Practice and all is coming!

Well after a much needed rest in Hampi I returned to Mysore on the sleeper bus; 13 hours of hell with the craziest of drivers; I wouldn’t be surprised if he was wanted by the Karnataka Transport police. Any non-Indian, when they hear a horn go hooooooooooooooooooooonk, driving full speed and then hitting the breaks on the ‘motorway’ would be terrified. That’s when the melatonin came in handy.

I stayed my 1^st night in a pre-arranged room via Air BNB. This Air BNB booking was nothing like my previous (the gorgeous house with swimming pool in Pondicherry!) The room was a garage! It was clean but had no windows, just a large metal door. It was freezing at night and I heard everything outside! Not good when your bedtime has changed to 8pm L Apart from my yoga-centered problems, my bedroom was not upstairs with the other yogis, it was in the main house with an elderly Indian couple. It was made very clear that I was not to use the kitchen (despite this being stated on the Air BNB profile, ‘Use of the kitchen and utensils is allowed, we just remind you to please treat these as though they were your own.’ On top of this, I felt very uncomfortable in the mornings, waking up early when their bedroom has no door, only curtains, I must have disturbed them, switching on my light, unlocking all the bolts to the living room etc. So I found another place, across the road from the main Shala. It’s on a main road, but hey I lived on Abbey Road for 3 ½ years so this is fine J

My 1^st day with Saraswathi:

I set my alarm for 3:50am, waking was no problem. I made myself a lemon tea and prepared with a few sun salutations and shoulder exercises in order to open my chest, just as the Dr ordered. My start time is 6am so I left the house in plenty of time. There walking towards me was Asha my Pranyamama teacher from the YTTC. She didn’t remember my name of course but called ‘England’ instead. She was out with her husband on their ‘morning walk’ and invited me to tea this week – the kindness of this women always makes me smile inside J My friend Sandra (A Chilean lady connected to the lovely Leo) had shown me Saraswathi’s Shala the day before but I still managed to get lost. No fear though, a local on his morning walk took me there. On the stairs we all waited in a line until our time was called. As I reached the top of the stairs I peered in and I could see others, Saraswathi weaving in and out shouting ‘You catch?’ ‘Which one you do?’ ‘backbend then finish’

…’Next!’ 

It was my turn. I went in and tried to place my things in what I now know is her office. An assistant stopped me and said that I was to put my mat down and the gestured to put my belongings in the changing room. I did just that and then whilst in Virabhadrasana B this morning I saw that I have been using the male changing rooms! Opps! I whispered my prayer and proceeded with Surya Namaskra A. I was so preoccupied with remembering the sequence that I couldn’t relax, each asana seemed a struggle and somehow disjointed from the previous. I got to Supta Kurmasana and then felt a foot on my calf. My head was down between my legs so I couldn’t see anything and then I heard ‘leg down, this go here’. After hearing so many rumors that adjustments are non-existent, Saraswathi was helping me on my 1^st day. I wasn’t able to catch but this was the 1^st time I had got into the posture without modifying! Yay me! ‘You stop here and then backbend, we work on this again tomorrow’.

Before leaving I bowed with my hands namaskara. Saraswathi spotted me, she nodded and smiled. So well done to me, first day over and my shoulder felt fine. 

In the words of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois,
"Practice and all is coming."

I have been away as a lone traveler many times in the past 4 years; all over Europe, Indonesia, North America and even India but this time things feel different. This will be the longest time I have been away and I have mixed feelings. I miss everyone at home, for sure, that’s a given. But it’s more than that. I guess it has something to do with Christmas and the matter of only being back in the UK for a few days before flying out again. There is no hint of Christmas here, other than the Westerners’’ isle in Loyal World shopping centre. This is how I like it; no mad rushing to see people, no gluttonous eating and drinking, no spending stupid amounts of money on gifts people don’t need in order to ‘show’ them your love… But I’m looking on Facebook and I can see people decorating their Christmas trees, wearing their novelty jumpers, rehearsing school nativity plays etc and I’m thinking about my relationships with those at home…

Nevertheless, I’m doing what I love and I’m far from Oxford Street.