A Day of Routine

It seems to take at least a week to sort out all the things that are needed to be able to settle into a routine--paying for classes, moving into apartment (which is often a few days after arriving), figuring out internet access, getting money exchanged to rupees, where to buy groceries, etc.  And then there is the need to adjust to the class and practice schedule: if you take a class from 7 - 9 am, and practice time is 9 am - 12 noon, then better figure on having a good breakfast, or doing lots of restoratives at practice time.  Or, what I have been doing is going back to my apartment, having a second breakfast, then returning to the Institute for a 2 hour practice.  This only works if you are very close to the Institute...

So by now I have the comfort and predictability of routine--or I should say some routine preceding the inevitable unexpected things :) 

I am attaching a few photos I took of the interior of the Institute during the Patanjali Jayatri celebration.

Shopping on Laxmi Road During Diwali



View of Pune from Parvati Hill

                                    

View from base of Parvati Hill

      Nov 5 -7 Diwali and New Year.  Lots of celebration and fireworks everywhere.  A few of us took an autorickshaw ride to attend a ceremony on the outskirts of Pune, to a place called Parvati Hill.  From there we could see much of Pune, once the early morning fog cleared.

Laxmi Road, Popular Shopping District

                                       

New Year's Celebration

A Day Off from Classes

No class today, the Institute is getting ready for Patanjali Jayatri, a celebration of Patanjali just before Diwali festivities.  I took a walk through a park near the Institute, enjoyed the quiet of the park and the exotic trees and plants.  That was good preparation for what came next, a stroll to Fergusson College Road, one of the busiest in Pune.  In the evening two of Guruji’s students spoke, the first on sutra I.1 atha yoga anusasanam, the other on sutra I.2 yogas citta vrtti nirodhah.  Then Guruji spoke about the aim of yoga, how we may touch each layer of the being through asana, to reach the soul, to recognize the expansive nature of our minds, to come to realize cosmic consciousness.  We begin by spreading our minds evenly throughout our bodies. 

First Day of Classes

Actually the first day of classes was Monday, Nov 1.  Mine was Nov 2--layed out for the first day by gastritis.  Had to be taken by scooter to a local hospital Monday morning after it reached a crescendo, good enough by Tuesday morning to attend class. No matter what anyone else tells you, don't try gastritis, not at all recommended.

First class with Prashant—excellent metaphors to teach us not to get too much into performing poses and actions just for their own sake, or automatically and dogmatically.  See the poses as ways of culturing the breath and the mind. Be aware of the action you are performing, where it is initiated, what it’s purpose is (what part of the body/breath/mind are you trying to affect), and what its benefits are: notice which are the benefactors, beneficiaries and benefits for each action.  This makes practice less about the body, more about the mind and cultivating wisdom. 

There is an element of traveling I am just beginning to discern: we are wrapped in a sheath or protective cocoon wherever we live and are settled that is made up of  our mind’s sense of the familiar and an energetic protective barrier for our bodies.  Once we leave our living milieu we also move out of these protective sheaths.  If the move is not too far,  the change is into a similar environment that has a similar sheath and we feel minimal physical and mental challenges.  If the move is farther away, then a greater disruption is likely, unless we have adapted to it in the recent past.  It is not just the obvious change of time zone, climate, and change of pace and rhythm, different colors and sounds.  It is that our internal environment is dependent in unconscious ways on the nature of the external environment—the prevailing attitudes and energies of those who live there.  And all of our internal processes must change and adapt, from our metabolism to our state of mind and attitudes, all to be able to be in phase with the prevailing winds of the new location.  All this has to happen before I can feel like ‘myself’ in the new location.   Maybe getting over jet lag, plus something else J?