The Artistic Yoga Podcast: Recent Episodes
Bharat Thakur
In the Artistic Yoga podcast, Dr. Bharat Thakur helps explore how to live with awareness. Through a compelling narrative on the most fundamental and often underinvested aspects of our life - breathing, mindful activity, nutrition, hydration, sleep, relationship, silence; Bharat helps us better understand the mind body equation and how to deal with our lifestyle issues, including obesity, stress, hypertension, cardiac problems, women’s health, immune disorders, age related problems and mental health. Bharat’s philosophy gives yoga a universal language, easy to understand and adopt. It centres on the principles of balance, cheerfulness, awakening the breath body, compassion to self and others, unlearning to learn and a meaningful engagement with consciousness.Born in India and raised as a child in the Himalayas, Dr. Bharat Thakur belongs to the world. A yogi, a spiritual teacher and master, he has simplified yoga and taken it around the world through his centres in UAE, India and Europe. Bharat is an accomplished poet and a contemporary visual artist with several international awards to his name. He has authored several books on yoga.
The Char Dham means “The Four Stations”. Why “The Four Stations” is because it is not just a reference to the four places in Geography. It is also a reference to the four stations of artha, kama, dharma and moksha. The four stations of a well lived life namely acquiring of prosperity or means, fulfillment of desires and passions, living a life of coherence with Nature, Nature out there and one’s own nature, and finally the station of transcendence where you get established in your own sense of being.
On this pilgrimage, the four geographical stations of Gangotrti, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the pilgrimage seeks to get insight into the truth of these four stations of life through a combination of physical and mental effort, emotional aliveness, openness to the spirit and surrender to Nature.
It’s quite beautiful, profound, intense and transforming. It’s unique as a pilgrimage, as an experience and breathtaking in its conception.
In the following Episodes, Dr. Bharat Thakur takes you along this pilgrimage over 10 days, sharing the daily logs and some insightful blogs that will have you want to experience the Yatra for yourself.
Episodes
- Day 0 .. Rishikesh … A Little About Yatra
- Day 1 .. Breaking The Trance ..
- Day 2 .. Night at Barkot .. A Lovely Day, An Uncertain Night … Initiation Into The Yatra
- Day 2 blog: Legends of Yamunotri
- Day 3 … Trek to Yamunotri .. Night at Barkot .. Living The Mountain Life ..
- Day 4 .. Travel to Uttarkashi .. Prayer .. An Intimate Of Happiness ..
- Day 4 blog: River of life ..
- Day 4 blog: We go to Gangotri next
- Day 5 .. Gangotri Darshan and back to Uttarkashi .. Immersion At The Source
- Day 6 .. Travel to Guptkashi .. The Critical Period ..
- Day 6 blog: Yamunotri to Kedarnath
- Day 7 .. Trek to Kedarnath .. Crossing The Threshold ..
- Day 8 .. Kedarnath Darshan .. The Thawing Of The Glacier .. trek back and travel to Gupt Kashi ..
- Day 8 blog: Kedar .. The Field
- Day 9 .. Travel to Gurudwara .. The Pause ..
- Day 9 Blog: Road to Badrinath
- Day 10 .. Darshan of Badrinath .. Arriving At The horizon ..
- Day 10 Blog: Nar Narayan … The Ancient Archetype Of The Student
The Char Dham means “The Four Stations”. Why “The Four Stations” is because it is not just a reference to the four places in Geography. It is also a reference to the four stations of artha, kama, dharma and moksha. The four stations of a well lived life namely acquiring of prosperity or means, fulfillment of desires and passions, living a life of coherence with Nature, Nature out there and one’s own nature, and finally the station of transcendence where you get established in your own sense of being.
On this pilgrimage, the four geographical stations of Gangotrti, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the pilgrimage seeks to get insight into the truth of these four stations of life through a combination of physical and mental effort, emotional aliveness, openness to the spirit and surrender to Nature.
It’s quite beautiful, profound, intense and transforming. It’s unique as a pilgrimage, as an experience and breathtaking in its conception.
In the following Episodes, Dr. Bharat Thakur takes you along this pilgrimage over 10 days, sharing the daily logs and some insightful blogs that will have you want to experience the Yatra for yourself.
Episodes
- Day 0 .. Rishikesh … A Little About Yatra
- Day 1 .. Breaking The Trance ..
- Day 2 .. Night at Barkot .. A Lovely Day, An Uncertain Night … Initiation Into The Yatra
- Day 2 blog: Legends of Yamunotri
- Day 3 … Trek to Yamunotri .. Night at Barkot .. Living The Mountain Life ..
- Day 4 .. Travel to Uttarkashi .. Prayer .. An Intimate Of Happiness ..
- Day 4 blog: River of life ..
- Day 4 blog: We go to Gangotri next
- Day 5 .. Gangotri Darshan and back to Uttarkashi .. Immersion At The Source
- Day 6 .. Travel to Guptkashi .. The Critical Period ..
- Day 6 blog: Yamunotri to Kedarnath
- Day 7 .. Trek to Kedarnath .. Crossing The Threshold ..
- Day 8 .. Kedarnath Darshan .. The Thawing Of The Glacier .. trek back and travel to Gupt Kashi ..
- Day 8 blog: Kedar .. The Field
- Day 9 .. Travel to Gurudwara .. The Pause ..
- Day 9 Blog: Road to Badrinath
- Day 10 .. Darshan of Badrinath .. Arriving At The horizon ..
- Day 10 Blog: Nar Narayan … The Ancient Archetype Of The Student
The Char Dham means “The Four Stations”. Why “The Four Stations” is because it is not just a reference to the four places in Geography. It is also a reference to the four stations of artha, kama, dharma and moksha. The four stations of a well lived life namely acquiring of prosperity or means, fulfillment of desires and passions, living a life of coherence with Nature, Nature out there and one’s own nature, and finally the station of transcendence where you get established in your own sense of being.
On this pilgrimage, the four geographical stations of Gangotrti, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the pilgrimage seeks to get insight into the truth of these four stations of life through a combination of physical and mental effort, emotional aliveness, openness to the spirit and surrender to Nature.
It’s quite beautiful, profound, intense and transforming. It’s unique as a pilgrimage, as an experience and breathtaking in its conception.
In the following Episodes, Dr. Bharat Thakur takes you along this pilgrimage over 10 days, sharing the daily logs and some insightful blogs that will have you want to experience the Yatra for yourself.
Episodes
- Day 0 .. Rishikesh … A Little About Yatra
- Day 1 .. Breaking The Trance ..
- Day 2 .. Night at Barkot .. A Lovely Day, An Uncertain Night … Initiation Into The Yatra
- Day 2 blog: Legends of Yamunotri
- Day 3 … Trek to Yamunotri .. Night at Barkot .. Living The Mountain Life ..
- Day 4 .. Travel to Uttarkashi .. Prayer .. An Intimate Of Happiness ..
- Day 4 blog: River of life ..
- Day 4 blog: We go to Gangotri next
- Day 5 .. Gangotri Darshan and back to Uttarkashi .. Immersion At The Source
- Day 6 .. Travel to Guptkashi .. The Critical Period ..
- Day 6 blog: Yamunotri to Kedarnath
- Day 7 .. Trek to Kedarnath .. Crossing The Threshold ..
- Day 8 .. Kedarnath Darshan .. The Thawing Of The Glacier .. trek back and travel to Gupt Kashi ..
- Day 8 blog: Kedar .. The Field
- Day 9 .. Travel to Gurudwara .. The Pause ..
- Day 9 Blog: Road to Badrinath
- Day 10 .. Darshan of Badrinath .. Arriving At The horizon ..
- Day 10 Blog: Nar Narayan … The Ancient Archetype Of The Student
The Char Dham means “The Four Stations”. Why “The Four Stations” is because it is not just a reference to the four places in Geography. It is also a reference to the four stations of artha, kama, dharma and moksha. The four stations of a well lived life namely acquiring of prosperity or means, fulfillment of desires and passions, living a life of coherence with Nature, Nature out there and one’s own nature, and finally the station of transcendence where you get established in your own sense of being.
On this pilgrimage, the four geographical stations of Gangotrti, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the pilgrimage seeks to get insight into the truth of these four stations of life through a combination of physical and mental effort, emotional aliveness, openness to the spirit and surrender to Nature.
It’s quite beautiful, profound, intense and transforming. It’s unique as a pilgrimage, as an experience and breathtaking in its conception.
In the following Episodes, Dr. Bharat Thakur takes you along this pilgrimage over 10 days, sharing the daily logs and some insightful blogs that will have you want to experience the Yatra for yourself.
The Char Dham means “The Four Stations”. Why “The Four Stations” is because it is not just a reference to the four places in Geography. It is also a reference to the four stations of artha, kama, dharma and moksha. The four stations of a well lived life namely acquiring of prosperity or means, fulfillment of desires and passions, living a life of coherence with Nature, Nature out there and one’s own nature, and finally the station of transcendence where you get established in your own sense of being.
On this pilgrimage, the four geographical stations of Gangotrti, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the pilgrimage seeks to get insight into the truth of these four stations of life through a combination of physical and mental effort, emotional aliveness, openness to the spirit and surrender to Nature.
It’s quite beautiful, profound, intense and transforming. It’s unique as a pilgrimage, as an experience and breathtaking in its conception.
In the following Episodes, Dr. Bharat Thakur takes you along this pilgrimage over 10 days, sharing the daily logs and some insightful blogs that will have you want to experience the Yatra for yourself.
The Char Dham means “The Four Stations”. Why “The Four Stations” is because it is not just a reference to the four places in Geography. It is also a reference to the four stations of artha, kama, dharma and moksha. The four stations of a well lived life namely acquiring of prosperity or means, fulfillment of desires and passions, living a life of coherence with Nature, Nature out there and one’s own nature, and finally the station of transcendence where you get established in your own sense of being.
On this pilgrimage, the four geographical stations of Gangotrti, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the pilgrimage seeks to get insight into the truth of these four stations of life through a combination of physical and mental effort, emotional aliveness, openness to the spirit and surrender to Nature.
It’s quite beautiful, profound, intense and transforming. It’s unique as a pilgrimage, as an experience and breathtaking in its conception.
In the following Episodes, Dr. Bharat Thakur takes you along this pilgrimage over 10 days, sharing the daily logs and some insightful blogs that will have you want to experience the Yatra for yourself.
Episodes
- Day 0 .. Rishikesh … A Little About Yatra
- Day 1 .. Breaking The Trance ..
- Day 2 .. Night at Barkot .. A Lovely Day, An Uncertain Night … Initiation Into The Yatra
- Day 2 blog: Legends of Yamunotri
- Day 3 … Trek to Yamunotri .. Night at Barkot .. Living The Mountain Life ..
- Day 4 .. Travel to Uttarkashi .. Prayer .. An Intimate Of Happiness ..
- Day 4 blog: River of life ..
