases. All the shirts should be grouped together (checked). All underwear bundled together (checked). Caps go together (checked). Shoes lined up (checked). You know the drill here.
3. To have plenty of room for clothing items to fit inside a suitcase, here’s a trick I learned back home: for shirts, instead of folding them, I roll them into tubes ala lumpia or popiah style. Or just roll it thinly. By making thin tubes, I get to place each one easily inside my case like placing wooden sticks. I had my shirts rolled up and placed them side by side at the bottom of the case. The next layer will be another set of rolled up shirts and undershirts. For big items such as towels or pants, if I roll them I get big tubes instead. I’d rather fold them into rectangular shapes and place them as layers over the rolled up shirts. You can have at the bottom the rolled up shirts. Next layer the folded towels. Next layer above have another set of rolled up items. It’s really up to you on how to maximize space inside your case.
4. Place small items such as handkerchiefs and socks inside plastic bags. The luggage I bought was big enough and has plenty of pockets inside in which I could store compact small clothing such as my handkerchiefs, socks, and other belongings.
5. I threw away into the garbage bin some of the things I really don’t need at all. These are very old items I mindlessly bought before but eventually I never used for so long. I admit I’m one of those who collect trinkets that only gather dust and become like trophies inside the closet. Tsk, tsk.
6. I have two other backpacks where I could snug in some other items like my big hamburger CD case, a camera case, and volumes of books. Investing in backpacks is a must for nomads like me.
7. Stop whatever I’m doing and continue the packaging tasks now. I know I’m blogging so I have to stop. I forgot I have some unfinished activities to do here. Hehe.

Ciao. Hanggang sa muli (Till next time).

Tags: Getting Things Done, Life Events

27.Jul.07 Getting Things Done Comments (2)