Here is an account of one such Teenager who experimented with Yoga practice and came out impressed. Hear it in her own words,

Yoga as a Teenager

When my mom asked me if I wanted to start yoga classes, I immediately pictured boring relaxation exercises and endless lotus postures; I however decided to try, and I don’t regret my choice. Yoga is an exigent discipline that improved my physical and mental condition and helped me in my practice of other sports as well as in my personal life as a teenager.
Yoga is a very demanding, and requires balance, mental and physical strength, and flexibility. In the seven months I have practiced yoga, I can feel I am in better shape: I am stronger and more flexible and balanced. This helps me for the other sports I practice by offering me an extra fitness practice.
Furthermore, I feel like yoga helped me in my personal life. It gave me much more mental strength, and I am able to endure more pain (or discomfort) by looking at it and observing it. I am also calmer thanks to the breathing techniques I was taught by yoga. I accept failure more willingly while always trying to overcome my limits.
More than a sport, I feel like yoga is a discipline that improved my condition in every aspect of my life, and I am glad I listened to my mother!

- Soizic Penicaud (Grade 12)

Paripurna Navasana

Paripurna Navasana

Step-by-step

Sit on the floor with your legs extended in front of you. See to it that you sit on the seat bones with an erect spine. If your spine does not get erect because of tightness in the lower or upper back, then bend your knees slightly to remove the pressure from your lower back.
Now, lean back slightly, around 30-40 degrees and as you lean back focus and engage your abdominal muscles.
Gently lift the legs up with an exhale, and lengthen your spine and tail bone. Extend your arms till they are parallel to the floor and in direction of your feet, keeping the chin parallel to the floor and breath normally.
If the above is not possible, try it by placing the hands on the floor next to your upper thighs and raising the legs by pressing the palms into the floor.
Retain the posture for 10-15 seconds and gradually increase the time to one minute.

Benefits
Strengthens the abdomen, thighs, lower back and shoulder area
Improves digestion by stimulating the digestive tract.
Corrects postural alignment.

I came back to Rishikesh in the lap of my father Himalaya, just like a little boy who goes in his father’s lap from time to time for some re-assurance. I was going through a lot of spiritual energy movements at that time, all possible emotions hitting my mind wave after wave. The body felt like a blast furnace, but a faint understanding that my body was being baked , my mind was being processed so that my soul could shine, prevailed. My system was boiling and the waters of Ganga doused the fire with Love, like only a mother could.

I was sleeping on the banks of Ganga at that time on the ghat next to the Tera Manzil Temple above Laxman Jhula. It is a buzzing area full of domestic religious pilgrims coming in hoards to visit this multistory temple. Here, early morning is the best possible time for meditations and deep absorptions, just before sunrise when the portals of universal consciousness open for the ones who can connect with it, as they say. It’s a very delicate time, the active energy ( rajas ) around is in its nubile blossom, the mind treads slowly and picks up this energy ounce by ounce just like a nymph would pluck flowers in  spring blossom.

After my morning kriyas and meditations I used to walk along the back alleys behind the temple and hang out at one particular Chai stall. The man making the chai was your average Indian man in his sixties, unless you “experienced” what he had to say. I lovingly called him “chaiwale baba” and he certainly was a wise old man. This man, who I never met again in my repeated attempts to find, was one of the most important influences on me when it comes to “questioning” and forming my own definition of spirituality and devotion.

My usual 10 minutes chai break used to last for hours here, this is the best part about wandering, no desires to chase and no time chasing you. I used to be probably the first person to have chai at his stall every morning. On one such morning whilst sipping the fresh brew, trying to understand what to make out of baba’s pregnant pause, I looked at him. His gaze was fixed on the tall temple in front of us, with cloudy tearful eyes he immediately in a heavy guttural voice exclaimed “The God doesn’t live there!” I still had no clue where this was heading. I asked him what he meant. Looking at me with strong but heart full energy he burst out sentence after sentence in Hindi, it truly felt like the cry of a true Bhakta (devotee), he went on and after five minutes or so quietly started filtering the brew as if nothing had happened. His spontaneous out burst was a living testament of a man who had lived his whole life in simplicity, devotion and ruthless questioning of beliefs thrust upon him by religion and society. The clarity of his wisdom and his detachment was evident from the fact that he moved so smoothly between his spontaneous out burst and regular act of chai making.