- Day 4 blog: We go to Gangotri next
- Day 5 .. Gangotri Darshan and back to Uttarkashi .. Immersion At The Source
- Day 6 .. Travel to Guptkashi .. The Critical Period ..
- Day 6 blog: Yamunotri to Kedarnath
- Day 7 .. Trek to Kedarnath .. Crossing The Threshold ..
- Day 8 .. Kedarnath Darshan .. The Thawing Of The Glacier .. trek back and travel to Gupt Kashi ..
- Day 8 blog: Kedar .. The Field
- Day 9 .. Travel to Gurudwara .. The Pause ..
- Day 9 Blog: Road to Badrinath
- Day 10 .. Darshan of Badrinath .. Arriving At The horizon ..
- Day 10 Blog: Nar Narayan … The Ancient Archetype Of The Student
The Char Dham means “The Four Stations”. Why “The Four Stations” is because it is not just a reference to the four places in Geography. It is also a reference to the four stations of artha, kama, dharma and moksha. The four stations of a well lived life namely acquiring of prosperity or means, fulfillment of desires and passions, living a life of coherence with Nature, Nature out there and one’s own nature, and finally the station of transcendence where you get established in your own sense of being.
On this pilgrimage, the four geographical stations of Gangotrti, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the pilgrimage seeks to get insight into the truth of these four stations of life through a combination of physical and mental effort, emotional aliveness, openness to the spirit and surrender to Nature.
It’s quite beautiful, profound, intense and transforming. It’s unique as a pilgrimage, as an experience and breathtaking in its conception.
In the following Episodes, Dr. Bharat Thakur takes you along this pilgrimage over 10 days, sharing the daily logs and some insightful blogs that will have you want to experience the Yatra for yourself.
The Char Dham means “The Four Stations”. Why “The Four Stations” is because it is not just a reference to the four places in Geography. It is also a reference to the four stations of artha, kama, dharma and moksha. The four stations of a well lived life namely acquiring of prosperity or means, fulfillment of desires and passions, living a life of coherence with Nature, Nature out there and one’s own nature, and finally the station of transcendence where you get established in your own sense of being.
On this pilgrimage, the four geographical stations of Gangotrti, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the pilgrimage seeks to get insight into the truth of these four stations of life through a combination of physical and mental effort, emotional aliveness, openness to the spirit and surrender to Nature.
It’s quite beautiful, profound, intense and transforming. It’s unique as a pilgrimage, as an experience and breathtaking in its conception.
In the following Episodes, Dr. Bharat Thakur takes you along this pilgrimage over 10 days, sharing the daily logs and some insightful blogs that will have you want to experience the Yatra for yourself.
The Char Dham means “The Four Stations”. Why “The Four Stations” is because it is not just a reference to the four places in Geography. It is also a reference to the four stations of artha, kama, dharma and moksha. The four stations of a well lived life namely acquiring of prosperity or means, fulfillment of desires and passions, living a life of coherence with Nature, Nature out there and one’s own nature, and finally the station of transcendence where you get established in your own sense of being.
On this pilgrimage, the four geographical stations of Gangotrti, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the pilgrimage seeks to get insight into the truth of these four stations of life through a combination of physical and mental effort, emotional aliveness, openness to the spirit and surrender to Nature.
It’s quite beautiful, profound, intense and transforming. It’s unique as a pilgrimage, as an experience and breathtaking in its conception.
In the following Episodes, Dr. Bharat Thakur takes you along this pilgrimage over 10 days, sharing the daily logs and some insightful blogs that will have you want to experience the Yatra for yourself.
The Char Dham means “The Four Stations”. Why “The Four Stations” is because it is not just a reference to the four places in Geography. It is also a reference to the four stations of artha, kama, dharma and moksha. The four stations of a well lived life namely acquiring of prosperity or means, fulfillment of desires and passions, living a life of coherence with Nature, Nature out there and one’s own nature, and finally the station of transcendence where you get established in your own sense of being.
On this pilgrimage, the four geographical stations of Gangotrti, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the pilgrimage seeks to get insight into the truth of these four stations of life through a combination of physical and mental effort, emotional aliveness, openness to the spirit and surrender to Nature.
It’s quite beautiful, profound, intense and transforming. It’s unique as a pilgrimage, as an experience and breathtaking in its conception.
In the following Episodes, Dr. Bharat Thakur takes you along this pilgrimage over 10 days, sharing the daily logs and some insightful blogs that will have you want to experience the Yatra for yourself.
The Char Dham means “The Four Stations”. Why “The Four Stations” is because it is not just a reference to the four places in Geography. It is also a reference to the four stations of artha, kama, dharma and moksha. The four stations of a well lived life namely acquiring of prosperity or means, fulfillment of desires and passions, living a life of coherence with Nature, Nature out there and one’s own nature, and finally the station of transcendence where you get established in your own sense of being.
On this pilgrimage, the four geographical stations of Gangotrti, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the pilgrimage seeks to get insight into the truth of these four stations of life through a combination of physical and mental effort, emotional aliveness, openness to the spirit and surrender to Nature.
It’s quite beautiful, profound, intense and transforming. It’s unique as a pilgrimage, as an experience and breathtaking in its conception.
In the following Episodes, Dr. Bharat Thakur takes you along this pilgrimage over 10 days, sharing the daily logs and some insightful blogs that will have you want to experience the Yatra for yourself.
The Char Dham means “The Four Stations”. Why “The Four Stations” is because it is not just a reference to the four places in Geography. It is also a reference to the four stations of artha, kama, dharma and moksha. The four stations of a well lived life namely acquiring of prosperity or means, fulfillment of desires and passions, living a life of coherence with Nature, Nature out there and one’s own nature, and finally the station of transcendence where you get established in your own sense of being.
On this pilgrimage, the four geographical stations of Gangotrti, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the pilgrimage seeks to get insight into the truth of these four stations of life through a combination of physical and mental effort, emotional aliveness, openness to the spirit and surrender to Nature.
It’s quite beautiful, profound, intense and transforming. It’s unique as a pilgrimage, as an experience and breathtaking in its conception.
In the following Episodes, Dr. Bharat Thakur takes you along this pilgrimage over 10 days, sharing the daily logs and some insightful blogs that will have you want to experience the Yatra for yourself.
The Char Dham means “The Four Stations”. Why “The Four Stations” is because it is not just a reference to the four places in Geography. It is also a reference to the four stations of artha, kama, dharma and moksha. The four stations of a well lived life namely acquiring of prosperity or means, fulfillment of desires and passions, living a life of coherence with Nature, Nature out there and one’s own nature, and finally the station of transcendence where you get established in your own sense of being.
On this pilgrimage, the four geographical stations of Gangotrti, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the pilgrimage seeks to get insight into the truth of these four stations of life through a combination of physical and mental effort, emotional aliveness, openness to the spirit and surrender to Nature.
It’s quite beautiful, profound, intense and transforming. It’s unique as a pilgrimage, as an experience and breathtaking in its conception.
In the following Episodes, Dr. Bharat Thakur takes you along this pilgrimage over 10 days, sharing the daily logs and some insightful blogs that will have you want to experience the Yatra for yourself.
The Char Dham means “The Four Stations”. Why “The Four Stations” is because it is not just a reference to the four places in Geography. It is also a reference to the four stations of artha, kama, dharma and moksha. The four stations of a well lived life namely acquiring of prosperity or means, fulfillment of desires and passions, living a life of coherence with Nature, Nature out there and one’s own nature, and finally the station of transcendence where you get established in your own sense of being.
On this pilgrimage, the four geographical stations of Gangotrti, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the pilgrimage seeks to get insight into the truth of these four stations of life through a combination of physical and mental effort, emotional aliveness, openness to the spirit and surrender to Nature.
It’s quite beautiful, profound, intense and transforming. It’s unique as a pilgrimage, as an experience and breathtaking in its conception.
In the following Episodes, Dr. Bharat Thakur takes you along this pilgrimage over 10 days, sharing the daily logs and some insightful blogs that will have you want to experience the Yatra for yourself.
The Char Dham means “The Four Stations”. Why “The Four Stations” is because it is not just a reference to the four places in Geography. It is also a reference to the four stations of artha, kama, dharma and moksha. The four stations of a well lived life namely acquiring of prosperity or means, fulfillment of desires and passions, living a life of coherence with Nature, Nature out there and one’s own nature, and finally the station of transcendence where you get established in your own sense of being.
On this pilgrimage, the four geographical stations of Gangotrti, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the pilgrimage seeks to get insight into the truth of these four stations of life through a combination of physical and mental effort, emotional aliveness, openness to the spirit and surrender to Nature.
It’s quite beautiful, profound, intense and transforming. It’s unique as a pilgrimage, as an experience and breathtaking in its conception.
In the following Episodes, Dr. Bharat Thakur takes you along this pilgrimage over 10 days, sharing the daily logs and some insightful blogs that will have you want to experience the Yatra for yourself.
The Char Dham means “The Four Stations”. Why “The Four Stations” is because it is not just a reference to the four places in Geography. It is also a reference to the four stations of artha, kama, dharma and moksha. The four stations of a well lived life namely acquiring of prosperity or means, fulfillment of desires and passions, living a life of coherence with Nature, Nature out there and one’s own nature, and finally the station of transcendence where you get established in your own sense of being.
On this pilgrimage, the four geographical stations of Gangotrti, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the pilgrimage seeks to get insight into the truth of these four stations of life through a combination of physical and mental effort, emotional aliveness, openness to the spirit and surrender to Nature.
It’s quite beautiful, profound, intense and transforming. It’s unique as a pilgrimage, as an experience and breathtaking in its conception.
In the following Episodes, Dr. Bharat Thakur takes you along this pilgrimage over 10 days, sharing the daily logs and some insightful blogs that will have you want to experience the Yatra for yourself.
The Char Dham means “The Four Stations”. Why “The Four Stations” is because it is not just a reference to the four places in Geography. It is also a reference to the four stations of artha, kama, dharma and moksha. The four stations of a well lived life namely acquiring of prosperity or means, fulfillment of desires and passions, living a life of coherence with Nature, Nature out there and one’s own nature, and finally the station of transcendence where you get established in your own sense of being.
On this pilgrimage, the four geographical stations of Gangotrti, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the pilgrimage seeks to get insight into the truth of these four stations of life through a combination of physical and mental effort, emotional aliveness, openness to the spirit and surrender to Nature.
It’s quite beautiful, profound, intense and transforming. It’s unique as a pilgrimage, as an experience and breathtaking in its conception.
Dr. Bharat Thakur takes you along this pilgrimage over 10 days, sharing the daily logs and some insightful blogs that will have you want to experience the Yatra for yourself.
The Char Dham means “The Four Stations”. Why “The Four Stations” is because it is not just a reference to the four places in Geography. It is also a reference to the four stations of artha, kama, dharma and moksha. The four stations of a well lived life namely acquiring of prosperity or means, fulfillment of desires and passions, living a life of coherence with Nature, Nature out there and one’s own nature, and finally the station of transcendence where you get established in your own sense of being.
