The Wonders of Abdominal Breathing.

If you’ve met me in the last one year, chances are you would have received an unsolicited lecture on abdominal breathing. I can ‘see’ some of you smiling! I thought I must share this with a wider audience as this may benefit some others as it has benefitted me. It was 2 years ago that my husband and I learnt Kriya yoga. While I don’t practice the entire breathing sequence, what stuck to me is abdominal breathing which is used in Kriya yoga.

So let me tell you how I discovered this magical tool which is available anywhere, anytime and free of cost! Last year in November, I was diagnosed with dengue and was hospitalized. Although I knew about belly breathing, it did not occur to me how it had benefitted me until I was discharged from the hospital. In the hospital, my husband stood by my bedside asking me to take deep breaths through my stomach. Though I was weak, I did as much and for as long as I could. As soon as I was discharged from the hospital I was up and about. I did not feel excessively weak as is the case with dengue cases (which I realized much later). I was discharged on 25^th November evening and 27^th early morning at 5 am I was off with my husband to attend the Passing Out Parade (POP) at the National Defense Academy (NDA). My Mother thought I was crazy. But that was an event I was looking forward to for many months and I was feeling well enough to go.

People who came to visit me at home were surprised when I myself opened the door and was helping my Mom in the kitchen. They expected to see me bed-ridden. Exactly a week after I was discharged, we met two dear Army friends. The gentleman remarked that he couldn’t believe I was in the hospital just last week as he had seen many able bodied Army men look like zombies for 2 months after a dengue attack. Another hilarious incident happened when 2 weeks after returning from the hospital, my brother-in-law from Chennai, decided to pay a surprise visit to see how I was recuperating. I had just returned from a jog and was cooking breakfast when he came. He looked really confused about my condition. My Mother kept informing me of people who even two months later enquired very sympathetically about my health.

It was then I wondered about why I had literally and almost instantly sprung back to good health. The answer was clear: Belly breathing! Since then I have been practicing belly breathing for all ailments and physical and emotional too and giving unsolicited lectures on it to unsuspecting people ;-)

Whether it’s an itchy throat signaling the onset of fever (in my case), or a headache, or even indigestion or feeling stuffed after overeating, I do abdominal breathing and I’m back to normal. In May sometime, I went for a jog without a warm up (don’t ask me why), and suddenly while jogging I felt a shooting pain on my right calf muscle. I had to stop and limp back to my house. For 2 days I went around limping and no amount of stretching or pain balms helped. I don’t know why but only on the 3^rd day it occurred to me that I should try belly breathing. I did and next day onwards I was walking normally and 3^rd day onwards I was back to jogging. I was surprised! Now my husband too had a knee injury from running since January and medicines and Physiotherapy wasn’t helping too. So after breathing had cured me of my severe catch on my leg, I asked my husband to try that for his knee. Without exaggeration, the pain which had been with him for 5 months disappeared in less than a week’s time!

Even right before my Himachal trip, just a week before, I had sprained my right ankle by missing a step. As soon as I fell down, my first thought was, “Gosh my trip is in 6 days”. Almost instantly I remembered the abdominal breathing and did that almost continuously. And needless to say, I did go on my trip, walked a lot, climbed trees, etc. My ankle did feel wobbly at times and I pacified it with breathing.

Fast forward to 2 days back. On Thursday, last week, I cut my tongue while eating, and it was very painful. I saw that there was a boil like growth where it was painful and I had slurred speech on Thursday and Friday. I was worried about how I would host guests who were visiting the next 2 days. I decided to try the breathing on the boil. I sat down and did a 100 breaths and went about my work. Suddenly while talking to my husband, I realized I wasn’t slurring and there was no pain. I rolled my tongue on the roof of mouth and still no pain. The boil had disappeared! This was really a miracle!

Another important and remarkable recovery was that of my Father-in-laws’. Around two years ago, he was diagnosed with the first stages of Parkinson’s disease. And when he came to visit us in Pune last year in August, he was already around 10 months into the illness and had been on medication for the same. My husband taught him belly breathing and insisted that he must do 100 breaths each day without fail. And within two months there was no trace of Parkinson’s!

