Krsna Jayanti, the celebration of Krsna’s birth, falls on September 2nd this year. In observance of this auspicious day you might enjoy the following article written by the folks at Exotic India. [The missing pictures will be posting this coming weekend.]

IS HE THE ALL IN ALL?

by Nitin Kumar

edited by Theresa Rowland

Shiva, Indra, Brahma and the Earth-in-Form-of-a-Cow pray to Narayana, requesting that he relieve the Earth’s Burden.

Once upon a time, as now, mother earth was overburdened with the weight of millions of arrogant kings. Assuming the form of a cow, her face overflowing with tears, she approached Brahma, the god of creation for protection. Realizing her piteous condition, Brahma, accompanied by the earth and all the other gods, went to the ocean of milk, the abode of the Supreme Lord Narayana. There, Brahma venerated the Lord by chanting the Purusha Sukta from the Rigveda.

Birth of Shri Krishna

While he was thus contemplating, Brahma heard a voice in the sky: “God already knows the affliction of the earth. He will manifest Himself as Krishna and reduce the burden of the earth.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam 10.1.22)

Krishna Teasing the Gopis

Hence, saving the earth from the clutches of evil kings was the partial motive for Krishna’s birth. Another primary reason was to give blissful joy to the simple cowherds of Vrindavan, their wives, and their cows. In Vrindavan, Krishna behaved much as a normal child of His age would do. He teased the gopis, respected His elders and also picnicked with His friends.

Tender Lotus-Hands Become Heated Iron Rods – Krishna as Keshava

Between all this, He saved them from the various calamities that befell them and in the process provided glimpses of His divinity.

Aghasura

During one such episode, Krishna killed a demon named Aghasura (agha: sin; and asura: demon). This villain had taken the form of a huge serpent lying on the ground with his mouth wide open. The children of Vrindavana thought it to be a cave and playfully entered it.

Following His friends, as soon as Krishna entered the serpent closed his mouth. Caught inside, Krishna expanded Himself within the throat of the demon. Soon, the demon was choking and struggling for breath. His prana that had been restricted within the body burst out through his skull (brahmarandhra), and a bright and strange light emerged from him. Shining in all directions the light waited in the sky. As soon as Krishna came out of the serpent’s body, the light merged back into Him. The Taittriya Upanishad describes the event:

“The nerve called Sushumna passes upwards from the heart to the mid-region between the two palates and also through that flesh that hangs like a breast between these two palates. From there it stretches up to the crown of the head where the roots of the hair divide. Those whose prana passes out through this Sushumna nerve, breaking open the skull in the middle, dividing it into two regions, they attain the Supreme God Brahman.”(1.6.1)

Thus did the compassionate Lord grant the demon Aghasura moksha.

Aghasura was a sworn enemy of the gods. Seeing his annihilation at the hands of Krishna, all of them came out of heaven and danced with joy and delight. Hearing the commotion, Brahma Ji also came out his abode. Brahma, the lord of creation, was shocked to see that Aghasura had been liberated. He thought out: “How can a demon be given the same liberation which is reserved only for the highest yogis? Our Vedas and Puranas have no provision for the liberation of sin. Sin can be liberated only by the Supreme Lord Narayana, who is beyond all duality, and therefore doesn’t come under the jurisdiction of rituals and scriptures.”  Brahma Ji then thought of observing Lord Krishna more closely and came to Vrindavana.

In the meanwhile, Krishna having finished with the Aghasura episode,  was now picnicking merrily with His friends. The Shrimad Bhagavatam gives a vivid picture of this outdoor lunch:

‘The cowherds were seated on the ground and Krishna was at the center. They opened the lunch boxes they had brought from home. All the boys had their faces towards Krishna, who was in the center of the concentric circles. Due to their intense love for Him, all the cowherd boys wanted to face Krishna. He fulfilled their desire by making His face and limbs appear in all  directions at once; i.e. every boy thought that He was face-to-face with Krishna. Thus they were all eating their food and also constantly tasting the bliss of seeing Krishna face to face. Krishna looked like the whorl of a lotus flower and the boys surrounding Him appeared to be its petals.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam 10.13.8)

This is in keeping with the description of Krishna given in the Bhagavad Gita:

“He has hands and feet in all directions. He has eyes, heads, mouths and ears everywhere.’” (13.14)

While thus enjoying being with His friends, Krishna was Himself picturesque enough to be meditated upon. His flute was held within the belt of His silken cloth on the right side, and His bugle and cane were tucked under His left armpit. He was holding a soft morsel of rice mixed with curd and various pickles, which could be seen through His petal-like fingers.

Radha and Krishna – The Lotus Lovers

Meditating upon this lila of the Lord, sages complained to Him: “You play in the dusty courtyards of these cowherds but are too shy to come to the yagyas (Vedic sacrifices) of pure Brahmins? When the cows moo and burp, you talk to them, but you do not care to speak the mantras of the Vedas. Leaving aside all shame, you walk behind these rustic gopis, but feel shy to come before saints and sages? Oh Lord, now we understand. You are not bound by any laws which govern us. You submit only to love. It is only by love that you are attained.”

Lord Brahma, The Creator of the Universe

Brahma is the master of intellect. That is why he is shown with a beard, signifying his wisdom and experience in worldly matters. His four heads represent the four Vedas.

Hence anything which seems even slightly contrary to the scriptures disturbs him to no end. Here he could see the five year old Krishna, merrily playing with his friends. What was even more disturbing to him was the fact that Krishna was engaging in informal engagements with His friends, even as much as eating their leftovers, or offering them his own, without any consideration for the rules of purity prescribed in the scriptures. Thus arose in Brahma’s mind a doubt: “Is this little one truly the Supreme Lord? Or is He just an imposter displaying His yogic powers?”

Brahma’s doubt is not surprising. Throughout the Shrimad Bhagavatam we find male members of Krishna’s inner circle doubting His divinity. After the great war of Mahabharata, Yudhishtra was inconsolable. When Krishna tried to pacify Him, it was to no avail. However, he was consoled when his great-grandfather Bhishma preached to him. Similarly with Arjuna, who in the Bhagavad Gita has such doubts: “O’ Krishna, the sun was born before you. How is it possible for you to have imparted knowledge to the sun?” (4.4).

