A Great Yoga eBook

Scribd.com is a site where one can upload documents, books, papers that one has written or has copyright privileges to. It supports many formats (PDF included) and even allows you to download a piece of work if you are allowed to by the original author who uploaded the document/book. For documents that are copyrighted, you can read the book/document right from the browser window itself.

I found this world-famous Maran Illustrated Yoga ebook that can be read at Scribd’s site.

Here are the links to some chapters. Other chapters are not available at the site.

I have browsed the ebook’s chapters and found it very helpful and informative regardless of the yoga level you are in (beginner or avid yogi/yogini). Hope you find it as interesting as I did!

Chapter 1: Yoga Basics (not available)

Chapter 2: Yoga and Breathing

Chapter 3: Warm-Up Poses (not available)

Chapter 4: Seated Poses

Chapter 5: Seated Forward Bends

Chapter 6: Chair Poses

Chapter 7: Standing Poses

Chapter 8: Standing Balancing Poses (not available)

Chapter 9: Standing Forward Bends (not available)

Chapter 10: Table Poses

Chapter 11: Back Bends

Chapter 12: Inversions

Chapter 13: Reclined Poses

Chapter 14: Relaxation & Restorative Poses

Chapter 15: Practices (not available)

My Semi-Anusara Yoga Practice Today

This is a chant I copied off the Anusara.com site.

Today, I was home due to a parent orientation seminar at the boys’ school. It gave me time to do some shopping in the afternoon and a light yoga practice in the evening.

As I said in my previous post, I had become enthralled with anusara yoga since I got to know Hillary and Elsie, 2 wonderful anusara yoga teachers/podcasters in the US. More so, after taking a class with Francesca at Pulse Yoga.

I “grew up” in yoga doing the vinyasa style of yoga. And until now, this has been my favorite yoga style. However, lately, I have began exploring anusara after hearing the podcasts of Hillary & Elsie. This style of yoga is speaking very strongly to me — speaks to my heart. And I want to know more about it and how to use it in my self practice.

Of course, not knowing exactly how the sequences go in anusara yoga, I attempted to remember what I could from Francesca’s class. I did the OHM chants, then as I went through the asanas, I modified them to open up the chest and the heart as wide as I could. In the Trikonasana , I did it the way Francesca told us — fingers apart as it reached out to the sky, arms thrown back as far as we could instead of straight up, chest open.

For me, that time alone with myself was like a beginning journey into self-discovery. In anusara, one has an individual light — a light that can shine on the world radiating goodness, beauty and love. It recognizes that Divine Grace flows through us and in us. As one does the pose, it is felt from the inside of one’s self — that deeply creative and spiritual part of your self — and it springs out from you and is manifested in your alignment with our Divine God.

My practice today was short — just over an hour. But I chose specific poses that emphasized openness. I even did more forward bends and backbends than usual. And in Savasana, I lay on my mat with arms open and accepting of where my body was at this time and where my life and heart were. And it made me smile.

Yes, I will continue my vinyasa practice. But I hope anusara yoga is eventually introduced in the Philippines (and I will definitely keep a close watch on when Francesca will be returning!). Added to this of course is the wealth of podcasts already released by both Hillary & Elsie which can help me during my self practice days.

I would also like to plug the new yoga DVD of Hillary’s which is slated for a Sept. 2008 release.

Hillary is a certified anusara yoga instructor but more than that, she is a beautiful and warm person — someone I now call a friend. What is even more amazing is the fact that she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in 1996 while working with Prada. Her dedication to yoga and her devotion to a healthy life has kept her symptom-free to this day. A part of her DVD sales will go toward supporting children with MS and other auto-immune disorders.

While I still do not know how we can pre-order or have delivery sent to the Philippines, I will try to inquire from Hillary. Suffice it to say, I am trying to get my own DVD copy.

Visit her site HERE for more on this DVD. Once I have more purchase/delivery details, I will post updates.

Scribd Discovered!

