20th February – Women’s Class – Abhijata

What an absolutely outstanding class – backbends with Abhijata. Her teaching is completely focussed; she gets through the poses, gives clear and relevant teaching points, paces herself perfectly so that there is time for all the inversions but still gives plenty of reference to yoga sutra and philosophy. She pushes you hard but is not at all intimidating. I am in awe and extremely grateful for her efforts – she is striving for and attaining excellence.

Once again I found myself in the position of having my pressing yoga needs miraculously met. As I mentioned previously, I ‘lost’ my sirsasana through having to relearn from scratch and spend some months working against a pillar. Every day for two years I have been trying, retrying and trying again to work it out – perhaps I need a tri fold blanket, perhaps I need to stand on some height in ardha sirsasana to get the dorsal working properly, perhaps I just need to sweat it out, and on and on. I’d pinned a lot of hopes on this month for sorting it out and was feeling an increasing sense of desperation that I am still experiencing real problems. I had been working with Jenny to get some feedback on what she sees and thought I had cracked it, but as I solved one problem, another one popped up. Yesterday I issued a silent prayer to Guruji. The first thing that happened was someone posted a 40 minute clip of Guruji teaching sirsasana on Facebook. In it he teaches about the ‘brain’ of the forearm and how this area has to be pressed inward to make the shoulders respond. I finally got a real sense of stability and lift. Then in Abhi’s class today she continued this teaching, refining the point still further (full sequence attached below). Any remaining fears I had about going up in the centre of the room were completely banished by at least 12 drop backs, building up another layer of instruction each time we went up, until I felt so much more accomplished in the pose. It was just fantastic.
Yesterday I was telling Jenny I feel like I need another month here as I have so, SO much I need to work on – my hips aren’t gripping, my knees are dropping inward, my shoulder blade and trapezius have popped up – all of these things needing sustained and focussed attention to put right and that’s on top of my daily Diabetes programme, my injured knee, my broken sirsasana and my preparation for Senior 1 assessment. It felt overwhelming. Today Abhi spoke about how recognising what is wrong is actually a positive sign; she quoted Guruji who said “Once we have recognised our ignorance, the discipline can begin”.
Towards the end of the class we repeated full arm balance and the pose felt amazing – students in the class said it felt much ‘lighter’ but that was too mundane a word to capture how it really felt – my whole body felt suffused with a sparkling awareness.

The Ambrosia Resort

After class we packed our bags, booked an OLA cab and headed off to the Ambrosia Resort for an overnight stay – to swim in the pool and enjoy the sunshine. Our cab arrived but the driver didn’t speak English and there seemed to be some problem that was preventing him from leaving. After much fuss, 2 passers-by hauled in to help us translate, 25 minutes of confusion later, it transpired I had accidentally booked 2 cabs and he couldn’t leave until I had cancelled one. Finally on the road, our sunbeds beckoning we headed out for a 40 minute drive on the Mulshi Road. When we got there it wasn’t such a nice environment as I’d hoped – very built up and a building site all around and they had messed up our booking and only given us one room. 20 minutes later we had that sorted and asked to be shown to the pool. Blank looks, “The pool? No pool mam!” Turns out the pool had closed down and a new inside pool is under construction. There was absolutely no reason to be there except for the pool, so thoroughly disappointed we explained that we no longer wanted to stay and asked them to book us a cab home again, giving The Ambience Hotel, Model Colony as the landmark. One hour later the cab finally arrived – they’d booked us the budget option – no air con and no seat belts. Still we’d waited so long we weren’t about to complain and off we went. We thought it strange that we were in such an unfamiliar looking area, it’s a drive we know fairly well and sure enough the driver pulled up outside a completely different Ambience Hotel in entirely the wrong district of Pune. We had been extremely clear about our instructions, but it turned out that when the Ambrosia had booked the cab, they had provided a written address (sadly completely the wrong one) that the driver was following and so he just hadn’t listened to what we said. Off we sped again – it’s extremely alarming to be driving at such speed in such busy traffic with no seat belts on – at one point I actually hissed at the driver and tapped him sharply as he got distracted by his mobile. So several hours later we arrived back home hot, sweaty and dusty and many rupees lighter and trudged upstairs to our apartment to unpack. Ah well, off to the Mariott tomorrow instead. I soothed myself by making some toasted nut, seeds, dates, cocoa and cream coconut truffles and next weekend we will try a visit to Panchgani.

These construction workers are many storeys up on tower, balancing on single scaffold poles!

20^th February – Women’s Class – Abhijata

AMS – you are aware that you have an outer hand and an inner hand? And you are aware that each individual finger has also an outer and an inner? Where does the weight fall? The outer? So now press strongly the inner thumb first finger root and the inner blade of each individual finger. Does this give you the access to your shoulder blades? Lift the pose from the buttock bones themselves – move the buttock bones into the skin there.

Full Arm Balance (those waiting urdhva mukha svanasana) – Where does the weight fall? Maintain the weight completely on the inner hand, thumb and first finger to go up. Lift the buttock, heels hips. Then press even more strongly and lift even more strongly so that for a moment you balance and come down with 2 legs.

Sirsasana – Where does the weight press more on the forearm bone – inner or outer? And when you go up can you see how even though you intended to press, the weight oscillated? Roll the outer elbow to the inner elbow to lengthen the upper arm. Weight strongly to the inner forearm bone PRESS and hold absolutely firm there as you come up – Better? Now you have an inner shoulder and an outer shoulder, which is higher? Outer? So now lift the inner shoulder to the level of the outer shoulder. The whole shoulder girdle has to lift.

Parsva – 1) The BACK leg (the side you are not turning to) has to drive the turn 2) The side you are turning to, that shoulder tends to drop, lift up there 3) The back leg tends to shorten lengthen it UP.

Parivrtta Eka Pada – The front leg is quick to go, make the back leg go faster. Extend the back leg from the root of the thigh. When we came back to the centre she made us maintain the legs apart so that we could clearly witness how the back leg was up in no time, whereas it took longer to lift the front leg as it had further to come.

She said there is a tendency of the hands to sweat – why are the hands sweating? All they have to do is press down – Guruji once made her do with a weight on her hands so she got the message how much the hands to press down.

Ustrasana – Hands on lower buttock 1) 1^st kneeling – roll the outer knee towards the inner knee, this lengthens the outer thigh. This also makes more space in the back of the knee when you come up. Kneel up keeping toes/ ankle junction pressing. Lift up the back thigh away from the back knee to maintain the space there.

2) The head should not go back like a dead weight with the contents of the throat puffing up – you are inviting a glandular problem there. Begin to arch back coiling the upper spine deep inward. Now wait and pull the trapezius strongly downward, shoulder blades pressing IN, now dorsal deeper in still maintaining the trapezius downward, take the head all the way back.

