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
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
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
“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
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
Prashant was alternately stern and a jokester today. He continued the instruction of “more and more and more and more exhalation” in poses that were obviously in preparation for backbends. He joked, even once it was a pun/play on words, sometimes not in English so only the locals could understand, with a twinkle in his eye like his father and
Prashant talked a lot today. There seemed to be more people in the room and less asana done. He continues on his “exhale more and more and more and more” message today using the word evacuation to sum up this action. He encourages us to continue to explore the body as a laboratory to discover the self and see/feel/observe/learn what
In addition to the six classes a week, I have been practicing every day. About half the days I have gone over to the Institute and the other half practiced in the flat. For the last year I have been rehabilitating a shoulder injury. Even before that, I somewhere along the line lost my ability to do full arm balance.
When I decided to come to India I knew understanding the accent would be troublesome for me. My ear is still tuning in to the teachers at the Institute (and other locals we meet along the way). Every class I understand more and more. Even so, today in class I heard “Radio Shack” and “mazel tov” (not in the same
Saturday mornings the “gents” have class at 7 AM and the ladies at 9:30 AM so there were fewer bodies in class. Suneeta, who taught Wednesday’s class, also taught this morning. A large woman with a commanding, stern, crabby voice led us through a sequence of poses. As a breast cancer survivor she doesn’t seem to have much compassion as