Mudras and Health by Controlling 5 Elements in Body : http://jayandivakaran.blogspot.in/2014/06/mudras-and-health-dimensions.html
Transcript of my chat with Rupesh
>>>>>>>>>>>
Guru: Hi.
Rupesh: i am looking at brad appleton , thnx for the linx
Guru: Welcome. I've been meaning to write (a blog) on stretching for many years now.... your mail was the last nail.... ;-D
The blog is still in draft stage and will need some rework before its good enough to post.
Many good blogs have started as mail conversations....
Rupesh: cool, man , good to know about it so I can apply them to my routine
Guru: Yep.
Actually I found Brad's FAQ a bit intimidating when I first read it....
finally I evolved my own take on stretching.... mostly static yoga-asana based stretching....
Esp. the part on breath control is a key one....
Rupesh: i tried the breathing while doing yoga and sure makes a difference
Guru: It's almost like doing trance in the stretch pose....
Remember PattabhiRam?.... meeru chaaaala haaiiiigaa unnnaru....
Rupesh: :)
Guru: 20 minutes of this and both mind and body feel refreshed....
I've started doing Shavasana after my Jogging... helps me relax fully before setting out for office....
Anyway I've found that each asana requires something like 20-30 days to "set" in....
Rupesh: thats true, I read somewhere that it takes 21 days for something to become a habit
Guru:
While writing to you did some research on ligaments, that was a missing
piece... "they stretch under tension"... I always knew that
sub-consciously, but now I know it for sure.....
The
Vakra-Vajrasana really lenghthened my inner knee ligaments... when I
come home from office I can feel it stretching like candy... :D
Rupesh: cool, so you can do full splits now?
Guru: Nope.... I've wantedly not tried to do them...
Though I'm sure that my stretching must have improved a Lot....
The more I try harder the sooner I give up the exercise...
so I'm just trying to enjoy what I do....
I'm satisfied that my joints are not atrophying even though I've got such a sedantary lifestyle in office....
Rupesh: that makes sense
Guru: That's enough for now. If and when I achieve full-stretch will be a happy day...
Rupesh: r u doing it everyday as a routine
Guru: but let it come when it wants to....
Yep.
Since many years now.... The gaps were when I tried too hard and had
some inflammation of the joints... but those were lessons well
learned...
So now I only try to improve or maintain what I can achieve everyday....
Only doing a day's worth no more. Same with jogging and weights....
If a break happens I let it.
Pick up where I left off once I feel like it again.
This way seems to work for me. May not work for all.
As you can see blogging has made writing very easy, I tend to write a story where a few words will do.... :D
So mostly blogging involves blabbing a lot and then trimming it down to a smaller size.
As Lincoln once said "Please forgive the lengthiness of my letter, I had no time to write a small one"....
Rupesh: well, i enjoy reading about yoga and stuff , so I do not have any complaints man
but
the good thing is that I do not have to look through 10 books to find
what I want to , instead I can read ur blog and get it right away
Guru:
Yeah. That's the intention. Many times I write blogs for myself to note
down all the good points and critical things for future reference. A
kind of shortlist from books etc for easy reference.
Did you try orkut.com?
Its a social networking site....
Rupesh: the essence
Guru: Yup.
Rupesh: I train with black belts in tkd every class
Guru: Sahi hai...
Rupesh: and its explosive if i add some breathing into the kicks
even with limited motion ,
but I still have to learn to the 'Yell" thing
Guru: I'm exploring this area also....
Rupesh: i am sure u do it when used to do karate
Guru: Yeah. Initially it was somewhat strange. But I learned how to do that.
For me the trick was To create an echo in the confined practise area...
Rupesh: well, I havent go it yet , but I am sure it has to do with ur breathing
Guru: Started the thing from the belly button and let go with a blast....
As if trying to know over the opponent with the blast.
There is a Simha-mudra in Yoga, it involves a mirror.
Rupesh: right :)
Guru: Try it once.
Helps to focus the aggression and let it out under control.
We learned some Acupressure somewhere along the way....
It says that you can control the emotions and energy flow in your body using mudras....
It works. I tried it in jogging...
Rupesh: mudra? like a pose?
or a seal?
Guru: Have to learn Pranayama... for that.
Yeah mudra means seal as well as pose.
Most mudras are done with fingers touching one another.
Rupesh: makes sense
Guru: When you're doing stretching one mudra can make for calmness and steadiness... the one thats shown for meditation....
Touching the index finger to middle of thumb....
Peace, calm and steadfastness...
Rupesh:
cool, i had to try that ,we get here a tv channel called fit tv and
they have some yoga and martial art shows, not completely westernized
Guru: I've got 2 VCDs with Yoga lessons on that by that daadhi valey baba on Aastha TV....
I think he teaches pranayama also...
Rupesh: cool, i can see if they have something interesting ,
Guru: acupressure tries to control chi-flow/prana-flow using needles, points etc.. mudras also do the same....
but by breath-control you can control it without even raising a finger....
Some mudras will activate the energy, some will make it burst forth, some will steady and some will reduce energy flow....
Rupesh: i may not remember all this, do u have it on ur blog?
Guru: Kinda like Warm-up, Action and Cool-down.
Don't worry this chat is going into the blog!! :D
Many chats and mails make a blog..
Many
of these things are in my mind, they only need a seed to crystallize on
and such chats are the best.. kinda like a faq in the making...
I've got a few books on acupressure therapy which talks about controlling energy flow through mudras...
5 elements stand for Wind, Heat, Earth, Metal, Water....
Rupesh: excellent material
Guru: Wind is like children running here and there without aim, asking questions, boiling with energy, anger, growth.
Heat is like teenager, passionate, commited, energetic, ambitious, lustful, idealistic
Hotness is related to Heat. Its like the heat after the sun sets, balmy, more relaxed, satiated, comfortable, like after climax.
Earth is collecting, gathering, storing, looking further than today.
Metal is regret, discipline, past, sadness.
Water is fear, death, despair, wisdom, cunning....
These 5 elements form an unbroken ring. Water/Fear leads to Wind/Anger.... and the cycle continues.
Each of the 5 fingers stand for an element.
Thumb
being Wind, Index Heat, Middle Earth, Ring metal, Little Water....
Isn't it a strange co-incidence that Ring finger has metal ring on
it....
I think it is to increase committment and steadfastness in the person wearing it.
The Meditation Mudra is what is known as Yin-Dryness/Metal mudra...
But more on that later.
You must be busy working... I'll elaborate more on this in an email and blog. I'll just paste these points and write some more.
I've gotta leave for home now.
