MyLifeYoga

In 1998 Arunachalam Muruganantham’s was just married and his life revolved around his wife and widowed mother. One day he discovered that his wife, Shanthi, was hiding something from him. He was shocked to discover that it was rags, “nasty cloths”, which she used during menstruation. “I would not even use these to clean my two wheeler,” Muruganantham said later in a TED talk.

Muruganantham immediately ran to the store to buy sanitary pads to impress his wife. To his shock he found that these were quite unaffordable. He nevertheless bought them to find out what they were made of. When he tore the pad open he found it contained a white cotton like substance. Wondering why a few pennies worth of cotton was being sold as a “pad” at such expensive price, he resolved to make the pad himself.

He fashioned one home made pad out of cotton and proudly handed it to his wife for testing. To his shock he learnt that he had to wait till her period occurred. It was then he understood for the first time that periods happened on a monthly cycle! He then realized that if he had to wait for a month for each round of testing, his pad would take decades to perfect. He needed more volunteers and would have to approach other women. Continue reading →

Who is a Yogi or Yogini? There are many ways to answer this question, but a key defining characteristics of somebody who is on the path to yoga is the steady reduction of recrimination and regret in life coupled with a steady increase in love and forgiveness. This usually results in a life full of happiness where living is viewed as an extraordinary privilege and a joy. But make no mistake, just by doing an hour of yoga on the mat a few times a week does not necessarily mean that you are on the path of yoga. This may get you started but it may take more effort than that. On the other hand there are lives that have been lived where the person never touched the yoga mat, but nevertheless lived in an entirely yogic manner. The story of Alice Herz-Sommer illustrates. She recently passed away at the age of 110.

Alice Herze was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia on Nov 25 1903. She was one of five children of a German-speaking, secular Jewish family. Her father was a wealthy businessman and her parents mingled with artistic circles. Kafka and Mahler were among the friends of the family.

Alice’s love for music started early. She began her piano lessons at 5. By the time she was in her late teens, she was giving well-received concerts throughout Europe. In 1931 she married a musician-businessman named Leopold Sommer who was also an amateur violinist. The couple had a son, Stepan born in 1937.
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