Last few words from Mysore

This is my final post from Mysore. Yesterday was my last self practice and today was my last led class. Yesterday something weird happened, the foyer was super duper packed and I waited for over half an hour to get called in. Then I got a lumpy spot on the carpet. But, I didn't care about that! I have given up the need for a flat floor. It will be a real luxury when I return back home! Today my spot was ok, except for the corner of the rug under my feet. I was totally zapped today. No energy and had a headache. We ate "de-worm" pills yesterday (EW!) just in case we got something from that nasty water incident, and I think the side effects are fatigue, headache, nausea, the usual. I kept telling myself "It's the last class, suck it up and work hard!!" but I really really couldn't. Up dog - knees on the floor. Chatturanga - belly flop. Seriously! Bag of wet sand. I did not cheat in ut pluthi, but I sure didn't stay up the whole time either! Oh well, I enjoyed it and kept breathing properly despite my useless body. I finished in style with a "perfect" resting pose :) I took a few moments in class yesterday and today, as well as in my final chanting session yesterday, so just soak it all up and take in the sounds, sights, feelings, smells, vibrations. It really is something special to be here. I am very grateful for my time in Mysore and for the opportunity to practice yoga at KPJAYI.

I'm nearly all packed up and ready to go. I gave away a bunch of my stuff. Food for friends to use and cook with, and I gave a bunch of little things to a few girls/young ladies who have been working manual labour on building a house just up the street from where I am staying. I am not sure where they are from (someone suggested Sri Lanka) but they work hard and I don't think they have much. I say Hello to them every day, and recently they learned how to ask "what your name". I give them bananas sometimes and yesterday I gave them each a set of bangles. I think they didn't even know what to do! Very sweet girls. I have a few more things, scarves and clothes to give to them today.

I'm off to Lalitha Mahal palace for afternoon tea with a few friends soon. It's an old palace that was turned into a hotel, apparently something to see. This morning a couple of us went to my favourite corner of town and took some yoga photos. It caused quite a scene with locals gathering around to watch! Most were amused and smiling, I don't think it was offensive. We did take off our loose clothing to take photos in yoga wear, which normally is not acceptable, but I think it was clear it was for the purpose of yoga and photographs, and we put our proper coverings back on immediately after. I will post a few of those photos down below. Later this afternoon I have my final Sanskrit class and then hopefully some of us are catching a late movie. By "late", I mean it starts at 730pm hahaha....

Tomorrow morning, I am taking a car to the airport at 7am, then a flight to Goa at 1pm for a little R & R at the beach. Yay!

"You're still eating worms"

I only have one Mysore style practice and one led primary practice left to go at KPJAYI here in Mysore India. Time has flown by. One month is like the blink of an eye!! As far as my practice goes, I want to stay for another month or two. Sharath is getting to know me and really helping me get deeper in my back bends. He told me to come at 430am every day from now on, starting next week. I had to tell him, next week I'll be gone. Just when he gives me a 'promotion'! 430am is the coveted start time. As far as everything else goes, I'm ready to come home. The mosquitoes are getting worse and worse since the past few days have been super rainy. I think I was lucky for the first few weeks I was here in terms of weather. It's supposed to be monsoon season, but it was so hot and sunny and lovely. But now, it feels like monsoon season. I've been cold during the day and especially at night lately... brrr! I am tired of itchy mosquito bites. I finally realized why he laughs everytime I finish backbending. It's because I am coming up too quickly at the end. Today I realized that as I POPPED up, and he said "whoa, easy!" and laughed. Got it. He's not a big guy after all. Maybe he thinks I'm going to knock him over!! :)

I'm feeling bummed that I have to buy so much bottled water, it's so bad for the environment. I even use it to brush my teeth. A couple of days ago though, I was glad I was buying and drinking bottled water when Sara and I took a closer look at the bottom of the household water jug. Every day it gets filled up with filtered water, it goes through a UV system after leaving the tap. BUT, the giant jug that stays on the table apparently hadn't been cleaned in a long time... so... I poured water into a pot from the jug, ready to boil and make rice. but I saw something in the pot. A few little threads or something? I looked closer under the light. The 'little threads' were dancing. They were worms. Alive, moving, taunting me with their wiggles. *FAAAAAACCKKKK*!

