The power of meditation

Read this article on Harvard Business Review about meditation. Rings quite true especially the part about meditation making us more productive...

"How? By increasing your capacity to resist distracting urges.

Research shows that an ability to resist urges will improve your relationships, increase your dependability, and raise your performance. If you can resist your urges, you can make better, more thoughtful decisions. You can be more intentional about what you say and how you say it. You can think about the outcome of your actions before following through on them.

Our ability to resist an impulse determines our success in learning a new behavior or changing an old habit. It's probably the single most important skill for our growth and development."

I have not been successful in meditating on my own.. EVER! But there is a day a week where I go into a hot room (40 degrees Celsius to be exact), shut off my thoughts and just listen to my yoga teacher's instructions. It get rather hot in there especially when your mind starts to wander but the basis of the lesson is, "stay in the room for 90 minutes".  It is not easy especially when the whiny part of the brain starts to go, "It's so hot and stuffy in here", "Why are we doing this?", "Are you crazy? Doing yoga in this heat?" or generally trying to convince the rest of your body to give up and get out of the heat but, I learnt that, if you bite down on your resolve and fight the whiny voice, it gives up after a while and you gain absolute control of every part of your body. The results are similar to what the author says about meditating:

"Meditating daily will strengthen your willpower muscle. Your urges won't disappear, but you will be better equipped to manage them. And you will have experience that proves to you that the urge is only a suggestion. You are in control."

The ironic thing I learnt about control is, the more you try to be in control, the more you loose control whereas the more you let go and try not to control, the more you are able to "push the right" buttons and get the outcomes you desire. 

When I began my Bikram journey, I never expected to obtain an alleviated sense of understanding and enlightenment. Totally worth every ringgit I paid for the expensive membership!

On an end note, the author, Peter Bregman, is an advisor to CEOs and their leadership teams. His latest book 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done just echoes Covey's Habit of putting first things first. Interesting... (",)

Caution: Man with big ego driving big car

Ever noticed that majority of people who drive big cars ergo are financially well off are morally and humanely bankrupt? Case in point: it was chock-a-block traffic downtown. A guy driving an XC90 was bumped by a man driving a less expensive car. For the sake of simplification, let's call the guy in the XC90, Mr V and the chap in the less expensive car, Mr M.

The damage was not catastrophic but there was a noticeable scratch along the side of Mr V's car. The damage to Mr M's car was hidden from my view.

Mr V stormed out of his car, guns blazing, gesticulating furiously at Mr M, colourful language spewing forth from his mouth. He was turning various shades of red, working himself into a frenzy. Perhaps the fact that Mr M remained in his car and not firing back made Mr V even more agitated for his voice increased several decibles and attracted the attention of the traffic policeman presiding over the congested intersection.

By now, Mr V was livid and was inconsolable. Mr M refused to participate in his shouting match and the traffic policeman was trying to smooth over the situation.

My question is: what did Mr V have for sahur (the meal before commencement of fast at dawn) this morning? Gun powder? Isn't the fasting month supposed to be one of quiet reflection, calm and finding peace with oneself and one's surroundings? Why did Mr V feel the need to work himself up like that? He must have been living a particularly stressful life being rich and driving an expensive car.

Second case in point: I was driving past the exit of a parking lot. Mr Camry came barreling out so I gave way. He nay said a word of thanks nor did he gesture an acknowledgement which led me to conclude that people who drive big cars have no manners.

Rich in material gains but bankrupt in curtesy and manners. What to do? Life's laidet (",)

blogging on the go with my E71

Of Making the Connection

My Friday ended at 0130 hours on a Saturday only to begin again when the alarm went off at 0615 hours. Hitting the snooze button, I stole another 3 minutes of shut-eye before JH gave me a wake up call. No more snoozin', time's a-loosin'. I was out the door at 0630 hours, driving towards TPM to meet the rest. Today, we're going to train at the steps of Batu Caves. 10 showed up.

A little background about Batu Caves for the uninitiated. There are 272 steps from rising from the foot of the hill, demarcated by a charming archway decorated with several avatars of the Lord Murugan / Subramaniam, to the mouth of the cave complex that houses the shrines of several Hindu dieties. It's approximately 28.9km away from TPM which took us about 35 minutes to get there (this after discounting the time wasted making a wrong turn).

We arrived without fanfare at 0745 hours and met PT at the base of the stairs. Our training aim today is to complete 4 laps (1 lap = completing 1 set, up and down the stairs) in 90 minutes. We took it slow with the 1st lap. Everyone broke pace and reached the top together. We took photos within the cave and walked around to shake out the kinks in our legs. Thereafter, everyone went their own pace.

