Bikram Yoga

The Yoga Asana Championship is in 12 days time in Melbourne, Australia. The Sitapati Bishnu Charan Cup Challenge has been a lot of work and has involved a lot of people. We'd like to thank a few of the sponsors and supporters who helped us get this far:

• Triyuga das, for hyping me up into the whole thing to begin with
• Samantha Thompson and Bikram Yoga Brisbane, my home studio in Brisbane
• My Queensland Bikram teachers - Sherri, Maddy, Rene, and Jeanne
• Australian men's champion Darren Ma, who encouraged me to enter and spent time coaching me in Australia and New Zealand
• Australian women's champion Rowena Ooi, who also gave me valuable time and instruction
• Cedric, Ty, and Nikki of East West Bikram Yoga in Auckland, for being my home studio in NZ
• Michelle at Fusion Hot Yoga, for giving me a hot place to chill out (Infrared rocks baby!)
• My home team, ISKCON Brisbane, and especially Tirtharaj das - without whom there would be no Sitapati challenge team on the continent
• ISKCON Melbourne, who will be hosting me while I'm in town for the competition
• David Jorm, of the Jorm Report, who sponsored my travel.
• Devadeva Mirel, who turned me on to GNC
• The staff of GNC in Albert St, especially Catriona, for their knowledgeable and enthusiastic support
• Tim Ferris for the Body Quick (now banned in NZ)
• Lucas Rockwood at Yoga Body Naturals for the Yoga Body formula and the Yoga Body Handbook - I'm practising every day!
• Krishna-kirti, for giving me a sideways hint to make my practice more yin (I'm always taking notes)
• And last, but definitely not least, Param Satya and Prahlad, for putting up with me going to Bikram every day for two hours, and the endless parade of soaking wet towels!

See you on the stage!

OK, making an effort to get my meditation back to the individual physical bodily platform here....

Yesterday I was feeling listless and demotivated after mangal-arati, the 4.30 am spiritual program at the local Hare Krishna temple.

There is no daylight savings in Queensland, so the sun now comes up during the program. This places it a long time after the brahma-muhurta hour - that's a 48 minute period about an hour and a half before sunrise that is the most potent time for spiritual practice. Before I went to NZ it was dark until after the program finished.

Riding my scooter across town to get to the temple in time for the 4.30 am session means that during the brahma-muhurta period I'm getting ready to leave out. I think I'll not go to the temple and just do my morning meditation at home for a week or two, to keep my prayer life focused and at the most potent time while I ramp up for the Yoga Asana Championship.

Yesterday after spending some time at the temple I skipped the morning Bikram class and took a little extra rest at home before heading in to my day job as a manager in an IT company.

I seemed to be on a plateau. There are 17 days to go to the Yoga Asana championship in Melbourne. I'm using the Yoga Championship as a measurable goal to work towards for my personal practice. That's how I work best. Yesterday I couldn't focus. I was feeling hopeless and uninspired. I contemplated taking the morning off work, but decided to push through it.

In the afternoon I was feeling a bit better, so I headed to the studio for the 4.30 pm class. There I met Rowena, the current Australian womens champion. She flew in yesterday from Canada and came in to practice. She's in Brisbane for 5 days sorting out her visa before going to open a school in Mumbhai.

She gave me ten minutes of instruction in the competition routine and amongst that slipped in an absolute gem. She said: "Smile the whole time while you do the routine"

In the class I put my mat next to hers, "to steal her form" as I explained to her.

During the whole class I smiled like an idiot, and rediscovered the joy of asana.

I caught the prize giving of the Melbourne Cup the other day. The Melbourne cup is an Aussie institution, like AC/DC. It's a horse race that runs once a year in Melbourne for about 10 minutes. The nation basically takes the afternoon off to watch it, and Melbourne closes down for the day.

Anyway, this year it was sponsored by Emirates Airlines, and on the podium behind the State Premier and the Governor General they had Emirates air hostesses. One of them was smiling non-stop through the whole event. I was watching her and thinking: "She is really, really good at smiling". So I modeled her, smiling as a regulative principle through the 90 minutes of hot yoga.

Pretty soon I found myself feeling light-hearted and joyful. My body was aching and I could feel my muscles fatiguing, but my mind was light.