If you love reading free ebooks online or have been wanting to find a way to publish your written works and still retain copyright over them, I just discovered Scribd from reading Daily Cup of Yoga’s post.

This is how Scribd folks describe themselves:

Scribd is a Silicon Valley startup creating technology that makes it easy to share documents online. You can think of Scribd as a big online library where everyone can publish original content, including you!

The FAQ section of Scrib (pronounced by them as one syllable with the short i sound: “skr’bb’d) shows the many features of Scribd. But what I discovered to my delight was that it had some yoga ebooks which I could download in PDF format into one’s laptop for reading offline or even on a handy PDA.

One great book on Scribd is Yoga for Men.

Surprisingly, despite its title, it has several chapters which appeal even to yoginis like me. To give you a foretaste, here are its main chapters:

Part I – Overview – Yoga as a Living Tree

Part II – Hatha Yoga – The Main Traditions

Part III – Contemporary Adaptations of Yoga

Part IV – Yoga for a Man’s Special Needs

Part V – The Yoga Lifestyle

Part VI – Supplemental Resource Information

Afterword – The Yoga Puzzle -Putting the Pieces Together

Another discovery is the Hindu-Yogi Science of Breath by Yogi Ramacharaka.

And lastly, I found Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi which was first published in 1946.

According to an entry in Wikipedia: “In 1999, it was designated one of the “100 Most Important Spiritual Books of the 20th Century” by a panel of theologians and luminaries convened by HarperCollins publishers”

There are many other ebooks which you can readily preview, not just on yoga but on a whole spectrum of topics.

Check it out!

A Blog Plug

In a previous post, I blogged about how I became virtual friends with an active yoga blogger/teacher/podcaster, Elsie Escobar.

During my visits to Elsie’s blog, I clicked on a link to her friend and co-podcaster, Hillary Rubin. Eventually, as is the case with these wonderful blog features called backlinks and pingbacks, Hillary also traced back to my blog site and, to my delight, left comments as well.

Just a while back, Hillary once again left a comment, with a link to Elsie’s and her new blog site called Mudra Moments. I just came from that site and think it is the beginning of a wonderful collaboration between yogini friends (one living in L.A.; the other one in Philadelphia- another thing in common with Hillary as I lived in Philly for 2 years).

So friends, do check out Mudra Moments as well as the individual podcast sites of Elsie and Hillary. I am sure you will get wonderful pointers on yoga from them to enhance your own practice.

As for me, one dream is to be able to meet Elsie and Hillary in person one day and maybe even take a class under them. Till then, I plan to continue communicating with these 2 wonderful yoginis and learn as much from them as they continue to share their passion for yoga with the world through podcasting.

Namaste!

An Amazing Partner Yoga Routine and More!

Ever since covering the Mind-Body Conference where I saw a partner yoga workshop moderated by Shirley Quesada, I have been intrigued by it.

When Pio introduced us to partner yoga in class once, it was an amazing experience because we all realized that by pairing up, we could actually help each other with areas where our bodies encountered resistance. The push-pull sequences being done on us by our partners actually helped us go deeper into our poses.

But when done with a partner of the opposite gender, as in the case of this video I came across, the routine takes on a very sensual atmosphere.

Now I don’t know if that is what partner yoga is all about. Our teacher Pio will probably disagree. But nevertheless, this couple’s routine just amazed me! Just watch and see for yourselves.

But here are more serious partner yoga routines with Tara Stiles and Tracy Lee. Enjoy!

Yoga for the Wrists (from Tara Stiles)

My wrists have been bothering me for some time now.

I work a lot in front of the computer and it has gotten to the point where I often feel pain right at the wrist area which sometimes radiates upward toward my elbow.

Then I found this video by Tara Stiles, a Ford model, who does yoga. She has done many yoga videos and over time, I will feature her podcasts.

For those of you who, like me, are desk-bound and who wish to avoid the onset of carpal tunnel syndrome, these short exercises may be of help.