Space

So, I'm in India for just another week and a half. only 8 classes left with Sharath, three of them led so I don't count them. They are very meditative because you can just check out with your mind mostly but the real work happens in the Mysore room. That's where no matter what is going on (and there is a lot going on in a room with around 70 people practicing all levels of this dynamic practice all around you, at different points and different breath patterns and different noises coming from them and all) you have to pull some strength out from wherever needed to get through your practice, some days anyway, and then others are easy as pie, and then others are struggly in a different sort of way. It's very interesting.

I came here expecting to begin intermediate series, but then had unexpected back problems that halted my progress in that arena and even had Sharath have me step back a bit. But now that it's better I'm finding that I'm discovering more and more space in my spine than ever before. I can't imagine how it used to be back when you could come here for 6 months or even years and study and see what that wrought from this degenerative spine, that would be awesome.

It's so nice to feel the bones move and adjust to allow the space to open up as I move through my morning practice. It's interesting to feel how it feels as I walk down the street and feel taller than I ever have before. To sit on the floor which is mostly where I seem to sit over here, and feel my sit bones and the space between the iliac crest and greater trochanter and sit bones, such an odd sensation feeling those muscles be mostly relaxed, sitting up with my inner body, up along my inner spine. It's great to feel my neck and how the bones have moved around and are allowing the muscles to not be so cramped up, which they can get with this practice where we lift our body weight so often throughout it.

Tim Feldmann posted once about feeling tenderized after a couple months in Mysore, now I think I'm getting what he was talking about. Last time I felt more open, for sure, it was 7 weeks and it was hot and dry, while at home it was an icy and snowy below freezing winter, so I opened up for sure. But this time it was longer, not as hot, but consistently warm in the Mysore room with Sharath, and that was enough to open me up.

I'm interested to see how it goes these last few classes since I'm just now seeing this change, or rather feeling it, to observe how much further it goes since it doesn't really know I'm going home. Maybe it will keep going even after I'm home if I can stay relaxed enough no matter how cold it is.

We'll see. I'm going home to a new Mysore program at a new studio, to a whole new schedule, to my friends, students and family and to the spring shortly thereafter. But I'm also going home planning to enjoy my whole spring and summer and then to come back here in the fall, and have an extended trip after my Mysore trip so that I can see the North (Himalayas, the Ganga, Rishikesh/Haridwar, maybe Varanasi...etc.) and to live an exciting life from here on out. Even if that means being in St. Louis teaching new people there, to be excited about that and looking forward to it.

Easy to say now, we'll see if I'm able to maintain this enthusiasm, but I'm sure I will be able to. Now, to enjoy my last week and a half here!