Resting; Saturday!

LIFE:

Wednesday was a great day; Pongal, the Hindu harvest festival day, meant that all the schools were off and the streets were alive with children, India's future cricket team. The kids are great and you're always met with a beaming smile and "Hi". They are quite poor, but they are very, very happy.

The lights were on in Mysore Palace. A sight that just has to be seen if you are here:

Housemate Jorg & I were invited up to the landlord's family home for lunch. His wife let us know that she "cooks for God", and it does pay dividends. The meal was very cooling, and extremely tasty. A really nice variation on the multitude of curries that we have been eating.

Their house is located just 5 minutes from Gurugi's old shala, so we took a walk there in the midday sun. I couldn't resist these snaps of some local road signs:

THIS ONE IS COMPLETELY IGNORED.

"No Honking"

AND THIS ONE:

Is it for the Americans? 

"There is oil over here"

Todays trip to the bank was quite memorable too. I had a hundred pounds in travelers cheques that I wanted to change for rupees. I went to the Mysore State Bank, which is very close to the Shala, next door in fact. I got plucked from a queue of local folk and told to go and see the manager. I just did what I was told, and got ushered behind the counters and seated next to the manager's desk. As a bank clerk filled out the forms necessary to complete the transaction, the manager asked a number of questions, including: "Why have you come to Gokulam?", "Can you learn yoga in England?", "How are you finding the Indian people?"  .......... There was a dozen or so more, and none of them related to banking, or my transaction at all. He was just a very, very nice guy, and perhaps a little pleased to take a break from his day-job. I ended up getting 5 rupees over the published rate too. I bet if I phoned them, I would be speaking to them too; and not a call centre in England (yet).

THE PRACTICE:

The thing about this practice, if you are following the guidelines, is that it sure does help you appreciate a rest! The feeling on Friday evening was like Christmas all over again.

Each 'practice week' (Sunday - Friday, excluding moondays) begins and ends with a led class. That has become my chance to lock each movement to each inhale, or exhale. This makes some of the postures noticeably easier, and so often gets totally overlooked by teachers that are not certified or authorized in the teaching of this system (or, God help us, don't even have a practice themselves!).

Mysore style practices here, support a constant throughput of practitioners who arrive in 15 minute intervals and then get guidance on an individual basis. Both Saraswati and Sharath do this extremely well, in light of that huge number of students that are in town at this point in time. I know a couple of people who are in the 4.45 a.m. group, who overslept yesterday morning. So, they attended the 6.00 a.m. class. Sharath spotted this in both instances. How on earth does he do that? There are over 200 people here at the moment!

With this huge number of students, the led classes can therefore get VERY busy. Yesterdays led class saw people practicing in the Shala doorway, and in the changing areas however, people in the changing areas were moved so's to be in Sharath's line of sight. They were not left unattended. Becoming a slacker is not an option here.

CHANTING:

We are on the sixth class now and, boy, it is fun. There is less mumbling, more people, and we can now apparently be heard from some way up the street. Lakshmish (sp) is a great leader and gives interesting bits of philosophy and general 'thought material'  with each class. I've also opted for a new course with him, to work through Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. So, the week now comprises of 6 morning asana practices, less moon-days,  3 evening chant classes and 3 morning Sutra lectures. There is plenty to do here and each of the 'add-ons' is costing £10 for the whole course. As one of my friends said, back in the days that I was nervous about coming here, 'This is Disneyland for Yogi's'.

These classes help to deepen your practice. They focus you on more than asana practice. The yamas, niyamas etc. all inter-relate and work together as yoga.

Finally, for today, a tan check. I want to be able to look back at the Dec. 24th entry, and spot the difference after just 16 days here. This isn't the result of sun bathing either, but I do have to admit; I like my apartment's balcony.

It is 8.20 a.m. now, on Saturday morning. A car just beeped for 8 seconds outside the apartment. During those 8 seconds, 2 more vehicles gave short beeps. My Mum would just go nuts here.