Malar has a doctorate in Civil Engineering and works as a scientist at ISRO, Bangalore. She is a RYT500 (Registered Yoga Teacher 500 hours) and conducts free yoga classes. Let us listen to Malar and learn about the many interesting facets of Yoga and her journey with Yoga.
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| Yogini Malar |
1. When did you start learning Yoga? What was your motivation to start?
About ten years back, I was experiencing emotional exhaustion and helping myself by reading books and spending more time at work. I came across a 'happiness session' by 'Art of Living', which instigated my interest and I thought it will help me. It was a three-day session, which involved many activities, but I was more impressed by the art of breathing and yoga stretches. I felt calmer with breathing and yoga techniques compared to the ones I was learning from the self-help books. I realized that not much thinking is needed while practicing yoga. I understood there is a science behind Yoga and valued the importance of practical sessions. Since then, I have been reading about Yoga, and in 2016 I registered for a Teacher Training course, for a deeper dive into the science behind Yoga. In my opinion, we do things better when we know why we do what we do.
Different Yoga schools are offering different courses. I started with the Yoga Instructor course at
Svyasa University, Bangalore. Followed
by RYT - 200 and RYT - 300 from Bodhi School of Yoga Online. Since the courses
were offered online after the Corona lockdown, I could take up more courses
like Weight Loss Coach Certification, Yoga Therapy Certification, and Nutrition
and diet Certification for Yoga teachers, all from Bodhi School of Yoga. To gain better knowledge about therapy,
additionally, I did a Yoga Therapy Training course from Yogapoint India, which
was offered online as well.
3. You
are an RYT500 (Registered Yoga Teacher 500 hours). Can you tell us more about
the training and how you qualified for RYT500.
RYT – 500 is an international certification given by Yoga Alliance
International. It comprises of RYT – 200
(Basic) and RYT – 300 (Advanced). The
500 depicts the number of hours of training.
The “Basic” 200-hour program trains us to structure a session, and explain
the benefits and contraindications of each yogasana (pose), pranayama
(breathing technique), and kriya (cleansing technique). We also learn about the anatomy of the yoga
poses, and to some extent the history of yoga, Ayurveda, and yoga ethics. The “Advanced” 300-hour program trains us to
do advanced yoga poses; the different ways and techniques to get into each
pose. In-depth knowledge of the history
of yoga, philosophy, and whole-body cleansing techniques is part of the Advanced
syllabus.
The course needs our dedication and daily allocation of 3 hours. Systematic and regular practice brings us to
perfection. The certification is awarded after the successful completion of
theory and practical exams.
Subsequently, we can start teaching Yoga worldwide either online or
in-person method.
4. What
are your favorite Asanas? Why?
There are many asanas which are my favorite.
Chakrasana (wheel pose) is my favorite, as I could get into the
asana with many days of practice.
Physically, Chakrasana strengthens the legs, arms, wrists, abdomen,
buttocks, spine, shoulder blades, lungs, and chest. Spiritually, it is said to activate all the
chakras in our body.
5. What
are the scientific reasons behind doing Yoga?
When we chant OM, the vibrations of the sound synchronizes with our
brain waves and calms our nervous system. It is more about the sound and the
vibrations which can bring our autonomous nervous system to a para-sympathetic
state easily.
Surya Namaskar is a set of asanas that activates the whole body. It was an age-old practice and they practised it in the early mornings to get sufficient vitamin D from the Sun, along with the physical exercise to the body. We all know that Sun is the source of energy, it is also science. Without Sun energy there can be no living beings. All the asanas in Surya namaskar are designed in such a way that it acts as a full body warm-up and activates all the systems (digestive, respiratory, musculoskeletal, nervous, circulatory, etc) of our body. It increases the metabolism in the body. We integrate the breath into the movement of asanas and hence it works on our mind as well, it helps us to be in the present.
A short video of Malar doing Traditional Surya Namaskar:
6. Some
Yoga asanas are therapeutic for some physical ailments. Can we do away with
medicines when we do such asanas for the cure?
Yes, there are many asanas therapeutic for physical ailments. For example, all the spinal stretches and
twists are therapeutic for sciatica, simple joint movements for arthritis,
etc. But we need to keep in mind that we
need to consult a doctor to know about the severity of the physical
ailment. Yoga poses can act as an add-on
for the cure. For example, for
hypothyroid issues, one should always take the prescribed medicines. Yoga asanas help to reduce the symptoms. Depending on the severity of the physical
ailment, yoga can help to eliminate or reduce the impact.
7. We are
happy when a long-time friend shares a joke or if someone hugs us. But, a lot
of self-help talks point out that happiness (or misery) is an internal job or that
only we can make ourselves happy. Isn't this moving away from interdependence
to autonomy? What are your thoughts about this?
Interesting question. We can
look at it in two ways.
One, any interdependent happiness is temporary. We are very happy at the moment, and when
something goes wrong, we become very sad and depressed. As a human, we are social beings, and hence
we tend to connect to everyone around us to make ourselves happy.
The second way to look at it is, we can be happy with others around
us when we are happy with ourselves first.
When we can be happy with ourselves, without guilts, or regrets, we
become naturally happy. We see the world
around us with a happy lens and we radiate more positive energy. When we are not happy with ourselves, the
world around us appears speculative and gloomy, we delve with negative
energy.
That's why the inner journey is very important. The inner journey trains us to be naturally
happy. If happy things happen around us,
it's a bonus. If sad things happen
around us, we still don't get affected much.
8. You
are conducting free yoga classes daily from 5:30 am to 6:30 am. Tell us more
about that.
I started teaching Yoga, to transfer my knowledge about the
transformation to all my friends. Yoga
has given me lots of things, which I can't even describe. Am thanking the Universe in my way. I wanted to transfer the positivity to all
around me. I started teaching my family,
then my friends, and now my extended friends’ circle. Since am already a working professional, I
did not need the additional income.
Short Video of Malar doing Weight Loss Surya Namaskar:
9. Can
you tell how meditation helped you to calm your thoughts and concentrate more?
Which is your favorite meditation practice?
Meditation works directly on our minds. But it requires lots of effort
initially. Sitting in stillness by
withdrawing all our senses is a challenge. Regular practice of pranayama and
asanas prepared my body for meditation.
Meditation is all about stillness and thinking about nothing. Any meditation can give that for a short time
duration. My favorite is Chakra
meditation with the beej mantra, the vibrations easily take me to a thoughtless
state without much effort. That motivated me to learn more and more and waking
up early morning at 4.30 am to do yoga became easy. All we need to take care of is to sleep early
:D.
You can reach Malar at 9019501712 to enroll
in her free Yoga classes.
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