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Meaning & benefits OF “NAMASKAR” … from Mukund and Nalini

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Meaning & benefits OF “NAMASKAR” … from Mukund and Nalini
SPIRITUAL ANALYSIS OF “NAMASKAR”

What is the meaning and the benefits of ‘Namaskar’?

Origin and the meaning of the word ‘Namaskar’

The word ‘Namaskar’ is derived from the root ‘namaha’, which means paying obeisance (Namaskar) or salutation.

From Science of Justice – ‘Namaha’ is a physical action expressing that ‘you are superior to me in all qualities and in every way’.

Worldly Benefits
- By doing Namaskar to a deity or a Saint, unknowingly their virtues and capabilities are impressed upon our minds. Consequently we start emulating them, thus changing ourselves for the better.

Spiritual Benefits
- Increase in humility and reduction of ego / Enhancement in the spiritual emotion of surrender and gratitude / Gaining the Sattva component and faster spiritual progress.
We receive the highest amount of Sattva component from the posture (mudra) of Namaskar.
By doing Namaskar to Deities or Saints we receive subtle frequencies emitted by them, e.g. frequencies of Sattva or Bliss.

Why is it not appropriate to Shake Hands?
Avoid a Hand Shake: It tranfers undesirable raja-tama components! In short, in a handshake, the raja-tama components in one person will get transferred to the other person, thereby lowering his sattvikta (Purity levels). While practicing Spirituality, our objective is to perform acts which increase our sattvikta.

If at all they do Namaskar by joining their palms, it is done just as a formality. As the act is not based on faith, the benefit derived from it is minimal. Along with faith it is essential that every religious act be correctly performed according to the Science of Spirituality, so that it gives complete benefit. In this series, as with the others, along with information on various methods of doing Namaskar, the Science in them is also explained. Understanding the Science will help in strengthening faith in the act. Such an act correctly performed with faith, will yield corresponding benefits.

How does one do Namaskar to an individual of the same age group?
When meeting someone of the same age-groupdo Namaskar by joining the fingers and placing tips of the thumbs on the Anahat chakra (at the centre of the chest). This type of Namaskarincreases the spiritual emotion of humility in the embodied soul. Sattva frequencies from the universe are attracted by the fingers (which act as an antenna) and are then transmitted to the entire body through the thumbs which have awakened the Anahat chakra. This activates the soul energy of the embodied soul. In addition, by doing Namaskar in this manner to each other, frequencies of blessings are also transmitted.

What is correct method & science of doing Namaskar to God?

A. ‘While paying obeisance to God, bring the palms together.
1. The fingers should be held loose (not straight and rigid) while joining the hands or palms.
2. The fingers should be kept close to each other without leaving any space between them..
3. The fingers should be kept away from the thumbs.
4. The inner portion of the palms should not touch each other and there should be some space between them.

Note: The stage of awakening of spiritual emotion (Bhav) is important to the seeker at the primary level. Hence, for awakening spiritual emotion (Bhav), he should keep space in between the joined hands, whereas a seeker who is at the advanced level should refrain from leaving such space in between the palms to awaken the unexpressed spiritual emotion (Bhav).

B. After joining the hands one should bow and bring the head forward..

C. While tilting the headforward, one should place the thumbs at the mid-brow region, i.e. at the point between the eyebrows and try to concentrate on the feet of the Deity.

D. After that, instead of bringing the folded hands down immediately, they should be placed on the mid-chest region for a minute in such way that the wrists touch the chest; then only should the hands be brought down.

Underlying Science in this action

A. The fingers should not be stiff while bringing the palms together because this will lead to a decrease in Sattva component from the vital and mental sheaths and thus increase the raja component in them. By keeping the fingers relaxed, the subtlest Sattva component will get activated. With the strength of this energy, embodied souls are able to fight powerful distressing energies.

B. In the Namaskar posture, the joined fingers act as an antenna to assimilate the Chaitanya (Divine consciousness) or the Energy transmitted by a Deity.. While joining the palms, the fingers must touch each other because leaving space between the fingers will result in accumulation of energy in that space. This energy will be immediately transmitted in various directions; therefore the seeker’s body will lose the benefit of this potent energy.

C. About the space to be maintained between the palms:
For a seeker at the primary level, it is advisable to leave space between the palms; it is not necessary for a seeker at an advanced level to leave space between the palms.

D. After joining the palms, bow a little. This posture puts pressure on the navel and activates the five vital energies situated there. Activation of these vital energies in the body makes it sensitive to accepting sattvik frequencies. This later awakens the ‘Atma shakti’ (i.e. soul energy of an embodied soul). And later, Bhav is awakened. This enables the body to accept in large measures the Chaitanya emitted by the Deity.

E. Touch the thumbs to the mid-brow region. (Please see images above..) This posture awakens the Bhav of surrender in an embodied soul, and in turn activates the appropriate subtle frequencies of Deities from the Universe. They enter through the ’Adnya chakra’ (Sixth of the 7 chakras in the Kundalini) of the embodied soul and settle in the space parallel to it at the back interior of the head. In this space the openings to all the three channels converge; namely, the Moon, the Central and the Sun channels. Due to the movement of these subtler frequencies in this space, the Central Channel is activated. Consequently it facilitates the speedy transmission of these frequencies throughout the body, leading to purification of both the gross and subtle bodies at the same time.