It is only the women who, due to their immense faith, having surrendered themselves completely to Krishna, could see Him as He truly was. Krishna’s Aunt Kunti, while venerating Him, did not shy away from recognizing that even though His delightful and playful childish antics could confuse some into not recognizing His divinity, His Supreme and Absolute divinity remained undiminished. She says:

“Angry at your mischief, mother Yashoda took out a rope to bind you. It bewilders me that even though fear itself fears you, you stood in front of your mother like an ordinary child with your head down. Your face was displaying fear, and tears blackened with the kohl in your eyes were rolling down your cheeks.” (1.8.31)

The women-folk never had any doubt. What did the women of Hastinapur do when they saw Krishna leaving their city? Desiring to lay their eyes on Him, they climbed onto the rooftops viewing their beloved Krishna with bashful loving smiles, showering flowers on Him saying:

“Krishna is the Primal Man, who is One without a second. He is the Supreme God. Lucky is Vrindavana, which He has blessed with His childlike activities. Blessed are the ladies who taste the sweet nectar of His lips, the mere memories of which made the young gopis of Vrindavana faint with ecstasy.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam 1.10.16, 21, 26, 28)

Throughout we find women easily accepting Krishna as the Supreme Lord because of their faith. Men, because of their ‘thinking nature’ relying too much on logic and calculation, are often seen as holding ambivalent views on Krishna. What did Aunt Kunti’s son, Yudhishtra, do when Krishna finally left the city? He asked a large army to accompany Krishna for protection on the way. The Upanishads clearly say that it because of the fear of the Supreme Lord that the sun rises and sets on time. It is because of His fear that fire heats and it is due to His fear that the wind blows. (Katha Upanishad 2.3.3). To this Supreme Ruler of the world did Yudhishtra offer his protection!

The same Krishna who plays joyful childish pranks with His friends is the Supreme God ruling the universe. The great Shankaracharya says in his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita:

‘Those who think that Krishna is not the Supreme God are fools.” (4.4)

Hence it is not surprising that Brahma, gifted with the most efficient brain in the cosmos, began to harbor doubts regarding the divinity of Krishna. He decided to do what one should never do; he decided to test God.

As the cowherd boys, their minds absorbed in Krishna, were enjoying the feast, their calves ventured far off in the search of greener pastures. When the boys saw that the calves had gone out of sight, they were fearful for their safety. Seeing them worried and looking up to Him for help, Krishna said: “Friends don’t worry. I will go and get the calves back. You continue with your meal.” Thus with His uneaten morsel of rice and yogurt within His fingers, Krishna set out to search for the lost calves.

That was the beginning of trouble. We see this phenomenon explained throughout the life of Krishna. Trouble comes whenever we shift our attention away from Krishna. Putana too lifted up Krishna when mother Yashoda began to look at her (Putana) rather than the Lord. In another episode when mother Yashoda became engrossed with her household chores, a hurricane came and carried away Krishna. The same thing happened here. Where had the calves gone? Brahma Ji had kidnapped them. When Krishna went to look for the calves, Brahma promptly transported Krishna’s cowherd friends to his abode as well, holding all of them in suspended animation (yoga nidra).

When Krishna realized that neither the calves nor His friends were to be found, He understood what had happened: “So this is Brahma’s doing. He wants to see my lila.” But which lila should Krishna show Brahma Ji? There is no use displaying one’s mathematical skills in front of a grammarian. It is proper to display one’s skills in the field of the other’s specialty. What is Brahma’s special talent? He is skilled at creating the world. However, here we must remember that Brahma doesn’t create the five basic elements making up the material world. These five elements are the sky (akasha), air, fire, water and earth. When Brahma sets out to create the physical world, he not only has at his disposal these five elements provided by God, but also the residue of the karma performed by the beings during their previous births. His job is to merely assemble the parts to create bodies based on the previous karma.

However, Krishna’s abilities are wondrous. He is the Ultimate Source of everything. The Brahma Sutras clearly establish that, just as the making of a pot requires an efficient cause (the potter) and a material cause (the clay), in the case of the manifested world, the Supreme Lord is both the efficient and material cause. So in order to display His lila, Krishna decided to create a new world of His own. Without any matter to mould or foundation to build upon, without any pen, canvas or color He created a picture. He created out of Himself as many boys and calves as Brahma had stolen. Each of these had different facial features, bodies, clothes and ornaments. Each had different tastes, activities and behavior. Krishna became all that had been stolen by Brahma in all its diversity. Indeed, as the Bhagavad Gita says: “Everything is Krishna” (Vasudev sarvam 7.19).

The Chandogya Upanishad says: “He becomes one, He becomes two, two, three, five, seven, eleven, He becomes manifold.” (7.26.2) This episode in the life of Krishna is an awesome illustration of the Vedic fact that ‘everything is a form of Krishna’ , so did the Lord create, merely by deciding to do so.

Cow – Hinduism’s Most Sacred Animal, Licks the Dirt from Her Calf

The residents of Vrindavan meanwhile had no knowledge of what had tranpired. When this group of calves and cowherds, which were not different from Krishna, returned, the mothers of the boys heard the sweet melodies of  a flute and rushed out to embrace their respective children. Overflowing with maternal affection, milk oozed out of their breasts, and they immediately set out to feed them this milk. Similarly the cows, their udders overflowing with milk, licked their calves with their tongues and fed them their milk.

This practice continued for one year. The cows’ affection for their calves and the gopis affection for their children increased day by day. Earlier on, before this episode had taken place, the cows and women had greater affection for Krishna than they had for their own offspring. Now however, they harbored for their children the same amount of affection they had for Krishna.

