A small recipe for calm mind

Some practice for calm mind. Basically we have to arrange our habits in certain way.

1. Allocate separate time for yourself everyday.

2. Do activities like yoga which involves mind, body and spirit which brings balance. You can do some pranayama and do meditation. One very important technique is watching the gaps in the breath. I.e when your inhale finishes, there is a slight gap before exhale and also when your exhale finishes, there is a slight gap before inhale. To start with, we can watch those gaps for 15min.

3. Any activity that you do, do it with full involvement. Don't leave the unfinished tasks/wishes/desires hang around in your mind. That creates agony.

4. Devotion/Love . Everyday whenever you have time,listen to nice devotional songs or carnatic songs. Visit temple once in a week. Love everybody if we dont like somebody.

5. Sometimes take kids, go out and play with them rather than staying indoors.

6. Read/listen to spiritually inclining scriptures like Geeta, Vedanta or epics like Ramayana n Mahabharata if possible. Values need to be constantly instilled/strengthened within us. Without values, there is no peace.

7. Pay attention to which emotions/thoughts cost your energy. 

8. If possible, watch really good movies or read good stories periodically. In our fast lifestyle, we miss lot of life. This will be a filler and refresher.

Life with different possibilities but there is a way...

There are plenty of possibilities to live life differently in this world. There are all kinds of people out there living differently.  Different cultures, different lifestyles, different way of thinking, different jobs etc. I think it is not fair to compare one way of life against the other.  But one thing that we have to be careful about is how much of the activities that we do is taking away from our self.  Meaning we have to check how much peaceful and satisfied are we in our everyday living?  Because all the endeavors that we pursue is try to find completion within us. Honestly if we ask ourselves why we do about what we do?, we will know the answer. It might be building up a family, aspiring for big career, going for big adventure, doing social service etc. If we forget that purpose, we will get lost in that chase/pursuit and might end up in place where we don’t know where we are and what to do in life. It is very essential to put ourselves forefront. Every day we can live with warm, peaceful, loving, safe and secured feeling within us. I think that’s the beautiful way of living and things will fall in place in its own time. We don’t need millions of money for that. We don’t need to rush to achieve something.  Just appreciate the very life that we have been gifted and be responsible for all the choices that we make. Life will bring challenges every now and then. We have to be open for them and learn lessons and move forward.  We don’t need to beat ourselves if we fail in something but we have to make sure that we learn something from it. We just have to relax into who we are.  We have to pay attention from small things to big things that we do and also people that we associate with. If anything is costing us more, we have to rearrange that. We don’t owe our life to anybody and neither anybody to us. Live good, love good and someday leave good. Life can be a beautiful journey between birth and death at different phases of life amidst of different challenges. 

Self preservation

We have to learn to preserve ourselves amidst the different life challenges and stay on top of it. It's never going to serve us well if we lose ourselves for the sake of something(be it a marriage, job, friends etc). We have to put ourselves first and this is not selfish. There is no respect if we lose ourselves.  If we allow, our own close family members might give emotional hits because we are more vulnerable to them. We have to stand up for ourselves especially if our life/health/mental peace are getting affected. This doesn't mean that we have to be arrogant or angry and indulge in emotional fight. We have to use our intellect and deal with situations. We should never accept fear or anger for ourselves. We have to do what is needed for the situation and should not worry about how we feel about them. We are good human beings, we deserve better life and we have to trust that.

My night with myself

Some practice sessions

Opportunity

One thing that I learned early in my life is :-

Any Opportunity is really an opportunity only if it serve the purpose or address the need that we have. World always has plenty of opportunities and possibilities. We can grab any of them based on what we want. That's why it becomes very essential to know ourselves and what we want and be strong and clear with it. We have to stand for something, otherwise we might fall for everything. As a human being, we are much bigger than all the roles that we take in our life. Roles might change, people might change, places might change but we remain steady, clear and calm. It's a beautiful place to be within and integrity blossoms. If we are not clear about who we are, mind/emotions will play its role and it will not allow us to settle down.  We need to find a way to raise above our impulses and distractions. Only then, we can live our dreams. 

Healthy Lifestyle

   Today I spoke to one of my friend. She is expecting a baby. For that delivery she is thinking of bringing her parents to US. She said her mom is doing some drama in coming to help her. With in-laws most of the people will not feel much comfortable. But even with parents, people are not comfortable. She said she love her parents but she can't live with them for 24x7. If she live with them for 1 year, she might go mad. But if they are not well, she will go and help it seems. I'm surprised how clear she is about her people.