On this pilgrimage, the four geographical stations of Gangotrti, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the pilgrimage seeks to get insight into the truth of these four stations of life through a combination of physical and mental effort, emotional aliveness, openness to the spirit and surrender to Nature.
It’s quite beautiful, profound, intense and transforming. It’s unique as a pilgrimage, as an experience and breathtaking in its conception.
In the following Episodes, Dr. Bharat Thakur takes you along this pilgrimage over 10 days, sharing the daily logs and some insightful blogs that will have you want to experience the Yatra for yourself.
The Chardham Yatra is one of the most intense experiences one might ever have. Yet, looking at the ones who live there, the manner in which they live, with so little and their commune with raw nature and at the time with the spirit can make us feel that this intensity we might feel is only a trailer of what if can be once we absorb the whole idea of the Chardham …
SEGMENTS
- The Himalayan in-dwellers
- Ash .. a way of life
The Himalayas are an ongoing massive geological phenomenon as the Indian plate continues its 60 million year collision into the Eurasian plate, with its height going up by almost an inch every year. It's a young mountain chain that is made of material that was once below the sea. And though it's gigantic, it is soft and delicate. Its rich topsoil has earthed millions of herbs and precious minerals, its waters are considered to be pristine and healing. The Yogi have considered the Himalaya their natural habitat to an extent that the Himalaya are not just a mountain chain, but the spiritual abode of the planet.
This combination of active geology, youth, fertility and spirituality makes it a unique place to visit, travel and stay in. It is a heaven for a pilgrimage. The Char Dham Yatra, the Pilgrimage of four stations is special for the locations it includes for all the reasons mentioned above and for the way they combine on a single continuous journey. In this series of logs composed during such a trip Bharat takes us through this experience.
In Blog 2, we understand the significance of each of the four stations, which for many are independent pilgrimage centers themselves.
Segment 1
In this segment, Bharat gives us a glimpse of the four stations, what they feel like, the history they carry and the impact they are meant to have on the pilgrim. The four are not very far from each other in terms of kilometers, but it’s the greater Himalayas. Distances tend to be both psychological and evolutionary. But perhaps your experience could also be transcendental.
SEGMENTS
- Yamunotri .. the abode of enchanting Yamuna
- Gangotri .. Ganga .. wild at her origins
- Kedarnath .. the Challenge
- Badrinath .. the mystic doorway
EPISODE 2
In Episode 2 we dwell on the external and internal terrains that the Yatri is likely explore on this journey.
SEGMENTS
- The Himalayas are born
- The Soul of the matter
- The science of Vibrations
- The Rugged Mountains and the effects of their geometry
- The Four stations .. The Char Dham ..
The Char Dham Yatra
A pilgrimage is where the inner space is sought to be explored by transposing it onto a physical terrain in Nature. It is an ancient art that is meant to be lived, experienced and imbibed by every kind of person - from the one given to worship to the man of science, for the Nature lover as well as the one who loves to challenge himself or herself.
The core of a pilgrimage is the natural body to which you go, be it a mountain, a forest or a water body. It’s a time to commune with the five elements. The second main feature is often a pilgrimage associated with one or many adepts, who have either lived there, meditated there or have passed away there. A certain presence is associated with them. The third is the deity, who is said to embody the qualities and nature of the power of that particular place of Nature and lays out the protocols that need to be followed to tune into those energies.
The Char Dham is considered among the most universal and powerful of the pilgrimages due to its unique combination of these factors.
The Char Dham series of blogs has two blogs on the Char Dham Yatra itself. Once you get a grasp of what this means, you can listen to the Mountain Logs, a series of logs written by Dr. Bharat Thakur daily during the actual ten day Yatra itself.
We begin with the first episode or Blog 1 “Breaking The Cycle In Mystical Himalaya” which gives an introduction to the whole concept of the Yatra in the background of Char Dham.
EPISODE 1
In Episode 1 we look at what the quest is all about and what is it that the pilgrim seeks.
SEGMENTS
- Questions and the quest
- Recognising the quest
- Zone of Silence
In this blog we will explore the role of art and science in our lives … by looking at the symbiotic relationship between Yoga as the art of consciousness and Ayurveda as the science of life.
SEGMENTS
- The Art Journey
- Cool Effort And Being In Flow
- The Need For Science
Do we need a specialized knowledge to know about our health … imbalances and how to heal them? Or is there a way where we can know this directly. As conscious beings, can we not know our status directly, without depending on any source. And therefore heal ourselves? Let’s explore.
Immortality has been an enduring quest for much of humanity. Yet, the goal of longevity that the ancients sought did not come out of vanity, sheer pleasure seeking or the fear of death.
SEGMENTS
- STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS - SIGNPOSTS ON THE INNER JOURNEY
- THE THREE LEGS
When we say science in relation to our health, fundamentally we mean to say, “it's not about blind belief or faith”. To this day this is considered a very important statement to make all the time, to remind people. When we approach our well being rationally, we think in terms of certain principles, fundamentals, a deep and vast understanding. The dos and don'ts all emerge from it. This approach is actually ancient and a lot of this work has been done in Ayurveda based on observation and experiments over thousands of generations and constant evaluations from practitioners and updation of texts.
‘Principles’ also means, a lay person can understand the subject. The approach of the ancients is for us to be aware of our constitution, nature, what is good and bad, and in this way stay healthy without having to visit the physician. Maybe a little thought is required to tune in to this approach as we are not trained in this way in modern education. But this approach is about knowing what I need, what is important to me, and once we start doing this, we start feeling good about it. Because we are designed to enjoy the attention and care we can bestow on ourselves and when we learn to just live and be according to our innate nature, the joy is deeper and lasting.
In this blog we understand an important principle as we experience it in our daily lives.
Bharat Thakur
SEGMENTS
- The Vision
- The Principles Of Samanya And Vishesh
The path is challenging, daunting yet there is healing and that desire to heal could be the peg to hang one’s desires on
SEGMENTS
- THE YOGA OF HEALING
- THE EYE OF THE FLAME
- I HAVE NOTHING OF MY OWN
- THE PULSE
If there is innate wisdom in Nature, then it must be there in us. Can this wisdom wage its own war against my ignorance? How does that work?
SEGMENTS
- DWELL ON ONE’S OWN SELF
- WISDOM’S OWN WAR (11*)
- BORN OF LUSTRE
The disturbance, the chaos that we feel is that because we are not able to fathom the order that exists in creation? What are its effects on our minds?
SEGMENTS
- THE EVER CHANGING
- GETTING CLEAR
- DHARMA … THE COSMIC ORDER
- THE EFFECTS OF PRAJNAPARADHA
- PITCH DARK IN THE MOONLIT SKY
When you doggedly and enthusiastically pursue the path of enquiry, a time comes when all the signposts point towards yourself, the enquirer. This is probably what modern life has lost sight of. Maybe because we are afraid to disturb the peace.
In this final blog of the “Message of the Rishi” series, we look at what this inner journeying means.
In Segment 1, we begin this understanding, if there is one thing that we can do wrong, then what that is.
SEGMENTS
- THE DARKEST OF THE NIGHTS
- WHEN THE LIGHTS ARE TURNED OFF
- REVENGE … REMORSE (*5)
- ‘PRAJNA’ … THE VOICE
- THE ORDER
A human being ascends to his consciousness in the middle of a battle field.
SEGMENTS
A Dark Phase Of The War
Calm Is The Heart Of The Warrior
In times of war, the mother of all wars, the Mahabharata and in it the warrior amongst warriors, his trials and tribulations.
SEGMENTS
A moment of truth
The Moment of fall
To Date, as one humanity, we haven’t fully acknowledged the subtle. Science still refuses to accept consciousness as part of reality, part of truth. There is no place for that is beyond thoughts. In rightfully rejecting theologies and beliefs, in rightfully seeking evidence for all propositions, modern approach to the science of life has disasterously refused to accept anything other than material. Yet much that we as a race have come upon as valuable can be attributed the subtle. Let’s go deeper into this dimensions deeper that ancient India explored deeply, continuously and celebrated as the very joy of existence.
EPISODE 1
The battle between Wisdom and Strength has been fought many times and humanity has always benefited and yet, its not something that humanity has always backed.
SEGMENTS
A FIGHTER RETRACES HIS STEPS
To live long, Ayurveda recognizes this as a deeply felt need. One, that occurs so that we might fulfill our desires. Ayu, life span is therefore the seed from which the science of longevity has sprouted. In this blog we dive into the origins of the very basis of modern medicine, namely etiology or cause of disease, symptomology and therapeutics.
Ancient cultures have always thought deeply about longevity. The ancients wanted to live long because that automatically meant one is happy and healthy. In an age where we have mapped out the human genome and believe we are on the verge of cracking the code of immortality, all through science, it is interesting to know that the ancients had done their own research in a different way = they learnt directly Nature. While mastering certain technologies is our means to achieving our anti aging goals today, tuning in to Nature and eliminating any internal friction was their way.
In this series called "Ancient Ayurvedic Secrets", we look at Ayurveda, Yoga and try and grasp the vision of the ancients who had mastered the alchemy of transmutation of base perishable life material into immortal essence.
A Wise teacher can see the arrogance of knowledge in his brilliant son. He understands, his response is at once compassionate and creative. Crushing to pride and elevating to intelligence. In the end, the crimes of science are crimes against wisdom. The Rishi shows the way, it should be done.
EPISODE 3 SEGMENTS
· YOU ARE THAT
· THE LINES OF CONQUEST
· CRIMES AGAINST WISDOM
The mid eighteenth century saw a man made famine, one of the many wrought upon the food secure Indian subcontinent by its rapacious colonizers. This was also a time when the British observed inoculations against cholera and rhinoplasty, a good hundred years before they ‘invented’ the vaccine and the Germans did the first facial surgery.
EPISODE 2 SEGMENTS
- HOW TO CREATE A FAMINE
- THE INNOCULATORS
- THE INDIAN FLAP
- NOT A QUICK JOB
The modern mind thinks in terms of before and after Christ. Men of insight have felt the last two millennia have been extremely violent. Yet it is known as the time when humanity advanced the most. The times of the pandemic hasn’t ended as of 2023, world war looms, a flu has broken in China. It’s not so much about infection and its consequence anymore. We live in a state of shock, unable to make sense of the great advances being made in genetics, AI, warfare while at the same time from earthquakes to hunger, from terror to bankruptcy, disruptions and losses are all pervasive.
India has been a surprise for the global community beginning with its vaccine response, in innovation, scale and providing free supplies to the needy. But if we look a little deeper, we will recognise that this kind of response has a certain depth to it.
In this second chapter of the Blog “Revisiting Indian Culture in the Times of The Pandemic”, Dr. Bharat Thakur explores the origins of the darker side of the current impasse in the global consciousness of humanity, through India’s own unspoken history and shows how when knowledge is taken out of its moorings of culture, it loses its innate wisdom, which can never be found between the covers of the most sacred of books.