I showed sara. she nearly barfed immediately. She *actually* barfed later on, just from thinking about it. She drinks that water all the time. Not boiled. I use that water, but only boiled. For tea, for cooking, etc. So I guess I was in the slightly better position. We both nearly gagged looking at the worms. We looked at the jug under the light, there were TONS of them! We bottled the little suckers and took the bottle to the nearby hospital right away. We showed them, said we drank them, asked what are they, and will we die!? In grande ole Indian style, the nurses laughed, passed the bottle around to EVERYONE in the hospital until everyone knew, and everyone was laughing. Super awesome. We went into a room, sat down with a doctor. He looked at the bottle. He looked at us. "You drank this?" (disbelief) Yup we did. Now what do we need? Pills? Testing? He said he didn't know what it was, just some larvae or something, maybe from mosquitoes, said the water was totally contaminated. He asked where we were from. Sweden for Sara - "oh good, Europeans have good immune systems". Canada for me - "Oh. Most prone to infectious diseases". SUPER! He said we were likely ok. Unless of course we had malaria, or dengue. They took Sara's blood and tested for everything, since she was drinking it fresh and I was boiling it. If it turned out she was infected with something I would then get tested too. 24 hours later, blood is clear, no infections. I wondered though, if we had worms in our belly, shouldn't they test our poopoo? Not blood? Whatever. Gross me out. I want to come home and drink Toronto water!!!! I said to him, "It's better for me though, right? Since I boiled the water?" His response was, "You're still eating worms". THANKS!

Hospital visit in Mysore

315am. alarm goes off. i hear raging monsoon rains outside of the window. i think, hmm, maybe it will stop in 45 minutes before i have to walk to the shala. snooze. snooze. snooze. i get up, putter around, do my morning things. have the thought "gee, maybe no one will go today because of the rain, maybe i shouldn't go either" but it is my last sunday and i really do like the crazy early 430am practices, so i get my yoga clothes on, and on top a hoodie and baggy pants, which can get wet and dirty and peeled off in the changeroom. by the time i got to the shala there was a huge mud spray up the back of my legs and i was pretty drenched, but it was sort of fun! they must have opened the gate and shala early so people didn't have to sit out in the rain (very nice) so when i got there most people were in and set up. i had to either go in the foyer (chose not to) or this weird little spot up in the right front corner, facing the opposite direction from everyone else. so once again, it was as if everyone was staring at me! they weren't of course, but the 3 or 4 people directly in front of me were literally right in my face and i was right in theirs. we only kicked each other a few times! practice did not feel as physically hard or tiring as the led class on friday. maybe Sharath went a little faster this morning, or maybe my body had more energy, either way, it felt good. or wait, maybe i was still too asleep to realize how hard i was working?! it's 7am now, and i've practiced, showered, made tea, had cereal, washed and hung out my laundry, dressed, sent a few emails and now blogging. serious start to the day! we have conference early today, at 930, then i have two sanskrit classes to attend. productive is good!!

yesterday was a rest day, and i actually rested. went for a wee walk around 8am for some water, milk, fruits and veggies. not one yogi was out! we had a friday night party for some peeps who were going away, and i think some people stayed up reallllly late. i went to bed at 11pm and i thought that was the latest ever! the rest of saturday i just stayed in, put some new chanting CDs on my computer, made a nice veggie lunch and relaxed! for once. i was hoping to make a movie with some friends at 545pm but i also had plans at 4pm with a few other friends to go to the hospital and have our noses pierced. it's true! we talked about it a few weeks ago and let the idea swish around in our heads. i had my nose pierced when i was 13 or 14 and it lasted a few years until i had to take it out for work. i always liked it and have missed it ever since. but it was never a good time to get it redone. in india though, it's second nature. i'd say at least 50% of girls and women have one or two nose piercings. the first time i had it done, i went to a sketchy blackmarket clothing place in kensington market in toronto (eww!!) and they pierced my nose with an earring gun (so bad!) and the gun even got stuck in my nose for a few minutes. classic. but there was never any problem with it. here, it's a medical procedure, in a surgical theater, with a doctor and many nurses, and freezing... what a fiasco!

