Road To Mysore

Yesterday was the led primary at 5. It wasn't as full as last Friday because there is a led intermediate at 7. The room was actually quite spacious yesterday. I think I had about 6 inches(maybe 8 inches) between mats. Sharath led the class and Guruji just sat on his chair watching. I was in the front row slightly to the left of Guruji(the power line was in the next class so I wasn't hazzled about being in the front row). During class I would get a glimpse of Guruji falling a sleep. It was really amusing. The class went nice and smoothly and as usual I got some help from Saraswati in paschimattanasana but to my surprised it was Sharath who adjusted me in Mari A & B. Saraswati is good but Sharath is awesome. When he adjusted me on the left side of Mari B, he simply pulled my arms with ease and the next thing I knew my fingers were touching. I'm normally at least a foot away from touching. If I didn't get too excited, I think I have could binded. Anyway, just touching the fingers of my two hands was good enough for me. After class, I bumped into Sharath...he smile at me and said,"in B fingers touched, next week we bind". I could see he was just as excited as I was.

Later that afternoon we had our first conference. They said that there hasn't been a conference in more than a month so the whole shala was there. Here's a quick list of the topic which were discussed:

1. Uth Pluthi is important because in this posture moala banda is engaged. Important to practice moala banda because it's used in pranayama. Much of the discussion was centered on this topic.

2. Breathing deeply is also important. Not to control breath while practice. Breath smoothly and consistently while practice. In time the breath will be longer.

3. Someone asked about the other forms of yoga. Bikram...joke. One week, two week, two month teacher training also a joke. We learn to teach from experience. It normally takes 5 years to get past the first series and the advance students normally have been practicing for 10 years or more.

4. Shirsasana...90% of the weight on the forearms. Somebody complained about having neck problems. Guruji also a said "Read about Shirsasana in the Yoga Mala 10 times first before ask question."

5. Practice, practice, practice...all is coming(he repeated many times).

There were other topics discussed but these are the ones I remember. After the conference, everybody lined up to pay there respects to Guruji. I've seen many people do it after class but I felt awkward because I haven't been here long enough. They would bow down, touch the feet a few times and then put there hands together. I decided that it was time for me to do it. I've been here 10 days already. I did it but still felt a little awkward doing. I guess the first one is always the awkward one. After that, a few of us had pictures taken with Guruji. I now have my first picture with the man himself. I think Guruji enjoys having his picture taken. He has such a beautiful smile. He also enjoys getting hugs and kisses from all the women(who wouldn't, lucky man).

Later that night, a few of us went to Annie Pace house for a kirtan. I've only been to one before this so I don't know much about kirtans. The house was full about 20 to 30 people and when I arrived they had already started singing. Annie was playing the harmonium and doing most of the singing and Auntie(I think she was Annie's teacher) was on the drums and sometimes on the harmonium. In the begining I just sat back and listened. Annie has a real nice voice and looks pretty Indian for an American. I think she even speaks Kanada. I wanted to sing but the words were just too difficult to read. At the tail end of the kirtan, Victoria(from Colorado) helped me get into one song. The lyrics were pretty simple but a lot of fun. It was mostly hari hari, hari hari, boom boom, hari hari, ah ah ah ah. That's the only line I remember because we kept repeating it. We also kept shouting "jai" after every song too which means victorious. I think I was the only who didn't know that because I had to ask in the middle of the kirtan. There was no sense in me shouting something I didn't understand. It was a lot of fun. I'm definitely going to be back next Sunday.

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night. I couldn't stop thinking of which of my things I was going to leave behind. Earlier that day while I was hanging out in Shiva's office(he converted the garage of his house into an office, it's a few houses from the shala) I notice a few metal boxes. These boxes contained personal belonging of yoga student who are coming back. I know I've only been here for 11 days but I'm already on planning of coming back. I thought there is no sense in me bringing back everything LA. I've already decided that I will be back around the same time next year. I know if I work my ass out from February to August 2005, I could be on a plane back to Mysore by September. I know that at times I'm very fickle minded but I know deep in my heart I'm coming back. I feel at home here.

This morning's practice was pretty good. I made the extra effort of going through my practice taking slow deep breaths. I tried to breath as smoothly as I can. I remembered Guruji saying...breathing, breathing important. I moved extra slow in my practice. I was concious about everything. I was really happy with myself. It was a really nice and easy practice. I think I'll do that more often.

Today was the first day of my ayurvedic massage class. It's going to be for 7 days, 3 hours/day with Sashi. He is a young Indian man with very good energy. We started with the head massage while sitting on a chair and then the back of the legs. Ayurvedic massage uses a lot of fast strokes to create friction. They also use a lot of thick medicated oils. We used a different oil for the head and the face. The table was pretty high and not adjustable. My whole body mechanics was really different. I'm trying to keep an open mind but I really prefer slower strokes. We're going to learn a whole routine in the next seven days.

I was going to shave my head bald this week but my massage teacher asked me to keep my hair this week so it will be easier for the person practicing on me. I'll probably do it next week. Christine from the LA shala is a hair dresser and she'll shave it for me.