Physical exercise is important for both physical and mental health.

The body's various systems, such as lymphatic, endochrinal, circulatory, respiratory, and immune, all need to be moved to keep them healthy. Physical exercise stimulates endorphins and revitalizes the brain. It sharpens attention and raises the mood.

One of the best things you can do for your health is to break a sweat before the sun comes up. I try to dance energetically as a regulative principle in mangal-aratis to achieve exactly that.

Some physical exercises are better than others. Many modern western exercise regimes and sports actually damage the body in the long term - jarring bones and tearing ligaments. My hatha yoga teacher, Mr. Bikram Choudhry, describes many casualties from western athletics who have come to his classes for healing and restoration.

Hatha yoga is the recommended physical exercise for human civilisation. In the Srimad Bhagavatam, an ancient Sanskrit work, the sage Narada Muni explains to King Yuddhistira:

...by practicing hatha-yoga, pranayama and so forth one should counteract sufferings due to the body and mind.

- Srimad Bhagavatam 7.15.24

Two hours a day is not a lot of time to spend on physical maintenance. Dr Liladhar Gupta, a fourth generation Ayurvedic physician from Vrndavan and my Ayurveda teacher, explains "8 hours a day for body, 8 hours for mind, and 8 hours for spirit - 24 hours balanced!"

In Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna explains:

He who is regulated in his habits of eating, sleeping, recreation and work can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system.

- Bhagavad-gita 6.17

A human life is a spiritual life, for only humans have the capacity to inquire into the difference between spirit and matter. Without that spiritual inquiry an uniquely human life has not yet begun.

So human life should be a balanced life, with the different aspects of the self, the atma - the body, mind, and soul, all nicely balanced.

Of course the soul is the most important thing, but with a disturbed body and mind what chance is there for peace, happiness, or the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment?

Yoga practice (yoga-abhyasa) means constant readjustment. Chanting at home rather than going to mangal-arati, going to the 4.30 pm Bikram session instead of the 6 am one, and smiling through the whole class are the adjustments that I am applying at this point to keep my practice dynamic and inspirational.

Courtesy of Madhava Ghosh came the insight: "Pain is weakness leaving the body".

Pain in yoga practice is not "injury" - it is the attempt of the system of the body to maintain the status quo. One part rebels, complains, tries to change the equation: "Leave things as they are - it's harder to change than it is to stay the same, and I'll make it harder for you..."

It is the duty of the practitioner to push through it, to take it to another level.

I took a couple of days to rest and regroup, then went on the offensive again.

First I hit the local Chinese medicine man (actually he was an Aussie, Benedict) for what he congratulated me as a "solid sesson". I think he was pretty happy to have such a subject to reciprocate with his obvious enthusiasm for his craft.

The next day I hit the Health Food store to take advantage of "Magic Monday" - the monthly 20% off sale day. The lady there told me she had no Kre-Alkalyn, but recommended Beta Alanine [read extensive info]. Krishna's hand is in my life brothers and sisters!

I call this stuff "Hulk powder". It comes in a green jar with a picture of gears on it (this is science man!). It may, or may not turn you into the Incredible Hulk, but it certainly makes you feel like you are turning into the Incredible Hulk.

When you take 2g of it, that's 1/2 a metric teaspoon, after about 15 minutes all the nerve endings in your body start to burn. You've all seen Bruce Banner turning into the Hulk - well this feels like that looks. I was literally writhing on the floor in agony after my first dose - just what Doctor Chopper ordered [video of Dr Chopper - warning: profanity].

The creatine and beta alanine form a potent 1-2 punch. This morning I hit the studio, charging like a wounded bull. With mangal-arati, 30g of protein, and a dose of creatine and beta alanine under my kaupins I was ready to rock. Those are the elements of my four-pronged winning strategy: "Training, Nutrition, Supplementation, and Prayer". Mentally reframing the pain throughout the session, I gave competition form under fire.

There is no way that I am retreating from this and going back to the previous status quo.

The only way out is through.

From the road to inevitable victory,
Sitapati

I'm in the Australian Regional (National) Finals for the Bishnu Charan Ghosh Cup Yoga Asana Championships, to be held in Melbourne on November 30. Currently I'm training in Auckland, New Zealand where there are no less than three Bikram studios - with two in adjacent suburbs even, and with interleaved classes (for example, you can go to an afternoon class starting at 3pm, 4pm, 5pm, or 6pm!).