we didn't make an appointment, just showed up. (we bought the jewellery the day before) you have a quick consult, then they send you to the 'medical canteen' with a note about what you need to get: an insulin syringe needle and an 18gauge needle (HUGE!). 10 rupees each for that (about .20 cents). then *I went first* you go the the little surgery room and you lay on the table. the doctor was nice and there were a ton of nurses around doing who knows what, most likely just gawking. everything was clean and sterilized. the doctor told me to move up closer to him, he grabbed my head in his hands (i'm thinking - nice! a massage!) then he started banging/slapping the sides of my head (see photo below). HAHA! trying to shake the nerves out or something?! he turned on the little light, looked at my nose closely, played with the left nostril a bit, i guess seeing it's thickness, flexibility, where the cartiledge is, etc. then he drew a dot with a pen. i got up and looked in the mirror. WHOA! way too high. practically piercing my eye! no on no, i showed him where the dot was from my previous piercing. no, no, no he said, way too low. it would be on the cartiledge and would be more prone to infection. hmm, i sort of want to have it where i want to have it, and deal with possible infection! ok ok ok, compromise. i drew a dot in between where each of us wanted it. he still said too low, but i said DO IT HERE!!!! dammit. it's my nose. it was fine last time! he said ok.

i laid back down and he said close your eyes. he put iodine inside and outside my nose. it stung and smelled bad and dripped up my nose. ick. he started singing, which was kind of funny. then came the tiny freezing needle. which hurt like a bitch, because he did it so slowly and left it in forever! he put the needle eventually all the way through my nose. it stung. then it went numb. i guess it's like the little hole you drill through the wall to guide the bigger drill bit?! then he left that needle hanging out in my nose for a few minutes for all the freezing to work. laura was there watching and i could tell it was gross from her sounds! at that point there was no pain and i had no idea what he was doing, until i watched him do it to laura and allie after me, and was like, OH, that's what was happening! it seemed to take forever, and there were a lot of fingers in, up and on my nose. they put the big fat sharp long scary needle through, then threaded the earring through, then inserted the screw part of the earring, then screwed them together, then cleaned it all up. quite the ordeal! no pain, after the first little needle. hey, not so bad!

i looked in the mirror and liked it a lot. it's a tiny stud with a stone, and it's 22k gold, best for avoiding infection. laura's turn! i bought the needles for her so she wouldn't chicken out. she laid down, wanted me to hold her hand and i could tell she wasn't quite as calm or good with the pain of the first needle as i was, but she was being tough. half way through the procedure, i started to get super dizzy, felt sick, got hot, and thought, holy god, i'm going to pass out! why? am i queasy from watching the needle? no! what the... wow, i better sit down before i crash to the floor. i told laura i had to let go of her hand for a minute and slid down the wall. i broke out into a sweat and grabbed my water bottle and coached myself to relax and take deep breaths. the room was spinning and my lips felt tingly. meanwhile, the doctor and nurses were concentrating on laura and i didn't want to interrupt or ruin her procedure. i also felt bad for not holding her hand! i had a few thoughts like, oh dear, i must have been allergic to the anesthetic and now i'm going to die in a hospital in india. OOPS. but i kind of didn't really care either, i felt so awful. after maybe 2 minutes sitting i started to feel a little better. the crazy fever subsided. my vision got less fuzzy. i could breathe. i stood back up and felt so-so, i kept drinking. they were putting the jewellery into laura's nose. i told her she was doing great. allie came into the room at that moment and looked at my and said 'are you ok'?! i must have looked like shit! and i said "yes!" because i was feeling much better than a few minutes ago and hey look at my nose! haha...  laura was done. i went to the canteen and bought allie's needles, so she couldn't back out. she hopped on the table and had her's done. during her freezing needle she yelled "OWWW!" at the doctor and the nurse grabbed her arm and held her down. that was pretty funny. laura held her hand and it went well. i felt 95% better by the end. i think the sudden wearing off of anesthetic plus my generally low blood pressure was just a bad combo. laura didn't get that feeling at all, she was fine.