Urdhva Dhanurasana – 1) Which part of the body lifts up fastest? for most it was the inner body, so we went again and the outer armpit, outer hip, outer knee had to lead to lift up. 2) Walk feet in 3) walk hands in 4) She demonstrated as we walk in and lengthen the inner heel down, the outer bottom thigh, close to the outer knee drops. It was a completely different action to roll the bottom outer thigh up to extend the inner heel down. 5) Hit the shin bones to the calves 6) Walk in until you feel you can’t go anymore, until you are going to die (without the top buttock moving towards the waist) and combine all of these actions.

Sirsasana dropping back 1) Roll outer thighs, outer knees upward to drop back 2) Press inner blade of wrist to drop back 3) Broaden and densify the clavicles to drop back 4) Coil the dorsal deeper and deeper in to drop back. 5) ALL of these actions combined to drop back.

Point the toes towards the floor to drop back, otherwise brain is resisting the movement.

AMS feet together into eka pada extending the lower back to stretch that leg back and up/ UTT

Full Arm balance – different? – everyone said it was much lighter. My whole body was sparkling with awareness.

Parsva Uttansana

Parivrtta Trikonasana – stepping the legs one forward, one back, take the hand down and take the lower side body towards the floor to turn – not a gross action turning, but the lower body spreading away from the spine. AMS UTT tadasana, step legs, other side.

Sarvangasana – back neck had to be extended for the brain to quieten, take your hands and use them to lengthen the back skull away from base of neck. Extend arms back and catch the thick mats (if your arms are long just turn palms to face down) and lift shoulder blade up. Bend the arms palms facing, roll the outer elbow to the inner elbow and lengthen the upper arm. Keep upper arms long, lift shoulder blade and place hands lower down on the back. Go up maintaining these actions. Take legs apart, roll front groin to back groin and extend inner leg upward to join, lift outer hips up. Extend heel bone up and keeping heel bone prominent lengthen toes keeping the foot soft.

Paschimottonasana / Janu Sirsasana / Paschimottonasana – blanket for the diaphragm NOT head or abdomen. Spread the diaphragm and move the SIDES of the diaphragm forward on the blanket. If necessary lift the head slightly up in order to keep the diaphragm moving forward and pressing

Malasana to uttanasana in the utt release the ears to hang downward, most people need to bring the bottom ear inwards towards the body to get true sirsasana position – she said ‘as if I was going to insert my index fingers into your ears to roll you down there, then  keeping the chin down and brain quiet stand up and then lift the head to stand straight. x 2

She spoke about how these techniques provide access points or doorways for you to go deeper into you – for you to make the journey inwards and not to get pulled outwards by the senses of perception. When we are totally absorbed in an asana the brain becomes submissive to the body and we become present.

She talked about how Guruji was still working on the simple poses – still finding out what was happening inside when he did trikonasana at 95. Don’t dismiss the simple poses because you can do – nature ebbs and flows so there is always something different to discover internally.

She talked about the different types of student (sadhaka), they are feeble (mrdu)  average (madhyama) superior (adhimatra) and supreme(adhimatratama). The adhimatratama sadhaka is closest to enlightenment. It is not about the level of attainment, what you can or can’t do. It is not about that at all – it is about the effort, the zeal you put into your practice.

Guruji quote “Once we have understood our ignorance the discipline can begin” Extremely salient quote for me as yesterday I was seriously lamenting just how much I have to work on – my hips are not gripping, my inner knees and caving inwards and my shoulder blades and trapezius have sprung up – and feeling defeated.

20th February – Women’s Class – Abhi

19th February – Pranayama

Snug Fit!

We had scariest ever rickshaw ride today en route to the Incense shop in Phadke Haud. Over the weeks we’ve been here we’ve hardened ourselves to the twists and turns of an average rickshaw ride – but this was something else. First off he careened out onto the wrong side of the dual carriageway – and not apologetically like a man doing a crazy thing and hoping to get away with it – but utterly brazenly going head on into the traffic, as if daring them not to get out of his way. Then he suddenly took a diagonal sweep and cut straight across the other carriageway, horns blaring my eyes squeezed tightly shut and the literal realisation of a white knuckle ride. We were so glad to get out without a serious bash, we scarcely minded that he charged us three times the correct rate (“It’s a holiday today Maam”) or the fact that we were not actually at our intended destination. He dropped us somewhere on the Ravi Pewar Road in a district of Pune I’ve never seen much of before. Here you got a real sense of the history of the place – narrow streets and characterful buildings that have stood for centuries. Here even more so than elsewhere in Pune you can see many of the old trades completely unchanged by modernisation.

Huge sharpening wheel.

Walking through the door of the incense shop is like taking a step back in time – it’s reminiscent of an old fashioned apothecary. Wooden glass fronted cabinets stuffed full of glass decanters of all shapes, sizes and colours. We had a fine old time sniffing them all and selecting a few favourites as gifts. Once you’ve chosen they are meticulously decanted into tiny glass bottles, each with it’s own drawstring bag, prices starting at 30 rupees (about 30 pence) for the smallest size going up to about 400 rupees for the more valuable oils. The building has been there since 1872 and Jenny joked so had the wooden cabinets – completely straight faced the owner (6^th generation) assured her that the cabinets were much newer from sometime in the 1900’s.

This evening’s class was pranayama with Rajalaxmi. As I came into the practice hall the medical class was just finishing and Raya came over to ask how I was, it was nice to be remembered as of course every month, every year, so many new faces. We began the class with a long stay in swastikasana preparing for the invocation. She said that when we are instructed to move the sacrum and tailbone into the body it is an energetic change – the energy is pushed forward to the front of the body so that we can find the space there. Once we were well lifted she gave the instruction to move the top abdomen downward away from the bottom rib – this had an immediate stilling and quietening effect as the diaphragm lost its projecting hardness. Clearly her instructions worked well because there was audible difference in the quality of the invocation. Sometimes here at RIMYI the chanting sounds a lot like a welsh choir belting out passionate hymn, but this evening it had a completely different quality – smooth, harmonious, low. We moved into a long prone savasana – with the body in such a passive state we could allow the breath to ‘seep in’ as we witnessed, rather than actively pulling the breath in. We then sat for anta and baya kumbhak – retention of both the inhalation and exhalation. We finished in supta swastikasana, feet raised on the bolster – we were told that in the abdominal navel region there is an energetic transaction – how much you could soften the abdomen determines what energetic transaction can take place there.

Home for some restorative inversions and we decided to book a night at the Ambrosia resort tomorrow, to make the most of our day off on Sunday.