Even when I’m emotionally disturbed or angry or even when I sense anger/frustration rising in me, I just breathe and I’m fine and able to be more objective about the situation. And yes, breathing has made me happier!

Now-a-days, I breathe through the belly whenever I remember and I’m conscious of it, like, while I’m typing this. If I am not regularly breathing through the stomach, I sit down and do belly breathing for as long as possible, sometimes for upto one hour. Whenever I have tried it, it has worked and I am still discovering its benefits with each passing day.

How to do it: Doesn’t matter if you are sitting, standing, sleeping! Just take deep breaths through the belly. It means, feel your belly expanding and contracting with each breath. For any ailment in a specific part of the body, you need to use your imagination a bit. For example; if I am having knee pain, I imagine my knee breathing in and out, although I continue breathing through the abdomen. If you find it difficult to imagine this, place your palm on the ailing part and breathe through the belly, at the same time bringing your awareness on that part of the body.

I remember in one of Lobsang Rampa’s books, he had mentioned that pain in any part of the body occurs because of a lack of oxygen supply to that part. May be that’s why bringing one’s awareness to that part and breathing through the abdomen works so well. I also remember a scene from the movie ‘Black Swan’ where Natalie Portman goes to the doctor for a strain in a muscle and the doctor tells her “Breathe into it” (into that part of the body).

Even babies and Rishis naturally breathe through their abdomen. Maybe we need to re-learn the natural way of breathing. It surely has helped me. Try it out and do let me know if it helps you!

Dealing with Fear

If there’s any movie which has influenced me a lot, it would be Star Wars. While there are any things I learnt from the movie, one important lesson was to ‘not give it to Fear’. There are 2 offshoots of The Force. One is love based and the other is fear based. And all emotions, feelings and actions can be traced back to either of these. So, whenever I am angry, hateful, or experiencing emotions that are not aligned with love, I ask myself, “What am I fearful of?”. Look around us and you will see that all the wars and violence stems from fear; fear of losing control, fear that others may have more than we do, etc. For a last few years, I’ve been contemplating a lot on Fear and am beginning to realize that there is nothing to fear other than fear itself! I can’t say I’m completely fearless, but I’m understanding how to overcome it and keep it at bay.

I recently met an environmentalist on one of my trips, who volunteers at the animal rescue and shelter. One thing he said impacted me a lot. Whenever he goes to clean the area/huge cage of the leopard, he said he has to keep his eyes fixed on the animal. The leopard too has its eyes fixed on him at all times. Even if for a moment he averts his gaze or turns his back on the animal, it will pounce on him and make him its next meal. I’ve seen some programs on Nat Geo and Animal Planet also talk about the same thing. Most casualties with wild animals happens when the victim has turned his/her back to the animal in a bid to run/escape.

I have a feeling that animals smell fear. Even stray dogs on the street, they will bark and look ferociously at people who exude fear. Just experiment with this, if you are scared of stray dogs. Once you hold back your fear they will leave you alone. That is also true of all other animals. I guess animals and reptiles like snakes, sense with their heightened perception that if a human has fear, he is also more likely to attack them. So in a bid to protect themselves, they go on the offensive. Recently while having a conversation with someone, we concluded that that’s how even human predators, who are even more dangerous than the beautiful animals, operate. They do not go on the offensive, but they too smell fear and prey on women who exude fear. So it’s high time that we, women and also men, understand fear and tame it.

The best way to handle fear is to look it in the eye. What that means is being aware of it without panicking. In my various experiences where there have been opportunities for fear to overwhelm me, from meeting with an accident in a bus in Manali, to being stranded in the mountains with no other woman in sight for a long time, to being alone in the forest at night with footfalls outside my room, to being fearful of people and strangers, I’ve seen I’ve been least affected when I’ve been aware of it. I guess being aware of fear itself makes it submissive.

