My mothers family practices and traditions.

My mother’s first family also had a ritual of a morning ‘varjish’ (physical exercise) regimen for the men. This included a rebounding of sorts, bouncing on your heels, rolling your toes forward, bouncing back on your heels and on and on like that, for what seemed like forever to me, as they all stood in a line, rebounding away in their pajamas, (probably TMI) while they read the morning’s newspapers, taking turns reading the three different newspapers in three different languages. English, hindi and Urdu. Each newspaper was a cultural entity in itself. 

I now recognize this kind of rebounding movement, as something we also do in Qi-Gong, as a way to stimulate all the acupressure points (which are the same for acupuncture) and meridian channels that run to or from our feet. Mummy’s two younger brothers and father were sometimes joined by my Bari (literal meaning, older) Aunty, Mummy’s older sister.  The women, or my Bari Aunty to be precise, had a yoga routine, mainly floor poses/ exercises, of which they are many that are specifically considered beneficial for women.

On weekends there were the very welcome visits of the ‘maalish’ (massage) people; male masseurs for the men, and female masseuse for the women. So you can see my mum grew up with a whole host of holistic modalities incorporated into their domestic routine. You may have noticed however, that she was not necessarily an active participant in these pursuits. Like me, I suspect she was into a thousand things at the same time.

I loved Sunday mornings at my Grandparents’ home. I am so happy and utterly delighted that I was able to live with them from the time I was born, and through my formative years. It was such a wholesome way of life in a healthful atmosphere, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Remind me to write about specific rituals for different organs of the body, and the yogic practices of my Grandfather and Aunt, both of who were the most diligent and carried their on with their practices through to the end of their days. My Bari Aunty could read the newspaper without reading glasses for as long as I can remember.