19^th February – Rajalaxmi

• Swastikasana – when we tell you to move the sacrum / tailbone into you it is an energetic movement – when you press in there it causes the energy to move forwards to the front body so that you can create the lift and space there. Extending upward, release the top abdomen downward away from the bottom rib – this brings the quietness and prevents the hardening of diaphragm – don’t always be pushing your front body towards the teacher.
• Prone Savasana – Thick tri fold blanket for forehead, forehead skin always releasing towards the nose. Pubic plate towards the navel. Bolster between the back thighs, encouraging and supporting your back thighs to roll from inside out, so there is a spreading of the body. Here the body is passive so the breath can flow naturally – you have to allow the breath to seep in as you witness it rather than pull in the breath.
• Seated anta baya kumbhak – first witnessing the start of inhalation end of inhalation WAIT – witnessing the start of exhalation and end of exhalation WAIT for the inhalation to come on its own – it is an instinct.
• Supta swastikasana – in the abdomen, navel region there is an energetic transaction. How much you can soften there determines what energetic transaction can take place there. Viloma baya exhalations.

19th February – Rajalaxmi

18th February – Raya

Snack?

It’s getting hot in here. Very, very hot. Even at the start of Raya’s class, before a single word had been spoken, I was drenched with sweat. Trying to keep the fluid level up to cope with the fluid loss is a challenge. Backbend week – I made it! I seem to have spent an enormous chunk of my yoga life sat on the sidelines, missing out on the main action – whether through pregnancy, menstruation, illness or injury. It’s part of our yogic journey – we learn how to adapt the practice to nourish and nurture ourselves whatever our state and this in turn makes us better teachers BUT sometimes it’s just one time too many that you’ve had to sit it out. Timing wise I knew it was unlikely I’d get any backbend classes, but just this once I seem to have been granted a reprieve.
Raya didn’t pull any punches, first pose padmasana, followed by baddha konasana – teaching us to keep the width of the body in the backbends whereas we tend to become long and thin and get a kind of elongation. He said in Guruji’s practice the abdomen wasn’t taut and overstretched but absolutely soft. We continued with Adho Mukha Svanasana swinging forward to Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, Bhujangasana, AMVrksasana, Pinca Mayurasana balancing, no brick or belt allowed and Sirsasana dropping back to Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana, placing the hands lifting up in Urdhva Dhanurasana and then pressing strongly into the legs and feet to stand up in tadasana – as he demonstrated this, the class looked at each other with raised eyebrows, for most of us this was only going to happen in our dreams. But still it was good, as every single person in the room had a challenge to work on.
Once again he remonstrated with ‘the beautiful people’ he has witnessed in the practice hall doing their full arm balance in the centre of the room, up and down many times – all using the hard, tense strength of the abdomen. To come down from AMVrksasana (balancing or not) you should neither place strain on the lumbar by letting the buttocks drop back or harden the abdomen, he showed you have to roll the pelvis forward to come down gracefully with the abdomen soft. He likened this natural action to the way a tree sways in the breeze and the hard abdomen method reminds him of a creaky door on rusty hinges moving jerkily and harshly. In his words he finds these displays tremendously ugly and nothing to do with yoga asana.

Even though I have dropped back from Sirsasana many times, I got “the fear” on me and was shaking like a jelly on a plate. Afterwards at the coconut stall I chatted to Bobby C and Lynn Holt (lovely Australian lady who lives in Pune permanently) and they told me about a class they had attended with Geetaji (and also Guruji’s teaching on this) where she addressed this fear. She taught that we hold the fear in the junction between the hamstrings and the buttock so, as you arch back you flex the toes toward you several times to feed the back thigh into the buttock and this makes the legs strong and confident. With the feet in this position you land on the balls of your feet which are strong, not on pointed toes which clearly are not. I went home and tried this method and found it helpful – partly I needed to reassure myself that I could still do it after the jelly wobble experience (please note, Abhi taught drop backs the following day and insisted I did point my toes, otherwise my body was resisting the movement).

Beautiful Batik Products from Dimpex

This afternoon we went over to Dimpex to pick up our order of pune pants, t shirts, aprons and cosmetic purses all done in hand painted batik. The finished products are absolutely lovely and they package them in recycled newspaper carrier bags made by a rural charity and sold for profit. Perfect. They also offer a parcel service where they’ll package your order up for you and send it to your home country – even you can order from home and pay with an ordinary English cheque or bank transfer. They are able to make T Shirts with your studio name on to order, as well as belts, bolsters and blankets for excellent prices see dimpexbatik.in. They are a very pleasant company to deal with and highly recommended. Of course many people in the UK already know about them – they make the convention T Shirts for example. March, April and May tend to be their quietest months, so it’s a really good time to order.
Bed now, hoping I can sleep as we approach the full moon the local dogs seem to be building up for an all night howl-athon. This combined with the oppressive heat makes sleeping a challenge!

Local dogs building up some strength for a long night’s howling!

18^th February – Raya

• Padmasana (or if not possible virasana) baddangullyasana – the arrangement of the legs creates a different set of circumstances for the body which creates a different mind. Feel how the pinning down of the thighs in padmasana creates a strong uplift on the spine.
• Baddha Konasana – take the whole sole of foot apart, just heels together. Don’t let sacrum drop back, roll forward there. This method of taking the soles further apart and only the heels together is to lengthen the back thigh.
• AMS into UMS – Coming a long way forward through the arms. Dig bottom buttock in to lift pubic plate up. Here he gave a talk about how we tend to become long and thin in the backward extensions and we have to learn to also maintain the width.
• Bhujangasana – hands a little forward. First lifting the eyes, then chest and ribs – top thigh has to remain pinned down. Prepared by placing hands on the floor and hooking chest forward and lifting each leg and extending from the root of the leg away. Then we had to press hard the front ankle into the mat to lift up. Dig bottom buttock in and lift whole of front pelvic up, sides of the navel long. Lift the gaze of the eyes and let the chest follow that lift.
• AMVrksasana 1) Middle finger touching the wall and climb the buttocks, heels, ribs upward

2) Take further distance, bend one of the legs to the wall and see that you are not hardening the abdomen when you come down. You should neither place strain on the lumbar by letting the buttocks drop back or on the abdomen, he showed you have to roll the pelvis forward to come down gracefully with the abdomen soft. He likened this natural action to the way a tree sways in the breeze and the hard abdomen method reminds him of a creaky door on rusty hinges moving jerkily and harshly.

Waiting group : Pinca Mayurasana prep in centre of room. No brick or belt, raising one leg at a time without hardening the toes and seeing that the extension of the leg comes from the lengthening in the abdomen.