I'm glad to say that the team did a good job meeting the training aim (Well done, guys and gals!). No drama, no incident, no sweat! Ok... Maybe not the sweat part. We all sweat buckets :) I, for one, pushed beyond the 4-lap aim and went for 5 laps and in the process, I struck up conversation with this uncle who "coached" and cheered me along. Thank you!

We had chilled Milo to quench our thirst at the carpark, thanks to PT. And decided to go for breakfast before going our separate ways. Me, being a weekend vegan, had a groundnut bao with "teh c special". That was lunch.

After a 30-minute nap, I was on the road again. I've signed up for the Bikram Posture Clinic in Subang. Rich Nichols (head honco for Bikram yoga teachers in this region) conducted the 2-hour clinic.

I've never been to a yoga posture clinic before and was quite surprised to see the studio packed from wall to wall. When usually we have about 4 feet between yoga mats, today there was only a 2 feet gap. The other difference was in the heat. It was not turned on and we had the windows slightly open. In spite of that, the class was sweating profusely 30 minutes into the clinic.

Today's session concentrates on correction and imparting tips on the standing series of the Bikram posture progression. Picked up some very good pointers at the clinic and I'm now seriously considering getting a tatt to commemorate conquering white water rafting at Padas and the peak of Mount Kinabalu :) Shhh..! Don't tell my parents.

Rich challenged the clinic participants to attend the 1600 hours yoga class conducted by Erik. Only 15 took him on. I must admit though, after 2 hours of posture analysis and learning even without the 40 degree heat, I couldn't make it through all 26 postures. Having said that though, I'm not disappointed in myself. As Sean (another Bikram teacher) always says, "it's yoga practice, not yoga perfect".

Since taking up Bikram, I have noted a marked difference in my physique and psyche. The improvement of the later resulted in my being able to stay focused, remember things better and push myself to achieve more because the brain is no longer setting up roadblocks for the body. It's a whole different life when your brain is not trying to sabotage your body's potential. It's the brain making the connection with the body for both to move in sync. My body surprises me everyday :)

Since signing up to join MY's colleagues to climb Mount K, we've been training together by going on hikes and treks. These have improve my cardio immensely. I find myself no longer out of breath / panting after climbing the 3 flights of stairs (a total of 63 steps) to my office everyday and, in fact, have started to take the stairs when going to JH's place on the weekend (he lives on a 4th floor apartment).

Now you are already starting to wonder: what's the point in all this? Well, I'm getting there :)

Many people have said that climbing Mount K is more mental than physical. I figured that in taking up this challenge, I am putting both to the test. In my daily grind, I find myself able to cope that much better both mentally and physically. So much so, somedays I feel almost invincible. And that is an incredible feeling.

If someone had told me 1 year ago that I would be going for 5 laps at Batu Caves (traipsing up and down 2,720 steps) thereafter attending a 120-minute yoga clinic followed by 90 minutes of Bikram hot yoga all in one day, I'd say, "Who me?" but here I sit today, blogging about it and feeling the endorphins coursing through my veins. Best feeling in the world!

Oh.. And did I mention that there was this incredibly hot Korean teacher at the clinic today. Wow! She turned my head a couple of times and I was so definitely gawking at her. She was HAWT! (",)

What do you think?

Here's the poser: A lady wrote an email to a radio show to seek the listeners' opinion on her concern. Her boyfriend of 3 years is as wonderful as boyfriends can get. Even after all these years, he still makes the effort to take her out to nice dinners, buy her gifts and flowers, take her on nice weekend getaways etc. He is 31 years old, has a stable job is financially stable and she can foresee herself spending the rest of her life with him. The trouble is, even though he is 31 and is financially independent, he still receives an allowance from his parents. She finds this odd and wants to know if this is a common practice among rich folks and what do the listeners' think.

Some called in to ask if the guy's parents would mind adopting a 40-something year old "son" *grinz* but most (including the guy radio show host) opine that the guy should "wear a saree and stay at home"... in other words a "wuss".

Waitaminute! Having extra dosh is considered "wussy"? Since when? So I called up the station to give my 2-sen worth.

Radio show host ("RSH"): Hello? What say you?

Me: Hello. Is this XYZ fm?

RSH: Yes, it is. Who's speaking please?

Me: This is Jasmine. I'd like to say that I think it's sweet that the parents are helping out their child.

RSH: But this "child" is already 30. He is not a "child" anymore!

Me: Well... to a parents, it doesn't matter if a "child" is 30, 10, 50 or 80. No matter how old you are, you are and always will be your parents' "child". And parents being parents, they naturally look out for their kids. It's nice to have extra cash. There can never be "too much money" and here you have someone giving you money. If it were me I'd just take the money and shut up..

RSH: *laughs* You've got a point there..