we went out into the lobby to pay, and allie said "whoa, i'm getting that dizzy feeling now too" then she put her head on the counter, and passed out, slowly sliding down, so i grabbed her and slowly lowered her to the floor, protecting her head. i actually wasn't worried, i knew she just needed to lie down for a few minutes, have some water and it would be ok. BUT, 8 men flew out of who knows where, grabbed her, picked her up in the air, body parts everywhere and carted her away to a room. we grabbed her stuff and followed. it was a little dramatic! and of course she came back while they were carrying her, looking like "what the fuck is happening to me!" and they plopped her on a bed and the doctor appeared. her face was white and her lips were purple. he was slapping her saying "deeeeep breaths, deeeeeep breaths" and we told her it was ok, she only passed out for a minute, and she relaxed. after a few minutes, and some water, her colour came back. their prescription for recovery was chocolate (they brought her some) and said go for chai. HAHAH... oh India, you are hilarious. Poor Allie!!!

We went to get her a coconut for some hydration and electrolytes then we went to the pharmacy to pick up our meds: antibiotics, vitamin c (?!), pain meds (none of us ended up taking it) and antibiotic ointment. what a day!

this morning we all felt and looked fine. slightly tender, but no pain and not red. *phew*

here's the picture story....

Mysore style birthday

Again I stayed up too late last night. I use this plug in mosquito killer at night, and it takes about an hour, so I must have put it in at 8pm, because I can't go to sleep until they all drop dead and that was around 9pm. I stare at the ceiling until there are no more hovering. Then I can sleep! My 5am alarm came and again I wasn't looking forward to getting out of bed. But of course I did and crawled to the shala for practice. I had a new spot, in the front left corner of the room, right in front of Sharath's office. Led primary was mostly uneventful today except that the theme of the day was "Why you rushing? You have somewhere to go?". All class long Sharath was telling everyone to slow down, wait for his count, which turned into a really long hold in every pose, especially chatturanga. My arms were shaky and tired BIG TIME by the end and ut pluthi was damn near impossible. I hooked my toes behind my arms to help me stay up, and of course his eyeballs zeroed in on my toes and he came right over tisk-tisking me, shaking his head and saying "Why you cheating". I wanted to say "Because it's my birthday!" lol, but of course I didn't. I unhooked my toes and immediately collapsed onto my big butt :) That was that, it was a nice way to start my day even though it was hard. I have felt a tired relaxedness about me ever since.

I came home and showered, and upon exiting the shower, still in my towel, I was greeted with singing and a birthday cake and candle and two sweet friends, Sara and Fi. They made me a guava cheesecake (HELLO!) and bought me flowers and bangles and crystal bindis. So nice!! I changed, then we sat together and chatted over cheesecake and chai! At 8am, which is practically midday around here, since they both practiced at 430am.