My thoughts:-
There is a huge generation gap between us and our parents. I feel sad about the fact that children are not comfortable with their own parents. As human beings within one family, we are not able to cope up with each other though lot of love is there. This is the reality almost everywhere. Many elders are not wise. Sometimes it is detrimental to be with them.  I didn't see this level of divide between our parents generation and their parents generation. . Lifestyle changes are making huge impact on our lives and relationships. Human touch is very important. No machine can replace that. Before giving touch to others, one has to be healthy within oneself. For that, we need to have good healthy lifestyle. If not, we will miss the life.

Distractions in life

அலைபாயும் மனம் பலவீனம். அமைதியான மனம் பலம். 

மனச எப்படி பலப்படுத்தறது?

பகவான்: சத்சங்கம், ஈஸ்வர ஆராதனை, பிராணாயாம்ம் 

Many mahans right from Adi Sankara has stressed on the company of good people. I think it is very essential to keep us on track. There are lot of chances that we might get lost or go out of track from our path while handling day-to-day challenges. Distractions will not get us anywhere.   I think We have to be aware of this. Real satisfaction or fulfillment in whatever we pursue will come only if we live in totality. That's a different quality of life. All the day-to-day activities could be enjoyable. It could be sipping a cup of coffee, eating a delicious food, walking in the park, making love to your loved one, challenging project at office etc..  Distracted mind will neither allow us to enjoy anything fully nor give us satisfaction. Stillness or steadiness of mind will make a total difference. So we have to decide what kind of life we want to live. 

Master Oogway & Master Bell

That is how our conversations will be between me and Master Bell

Every time I watch this Master Oogway, I couldn't avoid my eyes getting wet. This is how our Master Bell teaches all of his students. He is old wise and very peaceful. He remains alone in that school by himself whole day. Hence the energy in the school is very very  pleasant. He has infinite patience and tolerance. All the lessons that I learn from him are lifetime. I'm very fortunate to be with him.

காணி நிலம் வேண்டும் பராசக்தி

காணி நிலம் வேண்டும் பராசக்தி
காணி நிலம் வேண்டும் - அங்கு
தூணில் அழகியதாய் நன்மாடங்கள்
துய்ய நிறத்தினவாய் - அந்தக்
காணி நிலத்திடையே ஓர் மாளிகை
கட்டித் தர வேண்டும் - அங்கு
கேணி அருகினிலே தென்னைமரம்
கீற்றும் இளநீரும்

பத்துப் பனிரெண்டு தென்னைமரம்
பக்கத்திலே வேணும் நல்ல
முத்துச் சுடர்போலே நிலாவொளி
முன்பு வர வேணும் அங்குக்
கத்தும் குயிலோசை சற்றே வந்து
காதிற் படவேணும் என்றன்
சித்த மகிழ்ந்திடவே நன்றாயிளந்
தென்றல் வரவேணும்

பாட்டுக் கலந்திடவே அங்கே யொரு
பத்தினிப் பெண்வேணும் - எங்கள்
கூட்டுக் களியினிலே கவிதைகள்
கொண்டு தரவேணும் அந்தக்
காட்டு வெளியினிலே அம்மா நின்றன்
காவலுற வேணும் என்றன்
பாட்டுத் திறத்தாலே இவ்வையகத்தைப்
பாலித்திட வேணும்.
-பாரதி

Healing Arts System

In this modern world of convenience and the kind of lifestyle that most people follow, the imbalance in the person becomes almost inevitable. Though mankind is running in different directions for different reasons but they are always in pursuit of their well-being, happiness, peace, fulfillment and prosperity. In order to achieve that, we need to understand what a human is. To start with, we can consider the concept mind, body and spirit.

Body :-

Body is the complex physical structure which consists of different functioning systems like Skeletal, Muscular, Cardiovascular, Respiratory, Nervous, Digestive, Reproductive etc. Body is the vehicle through which we maneuver into the world with our thoughts and ideas. We perceive the world through our sense organs and use our brain to think and make decisions. In order to maintain and grow healthy, body needs proper diet, good amount of water, proper breathing, good physical activity and proper rest. The body chemistry is also greatly influenced by mental state of the person as well as energy flow through meridians of the body.

