Jai Hanuman

Since my travels in Himachal Pradesh had me encounter many monkeys, especially Hanuman Monkeys.....My dear friend took me to the Hanuman Temple in Delhi. This giant temple is made in the shape of the Hindu deity Hanuman, devotee of Lord Ram. When you enter through the mouth/entrance you give pooja, and make your way through dozens of tunnels, cave like corridors, and stairs that lead you to the top. There is a Pandit reciting Hanuman Chalisa and various other Mantras. Hanuman is the devoted Monkey god known for his giant leap to save Lord Ram's beloved Sita. In Yoga asana, the splits is the pose named after Hanuman, as it represents his giant leap of faith. Hanuman is known for his intelligence, strength and celibacy. This temple is a beautiful place to visit if you come to Delhi.

"Om Anjaneaye Vidamahe Mahabalye Dhi-Mahi Tan No Hanuman Prachodayat Ommmmm." (Mantra to Hanuman for Increasing Love in Performance & Selfless Service)

Hanumanasana @ Dharma Mittra Center NYC

Hanumanasana is the pose named after the Chief Monkey Hanuman. This pose celebrates Hanumun's giant leap from the Southern tip of India to the Island of Sri Lanka. In America we also call this pose the splits. This past Monday, I was invited to join Andrew (Bamboomoves Yogi) to attend a Master Level Class at the Dharma Mittra Center. Admittedly, I was intimidated as I do not have a very advanced yoga practice. Aside from the fact that I was tremendously sore/tired from teaching 13 classes since Sunday that same week, and taking a few classes, I decided to go anyways. The class was as advanced as you can get. We came into Handstand in the second pose, I shouldn't say we because I kept one toe on the wall and prayed I wouldn't land on my face every time we went up. I say every time because we revisited the pose many times. We flipped from Side Plank to Wheel, and more. To be in the presence of this group of yogis was absolutely inspirational. Sri Dharma Mittra kindly adjusted me into poses, teased me when my attempts were comedic and demonstrated humble brilliance with his yoga practice. All the other students who were in class are truly inspirational to watch, and on occasion I found myself in Watch-asana. One of the poses we did in class was Hanumanasana. Sri Dharma and his advanced yogis demonstrated switching legs in the pose without moving from the position. WOW! I must say I loved every minute of the class, which has been my experience thus far at the Dharma Yoga Center. At the end of class, Andrew told me that the class was actually more challenging than usual, and I was feeling so elated like I was floating, it didn't register to me till later that it was a challenging two hours of advanced asana practice. Special thanks to Andrew for inviting me and to Sri Dharma Mittra for yet again providing an amazing yoga experience. Hanumanasana is an advanced pose and it is important to stretch out the legs and warm up before. Ultimately we want to be all the way down to the floor with arms over head, but since Yoga is a practice not a perfect, I am still working on it.

Image by David Blottner