Bikram yoga must be wildly popular here.

I popped in for a class today, and discovered that Darren Ma, two time and current Australian National champion, is leading the advanced series in Newmarket tomorrow.

No prizes for guessing where I'll be.

I spent last Saturday with Darren, or as I dubbed him "Dronacarya" ;-), at Bikram Caloundra, doing a posture clinic. He spent some time coaching me for my Cup challenge (hence the Dronacarya moniker - Dronacarya taught the warrior who eventually killed him). I was worried that my New Zealand trip was going to knock me off my training schedule, but it seems to be taking it to another level... I missed the advanced classes that they are doing in Brisbane in the run-up to the cup, but I get another day with Darren here. Krishna is in control, clearly.

I'm staying at my mum's place in New Lynn - it's equidistant from New Varshan (the local Hare Krishna farm and temple) and the Bikram studios, so I'm perfectly situated.

Protein bars and powders are cheaper here than they are in Australia, strangely enough. Many of them are New Zealand brands, but even the Australian ones are cheaper here.

Here's the first line from the Bishnu Ghosh Regional Yoga Asana Championship Waiver and Release of Liability, which I had to sign:

I acknowledge that this hatha yoga championship can be an extreme test of a person's physical and mental limits and carries with it the potential for serious injury.

Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout! Bring it on!

Creatine administration was shown to significantly improve performance in cognitive and memory tests in vegetarian individuals involved in double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over trials. Vegetarian supplementation with creatine seems to be especially beneficial as they appear to have lower average body stores, since meat is a primary source of dietary creatine.

- Creatine Supplements: Mental Performance, Wikipedia

In humans, approximately half of stored creatine originates from food (mainly from fresh meat). Since vegetables do not contain creatine, vegetarians show lower levels of muscle creatine which, upon creatine supplementation, rise to a level higher than in meat-eaters.

- Creatine: Sources, Wikipedia

Both quotes have sources cited in the relevant wikipedia article.

Now I have to say that taking creatine and hitting the mat I do feel like I just killed and ate some small animal, or maybe like I need to kill and eat a small animal. If the tag line for Bodyquick is "Got Kill Speed?" and the supplement gives you kill speed (it boosts reaction time by up to 35%), then Creatine gives you "extra killing power".

I'm taking Kre-Alkalyn, a relative new form of creatine supplement. It is "pH-corrected", weighing in at a whopping pH of 12 - extremely alkaline.A pH of 7 is neutral, less than 7 acidic, more than 7 alkaline - up to a maximum of 14 - pure alkaline. The human body operates optimally at around 7.36, on the alkaline side of 7.

Exactly how creatine increases your killing power is still up in the air. This very informative and only slightly technical article describes three current hypotheses.

Apparently (this is according to the Kre-Alkalyn website, which by the way has a horrible 90's design using frames - go here to get the navigation menu), non-base pH Creatine supplements break down in liquid (like in your stomach) into creatinine [wikipedia], which is the exhaust produced when creatine does its thing in your muscles. Creatinine is filtered from your system by the kidneys.

I've been using Creatine for a whole three days now, and I've read a number of testimonials on the internets, and I've got my own story already.

Lots of people are asking questions like: "I'm going on a cruise in a couple of weeks. Can I take creatine and look buff?"

The answer to this is: only if you use the additional creatine in your system to go harder in your exercise program.

Some people report no benefit to their long distance and endurance running.

Some people report "bulking up" and looking "fuller", but losing muscle definition due to water retention.

Some people report sore joints as a result of taking a creatine supplement.

According to the makers of Kre-Alkalyn (who bill it as "the benefits of creatine without the side effects" and "the results without the bloat"), these side effects are due to the deterioration of the creatine supplement to the bio-waste product creatinine when it encounters a liquid.

I have another theory. If the other creatine supplements are non-base pH, and Kre-Alkalyn claims to have a patent covering all creatine supplements with a pH in the range of 7 -14 which implies that they are, then all creatine supplements, with the exception of Kre-Alklyn, are acidic.