F. After doing Namaskar, to completely imbibe the Chaitanya of the Deity (that has entered the hands by now), instead of bringing the folded hands down immediately, place them on the mid-chest region in such a way that the wrists touch the chest.

The ‘Anahat chakra’ is located at the centre of the chest. Akin to the Adnya chakra, the activity of the Anahat chakra is also to absorb the Sattva frequencies. By touching the wrists to the chest, the Anahat chakra is activated and it helps in absorbing more of the Sattva component.

Effect of this Posture
By doing Namaskar in this manner, the Deity’s Chaitanya is absorbed to a greater extent by the body, as compared to other methods of doing Namaskar. This gives maximum distress to negative energies. The negative energies that have manifested in a person are unable to touch their thumbs at the mid-brow region in Namaskar. (The negative energies are subtle. But at times they enter an individual’s body and manifest it. – Editor)’

Q. What is the reason for not wrapping a cloth around the neck while performing circumambulation, doing Namaskar, ritualistic worship, sacrificial fires, chanting and while visiting Guru and deities?

A. When a cloth is wrapped around the neck, it does not activate the Vishuddha chakra (in the throat region) and hence an individual gets less benefit of the Sattva component.

Why should one always do Namaskar to elders?

Meaning: When an elderly person arrives, the vital energy of the young person starts rising and when he gets up and does Namaskar, it returns to normal. – Manusmruti 2.120; Mahabharat, Udhyog, Chapter (Section) 38.1, Sr.. no. 104, 64-65

Explanation: ‘As the sojourn of the elderly person is gradually towards the southern direction, that is, towards the region of Lord Yama (towards death), his body starts emitting raja and tama frequencies on a high scale. When such an elderly person comes in the vicinity of any younger individual, these frequencies start affecting the younger person. A subtle magnetic field is created between the two. Consequently, the vital energy of the younger person is pulled upward. This way the younger person can suffer due to sudden momentum to his vital energy. When this younger person doesNamaskar to the elderly person, some amount of the Central channel of his Kundalini system is activated and the Sattva component in it starts increasing. Consequently the raja and tama components in him are influenced by the Sattva component and the vital energy comes back to normal state. Hence on arrival of an elderly person, it is customary for the younger individuals to do Namaskar to them.’

Doing Namaskar to Elders.

When travelling, prior to the commencement of a journey and upon returning, why should one do Namaskar to elders in the family?

‘Namaskar to the elders in the family is one way of surrendering to the God principle in them. When an embodied soul bows in Namaskar to an elder by surrendering to the God principle in him, at that time a sense of compassion is created in his body. This compassion percolates right upto his subtle body. At that time, energy of his mind is activated and in turn activates the five vital energies, which are located at the seat of the Manipur chakra (situated in the Naval region). Transmission of these five vital energies all over the body then awakens the soul energy. With the strength of the soul energy, the Central channel gets activated and converts the expressed energy of spiritual emotion to the unexpressed energy of spiritual emotion. With the help of this unexpressed energy of spiritual emotion, the embodied soul, through the medium of elders, gains the required Deity’s principle from the Universe. For this purpose, while leaving the house on a journey, the embodied soul should do Namaskar to elders and with the strength of Sattva frequencies has to protect himself from distressing frequencies in the atmosphere.. Similarly, returning from a journey, one should immediately do Namaskar to elders and awaken the God principle in them, which would disintegrate the raja-tama particles from the air around him, which might have been brought along.

What is the correct method of doing Namaskar to Saints?

1. The portion of head, which should be placed at the feet :
We can imbibe maximum Chaitanya through the Brahmarandhra (the seventh chakra of the Kundalini system located in the crown of our head). Since it (Brahmarandhra) cannot be placed at a Saints’s feet, the part of head beginning above the forehead is to be placed at the feet of Saints. Due to this, maximum Chaitanya emanating from Their feet can enter into the one doing Namaskar.

2. The exact spot to place one’s head on a Saint’s feet:
The big toes of Saints emit maximum Chaitanya; hence we should place our head on the big toe, than on their foot. If we are in a position to touch both the toes, then place the head on the right big toe.

3. The position of hands when placing the head on a Saint’s feet:
a. Some interlock their hands behind their backs at the waist and do Namaskar. If we are in a position to touch both their toes, then we should place the hands one on each foot and the head should be placed on the big toe of the right foot. If we are in a position to touch one of Their toes, then place both the hands on it and keep the head on the big toe..

b. Some do Namaskar by placing hands on the ground. This is also wrong because if the hands are placed on the ground then the Chaitanya emanating from the Saint’s feet are absorbed by one and then returns to the earth through the hands of the one doing Namaskar. Thus the person does not benefit from it.

c. Some cross their hands and place them on the feet of Saints, that is, their right hand on the right foot of the Saint and their left hand on the left foot of the Saint while doingNamaskar.. This is a crude imitation of the manner in which Christians place their crossed hands on their chest. Instead, our right hand should be placed on the left foot of the Saint and our left hand on the right foot of the Saint. This is convenient also. However, if a Guru has started some procedure in a particular sect, then the hands are to be placed in that manner only.

d. The hands are to be positioned in such a way that the palms are placed on the feet..

