Every Sunday I have to get to led primary series at the shala at 430am, which is actually 415am since shala time is 15 minutes ahead. You need to get there nearly a half hour early too, if you even want a decent spot on the floor. We sat and waited in the dark, outside KPJAYI, it was a cool breezy morning, and two dogs played (more like fought) and growled, while we all rubbed our sleepy eyes sitting on rolled up mats, waiting for the lights to come on and the gate to unlock. I feel like we sat there for 3 hours.
For some reason I wasn't really 'feeling it' this morning. I felt kind of annoyed or grumpy or something not very yogic. But practice was fine. It was super early, so the shala was cold when we started, no heat. And no class before so also no steam. I didn't even feel one drop of sweat until seated postures when we started jumping back. Then a little dew on my forehead. By the time we got to garbha pindasana, usually I am pretty sweaty and can slip my arms through my padmasana legs, but I was just sweaty enough to be clammy and sticky today. Gross! Even worse than totally dry! There was no way in hell my arms were sliding through my legs. Boo. Sharath walks around with a water bottle for people who are stuck and need a little extra help in that pose. I stuck out my arms and blinked my hands open and closed saying "help help squirt me!" in sign language. He looked at me, and said "you don't need it" and gave me a squirt and a half, more on my mat than on my arms or legs. LOL. I said back "today I do!" Rats. He knew I wasn't working hard enough or sweating enough today. Tisk Tisk.
I think I was also a little annoyed because I have really come to love practicing Mysore style, at my own pace, not being led. Which is funny, because I used to be the total opposite. I loved being in a led class, making the teacher tell me what to do, keeping me on track. I couldn't imagine why you would go to a class just to do your own thing. Maybe I just didn't know the practice well enough back then, or have enough self-motivation. Once you have that internal drive, I guess you don't need to be told what to do anymore. Some days I feel like taking it slow, with deeper calmer breaths. Some days I want to move through the sequence faster, with more energy, generating more heat. When it comes time to follow someone else's count, I have a mini internal rebellion "I don't wanna!". Haha... Can't win. I need some equanimity so I can be ok with whatever way I am to practice on any given day. There is no 'grumpy smurf' in the yoga version of the smurfs.
At least now I have 4 days in a row of Mysore, so my bad smurf attitude can get put on hold until next Sunday at 430am ;)
Yesterday was a rest day, so I went to "Easy Day" store which turns out to be Walmart! Actually! It has the same logo, and the same brands inside, but everything is Indian. So crazy! Indian Saris and Kurtas with the "George" label inside. Hahah! It was a blast. After that I went to lunch at Pascucci's with Valentin and he had seafood pasta and I had margherita pizza. SO GOOD! I'm loving the Indian food, but sometimes it's nice to have something more familiar. Then we went to the zoo. It was awesome! Zoos make me sad, but at the same time, they are helping a lot of species breed, exist, not become extinct, etc. Some of the animal areas were big and awesome and the animals looked really happy, the antelopes for instance, they were having the time of their lives! Leaping and chasing each other and munching grass... Good times in the antelope cage. Some of the animals looked really depressed though, and their home looked too small and boring. Sometimes I worry my ferrets are bored with their home so I'm always mixing it up and buying them new tunnels and toys! I wanted to buy the Mysore jungle cats some new toys yesterday!
The best part of the zoo was the super descriptive signs by the cages, all in pictures.
Step 1 - 2 guys watching from the railing
Step 2 - 1 guy falls over the railing into the pen
Step 3 - an animal ripping his arm off and blood everywhere, a look of terror on his friend's face
Step 4 - him crawling away with no arm and blood everywhere.
message: don't sit on the railing, you'll fall in and get your arm ripped off and bleed to death.
next sign:
Sept 1 - guy holding food out for free roaming monkey
Step 2 - monkey literally ripping off the dudes face (no more nose) and blood everywhere
Step 3 - angry nurse (really angry) re-attaching his face.
message: don't feed the monkeys or they will tear your face off.
