Road To Mysore

So it's been officially posted this morning. The shala will be closed from January 5 to 10. The question now is what to do with all those days off. Initially we were decided between Pondicherry or Goa. Since the earthquake affected Chennai which is close to Pondicherry, we've ruled that out. Goa is a little bit pricer and it's peak season which means it could be a little chaotic. I estimate 5 to 6 days in Goa would cost around $500 give or take. I've never been to Goa so I'm really inclined to go but I'm not sure if I want to spend the money. The other option now is to stay in Mysore and maybe practice with Sharath. I spoke to Sharath earlier today and he said he would be closed only for 3 days but he was not sure if he would take students from the main shala. He said he would get back to me. Let's see how things will unfold in the next few days.

This morning I had my first rolfing session. I'm been often asked about rolfing since I'm a bodyworker but I don't have a good answer because I've never experienced it. There are a handful of rolfer's here so I took my time on who I would asked. I decided to get work from Jennifer since I liked her energy and she wasn't selling herself when I asked her about it. I've committed for at least 3 session which I think is minimum for most rolfers. They prefer that you do 10 session. I told Jennifer that I would probably pass out since I had a really hard practice and I was tired. I've gotten a lot of bodywork done on me and I'm very good at just letting go and not worrying about the pain. She looked at me funny and didn't believe that I would actually fall asleep during the session.

The session started with me walking back and forth in the room. I guess she wanted to know if I walked funny. She then asked me to stand still and take deep breaths. I was just dying to get on the table because I was really tired and I needed my daily after practice nap. The session was relatively painful but bearable. She would often anchor on a specific muscle then ask me to either move my leg or arm one way or another. True to form, midway through the session I passed out. I was asleep but very concious of what was going on because she would ask me to move here or there. I know I fall asleep because sometimes my snore will wake me up. I always tell whoever works on me not to tell me that I snored because I already know that.

The first session eventually ended after an hour and a half. It's hard to have any opinion on it yet since it's the first session and I still have at least two more session. I did feel a change in the way I breath. It was much easier. She had worked a lot on my chest and between my ribs. She also worked a lot on my hips and glut area but there was no significant change. Too early to tell. Maybe if I could get into padmasa tomorrow, I'll be sold on it(wishful thinking).

This afternoon I went to the shala to pay my last month for this trip. I can't believe it's already my fourth month. Where has time gone. My month officially ended on the 25th but since the shala had been closed since then, I did it today. Guruji is funny. When I came to pay he says, "Second month?" I wanted to say "Hey dude, where have you been, why don't you try fourth month!!!" I didn't have the heart to say that so I just smiled and said, "No, fourth month Guruji, last month!" The countdown begins, 25 more days...nooooo...