On behalf of RIMYI, Prashant is in Delhi today receiving the award for the outstanding contribution to the development of yoga. So his class was cancelled and we took The opportunity to go to the intermediate class on the second floor with Souchma. She is a short, stock, strong looking woman with direct and clear instructions and a kindness and gentleness about her. I have observed one of her classes and it was a treat to take her class today. Like I do, she instructed us a couple times to smile, to soften the face and neck, yet to work hard in other areas. It was fun and, despite the fact that every pore was sweating, I am so glad I went.
The theme was “chest up, look forward, extend the side torso” and she did a great job at repeating instructions and using techniques to link that action through the entire class.
Here’s what I remember of the sequence:
Swastikasana, forward bend, head up, lead with chest
Baddhakonasana
Tadasana, urdhva hastasana, palms facing each other, palms forward
Uttanasana, hold toes
Adho Mukha Svanasana, one leg up, then the other
Adho Mukha Svanasana to urdhva Mukha Svanasana 2-3 times
Parsvottanasana
Prasarita paddotanasana
Trikonasana
Virabhadrasana II
Parsvakonasana
Ardha Chandrasana
Parighasana
Supta baddhakonasana
Dandasana to concave paschimottanasana
Bend knees, hold toes, straighten legs
Janusirsasana
Upa vista konasana, turn right and forward bend
Rolling! We rolled from supta urdhva tadasana to paschimottanasana
Then we rolled to salamba Sarvangasana and to halasana. I love this rolling! So fun!
Savasana with a rolled up blanket to support the spine and head
I thought I would write some of my general impressions of India through the lens of the senses. There are so many differences between this country and mine. It is hard to know where to start. I will start with smells.
When there are as many people in one place as there are here, it takes some doing to move them from place to place. When in the auto rickshaw it is the overwhelming smell of exhaust that I notice. Busses, cars, motorcycles, auto rickshaws all spew fumes. Many, I suspect, would not pass emissions testing elsewhere.
The heat and humidity, of course, is a major component of living here. My towels and washed clothes don’t dry as quickly and that leads to a stinkiness. On the flip side, our cleaning lady, Nanda, comes almost everyday and our apartment will have that pleasant scent of lemon cleaning solution after she is done, particularly after cleaning the floors. Alternately, our place fills with the aroma of food cooking when our cook, Aneeta, comes.
When people are in the heat so much, they sweat. That in and of itself leads to a certain kind of smell. One day I went to the “Western” shopping mall to look for a bra. I brought a couple of very old ones with me with the intent of tossing them at the end of the trip. Several days I put it off, feeling to sweaty and stinky to even step foot into a fitting room. Last week, feeling less hot and sticky than other days, I popped over to take a look. I think it was Wednesday in the middle of the afternoon and there were at least eight young women working in the lingerie section. The stores tend to employ way more people than we do in the states. All eight of them were gathered in a circle, chatting. Two approached me, one saying “Yes, Mum”. It must be a leftover thing from when the British were here because this greeting happens frequently. She kindly helped me find a couple to try on and while letting me in the fitting room I could smell her body odor. This has not been the only time this has happened. It is just the way it is.
Across the “busy road” is the School of Agriculture and we have taken some walks in there. The trees grow tall in most spots on the campus with open fields behind the buildings where the crops grow. There is one spot the first couple of weeks that was filled with the sweet smell of flowers. There aren’t many gardens or flowers here. At least not visible from the streets and sidewalks.
Our apartment building is next to another, which is next to a wall. One day we took a walk on the other side of that wall by mistake and found small huts, with lots of people living there with dogs and goats. It was the only time I have felt like I was in the wrong place since I have been here. A good number of mornings I wake to the smell of fire, which I am guessing is the way those folks are making their morning chai or breakfast. The first couple of mornings I though the apartment was on fire and woke with a start.
Like every drain I the apartment, my attached bathroom drains have small moth balls in them “for the bugs” I have no idea what kind of bugs or why they would be in the drain, but the bathroom has a hint of mothball smell.
While in class, particularly in pranayama or in savasana it is a surprise to me that something will noodle it’s way to my sense of smell: incense, the smell of DEET, or some baked good just out of the oven. Or maybe the baked good smell is in my imagination.
Prashant continued his “exhale further and further” rap again today along with teaching from the back body. He encouraged us to bring awareness to the back and spine and specifically become aware of how the poses change when changing position or awareness. For example, sitting in swastikasana on the floor, how does the back feel? Sitting in swastikasana on a block, how does the back feel and what was the change? Same thing for doing the pose in the same way but changing the awareness from one spot of the body to another.
