So I've been here for two weeks, having taken four days to get here because of flight delays and new flights arranged, overnight hotel stays in Germany, then flying backwards to the UK, sitting at Heathrow for 6 hours then finally flying to Bangalore, only to take the cruelest 4 hour cab ride of any humans life...lol.
At first I was so overwhelmed by all the noise, all the smells, but more than anything all the people that I almost thought I would turn around and go home. But thankfully I didn't. I went in to register for classes the first day I got here and Sharath graciously let me start early, which helped. The yoga integrated me into the place more than I would even have guessed.
Everything here is cheap, dirt cheap by Americans standards because our penny is worth about 60 cents, depending on who's changing the money for you it can even be more than that, or less if you're at the airport! So, eating out, taking rickshaws and just about everything else is very affordable and it becomes easy to overdo it, especially eating in my case.
Sharath first day noticed how much eating I'd been doing and said "only one meal a day." Now, anyone who knows me knows this is a virtual impossibility because I love eating more even than yoga. But I got his point, mindlessly eating wasn't going to serve my practice, so I started paying attention to when I was really hungry and when it was just I'm bored so let's eat, or I'm overwhelmed by this place, let's pacify ourself by eating, or even what the hell else is there to do other than eat?!? lol
My waist is actually quite a bit thinner in those two weeks, most likely due to the intensity of the yoga practice in this place where it originates from and the shear amount of people practicing with me, when I'm used to being alone at home all the time, but even more so probably because of the heat. I sweat like I may never sweat at home, or ever have. But really the energy in that room is just intense and can really pull some shit out of you.
Speaking of that, Seabrook and I, who are sharing a space while here, are both having our shit coming out, a lot. Which is fine, this is what we're here for, to transform ourselves. And boy is it ever deeper than anything at home. Westerners have been coming here since the 70's to do this work with this particular practice and so the energetic intention of self-healing and transformation is just in the place, not just the shala, but damn in the whole area. We've had a few disagreements, but for the most part we know this is what's going to happen and have to embrace it and need to quit saying sorry since it's going to keep happening until we go home, maybe even after we get home, who knows!
On Tuesday I started taking classes with Jayashree and her husband, chanting the Yoga Sutras and then discussing philosophy. It's amazing, I love it. Her energy just radiates, and today he started the class and she walked in a bit later and I could just feel her as she walked by, I have a lot of love for her. This trip I am taking the Sanskrit classes at the shala that also include disseminating the Hatha Yoga Pradapika, but I know that the next trip will be about just sucking up the knowledge these people have in them and going with it, not that I don't love the shala classes, but I know she's my teacher on this subject, much as Sharath is my teacher in the yoga.
Speaking of that, so when I got here I'd spent about 52.5 hours traveling here, miserable. And my body had locked up with that, especially my sacrum and lumbar spine, so in my first class he stopped me at Marichasana D because I couldn't even get close to realizing it in my body. The next day though I opened up enough to get it and he stopped me at supta kurmasana, which I am still being stopped at on my second week. Today I held the bind in it, having gotten there with help of one of his assistants but he didn't see. He had been personally helping me until today and said when I could hold it, even with help, I'd be able to move on. So, tomorrow being a led class I don't know if I'll get it or not, I'm much better in the Mysore style classes where I can move at my own pace with my own breath, so we'll see how it goes. My goal is to at least get through the primary series and working on standing up and dropping back at the end before closing sequence.
I say that and at the same time I know that I am not overly concerned with that goal. I am here to realize this practice as a sadhana, a spiritual practice, that I can take with me for life and use as a way to connect to source on those days when my mind isn't necessarily able to get there on it's own. I think it's happening, I feel closer and closer each day to source. But then again maybe that is part of being here, maybe it's just having had that intention for this journey, who knows, but the work is working and I'm loving it more and more.
There is so much more to tell, kirtan with Mark Robberds, Abhyanga (Ayurvedic oil massage) with two men working on me at once, all of the lovely people I've met, either who I already knew from Facebook or just met here because there are so many awesome people here, just tons more stuff. And maybe I will write them as they come to me, probably more after I get home and start integrating this experience, but not now. This is a good start...see you all soon.
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