AMAZING!
Conference today with Sharath at 10am instead of 4pm, then I have 2 Sanskrit classes to get to, and hopefully the lit up palace tonight if we're not too tired.
For some reason I wasn't really 'feeling it' this morning. I felt kind of annoyed or grumpy or something not very yogic. But practice was fine. It was super early, so the shala was cold when we started, no heat. And no class before so also no steam. I didn't even feel one drop of sweat until seated postures when we started jumping back. Then a little dew on my forehead. By the time we got to garbha pindasana, usually I am pretty sweaty and can slip my arms through my padmasana legs, but I was just sweaty enough to be clammy and sticky today. Gross! Even worse than totally dry! There was no way in hell my arms were sliding through my legs. Boo. Sharath walks around with a water bottle for people who are stuck and need a little extra help in that pose. I stuck out my arms and blinked my hands open and closed saying "help help squirt me!" in sign language. He looked at me, and said "you don't need it" and gave me a squirt and a half, more on my mat than on my arms or legs. LOL. I said back "today I do!" Rats. He knew I wasn't working hard enough or sweating enough today. Tisk Tisk.
I think I was also a little annoyed because I have really come to love practicing Mysore style, at my own pace, not being led. Which is funny, because I used to be the total opposite. I loved being in a led class, making the teacher tell me what to do, keeping me on track. I couldn't imagine why you would go to a class just to do your own thing. Maybe I just didn't know the practice well enough back then, or have enough self-motivation. Once you have that internal drive, I guess you don't need to be told what to do anymore. Some days I feel like taking it slow, with deeper calmer breaths. Some days I want to move through the sequence faster, with more energy, generating more heat. When it comes time to follow someone else's count, I have a mini internal rebellion "I don't wanna!". Haha... Can't win. I need some equanimity so I can be ok with whatever way I am to practice on any given day. There is no 'grumpy smurf' in the yoga version of the smurfs.
At least now I have 4 days in a row of Mysore, so my bad smurf attitude can get put on hold until next Sunday at 430am ;)
Yesterday was a rest day, so I went to "Easy Day" store which turns out to be Walmart! Actually! It has the same logo, and the same brands inside, but everything is Indian. So crazy! Indian Saris and Kurtas with the "George" label inside. Hahah! It was a blast. After that I went to lunch at Pascucci's with Valentin and he had seafood pasta and I had margherita pizza. SO GOOD! I'm loving the Indian food, but sometimes it's nice to have something more familiar. Then we went to the zoo. It was awesome! Zoos make me sad, but at the same time, they are helping a lot of species breed, exist, not become extinct, etc. Some of the animal areas were big and awesome and the animals looked really happy, the antelopes for instance, they were having the time of their lives! Leaping and chasing each other and munching grass... Good times in the antelope cage. Some of the animals looked really depressed though, and their home looked too small and boring. Sometimes I worry my ferrets are bored with their home so I'm always mixing it up and buying them new tunnels and toys! I wanted to buy the Mysore jungle cats some new toys yesterday!
The best part of the zoo was the super descriptive signs by the cages, all in pictures.
Step 1 - 2 guys watching from the railing
Step 2 - 1 guy falls over the railing into the pen
Step 3 - an animal ripping his arm off and blood everywhere, a look of terror on his friend's face
Step 4 - him crawling away with no arm and blood everywhere.
message: don't sit on the railing, you'll fall in and get your arm ripped off and bleed to death.
next sign:
Sept 1 - guy holding food out for free roaming monkey
Step 2 - monkey literally ripping off the dudes face (no more nose) and blood everywhere
Step 3 - angry nurse (really angry) re-attaching his face.
message: don't feed the monkeys or they will tear your face off.
AMAZING!
Conference today with Sharath at 10am instead of 4pm, then I have 2 Sanskrit classes to get to, and hopefully the lit up palace tonight if we're not too tired.
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