EPISODE 1
The origins of modern science were a mixed bag. It had a bit of the noble, the ignoble and the ironic and dark touch of the Nobel.
EPISODE 1 SEGMENTS
- CLINGING TO LIFE, THE ULTIMATE KNOT
- INITIATION BY FIRE (*3)
- THE MAN WHO MADE BREAD OUT OF THIN AIR (*4)
- A DYNAMITE FOR PEACE (*5)
- THE SCIENTIST GOES TO WAR (*6)
- LIMITED LIABILITY. GREAT PROFITS (*8)
Wisdom is not in books. It is lived, it is subtle, it is a life level quest. The one who teaches wisdom is someone who is beyond all books. The student who goes in search of this is special.
EPISODE 4 SEGMENTS
- The subtle pulse of wisdom
- An error of judgement
Images of beloved teacher and student sitting in a state of rapture … that rapture came after a lot of undoing, sculpting and emptying.
EPISODE 3 SEGMENTS
- Untying the knots
- The making of the student
The Rishi as teacher, considered to be an embodiment of the source is no ordinary person. Having attained to the truth, he not only draws the worthiest of students, he knows and has the power to even break down a highly accomplished king, if that is what it takes to spark off that revolution in him.
EPISODE 2 SEGMENTS
- The taming of a king
- The assimilation of Raktabija
- Romancing the imperishable
The pandemic has changed the way we meet life, the way we perceive reality. Yet, life has in a way returned to its normal fast paced, disaster and conflict prone ways. Even as humanity is busy with normalizing this altered situation, it seems to be a good idea to absorb the life teachings of the last three few years.
Culture as Indians have known it is often referred to as being perennial. This is not only because of its antiquity. It is said to be self-renewing. A culture that reinvents itself constantly, so that it seems that it has clues of how we might meet massive changes, upheavals that occur in Nature.
In this series of blogs. Dr. Bharat Thakur ventures on a deep and wide exploration Indian culture as a global culture. We begin with presenting the first chapter, ‘Message of the Rishi’ which is set in four blogs.
REVISITING INDIAN CULTURE AND TEACHINGS OF GLOBAL INDIAN THINKERS IN TIMES OF PANDEMICS
Part 1 - THE MESSAGE OF THE RISHI
Chapter 1: Doorway To The Imperishable
Chapter 2: The Knots That Tie Us Down
Chapter 3: The Gift Of Fire
Chapter 4: Life The Antidote
In ‘The Message Of The Rishi’, Dr. Bharat Thakur takes us directly to the teachings that are enshrined in a particular part of the Veda called the Upanishads. Many knowers say, that in the Upanishads, you can get a glimpse of the finest and most timeless essence of the perennial culture, also called ‘sanatana’, which is etymologically described as ‘nitya nutana’, “a culture that ever new”.
What is the source of this fountain of life? in the first of the four chapters, ‘Doorway To The Imperishable’, we get introduced to the ‘rishi’, the ‘seer’ whose teachings were about immortality, about imperishability, who yearned to induce in his beloved students, this knowledge of the beyond.
It’s true that just drinking water is not enough to hydrate a dehydrated body. It takes a touch of attentiveness to how we live. Find out how in this last of the three episodes.
EPISODE 3 SEGMENTS
- Drinking enough may not be enough
- Youthfulness is the crackle of electrical energy
- The chemistry of rehydration
- More than just cosmetic
- The goodness of a bath
- Let it begin
Geologists say, the emergence of water was a crucial event in the Earth’s life that made it possible for life to emerge. Our planet in particular is 70% water at the surface and inside our body, we are as much water. No wonder, studies show that dehydration = ageing.
EPISODE 2 SEGMENTS
- The chronological and the biological
- The most precious
- Water our home
- Ageing = Dryness
- The medium
- Carrier of lustre
- There everywhere
After air, it is water that we cannot live without. Research shows that when the cells get dehydrated to a point, the organism dies, and thought we my not realise it, this can happen quiet rapidly.
This blog is an introduction to water, not just as a life sustainer, but as a substance of beauty and wellbeing that needs to be cherished, a simple substance that holds great age reversal secrets.
EPISODE 1
Maybe we do take water for granted, a little too much. Lets look at it as an essential ingredient in an alchemists’ anti-aging secrets.
EPISODE 1 SEGMENTS
- No short cuts
- Kaya Kalpa - Entering The energy cycle
- It’s about balance
- Healing through self study
Can we do things that can impact our very DNA in such a way that it slows down ageing? And can that be some day to day stuff? Let’s find out.
While we see the net sum of ageing on our skins, sagging muscles, weaker metabolism and so on, at the core of the ageing process is what goes on in a particular chemical structure in our DNA called the telomerase.
Youth is everyone’s secret and not so secret desire. It’s both passion and desperation, the stuff of dream and dread. The anti aging hack is a timeless obsession and the stuff of the most enduring mythologies. Alchemy an art and a science that belongs to the space of legends in popular discourse is a fond hope of many. Yet oral traditions talk of great alchemists. The siddha are the legendary ancients of India who are said to be the source of both yoga and ayurveda lineages. The siddha are also said to be possessors of the secrets of antiaging. In this blog we explore anti ageing as a science that is closely connected to both yoga and ayurveda.
Episode 1
Joy has a youthful vibe, anxiety ages you by many years in a matter of a few minutes. In this introductory episode, Dr. Bhartat Thakur says the first step of KayaKalpa is to love yourself.
The eight limbs can be seen as comprised of two divisions. The external and the internal. While the external engaged the senses, the internal is about what happens beyond the sensory experience. This is extraordinary - that a map can be presented for the journey from the concrete to the abstract. From action to happiness.
EPISODE 3 SEGMENTS
- PRANAYAMA
- AWAKENING THE WITNESS
- PRATYAHARA
- DHARANA
- DHYANA
- SAMADHI
- NOW, BEGINS THE PATH OF YOGA
Ashtanga, the eight limbs, is a frame work that is attributed to the Siddha, Sage Patanjali. It seems that many millennia ago, this paradigm was evolved just for today. It is just what the doctor, the therapist and the healer ordered. It’s important to spend time understanding the eight limbs as it shows is the path. A path that is unique to each one of us.
EPISODE 2 SEGMENTS
- ASHTANGA
- YAMA, THE RESTRAINTS
- NIYAMA, THE AFFIRMATIONS
- ASANA
Why Yoga? So that we may bring down stress, find peace, to meditate, to improve health, to energize, to heal, to actualise one’s potential, to get enlightened. One can easily find more reasons for “why yoga”. Mention of Yoga can be found in the earliest text known to mankind; the Rig Veda. Yet, the oral tradition that goes further back in time says that Yoga emerged from Tantra, before the Veda. Emerging research says the Vedic times were far more ancient than the five thousand BCE that is claimed at the moment. So at once it is contemporary and the most ancient. This astounding longevity and relevance can only be attributed to one thing, that it satisfies the most core need of mankind to be happy.
Why Art and Science? Science because the process is question, experience, prove and validate and only then conclude. It’s because of this approach that Yoga is in a constant state of reinvention, finding solutions to our problems of living and because it’s meant to be a way of life, you don’t experiment and a lab, but in life. Why art? Yoga is about giving expression to one self, about acquiring the skill of living, and evolving one’s own lifestyle that has in it grace, beauty and harmony. And among sciences, Yoga can be said to be the science of the present and the future, the science of consciousness. Yoga science is unique in that here the experimenter, subject and the knower are all all the same entity - you. Among the arts, Yoga can be said to be the mother of all arts, as it is the art by which you the aspiring yogi are the art material, the artist and the art piece. Only, be it science or art, the only qualification you need to aspire for Yoga to fill your life is neither aptitude nor age, not any extraordinary behavioral, cognitive, emotional or physical qualities, nor a particular sense of morality or belief. All you need is a desire to be happy, and an intent to consciously approach it.
In this blog, we explore the Path of Yoga, where the milestones are to be experienced internally rather than ‘out there’.
EPISODE 1
Yoga is about the ultimate subject. You. It’s therefore difficult to discuss a subject like physiology or physics. When you are the subject, it’s best to be inspired to get an understanding. In Episode 1, we have some poetry and a story which together set the stage for the expiration to come.
EPISODE 1 SEGMENTS
- THE VISION
- HAPPINESS
In this final episode, Dr. Bharat Thakur points out that the promise that Yoga, concretely, holds for us, is a complete change. And though each one’s path is as unique as each one is, that path can be made systematic by the individual.
EPISODE 4 SEGMENTS
- A SCOPE FOR THE INNER WORLD
- DIVING INTO THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS
- WHERE THE BUTTERFLY HAS NO MEMORY OF THE COCOON
- CHANGING THE VERY MOLECULES
The eight limbs or Ashtanga offer a road map on the quest for enlightenment. Yet, these are not rigid or fixed lessons. Rather, they are signposts on a very individual journey. In this episode, we understand that there is a science behind our personal evolution, and it is by participating in it that it has been kept alive over thousands of years by countless Yogi.
EPISODE 3 SEGMENTS
- EIGHT STEPS TO UNION ..
- ARTISTIC YOGA
While timelines of ancient Indian history are bound to be pushed back in time with the coming of new evidence, we look at the evolution of Yoga through the millennia from the time of the Vedas to now. This establishes the timelessness of both the human quest and the yoga science which is an aid in our journey.
EPISODE 2 SEGEMENTS
- SCIENTISTS OF THE INNER WORLD
- A WORTHY GOAL FOR EVERY HUMAN BEING
- AN ABRIDGED TIMELINE
- THE PERIOD OF TANTRA YOGA. WHEN MAN COMMUNED WITH NATURE
- THE VEDIC SEERS .. HEARING THE SOUNDS OF CREATION
- THE SUBLIME TEACHINGS OF THE UPANISHADS; KNOW THYSELF TO KNOW THY CREATOR
- THE TURNING POINT WHICH LEAD TO THIS MOMENT
- A PROCESS ORIENTED SCIENCE
What is the purpose of evolution? It is said that we have evolved from a chain of ancestors which can be traced to a unicellular organism billions of years back. Where is this evolution taking us? Is there a link of the evolution of species with our own individual evolution?
If a lasting sense of wellbeing, peace and happiness is our ultimate evolution, then could we consider the buddhas as having reached to that pinnacle of evolution? Is that the destiny of Mankind? All beings? If yes, and if yoga promises that lasting sense of happiness, does it mean that Yoga is that evolution pill?
Gautama lives in popular imagination as “the buddha”. Yet, ‘buddha’ is neither a name nor a title. One who has awakened his ‘buddhi’, intelligence, is called ‘buddha’, “the awakened”. If Gautama could do it, can each of us not?
We commonly use intelligence to refer to intellect, the information processing of the brain, analytical skill, and smartness. But intelligence, buddhi, was used in a different sense by the ancients. As the force, the power behind all creation.
