The topic for the English Satsang on Sunday, 12th January, 2014 was ‘Disciplines and Routines.’
Following is the transcript of the Q & A between the audience and Smt. Hansaji J. Yogendra.
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Listen to the audio:
Q. When daily we see our children doing things and spoiling their health and they do not want us to interfere, what is our duty? What do we do? Do we leave them as they are?
Dr. J: We need not be too harsh on young children. We can join them and ourselves take up the activity and in a very pleasant way, tell them the benefits. It has to be done in a better way than just forcing.
Smt. H: Understand that with a child you need to be very creative. We have to understand their overall food habits and certain things. Suppose you made a certain vegetable the child doesn’t like, okay, what do we get from vegetables? Fibers, vitamins and minerals. Now vitamins and minerals you will get from honey. So let the child eat his chapatti with honey and get up, no problem. And for fiber what you need to make him eat is groundnuts or sprouts. So we have to be more creative and not rigid, that “You have to eat this vegetable, this is bad and this is good.” Don’t be so harsh on children and that’s how they will slowly pick up the habit. Or sometimes with a loving tone just tell him, “Just eat one spoon for me.” Such things, slowly, slowly should be introduced and not forced upon.
Q. How to be active daily and every moment? Is there one way or one Asana to get rid of lethargy?
Dr. J: Well, taking up any activity regularly can help. So it’s not just one Asana.
Smt. H: All the balancing Asanas are good, they’ll take away your lethargy. Stand on one leg in Ekpadasana, automatically you’ll have to be attentive, or Talasana or slowly sitting down and getting up. But lethargy comes because somewhere there is lack of sleep. Somewhere, the motivation to get up and do something for others is not there. When we do things for ourselves, we tend to be complacent, but when we have some responsibility for others, eg. when I have to give a medicine to my grandmother at a particular time, I will have to get up, otherwise she’ll be sick. So when that care, compassion, responsibility is in mind, dullness and lethargy goes away. Sleep well and lethargy will go away.
Q. People with rigid routines don’t help others in the house or get out of their way unless their routine is complete. Please comment.
Dr. J: That’s a bad habit. We should be careful and loving to other also.
Smt. H: We have to take care of others but it would be something like touch and go. If you need to go somewhere, go but quickly get out of it, or you need to eat with somebody, eat little and then say, “I’m not feeling so comfortable, I’ll eat afterwards.” Find out what type of people you have with you and how you have to handle them. But, you will be creative only if you are not irritated or upset or not blaming somebody for your problems. So try and try again and somewhere you will succeed. It’s a trial-and-error method.
Satsang is an open meeting held every Sunday from 9:30 to 10:30 am at The Yoga Institute, Santacruz East, Mumbai. It involves an interesting presentation to the public, made by the students of the Teacher Training Course. Each week, a new presentation of a Yogic concept is made in a simple way through skits and decoration for the general public, followed by a short speech from our Gurus, Dr. Jayadeva and Smt. Hansaji Yogendra.