Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Yoga - The Headstand - Shirsh asana

It is an extremely powerful asana. It is called the "king of asanas" because of its overall effect on the whole body. For beginners, it is better to start this in a corner so that you can practice it without the fear of falling down. Ask a friend to help you with this in the beginning.

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Technique

You must use extra padding for the headstand, so use a folded blanket or some extra foam on top of your yoga mat. Don't use a pillow, since it's too soft.

If you don't feet very confident about going straight into the headstand, try stage 1 first. Once you are confident with stage 1, you can go on to stage 2, which is the standard headstand.

If you wish to try it on your own, place a pillow lengthwise behind your head, in case you fall over backwards.

Stage 1 (For Beginners)

  1. Put your yoga mat into a comer, kneel down in front of it and place your interlocked fingers in the comer close to the walls.
  2. Put your head into the hollow of the palms, rise off the knees and take a step or two towards the comer.
  3. Lift one leg and place it in the comer against the wall. If you are a little unsure, ask a friend to hold the leg and put it in the corner. Now, just kick the other leg up. Stay there for about 15 seconds, trying to remain relaxed.
  4. To come out of the headstand, just lower one leg at a time. Again, if you feel unsure, ask your friend to hold one of your legs while you lower the other.

Start off in the headstand for about 15 seconds. Increase the time by 15 seconds every week until you are doing three minutes.

Stage 2 (The Standard Headstand)

  1. Kneel down on your yoga mat. Interlock the fingers of your hands and place them and your forearms on the extra padding on the yoga mat. Keep the elbows fairly close together.
  2. Place the back of your head into the hollow of the palms (not on the palms or fingers). Rise up off your knees and take a step or two towards your head.
  3. Inhale, and slowly raise the legs until they are vertical. Keep your back straight and try to relax. Breathe slowly and deeply from the abdomen.
  4. Concentrate on the brain or the pineal gland between the eyebrows.
  5. To come down, bend your knees and lower one leg and then the other. As for the beginners' stage, start off in the headstand for about 15 seconds and increase the time by 15 seconds every week, until you are doing three minutes.

Benefits

  1. The headstand increases circulation to the brain, which causes improved brain function (intelligence and memory) and increased vitality and confidence.
  2. It improves many ailments, such as nervousness, tension, fatigue, sleeplessness, dullness, fear, poor blood circulation, bad memory, asthma, headaches, constipation, congested throat, liver or spleen, for female disorders, the initial stages of eye and nose troubles, and general lack of energy, vitality or self confidence.
  3. It stimulates four of the most important endocrine glands - the pituitary, the pineal, the thyroid, and the parathyroid glands that are responsible for our very existence, for they keep the body mechanism in good working order. Pituitary gland is called the master gland of the body. As a consequence, the practice of the headstand helps us to get relief from many of our troubles, physical as well as mental, or to prevent them. It has a very beneficial effect on the whole body.
  4. It promotes hair growth by increasing circulation to the scalp.
  5. It helps to put the spine into correct alignment.
  6. It restores the position of vital organs by reversing gravity.
  7. The quality of sleep is improved. Poor sleep is often due to an excess of nerve impulses from the reticular formation to the cerebral cortex in the brain. The headstand causes an increase in circulation to the neck, which stimulates the baroreceptors in the neck. This calms the reticular formation down, causing reduced nerve impulses to the cerebral cortex. This results in a peaceful, deep steep.

Because of the many benefits of the headstand, the yogis often refer to it as the 'king of the asanas'.

Time:

Do the headstand for fifteen seconds at first, adding fifteen more per week. The maximum time for it should not be more than twelve minutes, if it is done in conjunction with other exercises.

Caution

  1. Don't do the headstand if you have high or low blood pressure. First get your blood pressure normal by natural means such as good nutrition, aerobic exercise and the other asanas. Even just giving up salt and taking garlic daily (tablets or in cooking) will cause a substantial reduction in your blood pressure.
  2. Atherosclerosis (blocked blood vessels) and any history of strokes are also contraindications to doing the headstand. You must improve your circulatory system first, before attempting it.
  3. If you have any serious eye diseases, ask your eye specialist's advice about doing the headstand.
  4. Avoid this exercise if you are suffering from constipation, when the stool is excessively dry, if you have pus in your ears, if you are suffering from chronic nasal catarrh, or from very weak eye capillaries. Avoid this exercise if you have an organically defective pituitary, pineal or thyroid gland.
  5. If you suffer from a neck injury or advanced arthritis in your neck, again you must improve your neck condition first. See your chiropractor, follow the nutritional principles in this book and do the other asanas to improve your neck. If you have a serious neck condition and you wish to get the benefits of the headstand, you can purchase an inversion apparatus, which gives you all the benefits without compression of the neck. In fact, this equipment produces traction of your neck, so your neck condition will actually improve.

Don't let any minor neck pain stop you from doing the headstand, since most of the weight of the body is actually supported by the forearms. There is very little pressure on the head and therefore very minimal compression of the neck.

Works wonders 4 me.

