Mariellen wrote this awesome blog on her site www.breathedreamgo.com and breathed new life into the story and the point I was making. I highly recommend this blog to anyone who wants to understand what is Yoga in its all-encompassing sense, the way it was intended by ancient Rishis. Here is the link to her blog…happy reading!

http://torontobodymind.ca/blogs/yogaphilosopher/happy-birthday-ganesha

Here is what her blog “Breathe Dream Go” stands for, from the horse’s mouth: “BreatheDreamGo is my vision. The name says it all. It’s a Mantra and it summarizes my own experience and it’s a formula for others to follow. Breathe is the wisdom of Yoga and the importance of Prana, breath. Dream is knowing who you are and where you want to go. Go is doing it, taking the steps: creating, studying,  volunteering, traveling and giving”. Ah, I couldn’t have done that any better!

BTW, she takes her food seriously and is as good at whipping up a Dal or Curry a la Indien as she is with her pen! Consider yourself lucky if you get invited to savor her home-cooked food!

I know I shouldn’t stand between you and her engaging blog for too long, so here is the link to her blog…happy reading! While you are there, don’t forget to write a few comments on her posts, I am sure you won’t miss her penchant for writing about India. Also, Mariellen will be covering the upcoming (or, already here!) IIFA, so check back with her blog for regular updates…

http://breathedreamgo.com/

http://www.torontobodymind.ca/articles/yoga-explained-nada-yoga-ram-vakkalanka

I am very excited that I will be back at Downward Dog Yoga on Friday Nov 26th from 3:00-5:00 pm with my Sitar during another Mysore session with Ron and Meenakshi!

It’s going to be great, people!!

Just to recap some of the things Rutger points out about Sanskrit…

*Sanskrit stands out above all other languages for its beauty of sound, precision in pronunciation and reliability as well as thoroughness in every aspect of its structure

*The exceptional features of Sanskrit have been recognised for a few centuries all over the world, so you will find universities from many countries having a Sanskrit faculty. Whether you go to Hawai, Cambridge or Harvard and even Trinity College Dublin has a seat for Sanskrit

*Although India has been its custodian, Sanskrit has had universal appeal for centuries. The wisdom carried by this language appeals to the West as we can see from Yoga and Ayurvedic Medicine as well as meditation techniques, and practical philosophies like Buddhism and most of what we use in the School of Philosophy. It supports, expands and enlightens rather than conflicts with local traditions and religions.

*The precision of Sanskrit stems from the unparalleled detail on how the actual sounds of the alphabet are structured and defined. The sounds have a particular place in the mouth, nose and throat that can be defined and will never change. This is why in Sanskrit the letters are called the ‘Indestructibles’ [aksharáni]

*Sanskrit is the only language that has consciously laid out its sounds from first principles

*Sanskrit automatically teaches your child and anybody else studying it to pay FINE attention due to its uncanny precision. When the precision is there the experience is, that it feels uplifting. It makes you happy.

*By studying Sanskrit, other languages can be learnt more easily; this being the language all others borrow from fractionally. The Sanskrit grammar is reflected in part in Irish or Greek, Latin or English.

*Sanskrit has the most comprehensive writings in the world expressed through the Vedas and the Gítá. The Upanishads –translated by William Butler Yeats have given people from all over the world an insight into universal religious feelings for more than one century now.

You can check out the entire blog here

A south-Indian evening by Sitar Veda