"It's like wrestling a bear!"

With my impending second trip to Mysore coming up in just three weeks, lots of memories from the last trip are flooding over me. Some intentional to make sure I remember my way around Gokulam, some just popping up as I move through my practice in the mornings.

One that I woke up with this morning is what I titled this post as, and the story goes...

Sharath had decided he was tired of me not being able to "get" supta kurmasana and so he told me so and said that he was going to help me personally from then on out until I got it, so it had been about a week and a half maybe of him helping me or watching his assistants help me and this particular day as he called "one more!" and I walked in and he showed me where to put my mat down, he said to me to wait for him when I got to that point, so I get to that point and move my way to the physical place I would wait for him, when I felt some gentle hands moving my arms into position to bind with one another, then moving my legs to cross behind my head and when my legs got there my hands unbound, as per usual. Then I heard him "no, no, get away, let me..." I had thought it was him but it had been his assistant Ganapati (a young blonde fellow from California who'd become Brahmin and moved to the area). So he started getting my hands there and then, then my feet, then my hands would unbind, then he would reattach them, back and forth. FInally he picked up my feet for me to lift and jump back and I did, this time was the first time I could go right into updog without strain in my lower back after this posture, so I knew it was soon coming. But as I inhaled into updog he was standing there looking down at me, hands on his hips (like a disapproving grandma) and said "It's like wrestling a bear!" Then promptly, he laughed, I laughed, Ganapati laughed and few around me laughed that had heard or seen the whole exchange. It lightened the mood and helped me release some shit. As I was leaving the shala and did my anjali mudra and bowed slightly to him as I walked by, he said "tomorrow!" And so it went, the next day was the day he got me into the posture, was able to help me stay in it and he said "PASS! Go on and do garbha pindasana." I was so excited to have jumped that hurdle, you can't imagine, I'd been stuck there for 3 weeks.

This brings up many other stories of my being there, not because I'm trying to relive that experience, that will be impossible as each experience there is completely different especially since I'm staying longer this time, but because they are good memories, very good.

I met a lot of wonderful people who I am still in contact with and have become better friends with. I think the friendships forged there are so special because the experience is so intense. You are there solely for the purpose of deepening your yoga practice, for no other reason, so you do and you connect with others who are doing so as well.

One other memory just popped up, I'll share it. I had just recently been told to go ahead and do the whole series, this was just a couple days after "getting" supta kurmasana and then he tells me I have to start doing the deep backbending. Now, for most of you who take my led classes you know that after the series we do three backbends, right? Well, in a Mysore setting, as a few of my Mysore students will tell you, after you've completed primary series you do those three backbends, then you work on standing up from them, then dropping back, standing up, dropping back and standing up, then three assisted half dropbacks and an attempt at grabbing your ankles (yes, in a backbend lol). This is what I was supposed to start. So he had his assistant Nnadi help me with it and it was fine, I couldn't stand up at all and that was fine, he helped me the whole way through. So I discovered it was terribly intense on the nervous system, especially that it was my first time, and when I went home I showered and then just lie there on the bed for a couple hours, then it dissipated and I went about my business. So the next morning I did my backbending then tried to stand up, couldn't, so rolled over and got up then did a drop back on my own, decided myself that this was just fine and a great attempt especially on only my second time doing this, so did my forward bend, rolled up my mat and went to the locker room to do finishing. As I'm creeping (yes, I knew I was trying to get out of something) away Sharath saw me and yelled "YOU! I told you to wait for backbending, you go back" and I was like "I know, I thought it was fine..." all mousy like and he let me go but said I had to wait from now on. Then I'm out after class, and if you've been there you know we all devour coconuts after class to replenish our electrolytes and get rehydrated, and we chat and we hang out for a while sometimes. That day I was sitting by myself and overheard some people next to me talking about "who did he yell at?" and so on, and I reluctantly held up my hand, "it was me..." LOL, this stuff is great, isn't it?

I am so excited to go back and create more experiences and get deeper into my practice and be able to share that knowledge with you when I come back!