One day, as Krishna and Balarama were tending to the calves, they saw some cows grazing at the top of Govardhana hill. Suddenly on sighting the calves, the cows began to run towards them. They leaped downhill so swiftly that it seemed as if their front and rear legs had been joined together. Overflowing with affection the cows approached the calves with their udders so full of milk that they were almost touching the ground. Now what was surprising was that the calves these cows so lovingly wanted to feed their milk were not their own offspring. Even then they felt towards them the same affection they had for their own. What’s more, many of them had outgrown the age for their mother’s milk and were now content eating grass. Yet, the cows generously, and out of immense affection, granted them their own milk, and the calves eagerly began to suck milk from their udders. Here is another lofty Upanishad philosophy rendered into earthly terms by the Shrimad Bhagavatam. The Brihadaranayaka Upanishad states:

“A husband is not loved because of love for him. A wife is not loved because of love for her. A son is not loved because of love for the son. Everything in this world which we love is not for the sake of that thing, but rather because they are pleasurable to our own self, which is what we love most in this world’”(2.4.5) Krishna being none other than our very own self,  it is not at all surprising that the gopis and cows of Vrindavana felt this surge of supreme emotion towards their children, who as Krishna the Supreme Soul were none other than their own selves.

After one year was over, Brahma thought of going back to Vrindavan and checking out what had happened all this while. He was astonished to see all the cowherds and calves playing with Krishna as if nothing had happened. Brahma began to think: “All the boys and calves taken away by me are still sleeping under the spell of magical powers in my palace. Who then are these boys  playing with Krishna?”

Four-armed Standing Vishnu

No sooner had he started meditating thus than he saw each of the cowherds and calves transformed into exact Vishnu figures, each with four arms, holding a conch, discus, mace and lotus.

He saw that each figure was wearing a garland of Tulsi leaves, and several other Brahmas like him, and all the other creatures in the world, were singing, dancing and venerating these Vishnu forms. Brahma realized that the transformation of the cowherds and calves to these Vishnu forms was not the result of the mystic powers of some yogi, but were actually the Supreme Lord Himself. Brahma was dazzled by the spiritual effulgence of the Lord and closed his eyes. Seeing the helplessness of Brahma, the compassionate Lord then removed the curtain of His Maya, and Brahma, upon opening his eyes, saw spread before him the divine land of Vrindavana.

Thus, even though Krishna is the Highest Deity, He played the part of a child born in a ‘low’ family of cowherds. Even though He is the One and Only One, He has many friends. Though He is endless, even then He wanders here and there. He is Knowledge Incarnate, and even then He searches around for His friends and calves. And lo! Brahma saw the same old Krishna he had left behind one year back, holding a morsel of food in His hands, searching around for His friends. Ecstatic beyond words, Brahma jumped down from his royal chariot and rolled in the dust of Vrindavana, touching each of his four Vedic crowns one by one at Krishna’s feet. He then prostrated before Krishna like a stick lying horizontal on the ground and said:

Shri Krishna Stuti by Lord Brahma (from Shrimad Bhagavata Purana) (barry – krsna stuti pic)

“Lord, I don’t know whether God is Nirguna (formless) or Saguna (with form). What I do know is that my all-in-all is in front me with a handful of curd and rice in His hands, and a flute tucked into His waistband. Except the blue-colored son of the cowherd Nanda, I know nothing about the Supreme God. O’ Lord I desire only your grace. Fulfill my wish, change me into some trifle in Vrindavan.”

Krishna: “Why become a trifle here? Let me make you a Brahma again.”

Brahma: No Sir. I don’t wish to be Brahma again and commit the same mistake. Make me anything in Vrindavana over which will fall the dust of the feet of its residents. Blessed are these inhabitants of Vrindavan. While elaborate Vedic Sacrifices have failed to satisfy you since the dawn of creation, it is with relish that you drink the milk of the gopis and their cows, and they in the process taste transcendental bliss. You, who are here to destroy the evil demons plaguing this earth, are venerable even for the sun and the moon. My wish is keep saluting your glory throughout my life.”

During the time Brahma was offering this hymn of praise, and even after it, Krishna did not utter a single word to him. Finally Brahma circumambulated Krishna three times, and went back to his abode. The silence of the Lord speaks louder than His words. When Indra had tried to bother Krishna by bringing torrential rains to Vrindavan, Krishna had to lift Mount Govardhana to save the village. When Indra realized his mistake and sang a hymn in praise of Krishna, Krishna blessed him with good wishes. This was because, inadvertently, Indra had brought Krishna together with all his loved ones under the single umbrella of Govardhana. In the case of Brahma though, Krishna had to bear separation from His beloved friends and calves for one whole year. How could the Supreme Lord, who loves His devotes even more than He loves Himself, bear this? Thus His silence in spite of Brahma’s highly eloquent hymn of praise.

Conclusion:

When the young gopis and cows of Vrindavan used to see mother Yashoda feeding Krishna her breast, or when the older women saw Him dancing and playing pranks in her courtyard, they too wanted to the taste the bliss of the kind of direct engagement with Krishna that blessed Yashoda. Krishna, the fulfiller of all the wishes of His devotees, then set out to display this lila, which not only revealed the supreme Upanishadic truths in a vivid manner, but also ensured that all in Vrindavan got a taste of the transcendental bliss which formerly had only been the exclusive privilege of mother Yashoda.

References and Further Reading

• Chinmayananda, Swami. The Holy Geeta: Mumbai, 2002.

• Dogre, Shri Ramachandra Keshav. Shrimad Bhagavat Rahasya (Collection of Discourses): Delhi.

• Gupta Som Raj. Upanisads with the Commentary of Sankaracarya, Five Volumes. Delhi.

• Jacob, G.A. A Concordance to the Principal Upanisads and Bhagavadgita. Delhi, 1999.

• Prabhupad, A.C. Bhaktivedanta. Krsna The Supreme Personality of Godhead: Mumbai, 1999.

• Saraswati, Acharya Bhagavatananda. Shrimad Bhagavat Parijat: Varanasi, 2002.

• Saraswati, Swami Akhandananda. Bhagawatamrit (The Elixir of the Bhagwat). Mumbai, 2005.

• Saraswati, Swami Akhandananda. Bhagavata Darshan (Collection of Discourses in Two Volumes): Mumbai, 2003.

