Believe it or not, I was never into journaling even though I had a Dear Diary. I actually wanted first dibs for every diary that came to the house at the end of each year. I imagined it would be a literary treasure in each day, the diary of my momentous life. I would use it diligently for the first few days of the year and then gradually abandon it without remorse.
Even as a teenager , I never really recorded my angst every day. I preferred to write a letter to my dad who was away or my pen friends who were even further away.
Distance makes writing things a lot easier- a bit like talking to strangers on a train. So writing blog was a natural transition in my life . I never met strangers as I didn’t travel and telling my tale to friends and acquaintances was embarrassing to all.
Muddling through the blogosphere
A field of clunky desktops ( Pixabay)
Thus began my journey around twenty years ago when I exchanged my smart, little BROTHER electronic typewriter for the clunky 486.
And even before I finished my first novel, and after typing my emails and surfing the net for information on pharmaceuticals, I got slowly seduced by the world of the blogosphere.
However , being the jump and then swim type of person, I’ve never really gone beyond the first ‘ Dummies for Computers’ .
I realised that all along , much like Ms Muddle, I’ve been muddling my way through the blogosphere
SEO , Keywords, Social Media
Despite my consistency, attending blog workshops, participating in Linky parties, something was not going right.
SEO, Keywords and Social Media which were strangers to my lexicon soon became part of my dictionary.
Sharing a journey
With the #UBC and #DailyChatter I hope to find my voice, my niche and my target audience.
[Tweet “But above all, I hope to inspire and motivate those other mufflers and bloggers to just #hanginthere! “]
I came across Rajalakshmi during this year’s A to Z challenge .She is a “Software Engineer by profession, a dreamer by choice. Apart from coding bugs for livelihood, she indulges in Crafts and Writing to keep her creativity alive. Loves reading sci-fi, creating shape poetries and paper quilling models, watching Korean movies and is somehow ‘unknowingly’ involved in Kitchen ‘Katastrophes’. Enjoys being a Lifestyle/Travel blogger and an amateur photographer. Travel bug bit her when she was little and she suffers from serious condition of Wanderlust.”
I was captivated by her travel blog and even more fascinated by her artistic yoga poses. I am frankly quite envious of the ease with which she does them . So I was specially thrilled that she agreed to do a guest post on her favourite yoga asanas.
Yoga is an ancient Indian practice that really needs no introduction. Once you master the seemingly complicated poses, you will actually find yourself feeling lighter .
But I will leave Rajalakshmi to tell you more about it.
The benefits of Yoga
In my attempt to improve health and better my lifestyle, I started practicing Yoga last year. Even though it’s only a year and half, I can already feel the improvements in my body – be it in strength, posture, flexibility, or focus. I mostly practice Hatha Yoga – a set of physical exercises or asanas that helps in the alignment of the body and mind.
Here are 5 of my favorite Yoga asanas that improves strength of various body parts.
Vrksasana (Tree Pose)
This is a great pose to build balance, it also strengthens various muscles in the legs. What I love the most about this asana is you have to hold your gaze, look at a certain point at eye level to maintain the balance. This is true for most of the balancing poses, and Vrksasana is a great way practice it.
Camatkarasana (Wild Thing Pose)
This pose is the first Chest Opener I was comfortable with. With my arms extended over my head, facing the sky, I feel like a bird. Camatkarasana is great for strengthening wrists, back and shoulders.
Virbhadrasana III (Warrior Pose )
Warrior III is tricky to balance as you need to hold the gaze, not overextend the knee, engage the core, keep the back leg straightened and not forget to breath as well. It strengthens legs, back muscles, shoulders and tones abdomen.
Chakrasana (Wheel Pose)
I find Chakrasana very challenging, a reason why it is my favourite too. I am working on the flexibility of my shoulders as they are still stiff for the backbend. It is a powerful asana that opens the chest and stretches the entire body.
Natarajasana (Dancer Pose)
I love how graceful this asana looks, providing a relaxing stretch to chest, shoulders, abdomen, legs and also improves balance.
Along with Yoga, I also love going on long walks, hiking, skipping and indulging in some high intensity cardio at home, mostly in the evenings, after coming back from work.
[Tweet ” When you are working in a 9 to 5 desk job, it is essential to find ways to stretch the body and reduce the risk of diseases in the future.”]
Each of the postures in Hatha yoga has a meaning and a purpose, impacting various muscles and internal organs.
Therefore, it doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or an expert, flexible or not, just practice in whatever way you can.
Leaving you with his beautiful quote by Jean-Pierre Barral that pretty much sums it all.
I am unique. Aren’t we all? There’s only one of me in this world and only one of you . So doesn’t that make us perfect ?
But obviously we are human and as humans we have faults . And my faults are plenty .
And there are lots of things I’d like to change about me – my height and weight for example. Jokes aside though, the one thing that I’d really like to change is my inability to accept things as they are.
Go with the flow
Be grateful for what you have
Life is a compromise
How often are these homilies thrown at you? These have been the guiding principles of my life . Most times they have held me in good stead and helped me navigate the ups and downs relatively smoothly.
But sometimes I find myself doing things I don’t want to do, accepting things I do not believe in and actually losing sleep over these things because I’m the end , I realise that there is nothing I can do but go with the flow, be grateful for what I have and make a compromise.
So perhaps if I change my attitude and accept things as they are, I may have less sleepless nights, less angst and more calm and peace.
This is my response to the #FridayReflections prompt “If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be”
Twenty- five Seven 