Yoga comes from the root ‘yuj’, which is to “yoke”, “to unite with”, “to join”. The yoking, uniting, joining is said to be with this cosmic intelligence, our source and our destiny.
In this fascinating exploration, Dr. Bharat Thakur takes us on a journey through time to present the evolutionary potential of Yoga, for each individual.
EPISODE 1
To find answers to “where do we come from”, “what is the origin of life”, one will have to probably live with these questions for a whole lifetime. The ancients point towards an intelligence that is beyond our intellect. In this introductory segment, Dr. Bharat Thakur explores this question.
EPISODE 1 SEGMENTS
- COSMIC INTELLIGENCE OR ‘BUDDHI’ … THE KEY TO GLOBAL WELLNESS
- AN INSIGHT INTO THE WORKINGS OF ‘BUDDHI’
- TAPPING INTO THE SOURCE
- THE AGE OF THE RESPONSIBILITY
The heart is said to be the core of our being and on this one matter, it seems, the poet as well as the scientist agrees. Is there a connection between the forces of nature which are subtler than the smallest atomic particle and our awareness of the heart?
EPISODE 2 - SEGMENTS
- VISION OF THE ANCIENTS
- THAT WHICH IS BEHIND THE ATOM
The Heart - dimensions of Happiness.
We know the heart in two ways - as a vital organ of our body and as the seat of our emotions. The ancients have pointed at the heart in a far deeper way. They draw our attention to the fact that when we have to refer to ourselves, when we say “I”, “me”, “mine”, we tend to point our forefinger, thumb or indeed an entire hand towards the heart, and not towards the brain or the stomach.
Are these three dimensions of the heart interconnected? Is there a reason why we need to know more about our heart as the seat of our emotions and mind? How till this kind of an exploring impact our health and our well being.
In this first of many blogs on the heart, we introduce ourselves to this much vaster, larger and deeper heart.
EPISODE 1
While the physical heart is the remarkable pump that never stops for a second in our entire lifetime, a deeper and subtler awareness of its presence is possible, because such a dimension does exist.
EPISODE 1 - SEGMENTS
- THE ART OF SEEING
- DIMENSIONS OF THE HEART
“tat pratiṣedhārtham eka tattvābhyāsaḥ”.
In order to counteract distractions, one should practice concentrating on a single subject.
This is not a call to drop everything and embark on a monastic life. On the contrary, the very details of our lives, painful and not painful are the material with which to go about preparing oneself for that one principle. This concluding episode is not about what that one principle is. There are concrete suggestions from the Yogi, but there is one suggestion that is most important, that it has to be what works for you. In subsequent blogs, we will dwell in detail on those principle, that could help us as we strive to find our own. Here we are concerned with reaching to a clarity about the idea that there can be one principle to solve our deepest and seemingly densest mental patterns, and that one principle is to be practiced in our existing life.
EPISODE 3 SEGMENTS
-
ENJOYMENTS. THE TOUCH POINTS OF YOGA
-
MOTHER NATURE’S LULLABY
-
IT'S ABOUT AIMING FOR HAPPINESS. NO LESS NO MORE
-
THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS
-
OTHER DIMENSIONS MATTER
-
THE GREAT DOOR
-
CATCHING HOLD OF THAT ONE THING
Yoga is the path of ’doing’. The concept of Ashtanga however, is very rich and lucid, mainly because of the fact that it has been developed by a whole lineage of Yogi, who have seemed to have attained to that state which we all seek - a lasting of tranquility, insight and energy beyond all doubt. They were also aware that whey they spoke of it, it would be received by disturbed minds, where we might understand something stated in a few pages, but not grasp it as a reality, as a truth, that if we once see, our life can never be the same. Teachers were expected to dwell in the Sutra, the aphorisms of Yoga. In this episode Dr. Bharat Thakur aims to make our problem more tangible.
EPISODE 2 SEGMENTS
-
A LITTLE MOVEMENT
-
ASANA. A SUNRISE INSIDE THE BODY
-
KEEPING IT COOL
-
THE RIVER SYSTEM
-
LET’S ENTER
-
PRANAYAMA. HOW TO DISAPPEAR IN DAYLIGHT
-
YAMA NIYAMA. EMBRACING THE ATTITUDE OF “I CAN”
In this blog Dr. Bharat Thakur dwells on a a Sutra from the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali where “adherence to one principle is” is suggested as the means to free ourselves of the ‘antaraya’ or obstacles, that never allows our minds to settle, and create a seemingly endless state of disturbance. We could have one or many of the obstacles identified as sickness, apathy, doubt, carelessness, laziness, sensual indulgence, false perspective, non-attainment of the stages of yoga and instability in these stages are the distractions to the mind and are the obstacles.
Just one principle to deal with all the obstacles that keep you away from tranquility and joy. Is that possible? Let’s find out.
EPISODE 1 : We Can
When we think of doing something about our mental patterns - could be habits, imbalances, fears, complexes, the stress of dealing with backlog, of fighting for some ‘me time’ and then struggling to ‘just be me’’ in that me time, of how to regain health and an appetite for life. On top of it, the problems associated with these mental patterns are multi dimensional. How many things to do, courses to take, it’s impossible, could there be just one thing I could do, that can root out all of these patterns that keep me from living my potential, enjoying life, finding meaning and purpose. If Yes, is that going to mean a big action on my part that I might not be in a position to take. Or can my life continue as is and yet.
EPISODE 1 SEGMENTS
- LET’S PARTAKE TOGETHER
- CHEWING ON LIFE
- LETS CONSUME FRESHNESS
Asana is more than just isometric training .It is a complete protocol of healing that works at the very root of the mental formations that give rise to the possibility of psychological pain. A comparison between exercise and asana will shed light on the multi dimensional approach of Yoga towards healing the body and mind.
EPISODE 4 - SEGMENTS
- Who’s The Boss
- Vritti. The Root Of All Things Psychological
- Exercise And Asana . A Comparison
It may seem counterintuitive to have to keep the heart rate low during an intense exercise. Well, that must be just our conditioning because the body seems to want it. A steady and relatively lower heart rate is conducive to fat burn. These are also the ideal conditions for healing.
EPISODE 3 - SEGMENTS
- Why We Love Fat
- Keeping The Heart Rate Low
- Messing With Signals
EPISODE 2
Survival is a daily struggle for energy. The body does not mind fighting and paying a price if it could secure its energy source. There is a price we pay in terms of oxidative stress that has a corrosive effect on every cell. Can this be avoided? Can we train the body to extract the highest quality of fuel from its reserves without paying the price? The answer seems to be a resounding ‘yes’.
EPISODE 2 - SEGMENTS
- The Daily Trip Towards Order
- The Drive For Energy
- Lighting A Steady Fire
In parts 1, 2 and 3, we have seen that mental illness can occur when we experience chronic stress due to a sedentary lifestyle, but this occurs only because we ignore the signals; pain is a purely physical danger signaling mechanism to help us avoid harmful experiences, but in daily life we experience psychological pain even when there is no danger to our existence, and this seems to be at the root of both chronic health conditions and mental illness.
Exercise can be more effective than medication as lasting cures to mental illnesses, but low levels of motivation poses a serious hurdle. There is a difference between doing regular exercise and leading a physically active lifestyle and both are equally vital; one cannot be a replacement for the other. We need to live active lifestyles and we need to exercise. What kind of exercise? Isometric exercise is best suited for healing.
In part 4 we will see isometric contractions are an essential part of physical culture. We will draw up a comparison between exercise and asana and discover how the science of yoga comprehensively covers mental wellbeing.
EPISODE 1
Any effort at change requires some kind of action - physical, mental or both. Every action leaves an impact trail apart from helping you achieve a goal, an action also increases the chaos in the body and brain. Without healing, this condition can build up, leading to inflammations, wear and tear and toxicity which leave you vulnerable to mental disturbance, illness and disease.
EPISODE 1 - SEGMENTS
- The Electrical Imprint Of Our Mind States
- Healing. The Other Half Of Action
- Free Radicals. The Elephant In The Room
- The Art Of Doing Nothing
- The Chaos Factor
In conclusion, we point out that Asana seems to take care of the question of how to stay motivated in our quest to become mentally well and heal.
We close on this note; which sets the stage for part 4 where we then plunge into Asana, the fourth limb of Ashtanga Yoga.
EPISODE 5 - SEGMENTS
- What Gives Meaning To Your Life
- For The Wisdom To Bloom
- Self Monitoring. The Art Of Healing
EPISODE 4
We see athletes, film stars, soldiers and a small band of people who exercise regularly. Is it because they have found a way to stay motivated?
We will see that to successfully lose pain our lives, we need to not just have goals but enter into what we can call the “goal state”.
EPISODE 4 - SEGMENTS
- The Goal State
- The High
- A Motivating Error
- Right Here And Now .. The Many Faces Of Happiness
- Enjoying The Ride
In spite of all its benefits, most people find it difficult to be motivated to exercise regularly. We will ask the question; is it because we are not naturally made to exercise ? If yes , then what is the answer?
EPISODE 3 - SEGMENTS
- The Insight Of Exercise .. Physical Healing Is Mental Healing
- Do We Really Like To Exercise
- An Active Life
- Exercise. A Recent Concept
- Out Of Sync With Our Genes
- A Form Of Compensation
- Can’t Force Happiness
- Not Made To Be Couch Potatoes
- Rahil. A Case Study
Exercise is now beginning to be considered as the wonder treatment to mental illness. In this segment, we look at all the benefits of exercise; we touch upon the three kinds of exercise and then go in depth into isometric training as the best suited for healing the body and mind.
EPISODE 2 - SEGMENTS
- Exercise .. A Formal Engagement
- Three Kinds Of Action
- The Three Philosophies Of Exercise
- Energy For Exercise
- Isometric Exercise .. The Healing Hand
- Body And Mind Affect Each Other
Part 3: The Mental And The Physical
In parts 1 and 2, we saw that mental illness at its core is a disturbance of the mind. This means that every time we are disturbed, we could say we are temporarily mentally ill.
Pain is intended to be a purely physical danger signaling mechanism. We need physical pain to avoid danger to our body.
In a state of mental equilibrium, we experience happiness; but a disturbed state of mind takes over this pain mechanism and creates psychological pain which results in illusionary fears, defenses and pain patterns. This could lead to physical conditions, forcing the brain and body into ill health. This is due to the agency of ‘asmita’ - the quality of our mind to confuse what we experience with who we are.
In Part 3, we explore what we can do to avoid experiencing psychological pain
EPISODE 1
We begin with exploring the premise set forth by the ancients that the problem is not ‘in’ the mind but the mind itself is the problem.
From here we see how after over a century of probing, science is now opening up to the possibility that at the root of mental illness is a lack of activity and a sedentary lifestyle.
EPISODE 1 - SEGMENTS
- Not The Problem In The Mind .. But The Mind Itself
- The Divided And The Whole
- The Answer That Was Always There
- A Prescription We Carry
EPISODE 3
Just like we might learn a joyous activity such as skiing or gardening, we learn our illnesses too. The psychological component of pain is all about teaching our nervous system to react in a particular way to a set of circumstances. By implication, we can teach our nervous system to forget or unlearn psychological pain and experience its impact of our physical pain.