Recently during one of my exhibitions in a restaurant, I received around 4 emails and FB messages (in the ‘other’ folder) saying how much this person (a man) liked my work and asking for my phone number, which is not mentioned in the visiting card. The FB profile showed the picture of a waiter in the restaurant. The next day, before leaving for the venue, I sensed some fear in myself. Should I be angry and just look away when this waiter shows up? Or should I pull him up and put him in his place or complain to the owner about him. The messages were not lewd or offensive but just asking for my number. When I sensed fear rising through me, I decided to be aware of it and focus on my breathing. (yes, I can be chicken hearted!!) I decided to go with the flow and react as the situation demands. The waiter did show up asking “How are you Ma’am? “. I smiled and said “Yes, I’m good. BTW, are you the one sending mails and messages?”.  I asked that with the expression of “Why would anyone do that?”.  I instantly saw his face shrivel with guilt. He said “Yes Ma’am”, and simply walked away. And in a way I was glad, I did not have to insult him but at the same time convey the message to him. Well, this incident is a very small one and nothing to compare against what some women have experienced, but it was an experiment of mine, nevertheless, on dealing with fear.

Before this incident too, while painting a wall on a street, I experienced fear when a homeless shabby looking man, walked up to see my work. I was on my guard. But when I let go off my fear and spoke to him, he turned out to be a good person.

On my trip, last year, to South Karnataka, I stayed almost in the middle of a forest, alone, with nobody to come, even if I shouted for help. There were no lights outside my room too and the only light was a dim solar lamp inside my room. One night, at around 3, in the middle of the night, I heard footfalls outside my room. I was instantly wide awake and completely alert. There was also a wind outside, blowing up dry leaves which carpeted the ground outside. This would have been a very apt scene for a horror movie. Then I heard a knock on the door. You can imagine how tense I was. That night for some reason I had left the solar lamp on, and I knew there were some gaps in the wall as it was a rustic accommodation. If there was a human predator outside, he would be able to see me, which means I shouldn’t be looking fearful. For a few moments, I tried not to move, still thinking about what to do, in case there is an attack.  I reminded myself to focus on my breath. And what I’m going to narrate now is going to sound hilarious, and yes, I too laugh hard at what I did, in hindsight. But it wasn’t so funny then! I thought of what possible object I can arm myself with. There was nothing else but the humble nail cutter with the filing knife. I got up from the bed, went to the closet and took the knife, opened the filing knife and brandished it a few times in the air, to convey the message to any person who might be outside that I can deal with what’s coming! Well, after the initial 3 intermittent knocks, there were none, although the wind was howling outside. I stayed awake the whole night, completely alert and wide awake ad extremely tired. During breakfast I told the owner about my experience. She said it may have been a wild boar scratching its head against the door!!

That was my greatest test, so far, in being aware of fear, looking it in the eye, and overcoming it. I remember, once as a child, I had dealt with fear, in a way which amazes me now. I used to have recurring nightmares, when I was about 5 or 6 years old. In the dream, a ghost/demon kind of figure would be standing at the top of the stairs and as I climbed the steps, it would engulf me. I would wake up completely terrified. When I narrated this to my mother, she taught me the Gayatri mantra. So after learning the mantra, I told the ghost, in my mind, “I’m ready to tackle you now’. And even before sleeping, it was as if I knew the ghost/demon would come and I would confront it. And yes, the following night, the same ghost/demon was standing at the top of the stairs waiting for me. I climbed up, but this time rapidly, at the same time, chanting the Gayatri mantra and I lunged at the ghost/demon in a confrontational move. After some initial discomfort/struggle, the ghost/demon just vanished into thin air. And I never had that nightmare again.

But all this is not to say that fear is bad. The feeling of fear is there to warn us, many times, against possible dangers. But the trick is to differentiate between when the body feels fear, which is an actual warning, against that which is created by the mind, which is almost always imaginary. But it always helps to be aware of fear, for in awareness lies the solution to dealing with it too.

Thoughts when I was in the hospital.

