Ayurveda Day in Austin

During the first week of October, a small group of people interested in Ayurveda got together to celebrate the first Ayurveda Day in Austin.

AAPNA (Association of Ayurvedic Professionals of North America) has declared that the first Monday of every October each year will be "Ayurveda Day". Ayurveda Day falls on the eve of the birth celebrations of Dhanwantari. Lord Dhanwantari is the creator of Ayurveda.

AAPNA started as a discussion amongst a group of Ayurvedic Professionals back in 2003 and officially incorporated in December of 2007 as a non-profit 501(c)(6) corporation in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, USA.

Ayurveda is one of the world's oldest medical systems. Like Yoga, the origins are traced back to India. The maing goal of Ayurveda is to integrate and balance the body, mind, and spirit using hebs, massage and yoga.

Narender Pati organized the Ayurveda Day bringing a paned of experts in Ayurveda and Joytish (Indian Astrology) to discussed health in the US and how Ayurveda can become a support system to the US as complementary medicine.

Kerry Meath an Ayurveda practitioner and now a Master degree student of Public Health mentioned that 28% or Texas residents are obese and 30% overweight. Also 10% of the population in Texas has diabetes and only 45% of youth get regular physical exercise. In terms of cost to the society, the cost of obesity is 5.4 million dollars.

She thinks that Ayurveda principle of understanding the seasons and what to eat depending on each person's dosha (body's constitution) could help to iprove quality of life and health.

Renu Namjoshi a joytish practitioner mentioned that Ayurveda along with Indian astrology can help people recover from illnesses and keep their body in balance. She mentioned that in India, many of the important actitivies of a person are established after consulting the joytish astrologer.

Rocco Bruno mentioned simple tips to improve health like avoiding eating late, exercise frequently, the importance of fresh air and sun's exposure, and cultivation of love.

Though the attendance to this event was modest, they were deeply interested in the subject and eager to learn more about these two sciences that have endured thousands of years.

For more pictures from the event click here.

For more information about this and other Ayurveda events in the area contact Narender Pati at aumayurveda@yahoo.com or visit www.iwfusa.org

Yoga Sanga First Anniversary Celebration!

Hard to believe a year ago we started with the first Yoga Sanga Magazine issue! It has been a great experience to meet great yogis and yoginis commited to their practice and to share what Yoga is about in a deeper sense with the community.

To all those who have written for us, given us an interview or supported the magazine, we thank you so very much!

To celebrate our first anniversary we invited the community in Austin to share with us an evening on a Forum format with the main theme as Yoga & Consciousness.

The speakers gave very interesting and deep reflections related to the theme. We had great food, door giveaways and a very unique Kirtan led by our guest Sant Dharamananda from Wisconsin.

The event was possible because of the generosity of the speakers: Charles MacInerney, Keith Kachtick , Peggy Kelley, Craig Williams, and Sant Dharamananda who came from Wisconsin to celebrate with us. We were so blessed on counting of such great teachers that together have more than 100 years of yoga practice!

Here are some notes from the Forum.

Charles took us into a journey on how life had emerged on Earth and the 200,000 years humans have walked on this planet. He made a point on how technology affect consciousness and the YSF28. Yoga Sanga Magazineexponential rhythm of it that will change our future dramatically. He recommends being mindful and using meditation to accept all the aspects of reality.

Keith used the second sutra of Patanjali's fist book "Yogah cittavritti nirodhah" to make us realize that when we meditate is not much to quiet the mind but at first is the recognition of the mental mechanisms that the mind operates with, with time and practice the awareness will expand to understand Consciousness in a more expanding way.

Peggy used Patanjali's Yoga Sutras to remind us the goal of Yoga, that goes beyond the physical twists and turns of the Asanas. Those poses at the end will prepare the body to explore subtle areas of our being.

YSA17-150x150Craig Williams talked about the western civilization proclivity to commodify everything, including yoga. As an ayurvedic practitioner, he uses this ancient healing science and sister of yoga along with Vedic astrology to help the body open its recuperative healing qualities. All the spiritual practices help to bring our awareness back to what is internal and never dying, our spirit.He invited us to turn inside and to remember who we really are.

Sant Dharamananda talked about the Bhagavad Gita and how Hatha Yoga, Yoga of Knowledge, and Dhyana (meditation)are tools to recognize who we really are. He mentioned that we are spiritual beings trying to live a human life. When we realized that and act in accordance to life, we will ys Forum30become the butterfly we really are.

After enjoying some great food from Chola Indian Restaurant in Round Rock, we all enjoy a wonderful Kirtan led by Sant Dharamananda accompanied by Mark and Gloria Uridel.

Thank y'all for making this a wonderful evening!!!

Rocio Morales