Mind:-

The mind is place of memory, the seat of consciousness and way, state, or direction of thinking and feeling. The mind is also the bundle of running thoughts. All our activities either through way of thinking or doing activities using physical body will get stored in the memory. They are called habits and once habits are strengthened by the repetition, it becomes character. The brain is the physical organ which houses the mind. The healthy mind is the one which is calm, relaxed, focused and take instructions from us.

Spirit:-

The spirit is the very subtle internal energy or the real being living inside of us or the awareness of the self. Breath is only physical connection between body and spirit.

We will feel joyful and at ease within ourselves when there is balance between mind-body-spirit. Energy will flow freely and we will be at our best to deal with anything in our life. This could be achieved by certain  systematic way of living. We are product of our habits. The balanced way of living can be initiated by training which involves mind-body-spirit together. As we train and live, we will gain the freedom from our habits and the way of living becomes choice for us. We can choose to live happy and peaceful.

Tang Soo Do

Tang Soo Do is the very profound martial art that has been practiced for thousands of years. It has been preserved, practiced and taught by great masters for various generations. It is not just the fighting art but the way of life. It will take us beyond all our fights. The greatest fight is that there is no need to fight.

There won’t be any conflict between who we are and how we want to be perceived. Being Truthful and Honest to oneself plays bigger role in getting rid of this conflict. Truth will defend itself. Staying truthful

always make us stronger, gives us more clarity to look at the reality and all the fear vanishes. The martial art is a beautiful system which can used to address personal, family and social issues.

PERCEPTION:-

Today we live in comparative society. Right from childhood, we are taught to compare ourselves with others. This is a sickness which will never allow us to remain peaceful and contented. The quality or happiness in life depends on who we are and not on the perception. But as society we put more focus on how we are perceived. In school, we put more focus on getting good marks rather than enjoy learning. In family, we spend lot of energy on how our family appears to be good. Marriages are done based on these perceptions. Hence people are suffering from either superiority or inferiority complex. In childhood, kids play happily and enjoy their life. As they grow, they learn to compare themselves with the others. Instead of focusing on their ability and goals, they put more focus on competing with others. As we grow adults, we get lost ourselves in this competition. This competition or comparison will never stop till we die. We are not clear about who we are and what we want in our life. There is no sense of settlement within oneself. We want everything that we see without inquiring whether we need it or not. Without clarity about who we are, most of the time we end up in chasing somebody else dreams.

Tang Soo Do comes with strong philosophy. There is no comparison between any students. The art primarily focus on character development. Though it is fighting art, the student will learn a lot about himself/herself in the course of learning. We develop the courage to see who we are and what are our strengths and weakness. We learn the tools to address our weakness or shortcomings and prepare ourselves to face the challenges in our life. We develop patience and tolerance within ourselves to overcome our shortcomings. With consistent training, our emotions will get settled down, our mind becomes focused and our body becomes flexible, strong and healthy. There will be sense of belonging within us. The art is so real that it will take us beyond all the perception (fake or superficial layer of us) and brings out the real person within us. We can always take the art to deepest level as we need. There is no place called destination in the art. Though we have different belts signifying different stages of the growth, each belt comes with knowledge and responsibility. Being a black belt and wearing a black belt are two separate things. It involves continuous evolution of human being. We enjoy training, we enjoy growth and we enjoy living. We don’t beat ourselves when we make mistakes. Mistakes and learning from the mistakes are part of the growth process. We do better when we learn better. We don’t get fooled by what we think we know. We frequently inspect our own achievements and have appreciation towards life. We are proud of ourselves but yet remain humble.

LIFESTYLE:-

Today people lifestyle has become very busy. People don’t have time to think about themselves. No time to take proper diet, exercise or rest. Our minds are occupied with lot of unfinished tasks, unfulfilled desires, unclear dreams or ideas etc. We give priority to everything else except for us. If we have too many thoughts running, we won’t have mental space to think. If something goes wrong either in physical, mental or emotional level, we don’t have any clue. We go to the doctor and take pills and move on with life doing the same things. We blame the situations or people outside. Seldom have we looked at ourselves or our role in the situations. Our lifestyle is full of convenience. Both the body and mind gets weaker. We won’t have strong will. Our emotions will dictate our life. Our life will have lot of room for chaos.