• Saraswati, Swami Akhandananda (tr). Shrimad Bhagavata Purana (2 Volumes): Gorakhpur, 2004.

• Swami, Shridhar. Commentary on the Shrimad Bhagavatam: Delhi, 2003.

• G. P. Bhatt & J. L. Shastri (tr). The Bhagavata Purana (5 Volumes (Annotated)).Delhi, 2002.

• Tejomayananda, Swami. Shrimad Bhagavata Pravachan (Discourses on The Shrimad Bhagavata Purana): Mumbai, 2006

• Thakura, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura. Sarartha Darsini (Commentary on the Tenth Canto of the Bhagavata)

• Goyandka, Shri Harikrishnadas. Translation of Shankaracharya’s Commentary of the Bhagavad Gita (Hindi): Gorakhpur, 2006.

To view the online version of the article, please click on

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• Peggy Clark writes about compassion. Her article is below.

Dayā – Compassion

Being compassionate means to awaken the spirit within and call us forth to not just to think compassionately but to also share compassion through kind words and deeds. To completely embrace the true meaning of compassion, one must understand that it is a three prong easel of thought, word, and deed. The three legs of the easel work together to help create the artist’s masterpiece and without one of these legs, the beauty will abate. As a yogi, constant reflection on how to increase and spread my compassion is essential. By envisioning myself as a source of encouragement and kindness, I will continue my path of spreading compassion through my thoughts, words, and actions.

Compassion compels one to discover forgiveness and confront judgment on an emotional level. Through our thoughts and feelings, compassion teaches us to love and forgive while opening our hearts to acceptance and peace. From personal reflection, compassionate thought is a source of hope that lights the path of social harmony. In “Daily Om” the author implies that the first step to a path of compassion is to acknowledge that we have judged, and that we have identified the root of our judgments. Embracing this realization will allow the personal growth necessary to live a life where judgment and blame are insignificant. In my daily thoughts I have realized that being compassionate has transformed my being from a conscious responsibility to an automatic response. In reflecting on this personal growth of my own compassionate thoughts I understand that this enriching journey is unending and always improving.

When we speak words that reinforce truthfulness and compassion to inspire others we become a source of positive energy. If you accept words of compassion and kindness you will create positive energy within yourself. However, it is just as important to give positive energy to others so that all of this can be shared. Before speaking to someone, I often consider the following three questions: “Is it true?” “Is it compassionate?” and “Is it necessary?” As we become more in touch with the great gift and challenge of verbal compassion we are reminded ever so gently to stop and listen. To me, listening with an open heart and an open mind allows compassion to flow naturally.

Compassion makes us aware of the need for a constant inspiration for the well-being of others. It is a way of being, sometimes without the use of words. A gentle touch, or an understanding smile are examples of simple actions that can go a long way. A single right action has a tremendous positive effect. As we take each right action and deed this infuses us with the energy and the ability to take the next right action. Compassionate deeds represent the choices we make in our daily lives and it is these choices that make us who we are. One essential characteristic that I adhere to is the importance of selflessness. In sharing compassion through my actions I have found that not expecting anything in return is not only the most rewarding, but also the most enjoyable. As a mother, selflessness has centered my way of living for thirty years. In setting a strong example of compassion for my children I have seen my influence shape the words and actions of my family. By teaching them compassion in all its stages of thought, word, and deed and by living a compassionate lifestyle my example has mentored my children into their adulthood and spread the importance of following a moral and loving life. Of the three legs of the easel that were mentioned in the introduction, compassionate deeds are the most challenging. With that challenge comes the increased pride that one feels after seeing the positive results.

Compassion is not an emotion or energy that we turn on and off at will. It is a natural grace filled state of being. In compassion, we bear witness to what is. We are there to see it, feel it, and experience it. All of us have felt loneliness, sorrow and suffering and so we share our life with those now in loss or sorrow. Having been broken, we understand the broken-hearted with just an embrace. Having suffered loss or hardship, we can mourn gently with those who are bereaved. Above all compassion teaches us to listen with our hearts and offer a source of hope. In a “Daily Om” chapter there is an article discussing the impact of compassion. I found an important phrase that sums up my feelings. The phrase says: “Know that you are inherently good, love yourself, and always do your best.”

My knowledge of yoga beliefs have both strengthened and expanded my view of compassion and shown me how to be the best person I can possibly be. In continuing my studies, I will apply my new wisdom of the three prongs of compassion so that it can be a source of hope, joy, and positive energy for all those around me.

Peggy Clark is a yoga teacher and student in the Studio Yoga Teacher Education Program.

• Andrew Thorpe is writing a 3 part article on Balance. Part I is below.

In this three part series on balance, and how to improve it through yoga, you will learn the different systems involved in balancing, how you may be compensating, and what you can do to improve your balance through yoga so it can translate into everyday life. Part one focuses on proprioception, or joint receptors, that helps to let one know where they are in space.

Think about it. How often are you standing on one leg balancing? If you are thinking not often, think again; as soon as you begin walking you are balancing on one leg. In fact, walking is a series of controlled falls where you are continually advancing forward on a single leg. There are a number of variables that affect your balance: joint receptors, called proprioceptors, vision, vestibular system, and the musculoskeletal system. Depending on each individual, one relies on each system in different way.

Proprioceptors are signal receptors found in your joints. They let you know where your body is in space by the change in angle of your joint. For example: the proprioceptors in your ankle rely on the change in angle of the bones in your shin and ankle to let your brain know where your lower leg is in space. Imagine you are walking a hard wooden yoga floor. Not too difficult right? Now imagine you are walking across that same yoga floor with ten thick yoga mats underneath your feet. Which do you think would be harder? Of course, the yoga mats would be harder! Why, because as you walk across the floor with the mats your brain is receiving messages from your ankle that are muffled or incorrect. You see, as you step on a pliable surface, the angle of the ankle does not change or become as acute because of the pliability of the surface. Therefore the receptors send a message to the brain that states the angle has not changed and a resulting loss of balance may occur.