• Pinca Mayurasana – 1) No belt or brick. Placing the hands close to the wall, even you could turn the fingers out to the side to get in closer. Lumbar back, buttocks up, chest forward. Demonstrated incorrect action of hanging forward in the pose.

2) Coming  further away from the wall (hands where the elbows were previously) Kick up, bend one or both legs, feet to the wall, suck buttocks in and up, then balance. Given option of balancing in centre of room if you wished. Here he talked about the mechanics of the pose – like a deck of cards that you create a pyramid with, the dynamics have to be such that the base is neither too loose and wide, or the cards too close together so they won’t stay. Stack the body up correctly and minimal physical effort is required to balance.

He also talked about how the speed of the second leg coming up has to be twice as fast as it has twice the distance to cover.

• Dropping back from sirsasana to dwi pada viparita dandasana , placing hands and lifting up into urdhva dhanurasana, pressing the legs and feet firmly into the ground and standing up in tadasana. He demonstrated a rocking action – how we have to have the control, getting more and more curve into dorsal, lengthen the shins down to drop back.
• Chatushpadasana into setu bandha hands in back chest, legs bent.

18th February – Raya

17th February – Women’s Class

I was surprised how good my body felt waking up this morning – we didn’t do much in Rajalaxmi’s class last night, but what we did do was deceptively powerful. We headed off for Women’s class on a very warm and close morning – I think the temperature is beginning to creep up as we get closer to March. I have completely banned Jenny from talking about leaving and how close it is etc as I want to enjoy every minute and be fully present, not half way home already!
We sat in the main practice room speculating as usual – Geetaji had been sighted last night in the office – a step was put down which made Sunita the most likely candidate and in came ……. Raya! We did a double-take as his usually generous locks and beard had been barbered off into a close cut crop and he was clean-shaven like a newly shorn sheep! This was all most unexpected – I’ve never heard or witnessed the Women’s class being taught by a man, although Guruji was often present and contributing to the learning when Abhi or Geetaji was teaching.
Raya’s teaching focusses a lot on refining the actions in the poses, not to overdo and distort the body. He gave lots of parodies of poses that he sees in the practice hall – monstrously puffed chests, or tense diaphragms and eyes popping out of the head. He’s not at all a fan of those who come here to primp and preen and show off their advanced poses. We were encouraged to let the pendulum swing back a little the other way – he said that it is necessary to become rajasic (powerful) to move on from a state of tamas (inertia) but you can’t go straight from rajas to sattva (quality of serenity)- you have to take a little swing back towards tamas. He encouraged us not to over exert but to find the ‘texture’ of the pose, each movement in the body balanced by a counter movement – so the grounding of the shins in ustrasana to lift the back chest up, or as we came up into purvottonasana the lower pelvic moving towards the stage as the chest rolls towards the window. It was good to be given a reminder to work in this way and I found that my poses were more sustainable and the breath was better able to flow.
His sequence (link to full sequence below) began with dandasana, onto many repeats of purvottonasana, ustrasana, dhanurasana and urdhva dhanurasana, finishing with chatushpadasana into setu bandha – I’ve never done such regular practice of chatushpadasana as I’m getting this month at the institute. A lot of the time the teachers are getting carried away during the class with their discourse and then there is no time for the inversions proper. With all this practice of chatushpadasana, who knows I may make friends with it and actually come to like it.

A real life Aladdin’s Cave!

In the afternoon Jenny and I headed to Laxmi Road for shopping and had a hot and busy, but very successful trip. There are certain things I save up to get while I am in India as they are so much cheaper than back home. Kitchen stuff is great here and the market is full of it. I managed to find the exact stainless steel pressure cooker I wanted, which is about £60 back home for a mere £15. I love the printed cotton bed sheets that they use in India which I’ve never seen used back in UK and I managed to find the very same one as I have on my bed in my apartment. Once we were all done in we went to the Agatya food hall for a lassi and coconut uttapa. It was a relief to get back to the apartment and I finished the day with a restorative session of inversions to make up for what we missed in class this morning.

17^th February – Women’s Class – Raya

• Dandasana – showed 3 ways of doing 1) Rotating the shoulders back so much that you reveal the chest, but nothing in the chest has actually changed. 2) Not rotating the shoulders at all and puffing the chest up and out. 3) Rotating of shoulders and lift of chest as an integrated action, working together.

The hands had to go slightly back and the HEEL of the hand had to press. If the heel of the hands was not pressing he gave permission to take a folded bit of sticky or similar to press into. We had to come slightly to the front of the buttock bone and chest had to lift to an optimum position for the breath. Listen to the breath to know to where you should lift the chest – no point in having a monstrously puffed chest and the breathing restricted.

Also talked about the toes and metatarsels – they should not be hard – when he sees a row of hard toes standing up on stalks, it makes him think about dogs about to fight baring their teeth.

• Purvottonasna – mainly with bent legs – we did many times and covered many points. Some that I remember:

1. Not to over rotate the elbows, he pointed out many Guruji pictures eg. Bhujangasana 2, ustrasana, dhanurasana – in none of them does Guruji rotate so much that you can see the inner elbow. YES the shoulders are rolling back but he is not overdoing, the elbows remain in a natural position. We learnt this in Dandasana fingers interlocked behind and then took it into purvottonasana.
2. Learning to go up with softness and refinement, finding a pose which you can be in where the correct actions are there but not over actions. As you go up the buttock flesh moving away from the waist and the chest lifting up from the back body and moving towards the window side (head side) behind – so the abdomen is long – do not puff the abdomen. Move the lower pelvic towards the feet to keep the abdomen soft.
3. We looked at how legs too close to the body caused wrong tension on the hamstrings. We investigated how far we go towards straight legs without losing the correct actions. Do not be afraid to work in the intermediary stages of poses. What is the point of completing the pose if everything is lost?

• Ustrasana – legs have to be grounded in order for chest to go up. Coming up from sitting on the feet the’lazy’way – almost a hydraulic lift. Ground the front ankle and shin as you come up, like purvottanasana already scooping the buttock forward as you lift not as a separate action. The actions should be done in such a way that the diaphragm remains soft – Raya showed lots of parodies of poses with tense diaphragm, or puffed chest with none of the refinements. Also said when he sees students throwing the head back incorrectly with the dead weight on the neck makes him think of an execution with the head on the block and he’s tempted to complete what has been started.CHOP.

He gave the visualisation of a bow, either a big bow – as the hands reach for the feet or a small bow with the hands drawing the buttock flesh down. Hands should press the feet – how much did you press the hands in purvottonasana? And how much are you pressing the feet in ustrasana? You have to PRESS the feet with the hands.