After that I headed off to Mylari hotel for dosas with more friends, Allie, Valentine and Jennifer and we had a super yummy India style breakfast, although I altered the local favourite with my lime, sugar and cinnamon. My touch! After that, it was time to go back to the shala for chanting. Friday is fun because Lakshmish goes through the pose names, the Sanskrit counts and the opening and closing mantras, as well as the usual shantimantra and ganesha pancaratnam, etc. We didn't chant from the Bhagavad Gita today which is good, because I forgot to bring my book! :)

Upon stepping outside of the shala, I decided it was SO HOT out that the only thing that would possibly make sense to do on such a day, it go the POOL! Valentin and I hopped on his scooted and scooted to the pool. Perfect weather. Too hot almost! I had to move to a chair in the shade to read a book. After a few hours there we went nextdoor to the Metropole Hotel for a famous lunch buffet we were told about. We saw a few little table set up, with chats (snack, appies) and maybe a BBQ and a roti station. We got our chats and were thinking, hmm, not so much stuff, what was all the fuss about?! BUT THEN we realized there was a whole inside part that we were missing! It was amazing. SO MUCH FOOD! soups, breads, raitas, appetizers, curries, veggies, rices, fruit, ice cream, dessert, tea... Here's my delicious courses:

And that is really only half my day. I have to go to philosophy class at 5pm, then there are lots of things happening, for a change, in Gokulum tonight (our little yoga part of town in Mysore). There is a store opening, which involves a little party, some kirtan singing, likely food, and happy peeps! There is a goodbye party for some people who are leaving soon, Sari's are encouraged! Too bad I don't have one. Some of us were talking about going to the cinema and seeing a film, but in Indian style, they have forgotten to update the website with show titles and times. Haha! Then others are heading to the green hotel for dinner. SO... I'm just gonna go with the flow and see where I end up! Tomorrow is a Saturday rest day, so no matter what, I get to sleep in, and I have no plans. YAY :)

How was your practice?

That's a typical question here in Mysore. We're all here to practice Ashtanga yoga, so what better conversation starter (every single day!) than to ask someone, "How was your practice today?!" Typical answers are usually either, "Good", "OK", "Not so good", or "Terrible!!". What are the answers based on? Sometimes the answers also come with a brief explanation...
"It was awesome, I had so much energy!"
"It was awful, I felt cold because I was at the back of the room and didn't sweat enough."
"Practice was so great, Sharath gave me a new pose!"
"Practice was ok, I felt really stiff today."

But when I think about it, those answers don't really make sense (and I'm totally responsible for all of those answers too by the way, I'm not just criticizing others!) Because what I have come to learn and understand about yoga, is that the physical practice itself isn't the goal, it isn't the end, but rather just the tool for working on the body, energy and most importantly the mind. So maybe, a good practice shouldn't be the result of successfully cramming both legs behind your head, or terrible because Sharath stared right at you and didn't give you a new pose when you were sure you were ready for weeks already, but maybe, just maybe, we should look at the state we are in after we practice. Maybe the practice felt really hard, maybe easy, maybe we accomplished certain poses or not, but what was the effect?? What was your attitude towards those things? It could have been the case that you floated through all of your postures and vinyasas like a superstar, but at the same time were breathing frenetically fast and psychotically uneven the whole time. Result? Anxiousness, crankiness, ego. Or the practice felt like a total struggle and your body just wouldn't cooperate, but you were able to stay aware of your bandhas the whole time and you kept your breath even and calm and at a good pace throughout, and after taking rest and being finished with the body bending you felt peaceful and light and happy.

I think there is also always a lesson to be learned in each practice. Were you stiff today? Maybe you pushed too hard yesterday. Felt heavy? Too much cheese yesterday (HAHA, that was me today). Tired? Go to bed earlier. Didn't get a pose from Sharath? Stop wanting, set aside desire and the need for more and be happy where you are, and grateful for what you have. My friend Allie and I were talking about that last one, and both of us, when we gave up and thought, "Sharath will never give me another pose, I'll just settle into the ones I have and do them well", then BAM, 2 or 3 poses in a row. Conversely, the days when we are like "COME ON! gimme gimme... I can totally do bhekasana, can't you see that?!" Then for sure you're getting nothing for another week.

I'm going to start answering the unavoidable daily Mysore question "How was your practice?!" based more on how I feel after my practice, and on the effect that my breathing and mindset will have on the rest of my day and on my interactions with others, and less on my physical accomplishments. Because I think, that is the point, after all.

walk MORE?!