So what, who cares? Many people have sprained their ankle, broken a bone, or even just been sedentary during their life. All of these things hinder the body’s ability to balance utilizing joint proprioceptors. Any injury to the joint, or simply living a sedentary lifestyle, muffles the signal to the brain and the resulting signal to the joint. How many people have sprained their ankle several times? If not you, most know others who have. This is because the joint receptors have been injured or stretched and they are now sending incorrect information to the brain. If one system is giving faulty information the body, being extremely efficient, will compensate with vision or the vestibular system. However, these systems may not always give accurate information and can also lead to falls. (Look for more on vision and vestibular system in the next two articles.)

When you practice yoga, especially Iyengar yoga, (I am of course partial being an Iyengar teacher) you learn to listen and train your proprioceptors. Your conscious attention to alignment and the position of your body in space improves the messages being sent back and forth between your brain and body. The great thing is the system is trainable! It can improve drastically with prolonged practice. An important note to make is that if you are just starting yoga, it is important to develop a frame of correctness. That is to say, a teacher, a mirror, or an experienced friend, may help you see where you are in space so you can get an idea of what is correct. Later on, it is crucial to practice on your own. After all, by practicing on your own you learn to go inward and listen. You learn to pay attention to where you are in space. There is no better way to improve. That improvement will translate into everyday life, like when you are walking down a crowded city street. The heart of yoga is for it to transfer into all you do.

After you have been practicing for a while, there two specific things you can do to improve proprioception, other than the actions your teachers are giving you in class. Try closing your eyes while in standing poses. (To be safe, have a wall or something sturdy nearby just in case.) By practicing this way you increase your reliance on the proprioceptors to let you know where you are in space and decrease the reliance on vision. Next, try turning your head side to side while in a pose. Because you are changing your focus, the body has to adapt the visual and vestibular system and increase the reliance on the proprioceptors.

As a teacher, I used to wonder why it was some students would just be able to understand a yoga action, or subtle direction, as it relates to their body in space and their ability to manipulate it. I now know this system plays a big role. One cannot understand a subtle action if they compensating using a different system, like vision or vestibular. It takes time and patience. I have always been taught as well that yoga moves from the gross to the subtle.

Andrew Thorpe, SPT, Nationally Certified Iyengar Yoga Instructor is currently pursuing a doctorate in physical therapy.
He can be reached at ptyogasyn@yahoo.com 973-222-5521.

Fresh ginger adds a little heat to this light, refreshing summery mix of contrasting flavors. Cantaloupe is an excellent source of antioxidant polyphenols, as well as vitamin C and beta-carotene.
 
 
 
1 cantaloupe, halved, seeded, peeled
3 T. fresh lime juice
3 T. chopped fresh mint
2 tsp. grated lime peel
2 T. sugar
2 1/2 tsp. grated peeled fresh ginger
2 tsp. honey

 
• Cut cantaloupe into 3/4- to 1-inch cubes (about 5 cups) and place in large bowl.
• Add lime juice, mint, and lime peel; toss to blend.
• Mix in sugar, ginger, and honey. Refrigerate salad until ready to serve, stirring occasionally, up to 3 hours.

GALE MALESKEY, MS, RD is a journalist, clinical dietitian, public educator and Licensed Wellness Coach. She combines the best of traditional nutrition counseling, integrative nutrition and motivational coaching to help her clients set achievable, life-supporting nutrition and lifestyle goals. She has a practice in Bridgewater, New Jersey. For more information, please visit her website: Gale Malesky or call 610-554-9406.

• Dr. Frank Lipman’s thoughts on Vitamin D and Sunscreen are the focus of the timely article you will find below.

• We mourn the passing of one of the NYC yoga grandfathers, Swami Bua. Follow this link to read about his life. Swami Bua

For the last 30 years or so, doctors (dermatologists in particular), health officials, beauty experts and many product companies have been demonizing the sun. They’ve told us to avoid it because, without sunscreen, exposure to the sun’s rays will damage skin and cause cancer. But this oversimplification distorts the facts. In the past few years, numerous studies have shown that optimizing your Vitamin D levels may actually help prevent as many as 16 different types of cancer including pancreatic, lung, breast, ovarian, prostate, and colon cancers. And the best way to optimize Vitamin D levels is through safe, smart and limited sunscreen-free exposure to the sun.

For hundreds of thousands of years, man has lived with the sun: Our ancestors were outdoors far more often than indoors. We developed a dependence on sunshine for health and life, so the idea that sunlight is dangerous does not make sense. How could we have evolved and survived as a species, if we were that vulnerable to something humans have been constantly exposed to for their entire existence? Is it possible that our bodies are made in such a way that the sun is really a lethal enemy? Not in my opinion. Like all living things, we need sunshine, and it feels good for a reason. Much as plants harness the sun’s rays through photosynthesis, our bodies use sunlight to help the skin produce the Vitamin D it needs to build bones, quell inflammation, bolster the immune system and protect against cancer (including skin cancer). Breast Care

“Let the sun shine in”

 Western medicine has made a practice of telling us to abstain from things that are bad for us in extreme quantities, when in fact those same things – fat, salt, and sunshine for example – are very good for us when consumed wisely and in moderation. In the case of sunshine, our UV paranoia is contributing to a silent epidemic: Vitamin D deficiency. It’s silent because most people don’t know they are deficient. And it’s deadly, because this deficiency can lead to cancer and a multitude of other diseases. But we’ve demonized the sun and been brainwashed into believing that even small amounts will harm us. We are told to slather on sunscreen whenever we are in the sun, which blocks Vitamin D production and exacerbates the Vitamin D deficiency induced by our modern, indoor lives.

Studies show that as many as three out of four Americans suffer from Vitamin D deficiency. A study published in 2009 in the “Archives of Internal Medicine” (a leading scientific journal), found that 70% of Caucasians, 90% of Hispanics and 97% of African Americans in the US have insufficient blood levels of Vitamin D. Indeed, it’s thought to be the most common medical condition in the world, affecting over one billion people and we now have research showing just how essential Vitamin D is to health.