• Dhanurasana – the 3 diaphragms spread. An even lift. Lift your eyes to encourage the chest lift. Lift the upper thighs.
• Urdhva Dhanurasana – Pausing on the head to draw the elbows in level, and in towards the shoulders, legs same have to be rooted, top buttock away from the waist, but thighs drawing up into the sockets, almost a circular action.
• Chatushpadasana (don’t over rotate the elbows and shoulders) x 6 and then setu bandha hands into back chest.

General points – Guruji emphasised the poses are bout sthira and sukham – stability and comfort not about flexibility.

Once you’ve understood the principles they should carry through all the poses – you shouldn’t need to have them repeated every step of the way.

17th February – Women’s Class – Raya

16th February – Rajalaxmi

I enjoyed planting up my pot this morning to brighten up our balcony – the white rose smells exquisite and the scent wafts around in the heat. Lovely. I still need a bit more earth though – one of my blog reading local indian friends has offered to help with that! Every time I’ve come to Pune I’ve published a blog on WordPress, but this is the first time it’s been picked up by the local crowd. I bumped into Sue and Kate walking through the park this afternoon and they’d just returned from a visit to the incense shop out at Phadke Haud, where Kate was mistaken for me and asked if she’d got her slippers back yet!! (BTW the answer is NO, NO SLIPPERS BACK YET)

Snooze O’ Clock

We took a visit over to Rima near the Chetak who makes and alters clothing and Jenny left a couple of tops to be reshaped. Rima is a lovely, friendly and skilled tailor who lots of people from the institute recommend, but she did ask me to say, it would be great if people could come with their orders at the BEGINNING of the month so she doesn’t have to work 24/7 for the last two weeks trying to get everything done!
Rajalaxmi’s class this evening was all about preparing new intermediate students to learn full arm balance. We started off in swastikasana arms upward straight and interlocked, leaning diagonally forward so that we were sat on the back thigh, cutting the spine deep inward and taking the arms further and further backward, then keeping the spine IN sitting up a little more straight (see pic below). We repeated this work several times in swastikasana and virasana. We prepared the legs and hips in uttanasana with firmly grounded palms on the floor with many repeated, fast paced leg raises, focussing on keeping the down leg hip steady and the up leg knee straight.

By the time we came to full arm balance her new intermediate students were well prepared. Here the class became pretty chaotic with so many people trying to learn to kick up at the same time, lots of excited chatter and at one point a spontaneous round of applause broke out, as the observers at the back witnessed a slightly rotund man finally manage to kick up after many, many determined attempts. After a good 40 minutes of watching the students attempt to kick up, there was just time for sirsasana and chatushpadasana. The advanced students could have done with some alternative poses or challenges to work on as we lost a large part of the class just watching.
Home via the fruit market where we stocked up on some delicious local produce; watermelon, strawberries, fresh figs, Chinese gooseberries and lemongrass to make tea, which I’ve developed a taste for after my stay at KARE.

16^th February – Rajalaxmi

• Adho mukha swastikasana each side
• U H in swastikasana – extend arms up lean forwards so you are sitting on back thigh, not buttock bones- now cut your spine into your back and take the arms back.
• UBaddangullyasana in swastikasana – slide the little finger deeper in so they cross at the webbing, then reverse palms without allowing them to slide apart. First classically, then look up and take arms further back, then come diagonally forward and cutting the spine deep into the back, especially dorsal and arms further and further backward. Then come a little more upright, but keep sacrum lifting.
• AMS jumping to UTT
• Virasana – come all the way forward onto the head and then reach back with the hands and use the flats of your palms to press the calf muscle outward and down. Maintain the pressure on the outer shin as you sit for Virasana – like before she did not tolerate any rolling in of the knee.
• UH and Baddangullyasana in virasana both interlocks – same action as previously, inclining the trunk forward, cutting the spine deep inward and taking the arms further and further backward.
• Gomukhasana – beginners version with the feet further out to the sides, not a tight entwining of the legs. Spent a long time getting correct rotation of both up and down arm. First extended up arm out to the side in line with the shoulder, then rotated from the shoulder socket, the palm to face up thumb further down towards the floor. Keep this rotation as you raise the arm up and fold at the elbow to place hand on upper back. Outer upper arm roll in and take the elbow further back. Then down arm has to take the long cut, not the short cut –before you bend it up take it straight back and swing it further and further round to completely open front of shoulder and don’t allow that area to close as you bend the arm up the back.
• AMS to UMS to AMS to UTT
• AMVrksasana prep – from uttanasana many times energetically swing each leg up straight whilst maintaining the other hip level. Demonstration that the wrist side of palm has to spread and press, that way the elbows can’t bend.
• AMVrksasana – teaching her students to kick up, same placement of the palms.
• Sirsasana – everyone in centre of room, if you can’t go up ardha sirsasana only. Working on dorsal in like dog pose.
• Chatushpadasana

16th February Rajalaxmi

15th February – Abhi

Awoke in the deep dark to a knock on our door – it was pre-yoga tea being delivered. Opened the curtains and sipped lemon balm tea as the sun came up and the lake gradually brightened into its full glorious beauty. We skipped the yoga class and practiced on a sunny outdoor terrace overlooking the view. KARE is absurdly well equipped for yoga, from the days when links with Guruji were strong, so there are all kinds of wooden and metal props – better equipped than many flashy studios, but much of the equipment now unused and gathering dust.

The yoga teacher / ayurvedic doctor was suffering from sciatica so Jenny and I took the opportunity to show him some very important Iyengar yoga basics as well as giving him some poses to help with the sciatic pain – he was touchingly grateful and a very fast learner, it would be great if the management at KARE could provide him with the time away from his schedule to attend classes at the institute.

On the road to Pune

It was good to get back to our apartment and our cook had left us a meal ready to heat up. We headed off to Abhi’s evening class refreshed after our time away from the city – it felt like a much longer break. Today was the beginning of backbend week and Abhi’s class focussed on getting the correct action of the shoulder blades in dog pose, sirsasana and the standing poses. An energetic and fast paced class and up to her usual high standard. We stayed a long time with legs apart and arms extended sideaways and Abhi told us about the time when Guruji met with the Dalai Lama and she and some of the other senior students gave a yoga demonstration – they were held for a full ten minutes in this pose as Guruji explained the intricacies of the Yamas and Niyamas! We didn’t do much in the way of backbends, but the preparation was there for the week to come (full sequence below).
On the way home I surreptitiously gathered some earth from the freshly dug trench outside our apartment to plant up the clay pot I bought for our beautiful roses. I certainly couldn’t find any compost to buy – I think perhaps the idea of bagging up soil and selling it in a plastic bag has yet to take off here!

Blogging!