If you put something acidic into your muscles then your body will respond to that by diluting the acid to bring it back to your bio-optimum. It will do this by pumping water into the muscle cells. This is why you have to drink a lot of water when you take creatine supplements, and why you immediately bulk up and lose definition.

I haven't noticed any water retention (bloat) with Kre-Alkalyn. What I have noticed is increased strength and muscle recovery. Available creatine in the body enables the production of ATP [wikipedia]. This means more energy at the cellular level. One article I read explained it like this: "you won't go from bench pressing 200 lbs to 250 lbs, but you will go from 5 reps to 7 reps."

In other words, Creatine supplementation doesn't increase your strength per se, it increases the ability of your muscles to recover. This allows you to push yourself more, and this will increase your strength. This is not going to be much good if you're doing long distance and endurance events, which don't have an exertion / recovery cycle. However, it's perfect for Bikram Yoga with the 20 second shivasana (corpse pose) between reps.

Especially for a weedy little vegetarian like me, creatine supplementation seems to be working well. The main thing is that I am able to play faster mrdanga beats for a longer time, and also sing while I'm doing it. I'm getting to test this each morning at mangal-arati and measure the results. And that's ultimately what it's all about. This body is simply an engine for Sri Krishna sankirtan.

Addendum: I cast a wider net, and found other sources of Creatine: juniper berries, apparently, and also this NZ bee pollen. The other day Hari Sauri prabhu mentioned bee pollen as a source of Vitamin B12 as well, so while I'm in NZ I might see if I can get some of this.

Hydration is super important when you are doing hot yoga, or any other kind of intense exercise. However, simply drinking water is not enough. If you've ever drunk your sweat off your mat (and believe me - some days I have!) you know that you're not sweating pure water - you're sweating a complex blend of vitamins and minerals. Just drinking water will soon have you as depleted as a strip mine. You need an electrolyte replacement drink. Commercial drinks like Powerade are full of sugar, and simple carbohydrates (sugars) are no good when you're all about getting ripped. You need to reduce carbs and increase protein to get muscle definition. So I've been mixing my own electrolyte replacement drink - The Sita-pati Koolaid.

I start with a base of Pureau water, then add Herbs of Gold Muscle Resuscitation. This is a bio-enhanced magnesium powder. Magnesium depletion leads to sore muscles, and ultimately to muscle cramping during exertion. The Herbs of Gold powder also contains a number of B vitamins, a range of other trace elements, and stevia - a powerful natural sweetener.

The Herbs of Gold Muscle Resuscitation also gives the Sita-pati Koolaid that rad patented yellow colour. I tell anyone who asks that I'm trying out urine therapy to boost my performance on the mat. ;-)

Next I add 24 drops of Cellfood. Ekendra put me on to this. It has 78 ionic minerals, 34 enzymes, 17 amino acids, electrolytes and dissolved oxygen in it.

Then I add a cap of Lifesprings Colloidal Minerals. This stuff has 75 plant-derived colloidal minerals in it.

Then I add a cap of Colloidal Silver. Colloidal silver is a natural antibiotic.

Sometimes I add a packet of Percy's Powder. Percy's contains Magnesium, Iron, Zinc, Potassium, and Manganese, as Sulphates. More often though I'll take this neat in the juice of a lemon and with a B Vitamin complex capsule. Doing this on an empty stomach, for example straight after a yoga session, is the optimum way to absorb it.

The end result of all this is the supercharged Sita-pati Koolaid.

You can make your own electrolyte replacement drink too. Go to the health food store and have a look at the different things they have. Fire up Google and do some research - read some testimonials and some overviews such as wikipedia (be sure to follow the links to original references), and start trying stuff out.

Don't waste your money or your health drinking commercial cordials. Drink your own Koolaid!

Tri-yuga and I are engaged in a fierce competition. When he visited me a month ago we were discussing health, the internet, online businesses, and a number of other things. At the time I was doing a 30-day challenge at Bikram, and Tri-yuga joined me for the nine days he was here. One thing that came up was the number of websites that show you how to get "six-pack abs". After some discussion we came up with a challenge - who could get the most "ripped" by the time I come over to New Zealand to visit my family and attend the Vyasa puja festival of our spiritual master (mid-October)?