It was hard for me to focus on the words today. I woke groggy even though I slept well. During the backbends people were breathing heavily, grunting and groaning and Prashant made a joke…something like “There sounds like there is a lot of labor but no delivery” in the room. It was taxing for me today with sweat rolling from my neck down my cheeks in headstand. Although the temperature feels somewhat cooler I think it is more humid.
He was sharp again in getting us to move to different spots in the room. “Go quickly!!!” He lectured again on the components of electronic items which somehow related to yoga, he talked more about ones sense of “I” and how it may be different in the presence of a friend or in the presence of someone cunning. There was also something about teeth, wisdom teeth and wisdom that I didn’t catch. Still struggling with the speed in which he speaks and the accent. Where are the transcripts?! Maybe reading would be better!
Here’s what I remember of the sequence:
Three groups:
Rope wall doing rope bhujangasana
Window wall doing downward facing dog
Men on the mat sitting in swastikasana, first on the floor, then on a block, twisting
Utthita parsva padangustasana
Sirsasana or Dwi pada vipariti dandasana on a chair
Then, lots of choices from the list below (including Sirsasana and Dwi pada)
Rope wall, facing wall with low rope around waist, arching back while holding top ropes. Then rope purvottasana
Standing back arch
Ustrasana
Urdhva danurasana
Parsva danurasana
Purvottasana
Dwi pada on the floor
We cycled through these, making choices for ourselves, getting a chance to be on the rope wall in batches until everyone cycled through.
After a taking a walk and practicing yoga, Lorene and I decided to go to the movies. We looked up the theaters close to our flat and looked at what was playing. Thank you Google Maps and the internet for making this so easy. We found two theaters within walking distance and settled on seeing Victoria and Abdul.
At the box office, the ticket seller told us there were two ticket prices; 100 rupes and 200 rupes. The 200 rupe tickets were further from the screen and it turns out these assigned seats were cushy, soft, wide and reclining. It was more comfortable than being at home in my Lazy Boy and far more soft and cushy than anything I have been on in weeks.
Before the movie started the Indian flag came on the screen and the words “Please stand for the national anthem” flashed across the screen. About halfway through the movie stopped, lights went on and there was about a five minute intermission. Looked like just one of the 15-20 of us in the theater went to get popcorn.
It was a fun movie to see while *IN* India. The opening shot is of Abdul with the Taj Mahal in the back ground. Early in the movie he tells the Queen about the history of the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort which we just learned a few weeks ago from our Gate 1 Travel tour guide.
Suneeta came to class today with the same “If looks could kill” look in her eyes. If I think she is looking at me, I pretend I don’t notice, be casual, and keep looking. Frankly, her look is intimidating. There was some scolding/ridiculing today but less than other days and there were more helpful teaching points and specific instructions that were also helpful. And there was some nice linking between poses. She even made a joke that was not at anyone’s expense.
We did standing poses and then seated twists and everything was heat producing, especially after the power cut when the fans went out. My glasses fogged up more than once. The theme of the class was very much the same as last Wednesday, “Extend and rotate”. That would be the Suneeta rap for the month of October!
It was a hard class, an organic class (cleansing the kidneys). I was apparently not the only one who felt that was, especially in the seated twists because people were groaning and grunting and breathing hard. I liked it and it is more of what I expected the yoga to be like here.
Here’s what I remember about the sequence:
Adho Mukha Virasana
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Uttanasana
Some people went to the wall and tressler and others got a chair for standing poses. Facing the wall, tressler, or chair we did
Trikonasana
Parsvottanasana
Ardha Chandrasana
Parivrtta trikonasana
Baddhakonasana
Upa vista konasana
Upa vista konasana, bend the left leg to baddhakonasana, turn towards the leg. Repeat on left side. Then extend over the bent leg and extend and rotate, sweeping to the right side in a sort of parivrtta janusirsasana like shape of the pose
The store Anokhi was recommended for more fitted Indian clothing and bedding. So Lorene callled Nana, our English speaking rickshaw driver, to take us over to that side of town. The traffic going over was thick and slow on this bright sunny afternoon.
We stopped at Happy Heart to drop off Lorene’s bracelet and tow ring so they could make adjustments, and then we headed over to Anokhi. It was a bust so we headed back to Happy Heart to pick up her items and it started to rain. Really rain. Like middle of the summer lightening and thunder torrential downpour kind of rain.
We braved the raindrops to stop in at the store but Nana called us back. He wanted to get going. Auto rickshaws are open on the sides. Nana’s has a roll down tarp on one side. Even so, water was coming in when a car would pass us and splash. He struggled to maintain control. There was a lot of water, the rickshaws are not exactly a powerful engine and I suspect the tires are not that great. The tiny windshield has an even tinier wiper but no “defrost” and the windshield was really foggy.