EPISODE 3 - SEGMENTS
- Pain Can Be So Wrong
- Chronic Pain .. The Beginning
- Losing Control
- Chronic Means Mental
- Learning An Illness
- The Need To Unlearn
- A Resolve
The nervous system receives signals from the environment and sends them to the brain, which processes these signals based on memory, emotion and intelligence and decides on a course of action. Pain is a way of telling the organism to avoid an experience. What if it reads pain signals wrong?
EPISODE 2 - SEGMENTS
- The Danger Alarm
- The Brain Needs To know
- Avoiding The Pain To Come
- The Root Of Mental Disorder
How real is pain? One would say quickly, very real. On exploration, it seems that a lot of pain is created, and therefore avoided. A key to this process of unlearning is dealing with fear, that seems to go hand in hand with pain, especially our chronic pains. When it comes to experiencing chronic physical pain, it seems so much part of the very functioning of the body, that healing looks like a huge mountain to climb. In part 2, we discover that even pain is learnt and therefore, unlearning is the key to healing.
EPISODE 1
What is the difference between physical and psychological pain? What is their relationship and how do they affect our wellbeing? We begin Part 2 with addressing this important distinction between the sensory and mental aspects of pain.
EPISODE - SEGMENTS
- A Time Without Horizons
- The Speech
- Being Heard
- A Different Reality
- What Is Pain
- Pain .. The Physical And The Psychological
Yoga For Mental Health - Asana
Part 1: Shades Of Illness
What does it take to be mentally sound? Can we eliminate the very possibility of stress? ‘Dukha’, mental, emotional pain is the result, whatever the disturbance. Can we discover the truth of this? Because to heal, we need to know the disease.
In this final episode of Part 1 we conclude with understanding the importance of knowing the signs, in their every form. So that we can see for ourselves the entire phenomenon of this illness.
In Part 2, we study the physiology of mental pain and how to deal with it.
EPISODE 3
Understanding Mental Illness
The How And The Why
Stress: A Costly Response
Summing Up So Far
The Idea Of A Pill
Getting A Handle
Ignoring Signals
Part 2: Shades Of Illness
Have we ever noticed our mind, about its tendency to fluctuate, waver between two states, like pain and pleasure, like and dislike, if we have, then have we watched these states close enough, the fluctuation close enough to know if they are real? Are we willing to notice the small disturbances? Maybe our mental imbalances are more like keys that open the doors of our psych.
EPISODE 2 - SEGMENTS
Mentally Ill .. Or Just Very Different
Living The Mental Side
The Willingness To Notice
You Are The Sea .. Ship .. And Anchor
The Scattering
Mental health, so personal and yet a topic we would rather avoid. To just think of someone or oneself as unwell mentally can be difficult for many. Yet, if there is one pandemic that has been rampant for many decades now, it is stress.
What does it mean to be mentally well? Is stress a form of mental illness?
The big insight about these questions is that it's important for each to ask them, dwell on them, because taking a pill, doing a workout, is not enough. Nothing less than happiness seems to be the answer.
People are also recognising the cost of being chronically stressed. It’s enormous. It can be summed up with a single image. You achieve your highest goal, standing at the peak, you are unable to enjoy the success. One asks “what was all this effort and sacrifice for?”
If being happy is the answer to stress, it seems quite apt to understand the causes of unhappiness. Reading or listening to a blog is not a shallow intellectual exercise of gathering information, it’s about making sense of all the data you already possess from the richness of your life-experiences. This is what we will attempt in this four part series, where Dr. Bharat Thakur explores the psychology and physiology of mental illness and how Yogasana fits in.
We begin our understanding of Mental Health with the simple experience each individual, child and even the pet knows too well - disturbance. A fascinating question arises - are we well when we are disturbed or in a bad mood of any sort, is that a state of mental illness, though it might be temporary. If ‘yes’, is that at the very root of illness? If yes, then is the real solution for mental problems to be found in the mind itself? Is every imbalance a sign of mental illness or can there be some that are inbuilt and natural? What does yoga have to say about it?
Let’s begin our exploration.
EPISODE 1
Is mental illness an overnight phenomenon? Hardly. Like most things, it begins as a trickle. Can we learn to notice the small signs and nip mental illness in the bud?
EPISODE 1 - SEGMENTS
1 - Illness Is A Disturbance
2 - The Brain Of The Researcher And The Mind Of The Yogi
3 - Noticing Small Things
4 - Story Of The Mood
In the fourth and final segment of this blog, Dr. Bharat Thakur dwells on the healing effects of asana. You know now, that muscles play a much larger role than just providing structural support and generating energy for motor activities. The heart is a vital muscle of the body and what asana can do for the heart is simply, heart warming.
EPISODE 4 SEGMENTS
What Stretching Does To The Body
Healing Of Blocks
Asana Keeps The Heart Happy
Muscle Injury And Hypertrophy
The body’s physiology is impacted in different ways by the different modes exercise. Understanding a little about the physiology of exercise, and how yoga effects the body deeply, Bharat talks about a source of joy that is embedded in our bodies - stretch.
EPISODE 3 SEGMENTS
Maximum intensity is produced in isostatic exercise
Maximum muscle fibre are used in isostatic exercise
The right kind of muscle fibre get used in isostatic exercise
We reach peak muscle performance in isometric exercise
Stretch - the joy of life
What makes muscles the source of our physical power and how does asana approach them? What kind of exercise does asana provide support to and why?
EPISODE 2 SEGMENTS
The Anatomy of muscle power
Actin myosin - the power couple
The Three types of exercise
Asana is isostatic exercise
Why does asana employ isostatic exercise?
From the moment we were conceived as a single cell our bodies have never ceased to change and it never will till we are alive. Our bodies are so sensitive that even a smell can trigger a cascade of memories and can get the heart to beat faster and even holding still for a few minutes creates powerful changes in the body.
We rarely hold still actively, but if we do so, in a well balanced posture, it would be one of the most powerful moments of your day. From aiming at the stillness of a posture to losing all kinds of excess, to healing mental afflictions to physical pain to experiencing the deepest states of joy, asana is the ultimate art of the body.
Beyond fitness and health, discovering the body’s incredible sensitivity, to enjoying its immense receptivity, to experiencing the great delights that are packed in it, to using it as a powerful means to enter subtler and inner dimensions, asana practice is a complete form of friendship with the body and its inseparable twin, the mind.
In this series on asana, Dr. Bharat Thakur explores the many dimensions of yogasana, and dwells on the science behind it.
EPISODE 1
Asana might look like any other exercise, but it feels very different to the body. How would you feel if you were being treated that you are not one, but five of you. In segment 1, Dr. Bharat Thakur presents asana as doing precisely that.
Following an introduction to ashtanga yoga in episodes 1 and 2, and a dive into the vibhuti, the powers and attainments in episode 3, Dr. Bharat Thakur now talks of the bridge between a practice that is all about losing any traces of ‘modification’ of the mind to one where the mind manifests great powers. How can these two possibilities co-exist? Or is that the real point of it all.
Episode 4 is a fascinating deep dive into the facets of application of the skills one has gained in the pursuit of the exalted states of deep absorption and integration, and in the process discover the deep link between what you realize on this journey and what is it that supports this realization.
With this we come to the conclusion of Chapter 1 of The Yogi Diary, “The Field Of Possibilities”. In Chapter 2, we will take a closer look at the powers.
EPISODE 4: SEGMENTS
- A HUNGER FOR THE BETTER SIDE OF LIFE
Samyama … the deliberate application of the knowledge gained out of a beautiful journey … the fulfillment of Nature’s will
- POWERS … BASKING IN THE GENEROSITY OF NATURE
Transformation is never easy .. the journey can seem devastating before one has transformed.
- THE BIRTH OF THE EXPLORER
Why would someone want to live for 100 years. There’s a good reason.
- THE PERENNIAL RESEARCHER
In the end, the exploration is done to be consumed by it.
In Episodes 1 and 2, Dr. Bharat Thakur took us on an introductory tour of the entire matrix of the the eight limbs, ashtanga of yoga. This was a preparation for an exploration of, “what can yoga do for me”, before we dive into the question of “what is yoga”.
In Episode 3, we dive into the ‘vibhuti’, the attainments that come along the way of the serious practitioner. What is the purpose of the occurrence of these powers? Manifesting powers seem to be a dramatic way ‘prakriti’ or Nature tells you where you stand in your evolutionary journey. Maybe, it can create the hunger you need to press on, on your fantastic inner journey.
In the fourth and final episode of Chapter 1 of The Yogi Diary, “The Field Of Possibilities”, we understand what it means to apply the skills and realize the potentials that one has gained along the way.
EPISODE 3: SEGMENTS
- THE INNER JOURNEY .. A WALK IN THE CLOUDS
Ashtanga is a map of subjective experience
- THE MAGNIFICENT THEATER AT THE THRESHOLD OF BEING
Manifesting powers seem to be a dramatic way ‘prakriti’ or Nature tells you where you stand in your evolutionary journey
In Episode 1, Dr. Bharat Thakur spoke of the three limbs of yama, niyama and asana of the eight limbs of ashtanga Yoga. The question that’s being dwelled upon is “what can yoga do for me” and the context is “what is yoga”.
In Episode 2, we discuss the deeper legs of the journey of the traveler of the inner world, as it traverses through the dimensions of pranayama, pratyaahaara, dharana, dhyaana and samadhi, the remaining five limbs of ashtanga, thus completing the introduction to the matrix of this journey, called yoga.
EPISODE 2 - SEGMENTS
4. PIERCING THE VEIL
pranayama … the long and subtle breath that takes you to the threshold of the infinite world of possibilities
5. QUIET THE LIFE WHEN YOU ARE THE SANCTUM
pratyaahaara … from having experienced objects … you now experience the essence of it as it changes your very outlook to life … now you want the ultimate …
6. EYES SET ON INFINITY … A SMILE LIGHTS UP THE ROAD AHEAD
dharana dhyaana samaadhi … its not the external kind of journey anymore … it’s a ‘Yatra’
“The Yogi Diary: Logs Of The Eternal Traveller” is an exploration of the question “what is Yoga” by Dr. Bharat Thakur, where the question is not seen as a target to be brought down with an apt answer, but a cue to travel, to explore, to dive deep into the basic questions that occur to each of us, as they have occurred to the great explorers of the inner world - the Siddhas, Buddhas and the Yogis.
The exploration begins with Chapter 1: THE FIELD OF POSSIBILITIES, where Bharat starts with with addressing the question “what can yoga do for me”, with an introduction to Ashtanga, the eight limbs of Yoga, followed by an exposition on the Vibhuti Pada of the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, where the powers, ‘Vibhuti’, that accrue to serious practitioners of Yoga and their significance on the Yoga journey are discussed.