Tuesday, February 7, 2006

Danish Imam fuelled the cartoon rage.

Danish Imam Ahmad Abu Ladan, leader of The Islamic Society of Denmark, toured the middle east to create awareness of supposed anti-Islamic cartoons and included this black and white photo as well as two other undocumented examples. Akhmad Akkari, spokesman of the tour, explained that the three drawings had been added to “give an insight in how hateful the atmosphere in Denmark is towards Muslims.”

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Religion Of Peace...Bah!

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Courtesy: Filibustercartoons

The Joys of Being Male

1. Your ass is never a factor in a job interview.
2. Your orgasms are real. Always.
3. Your last name stays put.
4. The garage is all yours.
5. Wedding plans take care of themselves.
6. Chocolate is just another snack.
7. You can be president.
8. You can wear a white shirt to a water theme park.
9. Foreplay is optional.
10. You never feel compelled to stop a friend from getting laid.
11. Car mechanics tell you the truth.
12. You don't give a rat's ass if someone doesn't notice your new haircut.
13. The world is your urinal.
14. Hot wax never comes near your pubic area.
15. You never have to drive to another gas station because this one's just too icky.
16. Same work ... more pay.
17. Wrinkles add character.
18. You don't have to leave the room to make emergency crotch adjustments.
19. Wedding Dress $2000; Tux rental $100.
20. If you retain water, it's in a canteen.
21. People never glance at your chest when you're talking to them.
22. Princess Di's death was just another obituary.
23. The occasional well-rendered belch is practically expected.
24. New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet.
25. Porn movies are designed with you in mind.
26. Not liking a person does not preclude having great sex with them.
27. Your pals can be trusted never to trap you with: "So, notice anything different?"

And, Last But Not Least. . . . . .
28. One mood, all the time.

Friday, February 3, 2006

Meanwhile.......Pretzedent Bush

There is furore and rage in Europe and Middle East over the publication of cartoons depicting Mohammed..

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Courtesy: here.

Do the muslims remember this?

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Muslim / mussalman's are in a rage over the Mohammed cartoons. These were the same people who were silent when Bamiyan Buddha was destroyed in Afghanistan.

Buddhist Scenario after the Bamiyan Buddha destruction.
  • Protests by Buddhists and international community - Yes
  • Killings, beheadings, arson, burning flags, bomb threats, rioting, murder threats by Buddhists - No
These cartoons may be totally outrageous. But if we cannot speak openly about Islamic militancy, how can we fight it together.

Musharraf - resident of Heera Mandi ! says WaPo

Word: mer·e·tri·cious
Pronunciation: "mer-&-'tri-sh&s
1 : of or relating to a prostitute : having the nature of prostitution

The War in Pakistan: Shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush famously declared that other countries must choose between supporting the United States and supporting terrorism, and that those that harbored al Qaeda would be treated as the enemy. In the years since, he has refrained from applying that tough principle in practice — which is lucky for Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Ever since the war on terrorism began, this meretricious military ruler has tried to be counted as a U.S. ally while avoiding an all-out campaign against the Islamic extremists in his country, who almost surely include Osama bin Laden and his top deputies. Despite mounting costs in American lives and resources, he has gotten away with it.

Gen. Musharraf and his aides, such as Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, boast that Pakistan has arrested hundreds of al Qaeda militants and deployed tens of thousands of troops in the border region near Afghanistan. Yet Gen. Musharraf has never directed his forces against the Pashtun Taliban militants who use Pakistan as a base to wage war against American and Afghan forces across the border. He has never dismantled the Islamic extremist groups that carry out terrorist attacks against India. He has never cleaned up the Islamic madrassas that serve as a breeding ground for suicide bombers. He has pardoned and protected the greatest criminal proliferator of nuclear weapons technology in history, A.Q. Khan, who aided Libya, North Korea and Iran. And he has broken promises to give up his military office or return Pakistan to democracy…

In keeping with his double game, Gen. Musharraf’s government publicly criticized the latest attack even though his intelligence service reportedly cooperated with it. Now he and Mr. Aziz, who met with Mr. Bush yesterday, are saying U.S. forces should carry out no more such attacks without Pakistani agreement. We’ll assume that’s more of their bluster. Even if it is not, Mr. Bush should ignore it. Gen. Musharraf perhaps cannot be forced to side decisively with the United States against the terrorists, as the administration once hoped — though much more could be done to raise the price of his feckless cooperation. But Mr. Bush must take every available measure to eliminate the al Qaeda and Taliban operations in Pakistan. If targets can be located, they should be attacked — with or without Gen. Musharraf’s cooperation.

Dictionary
Full Article

Oh boy! WaPo will be banned in Pukistan. People of Pukistan should be asking -
We need leaders, not people, like Mushy Bai, "taking a leadership role."

No Mo !

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"I think we've got to move away from this hysterical and rather patronising idea that we have got to treat the Muslim religion with kid gloves and not subject it to all the same rough and tumble that we subject other faiths to." -- UK Member of Parliament

Well said !