15^th February – Abhi

• AMV – Preparing the body for the class
• AMVirasana – full classic pose, knees together sitting between the feet going forward.
• AMV – hands at same level as shoulders – I used two upright bricks – inner shoulders, trapezius away from neck, rolling biceps outward.
• Padangusthasana , Pada Hastasana and gulphasana all Concave Back
• AMV – From seated – several times with belt around elbows NOT letting arms overtake head – going in stages – half way, then 4 inches away from the height you took for hands. Hit out on the belt. Shoulders down, side trunk forward.
• AMS – belt around the elbows – “A Superior Dog!” – inner shoulders suck upward, taking chest closer to legs WITHOUT dropping the elbow, resisting wrists upward OR going beyond your capacity so that the shoulders roll inward. Head to the floor if you can “SHOULDER BLADES UP BACK RIBS IN”
• Repeat AMS with careful placement of the hands – thumb and index finger down first, then place the rest down, hands as wide as possible with the belt.
• Full Arm Balance – still with the belt around elbow joint – harder to kick up but easier to stay.
• Waiting group Vasthisasana – buttocks in, head back. Bottom hip resists away from floor, but don’t hit top hip up.
• Repeat Full Arm Balance – outer buttocks to outer knee
• Waiting group Purvottonasana legs bent
• Prasarita Padottonasana
• Parivrrta Trikonasana – Insert opp hand under foot and fix that shoulder blade, lift top arm UP UP UP
• Weird upside down thing holding ropes that we did with Edgar – note to self, to get out of it: pull on ropes to lift chest up, then walk feet down the wall (don’t turn your arms inside out in their sockets!)
• Tad, Urdhva Hastasana, Urdhva Namaskarasana
• Ardha Chandrasana x 2 – whole palm down, hand exactly in line with foot, put palm on brick if necessary and make sure you don’t throw buttock back in order to get down. Press the thumb and turn.
• UH Padasana – outer edges of feet press. Extend arms in such a way that the bottom upper arm (bingo wing) has to grip upward into the bone and the hands extend normally not with the fingers or wrists raised. Anal mouth faces the floor. She told us about when Guruji met the Dalai Lama and they gave a demonstration while he lectured on Yama and Niyama – 10 minutes in UH Padasana
• Trikonasana – insert palm under outer foot, palm faces up, bend the knee to get the hand under, then straighten the leg.
• AMS
• Parivrtta Parsvkonasana – insert opp hand under front foot and fix that shoulder blade, top arm lift UP UP UP
• Ustrasana x 3 – Cut the outer corners of the buttocks forward.
• Sirsasana – she made us come down as there was  some confusion about which parts of the body she was referring to. Front body is the side you are looking at and back body is the side you cannot see.
• Back up to sirsasana – Back of upper arm to front of upper arm. Inner wrist down. Increase the surface area of the back of the knee. Inner knee upward. Outer elbow toward the inner elbow, circular motion there is needed to keep the shoulders lifted, lift inner and outer blade, the whole slab of the shoulder blade up.
• Halasana – 1)palms facing cutting wrists and upper arms down to support – as if some great weight is placed on the arms and lifting back chest up.2) Palms facing floor and / or catching far edge of mats – only in this version did we briefly lift up into sarvangasana                                3)Fingers interlocked the difficult way with little fingers downward.
• Savasana

15th February Abhi

14th February – Day Off – Kare – Ayurvedic Spa

 

Sunday morning whizzing through the streets of Pune, what a visual feast! The KARE van came to collect me at 9.30am for just over an hour’s drive to the hills on the outskirts of Pune, overlooking Mulshi Lake. The streets were full of life, people going about their Sunday morning business; the coffee shops full, children playing, goats rummaging through the rubbish and at one point we passed four camels, complete with brightly attired riders perched up high, strutting majestically along the edges of the traffic flow!  At a set of traffic lights a bright and beautiful girl of about the same age as my youngest (who is 8) came up to the car window smiling and it took me a moment or two to realise she wanted money. By the time I got my purse from the depths of my bag, the lights had changed and I just caught the weary expression of her mother as she looked at her daughter coming away without the prize. Sad. I hoped she’d managed to get Jenny the day before on her trip through, as she’d certainly have given her something.

As we left central Pune and the buildings started to become more sparse, we came across multiple out of town developments – massive concrete apartment blocks under construction with huge billboards selling the idea of ‘the beautiful life’ make a deposit of 10% and own your own apartment- cost for a one bedroom was starting at 19.99 lakh (about £20,000) so a deposit of £2000 and you’re in – wish it was that simple back home! The construction method here is quite different to the UK and you see as each level goes up, the ceiling is braced by a myriad of wooden or metal poles. There is no landscaping around these buildings so that they stick out like the proverbial sore thumb against a background of dusty, dry scrubland.

A little further out and the setting becomes much easier on the eye; humble farmsteads with hay crofts and oxen and women tending the fields. The road began to climb steadily upward and became increasingly bumpy – we passed a truck whose weight had caused the driver to lose control coming down the hill and he’d ploughed into a corner with his load pushing into the back of the cab. The driver sat disconsolately aside, presumably awaiting some kind of assistance.

It was good to arrive and feel the slightly cooler temperature – for a brief moment my cardigan saw the light of day, the first time since leaving Heathrow. The surroundings are very pleasant; a beautiful view of the lake, sunshine, trees and a constant chatter of birdsong. I joined Jenny for a light breakfast of fruit and idli before heading off for an ayurvedic consultation with the resident doctor (drink more and don’t fast so long during the day – I tend to eat my breakfast very late as of course yoga is practiced on an empty stomach). Then off for my first treatment – I hesitate to call it a massage as it lacked any of the finesse that you would expect from an accomplished masseur – more a complete body and scalp oiling. The facilities are rustic and functional – you are issued with a strip of tissue and a piece of string to cover your modesty! After the oiling you are directed to a shower to rub in terracotta -coloured sandy paste which removes the oil. Once washed, scrubbed and dressed you are given a pinch of powder to inhale and sent on your way. The treatments are given by a pair of young sisters – it must take some guts to overcome the natural shyness of a young girl bought up in this culture, to actually be able to confidently massage almost naked westerners two (or three or four!) times their age. Hmmmh.Although Jenny tells me that at least they only work with women.

I made an unscheduled decision to stay the night and hitch a lift with Jenny in the morning – it felt too abrupt an ending to leave so soon, though I am reluctant to miss my ‘proper’ practice in the morning. There is an extremely well-equipped yoga hall (ropes, chairs, backbenders, halasana stools) here and two sessions of yoga a day, billed as Iyengar yoga, but not taught by an Iyengar teacher these days. All the staff here are potentially great, but need their management to invest in some proper training. Still all in all, comfortable rooms, in beautiful surroundings and a very welcome escape from city life.

 

13th February – Women’s Class – Sunita

Spotted this butterfly on our way to class.