PART 1
Bharat dwells on the three of the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga, namely Yama, Niyama and Asana.
Bharat describes asana as an ideal vehicle created for the seemingly endless exploration of the inner world. What exactly are the features of this vehicle, and what kind of effort is best suited for this journey. From here we move to a deeper understanding of the Yama and Niyama, the restraining and affirmative modes of conduct that are often thought to be too strict and impractical. He shows us how asana talks about a relaxation of effort, a coolness in the effort that creates the space for the spontaneous flowering of discipline.
EPISODE 1 - SEGMENTS
- THE ETERNAL TRAVELERS AND THEIR FANTASTIC VEHICLE - with exploration as the only goal, the yogis must have felt the need for a good vehicle
- THE OPTIMAL TEMPERATURE OF ‘BEING’ - Asana , much more than what it seems on the surface, a source of endless delight
- A BRIDGE ACROSS THE VALLEY OF THE SENSES - Yama & Niyama, amazing discoveries during solo travel and how true discipline is spontaneous
How can one explore the agama, or the knowledge that is inherently within us? The knowledge that is represented by the collective unconscious, something that is transpersonal, something that all of humanity shares, something that is inherited from the archetypes.
In this episode, Dr. Bharat Thakur delves deeper into archetypes through the exploration of the deity Kali. In a beautiful poetic way he describes the goddess Kali as we see her, dark skinned, red tongue, many arms resplendent with armour, fierce....He paints a picture without analysis. This picture is an archetype; one of many that reside in each of us.
How does one associate the goddess Kali, the archetype and the Kali Yantra, the universal archetype?
Dr. Bharat Thakur compares the image of Kali to the geometric image of the Kali Yantra. the geometric image is a universal archetype. He shares the significance of each aspect of the Yantra's geometry. Its 5 nested triangles, each triangle representing one of the 5 koshas. The inverted triangles representing the feminine, regenerative power. The two circles representing life and death and the bindu in the center representing the soul.
He recommends not to analyse the image but think of it as a hardware device. This device when coupled with a software, a specific mantra, sets one on a journey of intuitive knowledge.
In this episode, Dr. Bharat Thakur introduces us to the concept of Tantra. Tantra is a science of practice, not of scholars, however brilliant. It begins at the point where the conscious mind ends, is frustrated. You don’t stop when you have reached the limit of your analysis, the journey begins then. If you give up here you will have done all the hard work and stopped. It is like searching for the Ganga and when you get to her banks you are scared to dip into her waters; it's too cold or the current is too fast.
Dr. Bharat Thakur quotes from the sufi poet amir khusro. “Khusro dariya prem ka, jo ulti wa ki dhaar, jo ubhara so doob gaya, jo dooba so paar”. Meaning, the river of love or knowledge has a reverse principle, the one who struggles to stay afloat drowns and the one who takes the plunge willingly gets to the other side of the river.
In this episode, Dr. Bharat Thakur explores duality. Is it possible to be in two states at the same time? This possibility questions determinism. It questions what we call deterministic reality. Through simple and beautiful examples, Bharat explains the duality of the nature of light - as a wave and a particle and explains how the duality concept rejects determinism.
He ponders upon the question of “why is the universe here”. He illustrates how this question boggles the schools of materiality and determinism. He explores how Tantra and philosophy allow duality.
In this episode, Dr. Bharat Thakur highlights how we often interpret the word Maya to be synonymous with 'illusion', while it is actually measurement. He subtly points to how we begin to associate the ability to measure as a proof of reality. Hence, Maya = measurement and hence the fallacy of reality.
He suggests thinking about the the theory of relativity and Quantum Mechanics as unfinished works. In the absence of an explanation for many fundamental questions about the universe, these theories continue to be work in progress.
He encourages the listener to be the researcher, to explore these theories for himself/ herself. He highlights how the yoga sutras are the questions we need to seek answers to, the equations that we each need to solve for ourselves.
In this episode, Dr. Bharat Thakur explains Determinism in Science. Through thrilling stories of wars amongst the greatest Science in history, he explains a very profound concept of Determinism. His simple explanation throws incredible insight and simplifies the concepts of the Theory of Relativity and Quantum Computing. He outlines the difference between deterministic approach to thinking and the non deterministic behaviour of nature.
In this episode, Dr. Bharat Thakur explores Science and Tantra, the similarities and the differences.
He points out that Science and Tantra share a common God - ‘learning’. In order to learn, we need to be open. Open mindedness is often observed when when one's view is challenged. He suggests that when we are disturbed by another’s point of view, a view that is different from our view, we need not react.
He points out that exploration begins with assumptions. That without basic assumptions, one cannot develop a theory or create a formula. Modern science is based on assumptions. They are Determinism, Materialism, Empirical, Observable, Replicable.
In this blog, we dive into the connection between science and materialism.
This episode is dedicated to exploring “who am I”. How does one enquire into the self?
So as we study his method, the thing to realize first is that there is no reference to ‘god’, a particular faith, or a technique of meditation. It is about you. We get to understand that liberation and enlightenment cannot be stations that we can arrive at. You cannot buy a ticket to it. There is no last station, there is no where to reach, no achievement to make. Sri Ramana Maharshi has defined liberation as realizing one’s true nature.
Lasting peace is to be found in our essential nature if we are willing to forsake all that is non-essential, so that we are in the process of finding out what is essential, what is the very substratum of my existence, all existence ..
What is non essential? The process of enquiry begins with finding out ‘am I this body’ .. because if I am the one aware of this body. Who is that I? Similarly, if we look at breath, we could say that I am aware of my breath, so the one who is aware of the breath is not the breath, so I am not the breath and as we pursue with this line of enquiry relentlessly the doors begin to open it is like an investigation into a crime or a fraud. As you eliminate the possibilities, automatically you begin to see things you could never see before and then you investigate a whole new bunch of factors.
So the method of self inquiry is not a technique. It is about doing it till you reach the clarity that your life can never be the same. As the enquiry continues, we are left with just the mind. We have eliminated our identification with everything, the body, which means its ups and downs.
We are then left with the flow of thoughts. All kinds of mundane and serious thoughts and what we call mind is just what exists because the thought process is on. Apart from the thought process there is no ‘mind’. If this is done continuously, without break, without identifying with anything that arises, the seat of our sense of ‘who I am’ shifts from the head to the heart.
Dr. Bharat Thakur tells the story of how Michelangelo saw Pieta in the block of stone. Michelangelo did not create it. It came to him, he ‘saw’ Pieta and he chipped away the excess marble until Pieta emerged. Michelangelo is said to have used the method of being still or quiet as the way to arriving at his ideas and sculptures. Sri Ramana Maharishi used to often answer deep philosophical questions after consideration, with the words “keep quiet”. The seeing of these great masters and seers was entrenched in stillness/ quietness. It appears that quietness helps develop clarity. How does one understand the process of developing clarity?
To understand, in the end is to just ‘get it’. It is not like the process of building a house. It is more like how an idea occurs , how we have an insight, a breakthrough, a big idea. It is not something that you can put together skilfully, or create a formula for. It is a spark of wisdom.
In this episode, we explore how do we achieve an understanding of something? Can we really ‘understand’ it? How does one begin to ‘understand’? Is understanding the process to achieving clarity?
Through delightful insights into the etymology of the word ‘understand’, we arrive at the contours of ‘understand’. It is derived from the greek ‘in’ and ‘terra’, and from ‘antar’, ‘sta’ and ‘nu’ in Sanskrit. ‘Understand’ when put together as a sum of its sounds in greek and sanskrit gives us ‘not from this space’, from the ‘difference in the space’, ‘new’’ and has has the connotations, of firmness, of insight, of the now. It is neither this nor that, it is something that is firm and it is essentially a part of you, eternally part of you.
We all go through the ups and downs of pain followed by pleasure and pleasure followed by pain. So the turning point comes to everyone when one notices this pattern, when it strikes you spontaneously that, “wait a minute, whatever the story of my life, the pattern is the same. It’s only in fairy tales that there is an “and they lived happily ever after....”. What we seek in all our endeavors, be it career, romance or in the movies, the pattern that seems to pervade everything is that in pleasure is the seed of pain and in pain there is the seed of pleasure.
Once we are attentive to our experience of this cycle, the key word being attentive, the key is the attention we pay to our experience as it unfolds and this is what is meant by “one’s own experience”. If we begin to pay attention to all that is happening in us, we begin to see this pattern that we are all caught in this cycle of pleasure and pain and therefore, pleasure too is pain.
When you know this first hand, as your personal experience when we are able to in this way assess the common thread in all our experience. When we are able to extract its essence, then this ability is called ‘viveka’ or discernment and when this happens, we have this natural tendency where we look for a way out of the cycle. We want a way out and as Sri Ramana Maharshi liked to say, we may not be looking for it in the right places, we are not looking at what is essentially an understanding, something that is already stuck to our insides..
Continuing on from part 1, where we studied the philosophies and journeys of Maharishi Ramana and the great Cezanne. In this episode, we delve deeper into how they perceived their journeys. Did they know where they were going? Was it a conscious choice? Did Cezanne in his passionate pursuit of his art eventually come to realise that he was the art.
Dr. Bharat Thakur very beautifully lays out the trials and tribulations of Cezanne’s journey that led him to realise that it was truth that he was pursuing all along. To quote Cezanne, “by going deep you automatically go to the truth”. You feel a healthy need to be truthful. You’d rather strip your canvas right down than invent or imagine a details you want to know”.
And for our other traveller, Maharishi Ramana, the insight was “eventually, all that is learnt will have to be forgotten”.
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How do we see our journey?
Do we buy a return ticket to a particular station? A monthly pass to hop on and off different stations that we visit regularly, a series of small journeys to be completed ever day? Or, a one way ticket to the last station? Or perhaps, even a one way ticket to the station beyond the last...to oblivion?
What drives each passenger to choose his journey? Where do we really want to go? Does the passenger who has bought a ticket beyond the last station even know where the train goes?
Dr. Bharat Thakur explains these journeys through the stories of the great artist Cezanne and the great Ramana Maharishi.
In this episode, Dr. Bharat Thakur explains the 5 factors of cooking - 'rasa', 'guna', 'veerya', 'vipaka' and 'prabhava'. Rasa is not just taste as we know it. Beautiful aspects of 'sneha' and 'andaaz' go into creating it. If every recipe has a method, process and timing, why then does the same dish taste differently depending on who has cooked it? Why is it that different consumers of the same food related to it differently?
Rasa or taste is the bridge between nature and us. That essence is made from a particular combination of the 5 elements (air, water, fire, earth and space). So in that sense, it is through the sense of taste that we reach out to nature. Therefore, it is through food that we connect with nature. It is the gap between us and nature that manifests as the three imbalances, the Tridosha, which has been explained in the previous episode.
Herbs and spices offer more than just taste, they bring quality, potency, an effect post digestion and a unique effect on our body. This episode is dedicated to the nature of different spices and their nature not just in the form of taste but across quality, potency, digestive impact and unique effect on the body. It also explains the interplay between our nature, nature (spices and herbs) and tridosha and how this manifests in our body.
