End of the first week……..and beginning of the second
I can’t believe we are already half way through. We’ve had more sessions with Abhi, Raya, Prashant and Sunita (Prashant’s sister). According to Sunita some people are saying that Iyengar Yoga is boring. The reason she gave was that we are making some poses too easy for our students! I will take this message on board and see what I can do. Unusually she ended her session with a standing Savasana. We rolled down from Sarvangasana to Uttanasana to Tadasana with the head down then slowly lifted the head.
We have been split into groups for some of the classes partly based on Prashant’s categories of youngsters and ‘oldsters’ but also depending on how many times you’ve been to the institute in Pune. On the Saturday the students who had been 1-3 times had the opportunity to go to RIMYI for a backbending class with Raya. This is my third time so I was really pleased that I could attend this class. Raya pointed to a photo of Mr Iyengar on the wall and asked us if we knew the name of the pose. After a lot of mumbling amongst ourselves we had to admit that we didn’t know. The name was Padangustha Dhanurasana. Together we had to say it out loud several times. Raya was explaining that Geeta made her students do this if they didn’t know the name of a pose. The sequence of poses we did were poses that would lead up to doing this amazing asana. There was never the intention to do the full pose and the closest we got was a backbend over crossed over bolsters on a tall stool holding a rope over head which was attached to the rung of the stool.
Sunday was our day off. After a late breakfast we got a tuctuc to the Conrad, a luxury hotel, where we spent the afternoon unwinding by the pool. Did some shopping at Either Or. We pretty much had the pool to ourselves. It was quiet and clean and we had Caesar salad for lunch which we thoroughly enjoyed after all the Indian food. We do spend a lot of time either eating or talking about where we are going to eat next. We are spoilt for choice!
On Monday morning we were back at the Gymkhana for a three hour morning session with Prashant. When we arrive at the venue at about 7.45 am there is often a cricket match going on in the grounds. I know very little about cricket but I do know that matches go on for a long time so they must be very keen. I guess they also like to play when it’s a bit cooler.
The big room which is used for the yoga is on the 6th floor. Instead of windows there are nets which means that the wind blows straight through from one side of the room to the other. The mornings can be quite cold so if we’re sitting down a lot I have to cover myself with a blanket. Towards the end of our morning sessions there are strong wafts of food coming from the canteen downstairs. As we are not members of the club we can’t eat there. I went for lunch with Priscila at a place called Godaam which is very popular with all the yogis. I saw a few people eating pasta and other Western foods. On the way there we saw a Nandi, a sacred bull with a hump on the back, horns and a dewlap (loose skin on the neck) and beautifully adorned with colourful throws, a bell and jewellery.
Nandi represents wisdom, devotion and eternal waiting and is lord Shiva’s animal form as well as his means of transport. Maybe seeing the Nandi was a prediction for how long I was going to have to wait for my food to arrive. Thankfully we had a long break!
After our class with Raya on Wednesday, which was predominantly about adjustments of inversions, we had booked our favourite tuctuc driver Amin for a trip to Yog Vatika, a park which was set up to honour Mr Iyengar or Guruji as he is most often referred to here. Amin then took us to a traditional Indian restaurant for the most delicious meal and then some chai. Proper chai, not tourist chai, he said! On the way back we stopped off at the Trishunda Ganpati Temple. The temple was built in 1754, is beautifully carved and dedicated to Lord Ganesha. Ganesha, the elephant headed Hindu God, features a lot here is Pune and is known for his intelligence, his wisdom and for being the remover of obstacles.
Today’s excitement, apart from the amazing yoga of course, was a visit to the cobbler. My very old sandals broke and I paid 300 rupees (£2.84) to have them mended. They will probably last another 10 years now!
This blog is getting longer and longer as I have to find time to go to Starbucks, where they have very good Wi-Fi, to post it. Our schedule is very busy but I have a quiet period in the middle of the day tomorrow so I will make my way then.