How to do Namaskar to the wooden footwear (paduka) of Saints?

Namaskar to the wooden footwear (paduka) of Saints

‘The left paduka symbolises Lord Shiva and the right symbolises Divine Energy. The left paduka is the unmanifest saviour energy and the right is the unmanifest destroyer energy of the Supreme God. The saviour or destroyer energy of the Supreme God emanates from the ‘pegs’ of the paduka as per the need. When we do Namaskar by placing our head on the ‘pegs’ of the paduka, some may experience distress due to the inability to tolerate the manifest energy emitting from it. Hence, while doing Namaskar to the paduka, instead of the pegs, place the head on the foremost part i.e. the place where the Saints place their toes.’

Should one do Namaskar to a dead body?
Q. If this be so, should we do Namaskar to the dead bodies in Kaliyuga only as a custom? If it is a custom, can we discontinue it?

A. One can maintain respect for the dead person by doing Namaskar and in addition set an ideal with regards to respecting elders. In Kaliyuga, from this one will benefit at an emotional level and not at a spiritual level. However, one should not discontinue this custom; instead one could learn how to get spiritual benefit from it. Due to the deterioration of the Sattva component in embodied souls, this practice has become a mere custom in Kaliyuga.

However, as per the saying, ‘God exists where there is spiritual emotion’, while doing Namaskar to a dead body if we have a spiritual emotion that we are doing Namaskar to the God principle in it, then the God principle in the dead body awakens and we receive God’s blessings. This happens because the God principle is immortal and has no limitations that a physical body has.

Q. It is said that one should not do Namaskar to a sleeping person. In Kaliyuga if one does Namaskar by touching the dead body, then are the chances of getting distress from negative energies not higher?

A. Yes it is; but while doing Namaskar it is important that the action be performed with correct spiritual emotion. Since Namaskar is done to the God principle in the dead body instead of activating raja, tama components, it activates the Godly principle in the dead body and bestows Sattva corresponding to the degree of spiritual emotion.’

‘One hand’ touch to the Temple Steps
Action: Touch the step with the fingers of the right hand and move the same hand over the head.

Science: ‘The area around the temple is charged with frequencies of Deities which leads to an increase in the Sattva component.. The presence of Divine consciousness in the area charges even the stairs in a temple. ‘Climbing’ steps is one of the activities, which increases the raja component in the body. Hence, the raja component is already activated in the body of an embodied soul so by touching the steps with the fingers of the right hand, the Sattva component and peace from the charged premise, get transmitted to the body through the right hand. In addition, from this action, the activated raja component in the body can be controlled through the medium of the surya nadi (Sun channel). This means that, for a moment, the activities of the Sun channel can be stopped.. From this process, the embodied soul learns to enhance the Sattva component through raja dominant actions. Therefore, it is very essential to perform the appropriate sattvik actions at each corresponding level, hence the method of touching the steps with fingers of the right hand and then moving the fingers or palm over the head. Even the dust present on the steps is charged with Chaitanya and so we must respect it and derive spiritual benefit from it. If the embodied soul harbours the spiritual emotion that ‘the Chaitanya from the steps be transmitted all over my body from the dust on my hand’, then it will give increasing benefit to the embodied soul. In addition if the ego of the embodied soul is less at that time then it gives even more benefit. When any action is performed devoid of ego or ‘I’ness it is treated as a ‘non-action’ (akarma-karma) .’

Do’s and Dont’s while doing Namaskar
Q. Why should the eyes be closed while doing Namaskar?
‘Joining hands while bowing the head amounts to saluting God or the divinity in the person in front. The eyes are closed while doing Namaskar to God or any respected person, to enable one to have the vision of God within us.’

Q. Why should the footwear be taken off while doing Namaskar?
While sitting, partaking meals, sleeping, wishing and doing Namaskar to Gurus and other elderly people, footwear should not be worn. – Gautamsmruti 9.

1. Footwear increases the raja-tama components in a person.

2. Paying obeisance (Namaskar) with high raja-tama components will not help in activating the Kundalini (centre in the spiritual energy system).

3. The ability to absorb the sattva component too is reduced, due to an increase in the raja-tama components, leading to little benefit from a Namaskar.

4. Doing Namaskar to a Deity, with footwear on, may also invite the wrath of the Deity..’

Q. Why is it not advisable to hold any object while doing Namaskar?
1. While doing Namaskar if an object is held in the hands, usually the fingers and their tips are in a curled position and not straight. As a result, the sattva component received is unable to enter the tips of the fingers.

2.. The sattva component emitted towards the seeker, strikes the object held and bounces back.. Also, at times, instead of the person absorbing the sattva component, the object may absorb it.

3.. If the object in the hand is raja or tama predominant, and if it is touched to the forehead or chest while doing Namaskar, then the raja-tama components from it mayenter the body of the one who is doing Namaskar.