U.S. and Norwegian researchers have found that people who live in higher latitudes are more prone to Vitamin D deficiency and more prone to developing common cancers and dying of them. It’s now thought that this is due in part to the body’s inability to make enough activated Vitamin D to help regulate cell growth and to keep cell growth in check. Independent scientific research has shown that whether you live in a sunny or not-so-sunny climate, exposure to the sun and its UVB radiation will increase your production of Vitamin D and help lower the risk of a host of debilitating and fatal diseases – including many cancers, heart disease, high blood pressure, Type I diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and depression.

And now the experts are concerned that we’re passing an epidemic of Vitamin D deficiency down to a new generation. Studies have shown that Vitamin D deficiency may imprint on an infant for the rest of his/her life. Infants that are deficient at birth can remain Vitamin D deficient for the first several months after birth, which may put them at risk of developing many chronic diseases much later in life.

What is Vitamin D and how much do you need?

Although called a vitamin, it is not. Vitamin D is in a class by itself, behaving more like a hormone. It is made in the skin, gets into your bloodstream and then goes into the liver and the kidney where it becomes activated as a key steroid hormone called Calcitriol. It then goes to the intestines, bones and other tissues, effecting metabolic pathways and the expression of myriad genes. Vitamin D’s active form can interact with almost every cell in the body directly or indirectly, targeting up to two thousand genes, or about six percent of the human genome. It is necessary for numerous cellular functions, and when the body does not have what it needs to function optimally, it follows that we experience a decline in health and put ourselves at risk of disease. We now know that almost every cell and tissue in our body has Vitamin D receptors, which raises the question: Why would those receptors be there if they didn’t have a function?

Our Vitamin D needs vary with age, body weight, percent of body fat, latitude, skin coloration, season of the year, use of sun block, individual reactions to sun exposure, and our overall health. As a general rule, older people need more Vitamin D than younger people, large people need more that small people, fat people need more than skinny people, northern people need more than southern people, dark-skinned people need more than fair skinned people, winter people need more than summer people, sun-phobes need more than sun worshipers, and ill people may need more than well people.

The best way to determine whether or not you are deficient is to have your Vitamin D blood levels measured and replenish accordingly. Diseases and Vitamin D deficiency

My Top Ten Tips for Healthy Sun Exposure and Optimizing your Vitamin D Levels

Have a healthy respect for the sun. It is a powerful medicine with potentially dangerous side effects on your skin. Treat it like medication, using the lowest dose necessary, but don’t avoid it completely. Never fall asleep in the sun without protection.

Always avoid sunburn. It is sunburn, not healthy sun exposure, that causes problems. Repeated sunburns, especially in children and very fair-skinned people, have been linked to melanoma. Whereas there is no credible scientific evidence that regular, moderate sun exposure causes melanoma or other skin cancers.

Prepare your skin and build up tolerance gradually. Start early in the year (spring), or early in the morning before the sun is strongest and slowly build up the amount of time you spend in the sun.

Get 15-30 minutes of unprotected sun exposure 2-4 times a week. Each of us has different needs for unprotected sun exposure in order to maintain adequate levels of Vitamin D. Depending on your age, what type of skin you have, where you live and what time of the day and year it is, your needs will vary. The farther you live from the equator, the more exposure to the sun you need in order to generate Vitamin D. For instance, a fair skinned person, sitting on a New York beach in June, in the middle of the day, for about 10-15 minutes (enough to cause a light pinkness 24 hours after), is producing the equivalent of 15,000-20,000 IU’s of Vitamin D. But the same person living further north in the U.K, or Canada would need 20-30 minutes to get that light pinkness, which is all one needs. Also, people with dark skin pigmentation may need 20-30 times as much exposure to sunlight as fair-skinned people, in order to generate the same amount of Vitamin D. For more specifics, I recommend the tables in “The Vitamin D Solution” by Dr Michael Holick.

Get frequent, short exposures. Regular short exposures have been found to be much more effective and safer than intermittent long ones. Note that you cannot generate Vitamin D when sitting behind a glass window, because the UVB rays necessary for Vitamin D production are absorbed by glass.

After your 15-30 minutes of sun-block free time in the sun, you must protect yourself. If you’re going to be out in the sun for longer periods, wear a hat to protect your face and light colored clothing that blocks the sun and keeps you cool. When you do apply sunscreen, use one with fewer chemicals.

Check out the Environmental Working Group’s list of safer sunscreens. Best Sunscreens Remember that even weak sunscreens block the ability of your skin to manufacture Vitamin D, so once you have applied it, you will not be making Vitamin D.

Boost your “internal sunscreen” by consuming anti-oxidants and beneficial fats. These strengthen skin cells, helping to protect them from sun damage. Eating lots of vegetables and fruits such as blueberries, raspberries, goji berries and pomegranates supplemented with green powdered mixes and fish oils are great options when going into the sun.

Have your Vitamin D blood levels checked regularly. The correct blood test is 25OH vit D or 25 Hydroxy Vitamin D test. Be aware, however, that the current “normal” range for Vitamin D is 20 to 55 ng/ml. This is much too low!!! Those levels may be fine if you want to prevent rickets or osteomalacia, but they are not adequate for optimal health. The ideal range for optimal health is 50-80 ng/ml.

Don’t rely on food alone for your Vitamin D needs. It is almost impossible to get your Vitamin D needs met by food alone. Fatty wild fish (not farmed), like salmon and mackerel are the best food sources, but you would have to eat huge quantities of them daily to get anywhere near what your body needs. Although fortified milk and orange juice do contain Vitamin D, you would have to drink at least 10 glasses of each daily and I don’t recommend doing that.

Take Vitamin D3 supplements if necessary. In the winter, or if you don’t get enough healthy sun exposure, or if your blood levels are low, make sure you supplement with at least 2,000 IU’s a day of Vitamin D3. Although I recommend moderate sunbathing, Vitamin D supplements provide the same benefits as sunshine (in terms of Vitamin D needs). But, if taken in too large a dose, they can cause Vitamin D toxicity, whereas sun exposure does not. It is impossible to generate too much Vitamin D in your body from the sun: Your body will self-regulate and only generate what it needs, which just reaffirms to me that we should get our Vitamin D from sensible sun exposure. Here are specific guidelines for replenishing Vitamin D. Eleven Eleven Wellnes Center, where he combines the best of Western medicine with age-old healing techniques from the East.

