Here for writing

Mornings are my most productive times. Am not talking about pre-dawn times when everyone is still asleep. No no.... I am mostly leading a yoga session during those times. Am talking about the comfortable 7-7.30 am types when we wake up without the aid of the alarm. The body and mind refreshed by sleeping as long as it needs, but not so long that half the day is already gone. On such days, especially like this Sunday morning, when I am not already pulled in so many directions and not constantly checking the clock, I like to indulge. But the problem with indulging is, I have too many favourite things to indulge :) I Start with all enthusiasm...brewing a hot strong sweet coffee and opening the Sunday express. As I am half way through the coffee, my mind stops paying attention to the sweet aromatic warmth sliding into my soul and starts jumping... "Oh how lovely it will be to do some yoga now...maybe I should do my journaling now and digest some of what I have been feeling / going thr

I rarely engage in social media. My feed is mostly full of quotes and pictures of the Masters, yoga videos and cat/dog other animal videos. The posts that I put up will either be related to yoga / vedanta / special needs. To preserve my own sanity, I have unfollowed people who post either extreme left or extreme right posts, posts that glorify / demean religion or caste etc.  One cannot deny that social media has tremendous power in shaping people's opinion, give a glimpse of lived experiences of those whom we otherwise may not come across in real life, provide a platform for everyone to voice their side of the story, raise awareness of issues that are not spotlighted by main stream media etc. It is a wonderful tool, a great boon to connect people across the world, it can broaden our horizons...basically it has unlimited power. And we all know that it is a double edged sword. I am not going to get into the pros and cons of social media.  Instead, I would like to s

There is so much rage within.  A rage born out of frustration. A rage that is always simmering because of the inability to be myself. A rage that is also fed by the fact that what I am going through is nothing when compared to the sufferings of others. And also a rage at the social conditioning that makes us feel our sufferings are not valid because it is always compared to what the "others" go through.  There is still very little conversation about post-covid recovery. And this lack of conversation led me to believe that all that I was experiencing was in my head. Well, now I am slowly understanding that it is not just in my head. It is real. I don't want to talk much about my covid story here. Nothing remarkable about it. I tested positive on June 6, 2020 and was in home quarantine till June 22, 2020. I had mild symptoms and did not experience any breathlessness whatsoever by God's grace. I slept away the first week of quarantine and was counting down the days

As we are slowly getting back to our routine, I am looking back at the beginning of the lockdown and how it all unfolded for me. As the whole world withdrew inside their homes, the environment became so conducive to go within. The stillness on the outside easily helped achieve a stillness within.  As the world slowed down, the mind also slowed down. Activities came down to a bare minimum. Actions were performed only on a need basis. No mindless running around. Within this physical stillness, the mind stopped gathering new impressions. And with no new impressions to distract, the older ones surfaced up with a vengeance. When that happened, there was no choice but to confront them. Look them in the eye and truly SEE them for what they are.   And when that work was done, it was like a huge chunks of slush and dirt that were clogging the spirit were cleared off, allowing for the state of flow to manifest so beautifully. As the inner world cleared out, the actions coming fo

Leaving aside the social, economic, environmental, political and all other aspects of this Covid-19 pandemic, I just want to dwell and delve within for a moment. We can distract ourselves by looking at the screen of our smart phones and computers and other devices for only so long. With all other avenues of distraction out of our reach, there is no choice but to face the monsters within.  The monster that I had to face was guilt. The irony here is, I didn't even know that guilt monster was actually lurking in my sub conscious, waiting to surface up unawares, grab me by my throat and drag me under...choking me in its vicious grip. The reason it caught me unaware was that it has always disguised itself under various names and forms -the urge to be productive, to be constantly engaged in action, to be useful, to be successful, to excel in all that I do, to confirm to expectations of living a certain way, ticking off milestones, earning a certain amount of money, the

Stillness captured somewhere in Gudur, AP If I were to choose one word to describe my current state of being, it would be stillness. Complete and absolute stillness at the physical, mental and spiritual level. This stillness is profound and profane at the same time. Profound because it makes me loose all track of time and space. It is all so pure, full and complete, with no sense of division or distinction . Profane because in this stillness, there is nothing left. Absolutely nothing...making everything seem so pointless anyways. All this strife and struggle and stress -what for? There is indeed nothing else to do, no where else to go. What am I trying to do anyways? The beauty in this stillness is beyond explanation. This is indeed bliss absolute, because actually, there is nothing external that is giving raise to this bliss. And in case you are wondering what I am tripping on -well, again it is nothing external. Our own body, mind and breath, when it comes to complete