Q. While doing Namaskar, why are men not supposed to cover their head, whereas women are advised to cover their head?
One should not do Namaskar with footwear on, covering the head or holding any objects. (But women should cover their head with their saris and only then do Namaskar) – Apastamb Dharmasutra 1.4.14.19

While doing Namaskar the Kundalini gets activated at the chakra which is touched by the folded hands. This leads to the absorption of the Sattva component in greater proportion in the body. Sometimes due to the activation of the Kundalini, Sattva component starts entering the body through the head. But at times the distressing energies try to take advantage of this and mix black energy with the Sattva component. The potential to activate the Kundalini is higher in men as compared to women. Hence they are hardly affected by this negative energy. Contrary to this, as women are more vulnerable, they get affected by distressing energies to a greater extent and thus they can experience distress. That is why, when doing Namaskar, women are advised to cover their head with the ends of their sari. This creates a barrier between the head and the distressing energies and prevents themfrom penetrating the body of the woman. However, to some extent this also blocks benevolent frequencies from entering the women. (Benevolent frequencies are subtler than negative frequencies; hence they enter a woman to some extent even though the sari covers her head.) However, the proper posture of Namaskar gives maximum Sattva component to an individual and hence women too get required benefits. This shows how God takes care of every devotee. Doing Namaskar without these restrictions is equally effective if the devotee does it with spiritual emotion.

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Aks Production’s Acting Workshop June-July 2010

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Aks Production’s Acting Workshop June-July 2010

Big up Ambarish for the pics

Since I’ve been extra busy I’ve not got down the dates.

First Workshop meeting – Meet with the Aks crew, introduce ourselves and chit chat. After that we did some exercises for stage awareness, voice projection, trust, etc. Quite a few of them were what we teach kids in Art of Living’s ART Excel course. I was excited about the trust one as I’ve always wanted to be the one in the middle being pushed around. So that was cool though for the first one I think there was more talk and lets just say it’s a good thing Ankur is funny.

Second meeting – Get an email assigning me to Team 1. Basically we were divided into 2 groups and each group would further be divided into 2 plays. So meet up at Sanket’s beautiful place facing the docks. Our director Charan had mailed us 2 scripts and we went through them. Get an email telling me I’ve been given the part of Paul in the Growth. I was like yay… I have to sleep most of the time lol. So I recorded my script and put it on my mp3 player to listen to throughout the day. I must say the bus rides got interesting as I’d pretend to be talking to someone on the empty seat next to me or an occupied seat opposite the isle. Most of the time I’d get away with it coz the folks would think I’m just on my handsfree or something. But then there are some lines e.g. did you book that seat or did the airline stick you way over there? And folks would have that expression like this guy looks totally sane but why is he talking like this and how should I react to it.

Third meeting – Get to Tina’s for rehearsals. She’ll be playing my wife Sue and Sejal would be the hallucination/angel Monica. We go through our bits and get direction from Charan. Voice was the main problem and would be in coming rehearsals. So far so good. Note: Charan was talking about the 4th wall and representational/presentational act and I was like… I WANNA KNOW MORE!

The rest of the meetings took place in Regent’s park at the bandstand. We finally realised why Charan kept telling us about volume. We couldn’t hear anything just a few steps away from each other. So now we had to work on voice AND talk to the audience when speaking and look at the person when they were speaking… difficult concept and we’ve come a long way but still need to work on that bit. As in it’s just habit to face the person you’re talking to right? Oh and Paul has been a bit too stiff for a caring husband and I was told to work on that. It was kinda difficult coz that ‘nice guy/lovey dovey guy’ is a part of my past and my ego was like you’re not gonna be needy… till Charan mentioned something about what is needy to me is called love to the rest. I was still beating myself up for not getting it coz it was just acting so after rehearsals it was time to calibrate. Asked myself when I felt that lovey dovey caring stuff. Only with 2 people and music of course. I thought I was gonna have to confide in Tina to feel that but I felt it… and confided anyway lol. But yeah… every emotion I linked to a song and either one of the two people that I used to show all my emotions to. It did help coz Sue has a tumor and I’m trying to be caring and all just like how I used to be with moms wheeling her around.

So every time we meet we work and build on something. After voices and looking at the audience came emoting the lines with all the lovey dovey stuff. Note: I think this is the first time I’ve held a skinny girls hand… and it’s not too bad ;o) Note 2: Was meant to design the poster and tickets for this production but its a not for profit thing and that means no income which aint happening since my seva time and resources are booked for Art of Living till end of August. Plus Aks was formed by folks wanting to get away from their work and I was spending enough time and money for the workshop. Hell by he time I get home I just have time to sleep… maybe change. And sleep was getting hard enough as it was as the Alam brothers seem to like rearranging their furniture every other midnight while my Bangla housemates in the living room next to me feel a song coming on every other minute.

Workshop 2 with Ankur’s parents and sister – Intros etc… right of the bat I was told to stretch the R and S in my name. Oh and thats the other thing… out of all the cast I thought I’d be the loudest and it turns out I was the softest. Let me reword that… I was the least loudest!? Shows you just how much your perception is not what is reality. But I’ll come to that in a bit. We do some more exercises and then do our plays right… now the parents give us tweaks and stuff. They were amazing… in a nutshell… try and express each and every word spoken and every space before, after and in between. Only bit I was heart broken was when I was told to tone down the anger and be more caring in a very emotional bit which I had to dig into my past to get out… and it’s still hard to show it but yeah Charan confirmed it’s all good and the emotion stays. Anyway so sacrificed a major fam reunion after ages for it but I had to do it… my been there done that reflex kicked in. By the time I joined the fam reunion it chilled out and I’ve been trying something different especially by staying away from the music but towards the end I ended up there. Teaching belly dance and farting around lol. That Polish beer was sooo strong I had to sleep it off the whole next day.