In Tang Soo Do way of life, we have clear structure, schedule and discipline to follow them. Everything in life has its own time and place which makes life simple. Having structure and discipline will be useful in preventing us from drowning in emotions due to convenience. The basic fundamentals of life are very simple. Life becomes complex when our wants take over the control of our life. So it is very essential to take time for oneself and that time is definitely not waste. It will be helpful in getting better quality of life. It will be useful to make sense out of the life that we lived and prepare ourselves for the better future. This will prevent us from making same mistake again and again in our life. We can walk through life with sense of clarity. As we live more, we will become wiser. In terms of priority, we always put ourselves first and we take total responsibility for all of our actions. In any situation, we look at the reality as well as our role in it. Being realistic and staying clear, makes a huge difference in one’s life and it will prevent oneself from unnecessary expectations, mental manipulations etc. We can have anything in our life as long as we are responsible for it. If we want the best from the world, we need to give the best to the world. To give the best, we need to be at our best within ourselves. The whole point is to develop strong and beautiful character within us.

RELATIONSHIPS:-

In this modern world, there is lot of gadgets available for our convenience. Materials have been given more importance than human beings. Lot of conversations among the people is about the devices, money, corporates, property etc. There is sense of attitude “what’s in it for me?” within all of us. This may be fine for business, profession etc. But when it comes to human relationship, that is selfish attitude. We need to have sense of love, care, respect and appreciation towards people. We need to feel that we are living human being and treat others the same way. When we are in so much need of others or when we put lot of our emotional responsibilities on others, then the relationships are going to be heavy and complex. That need indicates something seriously missing within us. In that very need, we will become selfish and we will ignore the fact what the other person will feel. In this fast paced lifestyle, there is not a lot of patience and tolerance within the people which is very essential for the relationship. The relationship becomes beautiful when we are well balanced, joyful and sharing the best with others.

In Tang Soo Do way of living, the relationships are strong and gentle. We remain alone but not lonely. We earn the respect for ourselves as well as respect others. We are clearly aware of how we are carrying ourselves and we will feel the energy around us as well as the energy of the people that we are interacting with. We are clearly aware of the conversations and its cost in terms of energy. We will make conscious choice in sharing our life with somebody as well as choosing the subject of the conversation. We are also aware of the changes in people feelings and energy during the course of our conversation. Being well balanced and emotionally stable within us, gives the safety, security, confidence and trust to others. This is very beautiful to watch. Wherever we go, we choose to belong there and hence people will be very much comfortable with us. We understand the process of human character development and can help people better (who are in need). Patience and tolerance becomes virtue of our character. We always look for the best in the people. We will always remain humble and wish the best for others.

Today as Third degree Black belt, I’m very strong within myself and feel very humble about that. With strong focus, calmness and discipline, I’m able to get things done. I feel thankful to all the masters who preserved the art in pristine form for various centuries. I appreciate and admire Master Bell’s patience and tolerance towards me throughout the journey. With years of training and living the way that I learnt (to the best of my ability), I understand that I gained incredible level of balance among physical, mental, emotional being of myself than I ever had. I’m aware of the path that I travelled. 

I’m clearly aware of codes/tenets of being black belt.

1. Structure & Discipline

2. Integrity

3. Concentration

4. Perseverance

5. Respect & Obedience

6. Self-Control

7. Humility

8. Indomitable Spirit

9. Honor Friendship

10. No retreat in battle

I’m also aware of the fourteen attitude requirements to Master Tang Soo Do.

1. Purpose of training should be enhancement of mental and physical betterment.

2. Serious approach.

3. All out effort.

4. Maintain regular and constant practice.

5. Practice basic techniques all the time.

6. Regularly spaced practice sessions.

7. Always listen and follow the direction of instructor or seniors.

8. Do not be overly ambitious.

9. Frequently inspect your own achievements.

10. Always follow a routine training schedule.

11. Repeatedly practice all the techniques already learned.

12. When learning new techniques, learn thoroughly the theory and philosophy as well.

13. When you begin to feel idle, try to overcome this.

14. Cleanliness is required after training. Keep yourself and your surroundings clean.

Each Dan promotion comes with knowledge, experience and responsibility. I feel privileged and honored to be part of black belt society. Being black belt demands high standard of living and it will serve me as tool to maintain strong, beautiful life as well as help me to grow beyond my limitations as life unfolds.