The Tera manzil temple is a huge temple. But for some reason it doesn’t appeal to my heart. The statues of Gods and Goddesses have been installed in such a way that it looks as if they are sitting inside an office cubicle. Each God or Goddess has his/her own little room closed with an iron gate. A wooden box in front of each God calls for a generous donation. Busy road in the front, loud noise from the passing vehicles and the crowd and clamor does not go well with my idea of “peaceful ambience”. This was exactly the point that troubled the baba.

“Look what we humans have done to the Gods”, he said in exclamation. “Do we really believe we can hold them in iron bars, and capture them for their qualities? Do we really understand that no amount of bell ringing will invite the God in our hearts, no amount of blind faith and rituals will instill the divine grace in our mind? How blind are we, to believe this! Real God is in the hearts of people, and real worship lies in service of this God amongst the hearts of people, if only these people knew. When will the masses awaken to this God within? When will the humans stop thinking that they can capture the limitless in the limited, hah, what an illusion this one! How our society and religious dictates make us believe and do something that is a sheer waste of time. Beta (my child), divert all our attention to service, awaken the God within peoples hearts, only then will you really sense The God.”

His words still ring in my ears whenever I get lazy. They make me jump up and focus my energies on what I believe in. What an impact this man had on my life. Really, how some people meet us for such a short time and yet leave a deep impact on our life. I believe my meeting with chaiwale baba was not some random coincidence. He came in my life at the right time and gave me the right message and some how gave a direction to the turmoil and confusion I was going through. I have never seen him again, I asked around in my later trips to Rishikesh but no one could give me a coherent answer. His memory still remains in my heart and his words still inspires me and keep me going.

Prasad at the Samadhi of Matsyendranath

Since the childhood there has been a desire to be alone, in some way or other finding my own space. The spiritual inspirations and stimulants were around me all the time. Sometimes I realized them, other times on recent reflections lot of it makes sense, how subtly these stimulants worked on my soul and mind. As I grew up and could handle myself maturely, this bird found his wings. I started taking breaks and investing my time to visit places mostly pilgrimage sites to be on my own and explore, within and externally.

In the last 6 years I have associated a lot with the wandering monks. The inner Sadhu does exist and is vibrant. My primary association has been with the Natha sect. The presiding deity of the Nathas has always been around in the house. The picture of the beautiful Guru Dattareya was in the home temple, always looking at me with a smile. Every evening when we siblings used to chant and pray with our mother, Dattatreya was watching over me. My eyes were only for him, his four dogs and his cow were a source of love for me, especially the cow, and her eyes looked so caring and full of Love. The majestic Dattatreya in the photo frame was a grand figure, I identified with Him more than the other “Gods” in the Alter. He was always there for me. I remember many instances when I used to go to the alter and have a heart to heart chat with Him mostly when I didn’t fare well in my exams, and He was there, His eyes saw me, His heart heard my fears.

My Natha Bhais (brothers) have taught me a lot and I have no words to express my gratitude, it can only be attributed to the grace of Dattatreya. The life with the Jogis is hard, it took me sometime to get used to it, but really it was simple, like my own second nature. Over the years, whenever I could, I wandered, I met, I visited, I watched, on foot, by boat with any mode of transport I could, in jungles and dilapidated structures in obscure corners of India, thousands of feet above the land in the Himalayas, on banks of rivers in central and western India. I moved with my heart, my soul knew no bounds as I was led by the spirit of the Sadhu, with the fire on my head as they say. The joy of smearing ash on the forehead as if Lord Shiva had himself manifested, the song of the “Gerua” (roughly translated as earth colored) that keeps the Fire alive. The feeling of coming “Home” whilst around the Dhuni and the sparkle of subtle recognition and acknowledgement of another “Natha ka baccha” (son of the natha) is hard for me to explain in words. In fact at this point I don’t even know if I can convey a quarter of the things that I wanted to when I thought of writing this note. But I will try my best all willfully under the grace of Datta.

My experiences in Ujjain connected me much more with the Nathas. I was wandering and living near the Samadhi of Matsyendranath (who is regarded as the founder of Hatha Yoga School). Communications happen here at a very subtle level, when the intellect comes in, it turns back without any success there is nothing to reason here.