Dr. Lipman is the author of the recent “REVIVE; Stop Feeling Spent and Start Living Again” (2009) (previously called SPENT) and “TOTAL RENEWAL; 7 key steps to Resilience, Vitality and Long-Term Health” (2003). He is also the creator of Eleven Eleven Wellness, Guided Health Solutions Eleven Eleven Wellness, a leading edge integrative health program.
 
 

 
To order books by Dr. Lipman click on the Amazon box to the left of this article.

*This post was orignally found on Leslie Kaminoff’s esutra blog site Vitamin D and sunscreen

• Mel Robin’s latest article appears below. When you are in the mood to spend some time really concentrating on something, this article on hormesis is quite eye opening.

• The Daily Record visited the Zumba class of Elizabeth Perez-Diner. Watch this video to meet Elizabeth and see what her classes are all about. Zumba with Elizabeth

• For an interesting article on “Using Music to Ease Patient Stress During Surgery” go to this article by Coeli Carr published by Time/CNN. Music During Surgery

We all know that yogasana as exercise is good for our body and our mind, but why is this so? How can we rationalize this within the context of the physiology of muscles? And what can we understand anew by taking this technological approach to something that up to now has been so free of such scientific thinking? I believe that the answers to questions such as these are more or less revealed in a very recent paper entitled “Hormesis and Exercise: How the Cell Copes with Oxidative Stress,” authored by L. L. Ji, Z. Radak, and S. Goto, and published in the American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology, volume 3, 2008, on pages 44-58. A free copy of the full text of this article is available on the Internet.

 
Not only is this work on hormesis directly applicable to the practice of yogasana, though this is never mentioned explicitly by name, still the connections are obvious I think. Moreover, it is based upon a phenomenon which is currently the center of a vigorous debate in the scientific literature, which pits old but accepted pharmacological ideas against a set of newer ones, which offer great promise for changing the directions of medical research, if they are in fact true.

Hormesis

 
The phenomenon at the center of the debate is the phenomenon called “hormesis” (Greek for “to excite”) as it applies to the question of the dose-response curve for drugs. The standard expectation in this regard, Figure 1.A, is that as the dose of some chemical injected into the body increases, the body’s response to this also will increase until the dose is so large that the injected material becomes lethal. Of course, it follows naturally, that at zero dose (”0″), the response is zero.
 

Figure 1.A. The idealized dose/response curve for the injection of a drug into a living system, with the measured responses shown for drug doses of 1 to 10 in arbitrary units. In normal practice, the unexplored region between zero dose and the lowest dose used in the experiment (*) is simply a straight-line interpolation, as shown by the dashed line. At zero dose, there is often some nonzero response due to existing environmental factors, for example, and at dose levels of 10 or higher, the lethal limit has been reached and exceeded. In fact, many careful experiments show that in the very low-dose region, the experimental curve is more like that shown by the dotted line in the figure, due to hormesis.

Figure1.B. The interpolated dashed curve at low dosage and the true curve showing the hormetic effect (dotted curve) in a plot of relative risk for breast cancer versus number of alcoholic drinks consumed per day.

 

Figure 1.C. The interpolated dashed curve at low dosage and the true curve showing the hormetic effect (dotted curve) in a plot of the relative risk of tumor formation versus the dosage of ionizing radiation in rads.

The argument centers around the behavior of the curve between the origin at zero dose “0″ and the first measured point, labeled “*” in the Figure. It is natural to assume that the curve in this region simply rises in concert with that determined experimentally at points beyond “*” as shown by the dashed line in this region of the dose-response curve. Experimentally, thanks to careful work in literally hundreds of dose-response systems (drugs, poisons, radiation, muscle contraction, respiration, heart attack, etc.), the curve is now recognized to have a rather different shape, that of the dotted curve in Figure 1.A. This is in accord with the statement of the toxicologist Paracelsus in the 1400’s, who said, “All things are poison and nothing is without poison, only the dose makes something not a poison.” In more modern terms, hormesis says that all things are fatal to us if we take them in such large quantities that they generate unbearable stress in the body, however, at much smaller doses, the stress is not only bearable but capable of curing, and therefore is beneficial! Note that with the hormesis effect in action, the response can even be below that of “zero dose” showing that some other, possibly environmental effect, must be active other than the purposeful exposure to a “noxious” substance.

 
As further examples of the hormesis effect, consider that one is statistically more likely to survive a major heart attack if one has already had several smaller attacks, and that respiratory efficiency is greatly enhanced if one practices breathing air contaminated with a small amount of carbon monoxide, a deadly poisonous gas! Regarding bacteria and their negative effects, consider that communities with non-zero concentrations of bacterial contamination in their drinking water survive better when the concentration rises to dangerous levels, than do super-clean communities which normally have zero contamination and then experience a sudden rise to the same dangerous levels. The argument then centers about the question, “How can something that is a violent poison, corrosive, infectious, deadly, etc. ever function in a beneficial way, even at low concentrations?”

Mitochondria, ATP, and Muscle Contraction

 
In response to the question posed above, let’s first consider the situation in regard to how hormesis may play a role in yogasana practice. Energy is obviously required to contract a muscle, any muscle, be it skeletal, cardiac or smooth. The energy driving this contraction involves the ubiquitous molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP) that is present in the resting body in quantities large enough to drive most muscle contractions for a few tens of seconds. Once exhausted, the body then turns to nuclei within the muscle cells called mitochondria, which can produce more ATP as long as they receive glucose and oxygen from the blood stream. A contracted muscle can consume up to 100 times as much oxygen as the same muscle in the resting state. The chemistry involved in this step is complex (see the above mentioned article) and seems to change with age, for as we age, the byproducts of this mitochondrial process yielding ATP also produce increasing levels of products known as Reactive Oxygen and Nitrogen Species (RONS). Rephrased in terms that more readers may be familiar with, the RONS are strongly oxidative chemicals, and only another class of chemicals called anti-oxidants can withstand their actions. Paradoxically, RONS in some situations are helpful, acting as mediators of signal transmission and other biological processes.