All the two wheeler drivers, the smart ones anyway, had pulled over. So many people soaked to the skin. Everyone crowded under bus stops, tarps, and awnings. Big splashes of water coming in the rickshaw. When we turned onto the street our flat is on, the water was up and over the curb, running onto the sidewalk. Rain was coming in on the seat, so much so that my butt was wet. My new purple skirt is not color fast and my underwear is now slightly a purple tie dye.
I can’t say much about tonight’s pranayama class except that it was nice. I enjoy pranayama, have a daily practice and know that it is one of the things that keeps me on and even keel.
Rajlaxmi must’ve spent the entire day at the Institute. She taught the 6 am pranayama class, the morning asana class I was in at 7 am, did her practice during practice hours (reportedly backbends) and was helping in the medical class at 4 before teaching our 6 pm pranayama class. That’s a long day of yoga.
We were in supported (bolster) savasana for about 25 minutes, then sat on the bolster for 20 and did unsupported savasana for 15 minutes. It was ujjayi and some viloma.
Rajlaxmi (certainly not sure if I have that right) is demanding, brusk, and high (sometimes scattered) energy, rapidly firing instructions in a tone of voice that sounds somewhat disapproving. As much as I don’t care for the delivery, it was a fun, challenging, and good sequence. The class was full, more than 70 people in the room, so there was a lot for her to pick on.
I will also say that it is tedious to tune in and sort out the rapid fire instructions said with an accent. In addition, all the teachers to one degree or another, lapse into their native language, Marathi. So there is an added layer of when to tune in and tune out that almost always stern tone.
The sequence went something like this:
Forward bend in swastikasana
Adho Mukha Virasana
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Swastikasana- lift off the ground like Lolasana
Lolasana
Gomukasana
Adho Mukha Svanasana to Vira 1
Adho Mukha Svanasana to a lunge with the back leg all the way to the floor, heel of the lunging leg to the buttock
Adho Mukha Svanasana to a lunge with the back leg all the way to the floor, lunge leg in Virasana
Adho Mukha Svanasana to a lunge with the back leg all the way to the floor, lunge leg in swastikasana or janusirsasana (like rajakapotasana)
Intermittently there were some Adho Mukha Svanasanas to urdhva Mukha svanasanas
Several stations around the room for chest opening:
Back bending over the tressler, rope or the bar along the window wall. Also all seven backbenders were on the stage to experience them. Sirsasana was also one of the stations.
Virasana, twist (or bharadvajasana)
Halasana, parsva halasana, karnipidasana. We did this on a bolster (I have heard this referred to as “toppling halasana”).
“Exhale further and further and further and further.” Prashant continues to concentrate his instructions on the exhalation. At one point he stopped to tell us that lemons have different chemical reactions when combined with other elements. Squeeze a lemon into cold water, wam water, coffee, cottage cheese and you get a different chemical reaction, a different affect. As humans we also have different modalities. We are friends, teachers, students, daughters, mothers, sisters. And our yoga poses, although they may be the same poses from day to day, can and should be done differently, for different affects.
Today we did our poses for the pelvis, which was serendipitous because I had some sort of minor gastrointestinal upset that, by the second or third poses, was gone.
Again, the sequence doesn’t matter. Prashant makes that clear. It is DOING the pose in a certain way for a certain effect that matters. And, again, there were groups doing different poses. I made the choice not to hang because I felt slightly nauseous and thought hanging upside down would be a bad idea. By the time I felt like I could hang, that option was off the table.
Here is what I remember about the sequence:
Men to the ropes to hang in Sirsasana
Women to the window rope for rope downward facing dog or
Setubandha
Switch groups, switch groups again and again until everyone has a chance to hang.
Suneeta was alternately scolding and direct again today. One of the regular locals to the class describes all of the Iyengars as “fiery”. She obviously knows her stuff, although, in my opinion, the whole chastising and name calling gets in the way of the delivery. It seemed like there were fewer people in class. In fact, before we began she encouraged some people to move up and over so we weren’t so close together.
Her first scolding was about being on time. “Come to class on time, in fact it is a rule that you are to be there five minutes before the class start time” and be ready. Coming in late is distracting to both teacher and students. We see, we hear, we get disturbed by the movement of the person coming in late.
This morphed into a lesson on steadying the eyes, to not look here and there (and especially don’t look at anyone else in the room), to quiet the mind and the body. The rest of the class was focused on training the eyes on an imaginary line and following it when turning or moving in the pose. Instead of a single point, which narrows the mind, see the length of the line to broaden the mind. She incorporated this idea of the line in the rest of the sequence (with tirades and scolding and name calling in between poses), which went something like this:
Baddhakonasana – turn to the right and left, training the eyes on the imaginary line and see this line in all the rest of the sequence
