On Strength And Stoicism

My Monday promise:

Life has a way to rock the boat that's steady. Some are gentle, some rocky, but rock it does. Most of us succumb to them, and strengthen, steel or allow for some clinks in the armor. It's only natural we protect who we are.
Most of the changes are expected to make us better human beings. The strength and the wisdom and the cautiousness with which we will allow to conduct ourselves in the future. There is a thin line between being strong or being harsh, between wisdom and cynicism, and between the shades of gray. The gray that gives us the clarity or the gray that dooms us.

Extenuating circumstances always bring the unfairness to light. To be at the receiving end of misfortune when you cannot answer the question "Why?" is a tough one to sleep on. You dig deep into your mind, into each crevice to wonder on the paybacks, the reasons on the Why.
When your logical brain cannot fathom and come up with an answer that seemingly satisfies, one tends to get cynical. To be angry. To lash out, to lose hope and to react in a way that leaves a bitter shadow on all things next.

To NOT allow that to happen requires tremendous faith and strength.

It's easier to give up than to hold it together. It's even more wondrous and a true measure of strength, when one can hold it together when everyone around you expects you to break down. 

I know of one woman who is exactly that.

There are am sure more, there cannot not be, but we can only talk about ones we encounter, and we are left to stare at them in awe and wonder and in a moment of complete un-abashed surrender, we may even pride ourselves of knowing such a fine woman.

A friend and confidante, I love her to the moon and back.
Curious? Read more here.
It's personal and as raw as I can allow it without infringing on them.

Black Belt and Marathon: Serial Achiever Sheetal

We start the new year off with someone who has accomplished goals with a dogged determination and ones that took some dedicated persistence over long periods of time. With unflagging practice, Sheetal Rawat has followed her childhood dream of earning her black belt at the age of 42 after working on it for 5 years. She then went ahead ran a marathon.

Yep.

I’ve known Sheetal awhile, and only over the past few years have we gotten close enough for me to watch her with an air of awe and wonder. I can’t walk fast for nuts (coz of my knee) and here she was running marathons and kicking ass (maybe even literally!).

For the most part, thanks to Facebook, there is enough and more of everyone’s accolades hitting us at super byte speeds every time we open the app. It’s reached masochistic tendencies for some. To open, watch someone be happy for something they’ve achieved or celebrate and then instinctively look back on their lives and well, you know how that goes down the drain. It’s morbidly entertaining when you sit back and watch!

So, what we do see is the icing on the cake. The final ‘aha’ crowning moment. The tip of the iceberg. What we don’t see is the huge massive amount of personal effort and struggles that laid the foundation for the tip to shine through to you.

Is it worth it?

Heck yeah!

How do I know? Well, I know just like you do. You and I will together learn in this very space what it takes to become the very best that *you* want to become.

I sat down with Sheetal (over a period of time) and this is what I have for you.

Read on.

Get inspired. Fan that fire within.

Spread the joy and inspiration.

Rhythmaya And Nirathi: Bollywood Dance

Continuing on with the Wednesday feature - interviews and showcasing influential women of our area, today's spotlight shines on Nirathi the Director of Rhythmaya 

Ive known Nirathi since she moved into the area, fresh out of college and went to the same Indian dance school to learn Kuchipudi. She is one of those who leaves an impression on you when you meet her. Vivacious and always smiling, Ive never seen her tired or down, and is always up for a challenge, outing and some talk. When I think back, I doubt Ive ever seen her angry, upset, with anyone or anything and always seems to be in control or at least in ever adapting mode to the changing world and situations we are thrown in. Patience and bigger picture acceptance and recognition form the pillars of how she runs her life and company, and I have always admired her through the last 13 years Ive known her.

She is inspirational, from the way she charts her course and how she manages and juggles home, work and how determined she is to make it through her goals to get to where she wants to be. To turn a passion into something tangible takes more than just talent and a dream, and Nirathi definitely has it figured out, for the most part, at that young age!

The interview below is long, but I assure you is worth every bit, so do read on!

Nirathi Rao: Director of Rhythmaya

Contact: Rhythmaya (Website)

...AND We Are Back In 2015!

So we are 20 full days into the New Year and am not sure about you, but am still tingling with the excitement of the newness of it all. Helps that it's winter, coz the cold air always spelled freshness and gives me goose pimples.

I know what you thinking!
No, it is NOT because of the cold, but it's because of the anticipation of achievements, goals, and the possibilities that can be achieved by our dreams that we dare to dream!

Don't you think?

The old one is gone. 

The checklist is withered and scratched off.

The choice of whether one wants to carry over some goals and not is entirely up to us to decide. 

That's incredible. Just in itself, without any of the other fanfare or the societal conditioning that we would love to lay this on. 

So, long story short, am back. 

*waits for the round of applause to die down* 

*grins* 

Yes! 

I shall continue bringing you some exquisitely ordinary woman who wield the power to harness their best. They are women who you will pass on the street or carpool with or will share a gym bike with. They are women who look just like you do. 

