Ashtanga Traveler

...tough yoga.

We have less than two weeks now before our joureney home begins....and that is when i think I will really "think" about Mysore, the yoga, the expereinces, the images.

As I am here now i find it tricky to focus on everything around me....there is so much to embrace, to discard...to contemplate.

I expect a flood of sensations as I walk on the airplane to head home.

A few more images to share for now....

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Which Colour?

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Conrad, hmmm, what am I doing here?

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My birthday party

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Kiwi girls with Sharath and Gurugi

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Giant

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Happy Pongo

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Kiwi House

One last thought....at what point in life do you decide to let fireworks off IN THE HOUSE?

Any guesses?

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On the way to the Giant...Conrad and Huxley walked all the way up and down the steps....

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Hux on the Bus

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Conrad the Builder

In away it is hard to write about this because 1) I was so nervous I could not sleep, 2) it was really intense for me....wild, and 3) because it feels abit funny too...maybe it is just that it was a bit more personal.....but basically the Led Second class was, at the end of the day, a heap of fun. I tried hiding out in the back row....right?...but then at the start of the class was moved up to the front...yikes. But in the end it was a good spot, off to the right...cozy even. I found the practice hard....a lot of focus on lifting up and holding after each posture before jumping back....arms were killing me by the end, but it felt really good.

I went threough til the half way point, Eka Pada....which was plenty for me....I have a ways to go before I figure that out...leg behind the head is okay...but holding it there...entirely new thing.

As my last week here, it was a real treat to be given this as my new pratice....something new to work on, exciting, but at the same time it will perhaps free me, liberate my primary series practice, so that on Fridays I have something new as well each week, something new to appreciate.

With Mysore settled deep in my heart, I felt okay leaving, just okay....a part of me wanting another month, but then what would that really mean in the larger skeem. I will be back.

I have had one week to crawl out from under the jet lag, get the kids sorted out on some type of structured schedule, get back to work, get back to the yoga school....and it all starts up again...in a good way.

I feel lucky, priveledged, thankful...more than I ever have before. India does that to you...along with much much more....more to consider and contelpate for a time before I could make any sense of it now.

I am happy to have the deep clean sea at my doorstep...the rich, clean air to breath...the GREEN bush. I am happy to have my bed, my teacups, and a few odds and ends...the photos of my mom I have been missing. But the bottom line is there is a home where my heart and soul and family is comforted, whether they are there with me in reality or in my mind.

I know that in days, weeks, months to come I will slip back from time to time...start to encompass petty things, and drive myself crazy....but there is no way to forget something like this trip....transformative is a mild statement I think.

However...I am still...I would not want anyone over in the US that might be keeping track of to think I have become some total wacko...at least not anymore than usual.

The boys are happy and healthy....back in their NZ creche with a few Kannada words mixed in for a thrill. I am determined to keep the Sanskrit going...I highly recommend the classes at the Shala for those interested in learning the language. Anyone trekking off to Mysore with pre-school age children....take them to the ABC Montessori Academy....1000 rps for a month, 9:30am-12:30pm M-F....if you want SOME structure. I loved having my kids with me and cannot really imagine it any other way. You just need to be very careful, common sense.

Yoga back at home feels great....was a stiff sore start day, but now I feel really good. Good to be back.

Assisting is really so much fun....directed positive energy, helping, sharing, participating....it is a lovely way to focus attention and energy. I was sort of nervous.....would my touch be the same? Would the people be the same...would they want me around?

I think it went pretty well...it felt so to me. There were a lot of new faces which is great...but some familar ones too. It was good sized class...15 or so, not bad for 6am. It was challenging. But I think I got into the swing of it pretty quickly...keeping track of people, introducing myself to new people...not being timid. I felt more comfortable, maybe even more confident than before I left...which is strange......because after time away I would have thought the opposite.

My practice that followed was also quite refreshing and light. It was fun to be back, catching up with my teachers about this and that. Having their input and their own stories to tell....which I understand a bit more based on my own experiences in Mysore.

