Follow-up Six Months Later

It has been six months since I returned from Pune.  It didn't take very long to readjust to being back home, but there was adjustment--mostly getting back up to speed after having a very different pace in India.  What remains after six months, or at least what is most noticeable to me is the feeling that I am more deeply integrating what I learned there in my practice and teaching: what is 'uddiyana kriya', and what it means for pranayama and asana practice.  And I also realize in a different way what a gift it is to be able to travel there and to learn from the Iyengars.

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?

Day of Transition

 Oct 30.  I arrived in Pune around 7 am, after an 8 hour flight from Pittsburgh to Charlotte, an 8 hour flight from there to Frankfurt, 7 hour layover, an 8 hour flight to Mumbai some waiting, then a four hour ride from Mumbai.  I am  in and out of wakefulness, trying  to see something on the way to Pune, but it is still dark.  Looked forward to crashing as soon as I get to my hotel, but...they didn't have my reservation.   So I thought, why not go to the apartment I am supposed to stay starting tomorrow?  It is just a half-mile away and my suitcase rollers still work.  I can't check in until noon anyway.  The apartment is just across from the Iyengar Institute, so I know how to get there, mostly.  I get a couple of good tips from the outgoing tenants, where to have lunch, etc.  I go back to the Hotel where I run into a colleague from Wisconsin having breakfast.  She suggests I sign up for classes at the institute right away, since their office closes at noon, so I do that.  The fog is getting thicker and thicker, but luckily I can now go back and have a rest, after about 40 hours of traveling.  It was lucky I got to do some yoga at the Frankfurt airport. 

Some familiar sites--very few traffic lights, currents flowing from several directions at once—have to pay attention!  Have to walk on left side of sidewalk, just like road traffic; temperature is a comfortable, 90 deg F in the day, about 75 F in the evening; wary of mosquitoes, a few around, mostly in the evening.   

Oct 31.  Settled in my flat (-apartment), first class at the Institute tomorrow morning at 7 am!

Traveling

The sun is rising at 2 am...in Frankfurt and my brain is moving about 1/2 speed.  Ok, it is 9 am here, and I have a few hours to get used to this time zone before going on to Mumbai.  Got started Thursday at 8 am from Morgantown, so it will add up to about 35 hours of traveling before I get to Pune. I think I'll need a long nap when I arrive Saturday at 6 am (their time). 

So far no major mishaps traveling, which is no small thing--given my history...