 
As the RONS are highly reactive and are almost totally nonselective, they work to tear apart the mitochondria and other nearby structures (resulting in cell aging) until the damage exceeds a certain limit (resulting in cell death). This production of RONS is held to be one of the major factors in regard to good health and longevity, with excess RONS leading to poor health and a shortened lifespan. Given that the production of RONS is greatly increased by increased contraction of any muscle, it would appear that the secret to a long and healthy life is to avoid all exercise, including yogasana practice!

Homeostasis/Balance

 
In a healthy body, there are a multitude of sensors that measure various properties of body function and then subconsciously make adjustments to the system so as to maintain these functions within certain specific limits for good health. I speak of the sensor systems that maintain the core of the body temperature at 98.6 degrees F regardless of the external temperature, for example, or those that maintain blood pressure within narrow limits, control the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide within the blood, close the iris of the eye in strong light, etc. This subconscious process of restricting body variables within healthy limits is known as “homeostasis,” and is indispensable for life.

 
Fortunately for all of us, there exists in each of us a homeostatic balance mechanism with regard to the oxidation/anti-oxidation forces battling it out within every muscle and organ in the body, 24 hours a day, every day.

Stress and the Hormesis Mechanism

 
When a variable function of the body approaches a preset limit in the body due to some externally applied stress such as exposure to too low a temperature, then the sensor activates a homeostatic action that works to counterbalance the errant stress impressed externally. In this case, it would be the onset of shivering which warms the body through the generation of body heat by muscle contraction. The benefit of this homeostasis is not only that it can work to resist a body function from assuming extreme values, but it also exercises the resisting mechanism. By exercising any homeostatic balancing mechanism, it becomes possible to reset the limit higher if there is a reason to do so, and it gives one a better chance of successfully turning back a truly large and instantaneous stress because the balancing mechanism has been exercised in the past and so is immediately ready to respond.

 
In a way, the hormesis phenomenon can be rephrased in terms of vaccination. By vaccination, one introduces a small but specific external stress on the immune system, and this then primes the body to be able to battle the real threat if one ever meets it again. Without the vaccination, the real threat is such a large and acute stress on the system that we yield to its effects, but with the strength gained by meeting it a few times in a weakened condition through vaccination, one is able to defeat it.

 
Along lines that are more physiological than immunological, ionizing gamma radiation of 600 Rads or higher intensity results in the rapid appearance of radiation-induced tumors, however when exposed a few times to a hormetic dose of only 20 Rads or so, the body is “vaccinated” against radiation, and the rate of tumor formation is then lower than it is when the radiation dose is zero! Similarly, though the consumption of more than one-half of an alcoholic drink per day is harmful in regard to breast cancer, and increases with larger daily amounts of alcohol, at only one-quarter of a drink per day, the resistance to breast cancer is even less than if no alcohol is consumed at all, Figure 1.B.

Redox Balance/Priming

Applying the above reasoning to exercise, if the exercise is muscular but moderate in intensity, then the oxidative stress incurred by the body will be met and conquered successfully by homeostatis because the body has met this stress before and so does not fade when the stress appears. In this case, it is imperative that the homeostatic control be exercised often and at low intensity. If, instead, the stress appears instantly and is of very high magnitude, then the homeostatic mechanism will not be able to handle it, and one must suffer whatever the consequences might be. In this way, by moderate exercise, one vaccinates the body against the stress of RON’s production and the consequent oxidative damage initiated by muscle contraction.

 
But wait, you say! In yogasana practice we are involved with muscle stretching rather than contraction! Not true! In stretching a muscle, we are always anchoring one end of a muscle by contracting antagonist muscles, while we pull the other end away from the anchoring point, often by contracting yet other muscles. And even when in savasana, the heart and the respiratory systems continue to work and to produce their burdens of RONS.

 
Exercise that involves muscle contraction is beneficial provided that it is done at a moderate level and is done regularly/daily. Were your exercise plan based on walking/running for example, do walk/run every day, but only slowly allow the level of exercise-induced oxidative stress to rise. Were you at this initial point in your running life and decided to run a marathon, you might seriously injure yourself, for the redox balancing mechanism has not been adjusted for the large stress inherent is such an undertaking.

 
Q: How then do you ever reach the marathon level? A: You do so by incrementally increasing the stress of your activity, thereby giving the homeostatic mechanism a chance to strengthen as the oxidative stress increases. Done slowly over time, you will be able eventually to recover from the stress of a marathon-insult to the body with no lasting ill effects.

 
In a study relevant to yogasana students on the effects of diaphragmatic breathing on oxidative stress, it was shown that following a full day of exhaustive exercise, one-hour of such yogic breathing was far better at reducing the marker for cortisol (a strong indicator of oxidative stress) while increasing that for melatonin (a strong antioxidant), as compared to simply sitting and resting.

The Application of Hormesis to Yogasana Practice

Applied to yogasana practice, the lesson is clear, and totally in line with yoga as taught by BKS Iyengar. Start with a practice of only moderate intensity, but do it regularly. The term “moderate exercise” for the beginner implies that the work does not make the exerciser feel distressed or uncomfortable. As you do this, your strength will increase and so too will your resistance to oxidative damage, otherwise given no other health problems. Continue doing this as long as you wish to remain healthy. If your age and health allow it, you should incrementally increase the intensity of your practice while you maintain its regularity.

 
This plan is not only a good one for the long term, but is just as applicable for the moment, say in regard to incrementally approaching inverted postures such as Sirsasana. In this case, the problem may be a precipitous increase in the intraocular pressure if one goes immediately into full inversion, however, this can be avoided by incrementally inverting over a matter of weeks instead of inverting fully within a few seconds. Moreover, the hormetic mechanism is said to be applicable no matter whether the stress is physical, mental, pathological or environmental, irrespective of whether the stress is oxidative or not. Thanks to hormesis, whatever does not kill you can make you stronger!

• Adapted from a longer article on this subject submitted to Yoga Rahasya, 2010.

Mel Robin can be contacted at: Email Mel