I always boasted that I never get bitten by mosquitoes. People around me would be clapping their hands and hitting themselves and scratching while I sat unaffected by the dreaded insect. But all that changed. A fortnight ago, I was diagnosed with dengue and later hospitalized for 5 days. Dengue is known to be fatal in some cases, and in my case, while there were moments when I thought "Is this the end?" Well, these are a few thoughts that crossed my mind lying in the ICU. Even before I went to the hospital the high fever, nausea and extreme chills had battered my body. Somehow I did not pray to God to cure me. I did ask healer friends to send me healing energy and when I couldn't take the pain and bodily distress, I just prayed for help to cope with the pain. I was admitted to the ICU because my blood platelet count had gone dangerously low and a transfusion had to be done 5 times. Somehow when the body is completely worn out, I realized there is amazing clarity of thought. And there was little else to do apart from thinking lying with tubes fit all over your body.

The doctors were worried that there may be an internal haemorrhage because I was vomiting blood and there was bleeding in the gums. Again the thought came to my mind "Am I going to die?". Surprisingly there was no fear of death. Although the conditioned behavior would be to plead to God to help and save you, I did not feel like praying for that. I asked myself why am I not praying to God to save me. I got 2 answers. The first one was that for the last 2 and half years I've lived life passionately. I infused everything I did with passion on a day to day basis. I loved, ate, traveled (well, that could have been more), painted, read,  spent time doing everything I loved. I also cried, fought, hated, sulked, but so what? All these are part of my human experience. I had no regrets because I was fully aware of what I was doing. Even if I lazed around I did that passionately and fully aware of it and loved it. Another thought that occurred to me while at the hospital was that since the last 3 yrs or so I had chosen to interact and spend time with people who nourish me energetically rather than drain and deplete my energy, mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. And that I was happy about.  

The second reason why I did not ask God to save me was that I've read extensively on life after physical death and I knew it would be a continuation of life. So there was no fear. I was thinking if I asked God to save me and if He does, would I then call him the merciful God or the Kind God, and if he does not save me would I then label him as the merciless one? Is not life and death part of life as whole? Then why should I plead for life or label God depending on whether he extends my life. I decided I would just be an observer and see what happens to me. But one thing I had resolved in the ICU. And that is if I lived I would take the passion quotient a few notches higher and live life more fully. All that matters is the zest for life and to live each day as if it is your last. I also resolved to focus more on things that matter rather than fretting over petty things.

I'm really thankful to people who came to donate blood in the middle of the night, who visited me at the hospital and even now. Thankfully, I'm recuperating well and people who have been visiting me at home say that they did not expect me to look so healthy. One thing I realized is no matter how weak the body, the spirit within is invincible and that makes all the difference. Here I am, writing the thoughts that crossed my mind in the hospital and totally loving every bit of life..:-) 

Buying from Tribal Artists.

Recently I attended an Art fair where artisans from all over the country had assembled to display their art and handicraft. Most of these artisans were from remote tribal areas which are so rich in Art that it is a way of their life. These included Gond artists from Madhya Pradesh, Madhubani from Bihar, metal workers from Bhuj, Dhokra from Chattisgarh, etc. 

I was at a stall buying some Dhokra neck pieces. Now for people who don't know about Dhokra art, there are intricately made metal pieces where molten brass is poured into moulds and then baked and polished. It is quite a lengthy procedure. There was this other lady too who had picked up some pieces. The cost of each neck piece was Rs 160. Now, anyone would agree that it is really cheap. I saw this lady bargaining with this tribal artist. I politely intervened and told her that considering he has come all the way from a remote village in Chattisgarh and factoring in all the overhead expenses, it is very little that would get and Rs 160 is indeed very cheap. She immediately got the point and bought it at the actual price.

Now why am I writing   this? I realized that not many people would know the effort that goes into hand crafting a piece of art. Ever since I've started creating and selling hand crafted items, I'm even more appreciative of other artists especially the tribal  ones. They are so unassuming about their art. They live in difficult conditions and still create astounding pieces of art.

So if I may make 2 requests here. One is avoid bargaining with artists, because by experience I know it is very difficult to price your own creations and for many that may be the only source of sustenance. May be one could just ask politely if they can reduce the price just once if you really can't afford it. But haggling over the piece of art makes the artist very uncomfortable. Secondly, try to buy directly from artists as far as possible. From my own experience of selling through various stores, most of which charge a commission of 40%, I feel really happy when people directly buy from me. I'm able to sell things at a discounted price and yet able to make a decent profit. 