I am finding that there is a big difference between doing the primary and at least what I am doing of the intermediate series....difference in the lightness, the focus, the feeling afterward. This does nt surprise me, I should add. But I have been thinking about the series as different units....one for this and the other for this....one may be better if you are feeling this way and the other better if you are feeling that way....just a thought. Tow more poses to work on:
Dwi Pada Sirsasana and Yoga Nidra

Also found this off the ez board and thought it might be interesting for those that had not caught wind of it yet....

http://www.pyxisinc.com/gurujifilm/index.htm

Not bad really....headed to Piha with the boyz on Friday....caught wind of some music happening the next day at the super 16 surf championship....right on....headed out there again on Sat....watched the surfing a bit...although from the shore the dudes look like antz...then some free Salmonella Dub ON the beach....cannot get any better...with H and C able to play with their cars in the dunes...and catching the sound on its way out to sea....about 200 people maybe....lots of sunshine.....and then on Sunday, A tsunami relief concert with a whole lineup of gigs.....went down for the last few...Scribe (current NZ Hiphop master dude) included.....and where was the yoga?

Sat moring I had a very charged practice....windows fogged lots of heat and breath....Practice was good. Went through all my backbends for the first time in almost 4 months....lots of handstands...love them, missed them....it is funny finding the handstand zone again.

Have had a little break through since coming home....my teacher is encouraging me to work on arm and shoulder strength....so after Prasarita Padottanasana A-D I am doing a split handstand hold for 5, then raising the legs up and down for five then hold for five....I have been able to do this for awhile (took break while in India of course)...but come to find out now when I do this I can actually raise up into the handstand without jumping or pushing off with my feet....just lifting them off the ground...it is really crazy. The thing is...I might have been able to do this before but never tried it.... It is one of those things that seems impossible until you try....anyway, I it is not so easy (at least for me) to do this when going into a handstand with feet together...so I stillhave to push off a bit there...maybe one day though...you never know.

I am really enjoying the next two poses of the second (Dwi Pada Sirsasana and Yoga Nidrasana)....although MY HIPS!!!!...wow. Talk about attention...they are getting it. And they are getting it in a funny way that is not so easy to explain...feels deep within.

Back bends were surprisingly okay today after a rest yesterday...felt toght in the shoulders today...but had some things to deal with yesterday...so maybe it was a hangover from that.

Looking forward to Dena's workshop next week.....6 days, Sun-F. Her workshop last year was really amazing.

I have been taking a few moments here and there reflecting on the expereinces of India, juxtaposing mylife there with my life here in NZ. CLearly at this point there are vast differences not only in day to day activity, but overall intent.

So what am I doing now. Work is going ahead as usual. I am bored by the mundane, but find a flurry of interest swell in me from time to time on more theoretical levels. For interest I am quite keen to follow up some discussion about yoga and cancer that have been brought up both here (blogging) as well as in Mysore as well as actually with a colleague at work...interest spark.

The paper I sent off just before going to India was published in the latest Chemical Research in Toxicology Journal. I am now going over the odds and ends of other projects that I have been working on to pull off another manuscript asap...although there are holes to deal with. And all this exist in the dimension or plane of my life that encompasses science.

In the yoga world things are also back on track. I have started assiting again...yeah. I have a workshop with Dena and Jack to look forward to next week. My practice is going very well, stable and intriguing. Have to get back on top of my studies, keep the Sanskrit going (which I really love).

Mothering...hmmm...it is hard to go from spending almost all your time with your wee cherubs to very little...I miss them. This break in the regular cycle was so amazing. I think they are doing fine...excited to be back with their friends....happy to play....I am pretty sure they miss me though, at least alittle by their ginormaous hugs at the end of the day. Trying to put the ground rules in place again so they do not become little holagans.....not sure if that would matter much but....

Thinking about the coming year...what is happening when, what needs to be accomplished....how and when can we get back to Mysore...probably 2006 second half of the year...seems far away though....possible to go sooner??????? Okay hold on...reality.

Enjoying seeing friends again. Thinking about people that I met in mysore. It is an interesting global community...it really is. In many ways I wish I had spent more time getting to know people there. At the same time, it was really important for me to focus on those close to me. What is it about all those people that brought them to Mysore? And why me? I mean why me?....not why did I go, why will i go again and again from now on.....is it similar for others?

This morning's practice was calm and collected.....fast as well. The standing poses were solid and I felt light throughout....sort of surprised by this, when I woke up I felt heavy. The practice leaves me energized, thoughtful, thankful, peaceful (generally).

I still have so much to mull over about the trip, yet so much to do now. My notes are scribbled on pieces of paper, in funny little notebooks, and some still lingering in my head, no doubt looking for some change to revisit my current thought.