Spice: the three great fires
"First comes food and then everything else".
Dr. Bharat Thakur traces some of the greatest historical events and how spices have had a part of play in them. The highlights key events in the evolution of mankind before and after the discovery of fire and then before and after the discovery of spices.
Spices brought traders and then invaders to the borders of India; some took back our culture and our spices while others assimilated into our society.
Spices have a great contribution to the science of Ayurveda, the science of life. A philosophy that is about never being sick; about finding means to be healthy and happy. Just are fire is created from rubbing two flint stones, there are two other fires that have changed the way we have experienced life. 1. The fire of the physical body - the metabolic fire 2. The fire of the mental body - the fire of attention. After the discovery of fire, it was the understanding of the metabolic fire and the fire of attention that changed the way we think about, live and experience life. It is the metabolic fire and the fire of attention that has made civilisation and culture possible. While yogic sciences have pursued the mental fire, Ayurveda researched the metabolic fire. It focuses on how to control, conserve, protect and grow the metabolic fire.
Spices are key to kindling the metabolic fire and are the most tangible route to understanding the metabolic fire. One of the greatest insights into the cosmology of well being lies in the three imbalances, the Tridosha - Vatta, Pitta and Kapha. In this episode we focus on understanding the Tridosha.
In this episode, we learn about awakening the breath body. We explore Swara yoga which constitutes two of the four steps to awakening the breath body.
Bharat compares the 72,000 nadis in our body to rivulets. As in the case of a river where the rivulets lead to the ocean, in our bodies too, the nadis or rivulets lead to the great river called the kundalini. The nadis join to form 3 major rivers of subtle energy also called the three great flows, Ida Swara, the Lingala Swara and the sushumna Swara.
In this episode, we learn to tap into these rivers of subtle energy by becoming aware of our breath. We explore how our breath alternates between our nostrils and how this alteration defines our energy. Observing our breath offers a path to becoming aware of and tapping into our energies most effectively to maximise the quality of tasks we are doing.
In this episode, Bharat continues to explore the vayus, diving deeper into the fifth of the five major vayus, Vyana Vayu.
We often become identified with our thoughts, our body, our feelings, our memories….and we are often asked to practice detachment in order to separate ourselves from these. It is very hard to practice detachment. However, attaching ourselves to our breath offers a path to detachment. One may ask, why the breath? The breath is the very fountain of life. It offers a very powerful and fundamental choice of shifting our identity from the limited to the limitless. The breath offers a path to inward attachment. This does not mean one loses interest in life, rather one enjoys everything about life a lot more by taking limiting identities away.
In this episode, we take a deeper look into the science of our breath, of how our breath enters and leaves the body and how this impacts the functioning of the body. Through the knowledge of Swara Yoga, we are able to tap into the power of the three nadis.
We also study, Vyana Vayu, the fifth of the five major vayus. Vyana vayu is the conne for between the five koshas, it is the vehicle of consciousness in the entire body. It helps regulate not just vital body signs like blood pressure and temperature but also helps avoid fatigue and keeps the energy levels steady, thereby impacting mental and emotional steadiness.
In this episode we go deeper into the breath. We examine how to access our entire being by delving into the breath.
The difference between sleep and meditation is one of unconscious and conscious relaxation. Through meditation, we can enter a state of deep relaxation and this can be achieved through awareness of the breath.
Our breath mirrors our state. We breathe very different when we are agitated compared to when we are relaxed. Therefore, through our breath we have the power to control or modify our state. The breath is the golden key to relaxation and healing. We can also use the breath to modulate our energy levels and our emotions.
We have the ability to bring awareness to our mental and physical state and use the breath to modulate that state into one of deep relaxation.
Breath carries Maha Prana which splits into vayus and the vayus in turn control all the functions of the body. Therefore, the way we breath affects the functioning of the body and every aspect of our being.
Noticing; being aware of and sensitive to the breath makes it deeper and fuller, bringing with it relaxation. This relaxed and balanced state affects all the vayus and in turn the koshas.
In this episode we delve into achieving a the breath body through Svara yoga. We also study Udana Vayu and how it’s functioning helps develop great immunity to stress.
The intense longing for the goal begins when we are “done” with all that we have been craving and been busy with - recognition, wealth, ego, ….now we crave for something deeper, something lasting. In yoga, this is the sign of “now I am ready”.
Through the retelling of a fable in which a young boy who deep desire to be a musician takes him to a master, Bharat highlights the maturity, readiness, preparation and longing that takes us to a goal. When the longing is intense, the purpose draws you to it, the right experiences come your way, you are unaware when your training has begun. Opportunities are created by your purpose alone.
Yoga is about tuning into Vayu. Yoga is not just flexibility and strength building or disease cure, it is about tuning in to Prana Vayu, the vital life force that animates our whole being and the whole cosmos. In this episode, we recap the power of our breath and the different vayus, the quality of each Vayu and the nature of its movement. Each vayu performs a particular set of functions. Vayu can be seen as the enabler, the hidden hand that makes everything possible.
This episode dives into Samana Vayu which is responsible for absorption of energy that is brought by Prana vayu and is the balancing force in the body.
The key to the greatest quality of life lies in our breath. The science of the breath begins and ends with just one word, “awareness”. By breathing with awareness, we begin the process of witnessing. Every effort to become aware of the breath influences the breath itself.
In the episode, Bharat examines healing through awareness of the breath. Through the retelling of a fable, he explains what it means to be aware of the breath. Awareness of the breath makes us conscious of it. It helps bring our focus to our breath and slows it down. This helps manage stress and anxiety. By awareness of the breath, we slow it down, thus reducing heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature - thus calming the body.
By slowing down the breath, we can control our responses to circumstances that are outside our control. A mindful slowing down of the breath changes the body’s stress response. Through awareness of the breath we can re-wire our brain and revive our bodies.
In the preceding episode we examine Prana vayu, the cosmic energy that we inhale. In this episode, we examine the Apana vayu. The vayu that is responsible for eliminating all toxins from the body. Bharat explains the role of the breath in Apana vayu and how through the breath we can enable the body to release toxins effectively.
What is the basis of all creation? How is this question to be investigated? Or how is any other puzzling question to be investigated? To find the answer, one must become the question and life provides the answers.
Like a good investigator, when studying and seeking answers, one will need to embrace duality. Accepting one state (the good) and rejecting the other (the bad), will constrain the path of investigation. Embracing duality does not mean legitimising the bad or the wrong; it simply means no longer judging. It means going beyond the good and the evil story. To go beyond the duality and conflict, unconditioning is required. Unconditioning and going beyond the “me”, beyond good and bad, is the beginning of going beyond physicality, identity, ego. To see beyond the seeing.
To enter the breath body, breaking the barrier to duality is essential. The breath body encapsulates all elements of Vayu. Vayu is not just the wind that travels in many directions but the one that connects many dimensions. Vayu makes it possible to travel across multiple dimensions. We can access Vayu through out breath body. The breath body is like an app through which we can reach all dimensions of the body. It is the atmosphere in which all koshas reside.
What does living in the breathe body mean? Consider rephrasing it to what does it mean to dwell in the breath body. Living has a connotation of activity, of doing. There is an implied biological angle to it. Dwelling in it means awareness of the breath body. This dwelling can happen at any point while playing a game, while working, during chemotherapy and in the moment of death.
With asanas we get gain stability and that is how we an begin to enter and dwell in the breath body.
Yoga is a journey from the concrete to the subtle. Abhyasa (correct practise) and vairagya (inward attachment) a love affair with me time. Pranayama is a key practice for entering the space of me, practice, inward attachment and of turning inwards into my breath. To become more and more aware until the breath body is reached. Asanas provide stability and well being. pranayama takes us into the breath body. These are two parallel tracks to reach the space of dwelling in oneself.
Vayu is the vehicle of intimacy with the body, mind and spirit. Breath is Vayu in its gross form. The natural characteristic of breath is movement and yoga is the process of ceasing of the breath. During pranayama, when breath ceases, the mind ceases. This moment of the ceasing of the breath and the mind is called Kewal Kumbhak. The point of Kewal Kumbhak can be experienced in moments of wonderment, joy, passion. It is the point where the mind enters the heart. This is the moment of joy, the place of dwelling or home. An archer holds his breath while releasing his arrow - by doing this, he stills his mind and is able to connect the body, mind and intellect.
The body has five dimensions. In this episode, Bharat examines how yoga helps us experience these five dimensions.
Energy and vitality with pranayama
Clarity and discrimination with pratyahara
Relief from the binds of personality with dharana and dhyana
Moving upwards to ultimate bliss through samadhi
In this episode, Bharat takes a closer look at Prana, the life force, the all pervasive unit of energy, that which is omnipresent.
Bharat examines weather it is possible to experience everything that is spoken in theory. What are we supposed to experience through the practice of pranayama? Do we experience pranayama as we experience asanas? How do we experience Prana in the same way as we experience the flow of blood when we hold a posture in asana? How when we experience the rewards of our practice and boredom does not set in?
In this episode, Bharat explains how the stringing together of different sequences of asanas, pranayamas, bandhas, mudras and kriyas create structural, behavioural and gene level changes. How this must be recognised as a creative process; one in which we create a world in which each of us uniquely belongs. How mind body interventions affect gene expression. Yoga is a science of evolution that has emerged outside the lab; it is perhaps the longest ongoing research project undertaken by humanity.
“When the mind and heart are together, the whole world reveals itself”
In this podcast, Bharat explores seeing. He explores what lies beyond what we see with our eyes. He compares the seeing with the eyes with the seeing with the heart; manifested in moments when we close our eyes while enjoying something with our heart. Through poignant poetry and regaling stories he takes us on a tour of the heart; mixing the subtle and the gross (anatomy) aspects of the heart.
The way to live longer is to be healthy and happy first. For this, we need to reside in the heart. He shares the path to residing in the heart.
In part 2 of this podcast, Bharat examines why we stray away from the heart.
In this episode, Bharat examines the relationship between the mind and the brain. He references research to highlight how meditation can slow, stall and potentially reverse changes to the brain brought on by aeging. He explains how meditation is not about being thoughtlessness but to be and to quietly witness thoughts.
In part 2, he examines the impact of stress and unhappiness affect the brain.
Part 3, delves into how different techniques of meditation can relieves stress and foster mental health and wellness
In this podcast, Bharat shares the most compelling reason for moving from a regime of several meals a day to one meal a day. The most compelling reason being cell rejuvenation and therefore longevity. He compares the benefits of diet and exercise with those of one meal a day. He highlights the impact of diet and exercise on the body and how moving to to one meal a day, extends the benefits to deep within the body…to its foundational element, the cell.
He very simply and beautifully explains the process of autophagy and how a one meal program enables autophagy. He also highlights how moving to one meal a day aids in disease control, especially, conditions like diabetes.