And I'm sure it's the same with other artists too. Most people would not know this. Please do not mistake this as an indirect hint to buy from me. I'm talking about artists in general. Most artists would bless people who buy their art which transforms the energy of the place. I surely do. So please be more kind and considerate towards artists. Art brings smiles to faces and delights the heart. Let's help spread that..:-)

Happiness!- From the Simplest of Things!

My husband and I were driving down a road when we stopped at a signal. To our right at a little distance there was some construction work going on with a few labourers working and a few of their children playing nearby.  There was a large blue plastic sheet spread on the road, probably used in construction (not sure!). Four laborers came and held each corner of the plastic sheet and lifted it probably to shake off the dust or dry it. This caused a kind of rippling wave like effect on the sheet. Seeing this, the labourers' children jumped up and down clapping their hands and laughing happily. I thought to myself that these children probably have been out the whole day in mud and cement at the construction site, probably wouldn't have eaten stomach full, yet just the sight of the plastic sheet going up and down saw them dancing in delight. That's a wonderful lesson that dawned on me. Happiness can be found in everything, in the smallest of things, only if I allow myself to be open to it, to discover and delight in the magic that everything is! 

Metaphysics to Physics.

A friend had visited us and while we were discussing various topics my husband said that the mobile phone, internet etc; was invented because there is an innate need in each one of us to be connected or reach out to others. That set me thinking further. Some of us who have read about the Atlantis civilization would know that there was a time when telepathy, clairvoyance, and the other abilities like teleportation and psycho-kinesis, which are now considered as 'super powers', came very naturally to people. Everyone was born with these abilities and they were not considered as extraordinary. 

However, people then, respected the privacy of others. This meant that though they could read others thoughts, they wouldn't because they respected the privacy of others and though they could travel astrally, they wouldn't go sneaking and peeping into other people's lives just for the heck of it. 
But then there came a time when people starting abusing these powers and that contributed to the fall of the Atlantis civilization. Fast forward to the present. Sometimes when I think about it, in our age, internet, mobile phones, bluetooth ad other technology have been invented to compensate for the lack of those powers which we lost long ago. 

They are an external manifestation of what was internal to us. What was metaphysical has now become physical. As they say history repeats itself. And we have people using these very gifts of technology to do harm in some way or other: read spyware, micro cameras, email phishing, etc. Wonder how this will end? ! 

Born to Travel!

No..this is not about me! :-) But I'd love to belong to this category by traveling more and as much as I'd love to! This is about some people, some of whom have become friends, whom I met during the Spiti trip. 

One is a gentleman who left his job in 2004 to follow his passion for travel. He has traveled and explored innumerable places in the country and spends most of the year in the Himalayas trekking from one village to another. He spoke of a time when he was in the city for some work for more than a few weeks, and got so uneasy that he had to go back to the Himalayas where he belongs! I listened in awe as he narrated fascinating travel stories. He spoke of a Swiss man whotravels overland in his camping car from Switzerland to Goa and also takesother travelers with him for a fee, a group of travelers who do the length andbreadth of any country only by train, without stopping in any city, a solocyclist from Mumbai who has toured Asia and Europe on his cycle and many more tales!

Another is a 65 year old gentleman who makes at least 4-5 trips to the Himalayas in a year and left his job 16 yrs back to pursue his passion for travel and photography. He said he has a 35 yr old son who is specially abled, but that does not make him wallow in sadness not does in deter him to travel. He puts up exhibitions of his photographs in Mumbai annually and he showed me some of the pictures he had taken and needless to say they were stunning. 

I also met a friendly and helpful Israeli couple who were in India for a 3 month trip. They mentioned some places in India they had traveled and I'm ashamed to say I had not even heard about those places! :-( One thing the lady said left a mark. She said others of her age (25 yrs) had a house, a car and other things, but what she has is unmatched, a back pack and loads of first hand travel experiences! 

And all these people have been traveling to remote, relatively unexplored places and living the life of locals, dining and participating in their celebrations. I couldn't help but recall what a former colleague had told me once. She and her husband had been to Kerala for a vacation and she said that they spent the entire day in the swimming pool! But to each his own. 

Cheers to those born to travel!