More meetings at Regents Park bandstand. More rehearsals and I totally forgot one crucial bit but we got to it… it was emoting and reacting to our partners lines. So we had to add to that and now I’m feeling comfortable with it coz it’s starting to flow. Sue and Paul are starting to feel like a couple. Funny bit: The director knows what he wants so he’s directing that way and sometimes the cast feel like they can word it better or help and ends up being a ‘too many cooks…’ situation. So yeah… the shouting lines at each other is starting to feel natural too. It’s getting there but at the same time lots of tweaks needed. Note: Usually I’d get to Regents Park extra early so either catch some sleep or chill by the lake/pond thing. This time round I was eating my carrots and feeding some of the ducks there and a gaggle of geese come uncomfortably close. One was right next to me and I’m like does this fool want a carrot or is he gonna bite me. He was saying something to me… if only I had subtitles. It was nice though… till a silly girl decided to chase them around. I think I took their spot coz they settled quite close to me. It felt like the main one was yelling cuss words my way. Note: Using that world, gaggle, just took me back to Std. 7. What were those books called again? First Aid in English or something?

Meet again at the Peacock theatre for proper rehearsals. Usually we’d say a few lines and Charan would panel beat it when needed… now it was time for us to do it fully. First time we were better. The other plays are so much more funny and have much more movement. Ours is just in a flight sitting and talking. And one of the plays has cuss words man! The cocksucker bit makes my day every time…. where was I? Oh the first time round Charan even recorded our bits and we watched it and realised that one of the biggest things we needed to bump up was our hand and body expressions as our facial expressions were lost in the distance. And this theatre is not that big even. Second time we were really crap… but louder so that was good. I personally thought that main bit where I lose it was good but no one else giving me props so I guess I gotta work on it. Yo, but Neha Jain said I was a cute husband… Paras felt a flashback when he used to be sweet and cute and all but just to clarify… I’M PLAYING A CHARACTER so she was talking about him OKAY! LMAO! My dear Sue was not happy with her part and I was feeling this need to be there for her. So I guess this acting stuff is helping me feel for stuff other than music. Anyway get home and I don’t have work the next day so I’mma sleep my ass off!

Yeah right… my body clock is programmed to wake up by 9 atleast and after the energy drinks last night for the play… I think I fell asleep when it was getting bright so say 4am in summer. Spend some quality time with the lappy… I ignored her for a whole week man.

After a weekend break we met again at the usual Regents Park Bandstand and Ankur joined the second performance. Dude gave us some pretty deep mindsets to think about especially for the emotions and how they transition. So now my lovey dovey-ness is good but my sarcasm is missing and I gotta work on the reaction while Sue is talking but yeah out of all the plays ours is ready to go. Can’t remember if I mentioned this but our play is the most static, sad and some other S word (I think slow) and it’s been slotted in to be the second one in the 4 short plays.

Rainy windy day… it was dry by the time we got to the bandstand and time we did something called gabble where we just blurt out our lines fast and try to do it without mistakes. Then did a straight run I was not at all pleased with… even the second straight run I was not happy with my execution. Charan asks us to take note of our props list. Get home and pack and go stay elsewhere to try get some decent sleep but that didn’t happen.

Friday (2 days to the play) – Just got named and shamed coz I didn’t pay the workshop balance lol. Ok so we meet for a proper dress rehearsal at The Cockpit. I was early as usual and it was closed so try out this minced lamb on a naan pizza like thing next door and I realised these guys on around Edgware road are either trying to be rude or don’t have it in them to look you in the eyes. Anyway, Tina tells me to meet her at the sheesha place we usually hang and get coffees from. Sejal joins us. Rija was there too and we didn’t even realise. Dude next to us leaves the sheesha for Sej and me. The waiter is not too pleased with that and tries to take it away. Then I ask for another glass for mint tea and he refuses to bring it! Oh well… back to the play… see now the crew has already beautiful women so when they came out dressed I was like that Boyz II Men song … if there could only be 3 more of me…. So our first rehearsal went ok and Charan let us go, from now on we’re on our own but we need to work on that volume. Do some more gabble and get a chance to rehearse once more which came out great… hell I was happy with my bit finally. But yeah it’s freaking me out a little as I start feeling my heartbeat and shakes and cotton mouth. We’re told alcohol would not help as it’ll interfere with our voices. Bit of a challenge but exciting too. All the plays are coming out well… you can see there is chemistry between the characters and now it’s basically fine tuning.