I'm into modelling successful people. I spend time studying them and extracting their patterns and practices. For leadership I model John Maxwell. For yoga I model Bikram. For bass playing I model Larry Graham. It's all about following the mahajanas - it's a universally applicable principle, not a religious doctrine.

Now for getting ripped, who else would I model other than Conan the Barbarian? I mean, if you're going to do it, go all the way.

So I've been studying "Conan the Destroyer" (a mate at work had it - he didn't have "Conan the Barbarian").

I'm modelling my program on the movie, so now I start my day "the Conan way". The movie begins with Conan praying to his God, Crom, at a shrine. Quickly he gets into a fight.

So now I'm going to mangal-arati, to pray to my God before a shrine, then racing across town to a Bikram class for a workout. Tri-yuga, watch out - I'm comin' for ya!

Conan's deep devotion and faith in his personal God is a source of enhanced strength and increased physical performance. A recent study conducted at Oxford University has shown that religious belief can increase pain tolerance by up to 12% - that gives me the edge in the hot room.

Conan worships Crom, who is a demigod, according to the Vedic understanding. The demigod culture of the Aryans (similar to the Nordic, Roman and Greek pantheons) mixed with the Upanishadic culture of the forest-dwelling sages of India. The Upanishads present an understanding of the all-pervading Force, as presented in Star Wars.

The modern Vedic devotional tradition takes the best of the "Thor and Odin" pantheon of gods, mashes it up with the Force, and presents the uber-Gott, the personification, or personal source of the unmanifest, all-pervading energy: Krishna.

Actually, the supreme force has unlimited personal manifestations (ete camsa kala pumsah) - (s)he's a complex personality (including being the source of femininity). All contradictions are resolved in the Absolute Truth. But for some very esoteric reasons, which are explained by the sage Rupa Goswami in his book Bhaktirasamrita-sindhu, the Radha / Krishna aspect is the Supreme (krsnas tu bhagavan svayam).

So in addition to my google-fu - to get the inside scoop on supplements and workout plans - I have the secret weapon of living 15 minutes drive from the local shrine to the combined manifestation of Radha and Krishna - sri krishna caitanya radha krishna nahe anya...

Thanks for the inspiration Conan - you rock!

Postscript: That's a rocking presentation right there. You play the Conan segment, then you talk about the Oxford research, then about the demigods, throw in some Star Wars, including the segment from Episode Three where Obi-wan describes the force (or Yoda from Episode Four), and then describe Krishna and Radha on that basis, with the Bhagavatam verse, and then end with Lord Caitanya and the sankirtan movement, then - KIRTAN! I'll do it at Atma when I get back in November.

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post "Why Dairy Makes You Stiff that dairy products are acid-forming in the body. They result in the same lactic acid build-up that I described in Why Drinking Green Juices Makes You More Flexible.

You can read more about it here: Latose and Lactic Acid.

Yesterday was Ekadasi and I ate lightly and had a "dairy detox" after the cheese on Wednesday. A world of difference on the yoga mat today.

Last night I had some Parmesan cheese. Not a lot, just a little bit, over my beans and rice. This morning in my Bikram class I felt stiff, and was clearing my throat of mucus continually.

Doing the same thing every day, like clockwork, I notice variations like this. I had a similar experience a couple of weeks ago - the day after I drank 500ml of organic milk.

Diary produces mucus in the body - not simply in the lungs, which causes you to clear your throat, but also in the body tissues.

I take a whey protein isolate each day. I also treat myself, from time to time, with a Cherri Berri frozen yoghurt with fresh fruit. Neither of these produce the same reaction as the small amount of cheese did, or the 500 ml of milk.

Diary is good for bulking up. That's why body building shops have huge tubs of whey protein concentrate and isolates. As the lady in the health food store told me: "Compared to rice and soy protein, whey protein concentrates have the most bio-available protein. It's more easily absorbed into the body".

In his "Rules for the Temple", Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura writes:

Excessive foppery, excessive drinking of milk, eating luxuriously like a big man, should be totally given up. We don't want gymnasts (body builders) in our math.

Diary is animal protein - "meat" in another form. Whereas the blood of the cow is salty, her milk is sweet. Otherwise the nutritional value is similar, as Srila Prabhupada would point out.