I felt a curious resistance going into the institute today – I wasn’t really sure I was up for it, having worked hard all week both in standing poses and the parivrrta seated poses, as well as in my own practice.

I felt still more apprehension as Sunita walked in, remembering Wednesday’s tough class. I needn’t have worried – she began the sequence with Supta Baddha Konasana followed by lots of Supta Padangusthasana – absolutely right for how I was feeling. In fact ever since arriving, each class seems to have been perfectly placed for what I’ve needed at the time – which is a really good sign that I’m connected into the right flow.

A nice class where we worked on rooting into the sockets of the legs and opening the groin at the front throughout – supta padangusthasana 1 and 2, UH padangusthasana 1 and 2, trikonasana and sirsasana variations maintaining what had been learnt. It was a shame that we had a bit of a long lecture at the end of class where she fired questions at people not doing sirsasana because of neck injuries, leaving us too short of time for sarvangasana. We did halasana / karnapidasana instead – here we had to make sure the eyes were not moving towards the brain, but down towards the chest. This really quietened the mental state in the pose and we rolled down very carefully so as to mindfully preserve this state. We finished in uttanasana – again without shaking the head or disturbing the mental quietness we had created. Ending in uttanasana after sarvangasana is something I’ve only ever done in Pune, but it seems to work well when there is no time for savasana.

On the way home I spotted the flower barrow so bought some plants to pot up for the balcony, it’s the small things….

I spent a long time on the computer organising this year’s yoga holiday to the Maldives and needed a nice lengthy restorative practice to recover. What really came home to me during this practice is that spending a month here for me is in some ways not about the yoga I am taught in classes, but how that yoga enables me to discover things on my own mat. The body and mind are ready for the real work – my own quiet, personal practice.

Tomorrow I am off to join Jenny for the day at KARE – an Ayurvedic retreat in the hills about an hour from Model Colony.

13^th February – Women’s Class – Sunita

Supta Baddha Konasana – catching the shins and lengthening from groin to the knee. Insert your palms under the buttock and see here can you widen more? Arms over the head also.

Supta Padangusthasana 1 and repeat – First with bent leg holding the shin, rotating the root of the thigh away. Here we learnt how to stop the down leg from shrinking as you bring the leg up. So we lifted the down leg heel a little and elongated the entire back of the leg to extend that leg further away. This helped to open the backs of the knees and feel more contact of the back leg on the floor and we were better able to stop it shrinking – the leg should not come towards the brain, your brain has to go to the heel.

Supta Padangusthasana 2 – Trying to keep opposite buttock down. Rooting deep into the socket and rotating as the leg goes down. Maintaining the extension of the down leg.

Supta Padangusthasana 2 – This time we took a thick mat to lie on and folded the sticky mat several times to make a flat wedge that ran from the back of the knee to the shoulder blade on the down side – so that the buttock could really press into something, at the same time we rolled the blanket for the leg that was going to the side – here we were so much better balanced. We could really work on the correct extension and people were able to open much more.

Supta Padangusthasana – leg across the body, we strictly had to keep the buttock pressing into the folded sticky mat to take the leg across PRESS!

SBK – no props – now is it better than the first SBK?

UH Padangusthasana x 2 – We faced the bar and had a belt looped around the upper pipe. Outer thigh crease down, standing leg straight (watch the foot doesn’t turn out), pelvic rim upward.

Parsva UH Padangusthasana x 2 – She showed on someone how we were not opening the groin at the front. PRESS the buttock forward and standing thigh backward and grip into the socket of that leg (if you had the sole of the foot on the wall it would allow you to really ground the bone into the socket) and pelvic rim upward and pelvis opening, roll the standing leg pelvic bone away from up leg.

Trikonasana – A clever person would know that the actions are the same here and they would have done with front foot to the wall rather than going with the habit of back foot to the wall.

Parsva UH Padangusthasana quickly into Trikonasana – to understand how the work is the same – your buttock bone to the person in front of you, don’t let it touch the person behind you. In Trikonasana front toes up, back arm over head to wall, pressing the foot into the wall, to really root the front leg femur deep inwards, at the same time pressing the buttock deep forward to open the groin at the front.

Sirsasana, eka pada sirsasana, parsva eka pada sirsasana – Same work of rooting seep into the hip socket.

Halasana, karnapidasana – The eyes should not go to the brain or it will cause a headache, the eyes to the chest side. Rolling down carefully with bent legs so as not to disturb at all the halasana state of the mind.

Uttanasana – carefully preserving the brain quiet like halasana

13th February – Women’s Class – Sunita

12th February – Abhi – Pranayama

Patanjali on the outer wall of institute

As I was contemplating writing today’s blog and feeling perhaps that I could do with a few more adventures to report on – I remembered a chuckle my friend Frances and I often have – about how, as long as we have the space to practice yoga, life for us is good. So even the idea of a prison sentence holds some appeal because locked up for 18 hours of the day, with no outside disturbance we know exactly how we would put that time to good use – even if you chained us to the wall we would still be able to practice pranayama and continue to thrive on very little other sustenance.

This morning I continued to focus on my Diabetes programme given by Guruji in 2014 alongside practice for my Senior 1 assessment. I spent a pleasant afternoon in the kitchen making healthy ‘truffles’ with my new blender purchase. Softened dates, creamed coconut, cocoa powder, nuts and seeds and rolled in dessicated coconut.

Had a serene walk through the park in the evening sun as I headed for Friday evening pranayama. One thing Pune really has going for it is the number of ancient trees littered everywhere – it seems like the city was built around the trees, rather than them being axed to make way for the city. This was really evident when we viewed the city from the very top of the Mariott hotel. It almost looked like a city in the forest, there were so many substantial trees everywhere and from above they look more, because you are viewing the whole spread of the canopy (it reminded me of the pictures you sometimes see on the web of a long deserted city that the tress and vegetation have begun to reclaim)I think this must also be how such a variety of birds continue to flourish here, despite the intrusion of so many people, so much traffic pollution and noise. Also there hasn’t been the same modernisation of agriculture that has caused such a problem for birdlife in the western world.

I got Bobby C to save me a spot so that once everyone had arrived I was able to sneak out and check the shoe racks to see if I could swap my shoes back – alas no sign of my own pair – every size, shape and colour of Birkenstock known to mankind, but NOT my own .

Abhi’s class was great – her teaching is well organised, thorough and clear (full sequence link below). She used a lovely analogy of Guruji’s where you welcome the inhalation like a revered guest, you show him all around your house and when it is time for him to depart (The exhalation) – you don’t push your guest out of the door – you let him go reluctantly – eventually he departs but you delay that moment as long as possible. This analogy worked particularly well when it came to the anta kumbhak – the retention of the inhalation. Here before your guest prepares to leave, you come forward to embrace him, there is a union of you and your breath, before you reluctantly allow him to go. In the final savasana we observed how the dynamic had changed, from in the beginning where you were trying to detain your guest, to the present, where your guest himself was reluctant to leave. This summed up exactly the nature of the breath in that final savasana.