Thought I’d wake up early… go to the gym at 9 and meet with the crew to hang as we couldn’t do much without Sejal. Even skipped my workout and just did a run and still got there late. And on the bus a kid threw up on my Converse shoes which I rarely take out for a walk. It’s all good, it was more water than anything else and didn’t even smell the bus out or anything. I’d go into more detail about it but this one’s about Aks sooo… Charan had left The Rag Factory by then so I watched the other teams rehearsals. Man Sarah’s expression are soooo amazing even though her second character plays the perfect ‘kinda crazy about measurements’ partner. I don’t mean measurements in that way! I just realised the other plays have a kink… one has some psycho-ness, another has swearing and the other has sexual references.

The Big Day – Wake up early thinking I’ll squeeze in a run at the gym… worked out my vocal instead by singing and rapping after ages. Get there early and wait for the rest. Rehearse sound and light and curtain calls. During the curtain call Ankur calls me Paras Shah and my reaction was ‘thats not my surname mother f***er!’ as I walk on stage (in a funny way of course). Lol I was like if that happens during the main show I’m gonna replace it with most famous swear word in one of the plays. Find out the print outs have mine and Heteash’s surnames wrong on there but Charan nipped off too his office to fix that. Rehearsed a few times and the last minute changes were hard to incorporate especially pretending to sleep with my chin up so the audience can see my face. Make up time. Back stage was wicked… we thought the place was small but more rooms lead to more rooms and they have this speaker system where you can hear whats going on ‘on stage’ so clearly. Just hope nobody was bitching about anybody else. The guys dressing area had a piano and washing machines etc. Everyone’s starting to look fly… Neha Datta hooked up the older person look on Sanket and Sejal. Suddenly felt like prep with Blue Sky Films all over again.

The performance – First the musicians went on. Ali knew these guys separately and got them together for this show. They sounded crap on the backstage speaker thing but the crowd loved em. First short play goes on… sounds good. We’re next and I was trying to find a quiet place to go blank but didn’t and saw Sarah with her headphones on… BRILLIANT! Thats what I usually do to drown the rest of the noise anyway. Still end up getting advice and I can’t remember what anyone said coz it stitched through my ears. Our play had 2 screw ups… first one from yours truly of course saying the wrong line. The second screw up kinda covered up the first and the audience had no clue so it’s all good. After that my stomach turned into a washing machine. OH the whole day I don’t know what was up but before the play I had to go 5 times! Anyway so I suppress this feeling of Alien wanting to break out of my stomach with a whiskey and serious flirting in Albanian with the Kosovan barmaid. Feel better and get backstage again. Wait for the the plays to finish. Curtain calls. Meet my fam and friends at the bar again. It was pretty packed so we left for a shawarma at Helen’s. Can’t believe after all this time practicing it was over so quick. Everyone was full of nothing but compliments but I wanted to know which bits were off. I was told the bad words caught people off guard mostly since there were kids in the audience. Note: Gotta find out what that feeling in the stomach was coz it was BAD! Hell I took a day off work to recover.

So yeah… the Workshop was worth it … total £95 (mostly to sell tickets) plus lots of time rehearsing. We were told we’ll get more of a practical experience from it instead of learning stuff, but some acting for dummies advice now and then would have been good. The producers and directors were great, the crew was amazing… in a few weeks we were already like a family. Was hoping for some kinda drama but they were all too cool, full of jokes and they saved the drama for the stage. Cock suckers!

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The Yogasara Upanishad – A Commentary by H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

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The Yogasara Upanishad – A Commentary by H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Quick read. Got a good reminder to ‘be a witness’ to whats happening. Who is the pain, joy, ups and downs happening too. Talks a lot about the 3 gunas. Pretty normal knowledge we’ve been going through till the end… then I was like … my oh my. See we do the practices trying to get ‘there’ but the expectation is what stops us but at the same time we shouldn’t stop… ?!?!?!?! So he’s like all our cells are always learning… through bad/negative practices we teach our cells to get used to alcohol, gambling, etc. So for enlightenment no matter what don’t stop the good practices as these cells which come up today may not come up till next year. So say we do practices a lot and miss a week. Then when we get closer and things are going smooth we’ll feel slowed down when those cells we missed that week come up again kinda thing. I’m not explaining it right coz I don’t wanna type a whole lot but you get the point right? If not read it for an year and find out for yourself!

Contents
- Preface
- Surrender and Bondage
- Uniting with the Depth
- Beyond the Wrapping Paper
- Be a Witness

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Memoirs of a Nature Voyeur

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Memoirs of a Nature Voyeur
I’ve watched the earth and weather fornicate right in front of us and we don’t even realise it. As Al Gore pointed out… an year to the planet is like one full breath, inhalation and exhalation. Well to me one year is like a day and night of courting for the planet. Picture earth as the lady and the weather as the not so gentleman.

Spring
Winter is over so it’s time to flirt. They’re recovering from the previous night. She gradually decorates her trees with light clothing… lots of leaves and a blossom put on like glitter, they only stand out when he focuses his light on them. He does not seem that interested after last night. It’s to early anyway so they both want to get their bearings back.

Summer
Just like an animal on heat… it’s on! Not only has she dressed up fully, she’s also accessorised ostentatiously with nests and birds and sometimes with carrier bags stuck on her limbs. Those are not her choice just like a lumpy mascara. Seems like he can’t keep his glare off her, so much so it’s making her heat up. She sends her flocks of birds at him, like teasing him with her perfume. He’s still a gentleman for now, only the glare of his heat is aggressive. She can’t resist it. Grass and flowers reach up to him like goosebumps.