An early practice in ISKCON was to add salt to burnt milk to remove the burnt taste. Srila Prabhupada wrote to devotees to tell them not to do this, and that this is a "cause of leprosy." H.H. Jayapataka Swami pointed out to me that adding salt makes it again salty like cow's blood.

Milk is a natural food for infants. Small animals and birds are unable to forage for themselves, and unable to digest large amounts or difficult to digest foods. By nature's arrangement their parents are able to supply them - birds by regurgitating into the mouths of their young, mammals by producing highly concentrated milk.

After a number of years a human being develops lactose intolerance, which is a natural way for them to wean off their mother's milk and begin to eat solids.

However, it turns out that a significant number of humans do not become lactose intolerant. Investigation has shown that there are five distinct genetic adaptations for suppression of lactose intolerance.

This indicates that in geographical isolation different groups of humans discovered that instead of expending huge amounts of energy hunting animals for protein, they could get protein by milking cows. Their bodies adapted to this - in a different way in different places.

For a hunter-gatherer a nice big cup of milk is a great way to get protein - little energy has to be expended to get it, versus hunting down and killing an animal - and it's comparatively low risk.

For a subsistence farmer, it can be a life saver. When you farm locally for survival a failed crop doesn't just mean that the vegetable prices go up in the market - it means you starve.

People who could stomach milk had a greater chance of survival. It's not that human beings are "not designed to eat meat". They obviously can. I think the more accurate thing to say is that they are "not optimized for meat eating".

Mucus is the body's reaction to foreign invaders. Because milk is animal protein, it's identified by the body as foreign. While the body can absorb the proteins and bulk up on them, it also bulks up with mucus. This mucus can cause persistent cellulite, and it also makes the muscles stiffen up.

Modified milk, such as yoghurt, which has acidophillus bacteria in it that aid assimilation, and whey protein isolates, are more easily absorbed by the body than straight milk or cheese.

All foods have an effect on the body. Which ones we choose to take is influenced by what we want to do. If I had the choice between starving and drinking millk, I have absolutely no doubt which one I'd choose. If I had to be really big and strong to swing a sword, I'd be knocking it back by the keg. However, right now I'm opting to pass on the milk when I'm working on increasing my flexibility, because I have first hand experience of what it does to me.

For the past four months I've been drinking two or three caps of Oxyrich, an oxygen donor, in a litre of water.

I drink it during my Bikram class, in the water breaks, and the effect has been to almost completely eliminate the soreness and stiffness that I used to feel the day after a class.

According to the marketing speak Oxyrich is "5% v/v of pure di-atomic oxygen in a base of pH balanced De-Ionised Grander Living Water and unrefined Atlantic Sea Salt".

What that translates to is this: diatomic oxygen means O2.That's oxygen gas. According to information on the Oxyrich website, oxygen gas is somehow stabilised in water using electrolysis.

(Read about the use of liquid stabilised oxygen in treating cancer)

Soreness in muscles is caused by lactic acid build up. Lactic acid is a by-product of anaerobic respiration. The word "anaerobic" comes from the Greek an- = without, aer = air. At a cellular level when oxygen is exhausted, when the blood can no longer supply sufficient oxygen to the muscle fibres to meet their demand under load, the cells switch to anaerobic respiration. They "breathe" by burning blood sugars. The byproduct of this anaerobic respiration is acid. The acid build up leads to soreness and stiffness in the muscles the next day.

By supplying the body's cells with extra oxygen by drinking oxygenated water, anaerobic respiration is avoided. When the water hits the body the oxygen is easily absorbed at a cellular level. You can go harder without exhausting yourself, and the next day you aren't sore and stiff.

One of the things about Bikram is that being in the hot room with 30 or 40 other students can quickly lead to oxygen depletion in the air. To get the most out of the practice I oxygenate at a cellular level by adding Oxyrich to my water bottle. You can probably get a similar or the same result by drinking 3% pharmaceutical grade hydrogen peroxide, but personally I'm sticking with the commercial stuff for the time being. I get a 1 litre bottle of it once every two months. Anyway, as Lord Krishna explains in Bhagavad-gita, the perfection of religion is direct perception - try it for yourself and see!