Suburban. Wife. Mom. Careers. Dreams. Sweatshirts. Kids. Juggling. Dreaming. Achieving. Mourning. Whining. Groaning. Gritting. ..and some more. 

These are the women who dare to follow their dreams, make the wisest choices under the circumstances and stick with it, despite all odds. They wear their invisible cape on their shoulders, and are always conscious of the ever so slight tug at the neck when things get rough and the wind is blowing strong and when the body teeters, but the strength of their mind holds them steady, while that cape gives them that anchor to keep sailing. 

Lots of exciting things to come your way, so hang on, coz that's what am doing!
..and if you are new around here, and have no clue what am talking about, here are some previous posts and ladies that are worth reading about.

Nirathi. 
Lakshmi and Aruna 
Karen 

Inspiring in the simple ways they talk and teach us, I hope you will tune in weekly to read and share and draw from the words and the people that I introduce you to, right here.

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Monday. 

Every Monday with a post that will make you think. 

And I'll introduce you to an inspiring woman every other Monday.

..and that is a promise! 

<3
Radhika 

Sthree Skincare And Spa: Lakshmi And Aruna

Second in my Wednesday Featured series is what most women usually frequent at least once a month. Get some TLC and groom themselves so we can go out and battle the world while looking pretty!

Ive known Lakshmi and Aruna since many years now. Coming from to US in early 90s from a place in India where one would never dream of going out without a neatly arched eyebrow and the fact that there was an establishment offering such services at every other street corner, it was like a heaven sent to discover someone who would do it and do it well!

A good friend introduced me to them and since then, they are my go-to in a rush, coz am as lackadaisical as them come when it comes to staying on top of such grooming. I wake up every couple of months with "oh God, I look like a bear" moment and then I frantically call them and get an appointment and once am done, it's like a new person emerges from behind all those shaggy 70s look eyebrows!

Plus they really are very nice and easy to talk to through all that pain :(

Known them since 10 years and Ive seen them grow ground up. From operating out of a small home-based apartment to now an established skincare spa in a busy location in Northern Virginia, they are the quintessential duo for what fantastic smiling customer service is all about. I was very happy when they decided to entrust the picture taking of their grand spa opening to me! Check some of the pictures I took for them here. 

They have worked hard with patience and waited their time and their success and growth is both inspiring and is worthy of emulation. The sister-in-law duo (Aruna is married to Lakshmi's brother) are warm, inviting and do a perfect job every time without compromising on quality and time. Always up for a chat, they sat down with me at their Spa, to tell me in a candid interview on how they started, and where they are and how they kept going.

Lakshmi and Aruna

Contact: Website Sthree Skincare (Northern VA)

Yogini Karen: Allways Yoga

Starting off the Wednesday Featured series with an interview with my Yoga Instructor of close to three years. My mother embraced yoga many years ago and kept asking me to try it when I started having foot, knee problems and the tummy from the childbirths refused to go. I did on one trip to Madras, and hated it. Something didn't seem right and it just didn't stick.

Then in 2008, I tore the cartilage in my right knee. It was pretty bad and I had an arthroscopy done and it instilled a fear in me, very deep. You see, that was the very first time I had a scalpel on my skin. I was a healthy woman all through my life and all my three children were born naturally. The procedure and its after-effects terrified me cold. I was not admitting it, but I slowed down my lifestyle dramatically and in turn put on more weight coz of inactivity.

A new online friend on hearing about my stiff knee suggested that I try Yoga to ease and stretch my muscles. I knew I was taut. By coincidence, two days later, a neighbor friend asked me to come try out this Yoga class she goes in the neighborhood on Wednesday mornings. I tried on a whim, and I came home sore, in tears and feeling extremely ashamed that I was in such bad shape (physically and emotionally). Next week, I pushed myself out the door, and then the next and then before I knew it, I was hooked. I liked my teacher, I loved the stretching and how I felt the next day, I loved the space in which we practiced and most were neighbors, and women I knew outside of class. Another good friend joined in, and well, session after session we stuck on, and this is my third year with Karen Jaynes. 

Yoga has changed my life. Well, at least it has slowed me down to pause, think, and be in the moment (those Wednesdays at least) and I like how much of a foundation the stretching of the muscles has helped in my aerobic exercise and in my general well being.

I love Karen for how she runs her class, for her little anecdotes, for the way she eases folks into poses and for the humor that she and in turn we bring in, and am amazed at how far we have all come, individually. I can now do a downward dog with ease. Stay in a plank for more than 45 seconds. I can sleep in the pigeon pose and not groan, and I am almost there with my balance as a tree.

I believe that things fall into place when they have to. The right teacher and the right moment in your life are two traveling points. They meet, at random and on occasion or maybe just once. If your mind is open then, there is a click and a match is made.

Today is her birthday too! How things come together eh? :-)

Meet our wonderful, interesting and inspiring Yoga instructor, guide and teacher:

Karen of All Ways Yoga. 

Contact: Website and Facebook Page