Autumn
Feels like evening and as much as they don’t want to part… they have to get changed for their rendezvous. She comes back with a fiery number, yellows like butter that make him melt. Oranges like the blushing they both try to ignore. Reds like a dessert with a cherry on top that he can’t wait to eat. He changes his aggressive hot sun for a cooler, mysterious moon. He glitters like a superstar. They take a minute to look each other over and later nature take it’s course. Before you know it… he is intensely flirting with her, his wind takes her and spins her around, grabs her securely and flings her away sometimes like in Swing Dance, sometimes like Tango. His wind passes through her leaves like a fingers through hair… but as it gets stronger it’s more like he’s undressing her. Her leaves settle on the ground… she does not care if she seems un-ladylike any more. She bares all.

Winter
It’s about that time. Even though they’re naked and cold, the play fighting goes on. Everything on her feels like a celebration with kissing under mistletoes and unwrapping his gift, everything on him feels like he has no control. How can they be so stiff and supple? While we walk on by trying to get away from the misery and layer up… these two are inseparable. The time has come… we look forward for his point of no return because to us, it’s the perfect christmas. He covers her with his uncontrolled snow. We watch through our windows, some complain, others marvel but the two it matters most to… they are in rapture… and paralysed.

It’s spring again and they’re recovering from the pervious night…

(My thoughts are not meant to be too poetic or censored but I thought using ‘bukkake’ or ‘money-shot’ would not go too well so I thought I’d mention them here ;o))

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Hip Hop History and What It’s About from Paras

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Hip Hop History and What It’s About from Paras
Note: If I’ve got something wrong or missed our something or you just wanna share your take on it… please feel free to comment.

I’ve been wanting to write this for ages since a lot on uninformed folks confuse hip hop expression or being gangsta in the wrong way and mistake it with being a thug, a vandal etc. Even though it is part of the attitude it’s not all there is… especially being a gangsta and being a G. Most of this info I’ve tried remembering from The History of Hip Hop book I’d read ages back. If there is one thing you must ALWAYS remember is that hip hop is a form of expressing yourself… from your clothes, your moves, your attitude, being a G without getting in a fight kinda thing… its about your flavor, execution and pulling it off well… like myself! So lets get down to it shall we.

A bit of history first…
See there was a mass migration of black folks in like 50s or so. Lots of people moved from South USA to North as job prospects were better… the racism issues were less… you know segregation and all. So black folks got crammed up north and def didn’t wanna go back to the old ways in the south. This is where the Projects came in. The government could not provide all the jobs it promised and stuff. And so these folks had parties at like basketball courts or places which had street lights so as to tap the electric juice from such power supplies to play their radios, turntables and microphones etc. Now I guess they still carried on partying as they did… Swing dancing and stuff right… BUT… it evolved. A new crowd experiencing new situations and all right… which gave birth to hip hops elements.

Hip Hops Main Elements
1 – DJing/Turntableism
2 – Breaking/Breakdancing/B-boying
3 – Graffiti
4 – Rapping/MCing
- Other sub elements include: beatboxing, dressing, lingo, attitude… hell Viv even recommended a vid purely about shoes and how they had to be fly! Customised laces, cleaning, colouring them in, etc… for that Google vid Just For Kicks.

Each of these elements by now has diversified and evolved into lots of sub catagories so I wont get into it too deep. Now the first 3 have recently been hating on the 4th because rapping found so much success and didn’t not bring the other elements along with it. The way I see it… for the first 3 you needed skill and practice so it was harder for everyone to get into while rapping… well you don’t need any tool or exceptional skills. But anyway thats my thought on it.

1 – DJing/Turntableism
If I remember correctly. Folks used to tap into the power supply to hook up their turntables and just play music normally. It went something like… first it was just one deck and then evolved to two to keep the music nonstop and then either someone made a mistake by moving the record while playing or someone felt creative… oh yeah someone was waiting for the next song to play and held the other track in place and then moved it back and forth and the idea bulb struck. After which folks tried out different stuff and evolved it more and more… Viv hooked me up with the ‘Scratch’ documentary about it where for some reason these guys have a fascination for space/alien stuff??? DJ Kool Herc gets a lot of props here as he used to just make a ‘break’ which is basically the part of the song with just beats and loop it. Theres an article on the most recent chopped and screwed style on Universal somwhere.

2 – Breaking/Breakdancing/B-boying
Now while the music was going on folks would bust moves especially during the mentioned ‘breaks’. I’m sure Capoeira comes into this somewhere… but yeah folks would ‘battle’… trying to out do each other. Hell back then even the Gangs used to settle disputes with a battle on the dancefloor… solos or crews etc. Note: Back then Gangs were more like political activists or if it really got down and dirty it used to end up in melees and not gun fire. The flier the combos you did the more props you got and the more your opponent would lose face or have to bust fresher flier moves. There was a big controversy over the ‘breakdancing’ term and apparently that’s the name the media gave to it so it’s not used too much by true hip hoppers. There’s lots of styles… hell too many to mention but the main ones are uprock/toprock which includes upright footwork, glides/slides, boogaloo, popping, locking, krumping and floor moves which are pretty acrobatic. Again popping and locking has issues coz some call it pop locking and what not. Get it right alright!