I was happily accepted here and was allowed to stay as much as I wanted. I was told it was the “Big Boss ki marzi” (Wish of Matsyendranath, who the Yogi lovingly called Big Boss). So true indeed, He is the big boss of the Yogis, where would we be without Him? My days here, passed doing japa, reading and studying traditional Natha texts, sharing experiences with the Bhaktas, praying and watching in wonderment the thousands of parrots and squirrels that clamor on the trees surrounding the Samadhi, what life force and Life truly throbbing in this ambience.

I could not believe when I was asked to tend to the Dhuni of Matsyendranath himself and to sleep next to it in the night. “Dhuni” is a sacred site for the nathas, it is a fire pit used by the wandering sadhus to keep them warm at the physical level. But the real symbolic meaning of Dhuni is in its representation of spiritual fire, the fire that keeps the journey from the physical to spiritual alive. My Love knew no bounds, I was over whelmed and couldn’t believe myself, it is THE sanctum sanctorum for the nathas. All this again and again ascribed to the grace of Datta himself.

All across my wanderings and lodges with the Nathas, contrary to their “scary” “blood shot” appearances I have sensed only their innocence and their devotion. Their practices may be esoteric with which they may not part so easily but their devotion is infectious. The Trust and openness once a Natha “sees” you is very uniting. Their world view is very different as opposed to how they really are, may be it’s their will? The way of the Nathas is of dissolving the metaphysical duality by accepting unconditionally the identity of mundane opposites – good and bad , death and life , dirty and clean , heat and cold and acting it out to sense the Union underneath with devotion and action.

The clan is now reducing starkly; sadhus are reducing in numbers on account of various reasons. In many ways than one saints have come in my life in many forms to guide me, sometimes I heed their call, sometimes this ignorant fool doesn’t understand how to, but again all my success and sin at the feet of Lord Datta.

To be continued…

“I first started learning Yoga from Prasad 4 years ago in Mumbai. I had never done yoga in my life before that. Prasad makes you feel so confident and secure in yourself that one wants to try harder and harder. One is never left feeling that I cannot do this posture or that one. After I moved to Singapore one and a half years ago, I organized a yoga workshop for him in March 2009. It was a small group (as I did not know many people then) but all the people were very, very happy after the workshop. They all came away feeling very positive.
In February 2010, I organized another workshop for him here in Singapore. Needless to say, all the participants from the workshop last year attended again and we had so many new people as well that we ended up doing 3 different full day workshops. He is a wonderful, humorous and kind human being and a GREAT teacher. For one so young, he is very knowledgeable. So A BIG THANK YOU from SINGAPORE. We eagerly await the next workshop.”

- Sujata Medepalli

“Prasad returned to Hong kong after 2 years with his Self-Transformation workshop. Prasad knows how to keep things simple and lets us experience things rather than just gain a theoretical knowledge, and we all feel deep gratitude for this. Prasad’s transformation power can help you throughout the whole life time. Since I am under his guidance for years, I have a deep trust in him, and the connection is strong.
Before this Self-Transformation workshop, I came across some issues as everybody else does. My Inner growth had somehow stopped, even my body had responded hormonally as I had no period for months. But 2 weeks before Prasad came to Hong Kong, I got a severe cold, which is very rare for me, and my period came. These were the signs of purification for me. Then the night after he left Hongkong, the pure vibrations were still around me, I had a vigorous dream about my deep issue. I used what he taught to cope with the deep issue. My heart is now relieved a lot. And I feel balanced. Certainly we participants are the most fortunate people.”

Yoyo – http://www.yoyoyoga.net

Detox Workshop – Singapore

Click to Play/Download – Podcast: The Significance of Namaste (mp3)

Vrikshasana – Tree Posture

Step-by-step
Stand erect with the feet together firmly placed on the floor and the arms by your sides.
Balancing on the left foot, bend the right leg at the knee, raise the right thigh and bring the sole of the right foot as high up the inside of the left thigh as possible.
Raise both arms over the head keeping the elbows straight and joining the palms together.
Hold the posture while breathing gently through the nostrils for about 10 complete deep breaths.
Lower the arms and right leg and return to the neutral standing position with feet together and arms at the sides.
Pause for a few moments and repeat on the opposite leg.

Benefits
This is essentially a balance posture. Poor balance is often the result of a restless mind or distracted attention.
Regular practice of this posture will help focus the mind, cultivate concentration and improve balance and coordination.
It also builds strength in thighs and lower back.

Click to Play/Download – Podcast: Yoga Lecture Series – Part 2 (mp3)

Click to Play/Download – Podcast: Yoga Lecture Series – Part 1 (mp3)