12^th February – Abhijata – Pranayama

1. Savasana – bolster and blanket. Careful placement so that the brain does not get ‘pulled’ by a disturbance in the body. The area between the eyebrow and the eye should not be heavy or this indicates a stress on the brain. Keep that area light.
2. Seated slow soft inhalation, slow soft exhalation. Use awareness when selecting support, the groins should not be lower than the knees or the spine cannot extend upward. Don’t take the legs so tight that the pelvis loses its space. Using the hands behind to keep the lift of the trunk. Using the visualisation of the 4 pillars: front side trunk, back side trunk, left and right side – none of the pillars should be higher than the other and all four should remain upright Outer shoulder blades in, inner shoulder blades out. Experienced students the front pillar should not be higher than the back pillar – instead find the lift internally, on the interior wall of the sternum bone. Beginners can just lift the front chest. Inhale the inner surface of the sternum bone whilst releasing downward along the arm. The exhalation has to inform the inhalation. So as you exhale naturally the eyes want to release downward to the chest. Can you continue to release them downward as you inhale?
3. Seated slow soft inhalation, slow soft exhalation, hands on the thigh for those that can. Introducing Guruji’s analogy of a revered guest arriving (the inhalation) how you must welcome that guest. You show your guest all around your home. When it is time for your guest to go (The exhalation) – you don’t push your guest out of the door – you let him go reluctantly, eventually he departs but you delay that moment.
4. Recovery lying on the back flat.
5. Seated, changing cross of legs. Introducing anta kumbhak – continuing with the guest analogy -now when it is time for your guest to leave, you have to come forward and embrace him. When you embrace there is a union, so let there be a union between yourself and your breath before you reluctantly allow him to leave.
6. After you complete your inhalation, take a further inhalation and see how this is possible, how you can increase the scope and volume of your inhalation breath. This is not the same as a viloma – as far as you are concerned the breath is complete and then only you take a further additional inhalation.
7. Final Savasana with bolster and blanket – observe how your breath has changed from your breath of 6 o clock as you lay down for your first savasana and notice how now your guest does not want to leave. Before you wanted to keep your guest, now it is different your guest himself is reluctant to leave. Observe that.

Throughout she reminded us regularly to swallow the saliva, to keep the area between the eyebrow and eye light, not to place any stress on the brain. We had to reopen the eyes and then close by releasing the upper eyelid downward over the eye – it’s a different closing of the eye.

She explained how using the analogy (of the breath as a guest) allows you to give a form that you can follow for the abstract work of the breath, in the same way as we give the idols a form, so that we can visualise their qualities in an actual form, a being.

12th February – Abhi – Pranayama

11th February – Raya

 

Local School

Had a looong practice this morning and a restful afternoon (by ‘restful’ read ‘long snooze’ – I feel guilty mentioning this as I know just how hard my partner at home is having to work while I’m away). Headed into Raya’s class knowing it would be busy, as Prasant’s normal class this morning was cancelled and his huge following was redirected to Raya this evening.

As we were sitting waiting for class to begin, I was contemplating my current headstand troubles – the last time I was in Pune in 2014 I had to rebuild it from scratch as I had got into the habit of doing it completely incorrectly. In the words of Stephanie Quirk “The single most important thing you can do to improve your organ health is to improve you alignment in Sirsasana”. After 6 months or so of practicing against the corner of a column to learn to realign myself  I found I had completely ‘lost’ my headstand. Two years later it is still a daily struggle and currently I am using the wall to draw the buttocks and front ribs in before balancing. So there I was thinking it was probably about time to bite the bullet and resume going up in the centre of the room again, when Raya started the class with headstand and stated that nobody was to use the ropes or the wall. It was either balance in the centre, or lie down in supta baddha konasana with the menstruating ladies! Decision made then!

18 minutes of headstand with padmasana, pindasana, parsva pindasana, virasana, urdhva dandasana later I was (literally) on my knees. In some ways it was very much a Prasant style class – very little instruction and long periods of listening interspersed with some advanced asana.

 

He spoke about how our minds flick from one thing to another. He talked about the effect of what’s app, facebook, news bulletins with 3 different layers of text streaming across the screen; how this is making the mind flick about and us become impatient always wanting action, sensory input. And then when we are in a pose we are wanting that constant stream of instruction to hold onto. The subject is too vast to give a comprehensive list of instructions to – like trying to give an instruction book on parenting, when every child is so different and has so many aspects. Especially those of us who only come and study in Pune for a month, understand that you are nowhere near to getting the whole picture – don’t think you have understood everything there is to know about yoga, that you’ve “got it” – he said none of us (including himself) fully understood what Guruji was trying to impart. The subject is vastly more complicated than we have understood – he made  reference to Guruji pointing to the stars and the universe and instead of us beginning to take in the sheer wonder of what Guruji was showing, we become fixated on the finger that is pointing – how straight, how perfectly aligned that finger is. The asana is the method and while we have to practice asana we should not think that it is everything.

As my children will tell you (cos I often bang on about it), the subject of how smartphones and screens make the mind flicker about is one that is close to my heart – and actually I think some of my current difficulty with headstand does stem from that. We finished with a very long stay in Halasana (to balance the long sirsasana) and here he said we should be able to feel the layers of texture in the asana . He spoke about the important aspects of asana – not strength, glamour, external appearance etc but the most important aspect is sensitivity. Guruji said he had to use his mind strongly, forcefully to get into an asana but then the mind has to withdraw. One of my personal favourite Guruji quotes that often comes into my mind when I am really trying to get an action is “Nothing should be forced, receptivity is everything”.

After class as I was putting equipment back I heard a couple of local indian men chatting and mixed in with the Marathi I thought I heard the word Hockey, which immediately stuck out as it’s my surname. Slightly puzzled I continued on, thinking I’d probably imagined it, but a few minutes later the gentleman approached me and said (in thick local accent) “You’re Tamara Hockey right?” I’ve been following your blog!!” Ha! It’s getting about!

I was quite dismayed on trying to retrieve my much loved  (birthday present from my sisters) Birkenstocks from the shoe racks, to find someone had taken them home and left me a similar pair. I looked around to see if I could spot them and was told by a number of people that they have developed various strategies to stop this from happening – separating the pair, hiding one beneath the rack or putting them right out of reach on the top shelf. Any blog readers here in Pune, these are the similar pair, see pic below.

 

11th February