3 – Graffiti
Gangs come into it as they used to ‘tag’ or claim their turf, or it was used as political activism and most of these artist were big in the rest on the hip hop elements or scene. So while the DJ did his thing and dancers did theirs… these guys were expressing them selves on the walls and trains. Um… think thats about it. Google vid Wild Style to get the idea.

4 – Rapping/MCing (Also called spitting)
We get to the most controversial element. This one has the deepest history as it’s a form of storytelling, giving out props, bigging up folks or showing off. I think again Kool Herc started it off. While the DJ did his thing and the dancers were busting moves… the MC would big up folks with fly moves, announce next events kinda thing and find ways to make it rhyme or flow or just scat it. Some say the roots are in Jamaica as there they MC as a way to boast and toast while others say Africa where folks would storytell to music and yet others say jazz. Some say it’s an acronym for Rhythm and Poetry or shlack others say it came from a much used english word. I say whatever man coz lots of things in history you can’t really tell for sure. Anyway there’s so many styles now… flow, freestyle… I don’t know proper names or if they do have names but there’s dissing, earlier mentioned story telling, bigging up or boasting, gangsta rap, speed rap, philosophical, etc etc. It has a lot to do with the latest slang or slang itself. It can be judged on speed, flow, metaphors, etc etc. I personally owe a lot to rap especially gangsta rap coz it gave me an avenue to get out my aggression, helped me LOADS with english (trust me!) coz it got me writing down the lyrics and reading. My folks used to say they need to get school subjects in rap form to get me to read or know it coz I knew my stuff word for word. I see why so many get into it but after a while I got bored of the same content especially the mainstream stuff coz its bitches, guns, drugs, thugs, money and self praise. Thank god Viv hooks me up with some diverse refreshing stuff. I’ll leave it here coz I could go for pages.

So there you have it… a quick tour around Hip Hop. If you aint hip hop and find these guys attitude aggressive… it’s just their ‘front’. You should check out a B-boy/DJing event to see that in the end it’s all about love and giving/getting respect. If course you could dress to get respect or do you and respect yourself no matter what others say coz even if you look the flyest you’ll still get a diss now and then and its part of the game baby. Just don’t be a hater if you’re not into the scene. It’s helped keep a lot of people involved in creative and constructive stuff you know.

Note: As much as I was dying to use some lingo I’ve kept it pretty user friendly. If you ever do want to know a word used please check out http://www.rapdict.org/Main_Page and type the word in the search bit. I started out with that ages back but now use more of http://www.urbandictionary.com since it has Naruto’s lingo, lots more definitions, origins and examples too ;o)

Example: Since I just got back from the gym and Genie is on my case to go for a drink I’ll say something like… Fall back yo, I was getting deezed at the gym, so now… I’mma lay in the cut and bust a nut.

Ok I covered the bits I wanted to… like I said if you got more to add… you’re more than welcome to edumacate peeps.

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Sports Injury – Prevention and First Aid Management

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Sports Injury – Prevention and First Aid Management:
Includes – Diet, hazards, causes of injury and illness, environmental factors, overtraining. How to reduce incidence of injuries, choice of program, physical characteristics, interest, children and young folks, women, veterans and disabled people. Assessment, requirements, flexibility, strength, speed, endurance. Safety and preventive measures – warm-up, cool-down, skill, clothing, equipment, facilities, supervision.
Aims of first aiders in sport, bleeding, shock, unconsciousness. Head injuries, concussions, compression of the brain. Facial injuries, nose bleeding, eye injuries. Drowning, bends/decompression sickness.
Note: SCUBA stands for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. Chest and abdominal injuries, winding, female breast, testicular injuries. Note: A blow to the testicles is described as sickeningly painful. So true yet so far away from the real description. Soft tissue injuries, cuts, grazes, bruises. Injuries – muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones, joints, spine, arcomio-clavicular joint, knee, ligament, Achilles tendon and ankle.
Fractures – Collar bone/clavicle, upper arm bone/humerus, forearm, wrist, thigh and leg.
Dislocation – Shoulder, elbow, fingers and hip. Tennis and golfers elbow, thump and finger joint sprains, ‘mallet’ finger. Groin strain, kneecap pain, torn cartilage/meniscus, shin splints, acute compartment compression syndrome, Achilles tendonitis and other foot problems.
Cold exposure – Hypothermia, frostbite.
Overheating – Heat exhaustion, heatstroke.
ABC of resuscitation, recovery position, log roll technique.
Slings – Triangular, Arm and Elevation. Immobilisation of upper and lower limps.
Cervical collar, Ice (Cool therapy/cryotherapy), the trainers magic sponge, pain relieving aerosols, compression bandaging, adhesive strapping.
Handling and transport – placing blanket under casualty, loading stretcher with 4 peeps, loading on pole and canvas stretcher, carrying a stretcher, lifting casualty from water. First aid equipment. Returning to sport and what to do next. I know this is not a proper review but simply put mi ‘ant ‘ave time!

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