I had my regular Mysore practice yesterday and today. For some reason I am really tired when I wake up lately, for the first time on this trip. It feels just like when I am at home and my 5am alarm goes off to go coach swimming. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" is what goes through my head. Haha... "please please please 5 more minutes, no 10, no, 20!" snooze.... snoooze... snoooooze... OK, time to get up. *eye rub*

I have been going to bed around 9pm, which is actually late for here, but 9pm-5am is 8 hours, which should be sufficient, no? Maybe I'll roll it back to 8pm, I guess my body is soaking up some extra needed sleepy time from a deficiency I've accumulated over the years!

Practice went well yesterday and today. Yesterday when Sharath was helping me with my backbends, I went back and landed and he said "walk... walk" and I walked as FAR as my body could possibly walk. I could see my heels. I could see his foot. Wiggle wiggle creep creep... "straighten your arms" and I actually could not, I was for sure at my physical limit. I tried anyways. Then I popped back up to standing. He showed me like, half a millimeter with his fingers and thumb. And we both laughed, so close but just ain't getting there.

Today again the same. Drop backs, I land, he says "walk... walk... walk more..." BINGO! My fingers touched my heels. I think to myself, 'I'm here! I did it! I did what he wanted me to do! Taadaaaa!'... Then he says "walk little more". WHAT!? more? how? to where?! lol... fuck it, I walk more, and clobber my hands to my heels and feet and clumsily grab at myself. LOL, like that?! "Very good, very good", and back up to standing I go. Then I sit down for forward fold to counter stretch my maxed out back, and he squashes me downwards for 3-4 breaths and I stay there on my own until I reach 10. His squashes, and Saraswati's, are sure not like the cozy, massagey, hug like squashes I'm used to back at AYCT. I get it, he's in a rush, and has way more people to get through, but boy do I miss the careful back squishing, rocking side to side, getting all those muscles stretched out, and a nice sacrum push at the end. *sigh* I'll do it myself!

Finally I'm feeling much better. My sinuses are 99% clear and I only have a bit of an itchy scratch in the back of my throat. I think the whole city of Mysore was sick. I went to my tailor yesterday to order some stuff, and he said he was closed the day before because he was sick, stuffed up, sneezing, pain in his head, and his kid had the same. Yup, me too! At least I was not alone ;)

I've been staying close to home and just chillin' for the past few days and I think that is the best thing for me. I have also resorted to eating plain, unspicy food and my tummy is way happier. Grilled cheese w ketchup (lol), cup-a-soup, fruit salad, tropicana OJ, etc. Good times. I knew eventually I would get sick of, or at least could no longer tolerate, Indian food. When I get to Goa I'll try all the food again, because I think it's pretty different there, lots of fish and a Portuguese influence. From what I read and hear, they are big foodies and very proud of their local cuisine.

Here's a pic of some henna (mehendi) I drew on myself. 

Oh, and some cute baby cows that I saw on my way to the market yesterday. Moo! I thought they tan coloured one was a camel at first, it was so weird and skinny looking! 

How do I feel...?

It's Monday. I felt like arse-soup again when I woke up but I just got on with it. I used my neti pot, drank a cup of tea, sniffed some eucalyptus oil in boiling water, blew my nose 10 times, threw on my yoga clothes, grabbed my mat and walked up to the shala for my 6am start time. Oh yeah, I also cut up some pineapple so it would be waiting for me after practice and put it in a tupperware container, but even though I washed my hands, they smelled like pineapple all practice!

I got a spot near the front right in the middle (no hiding!). I put some tissues under the corner of my mat, but actually didn't end up using them. It was so hot and steamy I guess my sinuses cleared out during practice and the only thing dripping off my nose was lots of sweat. I started sweating right away today, like on the first sun salutation. That never happens to me, so either it was way hotter and more humid than ever before (unlikely) or I have a bit of a fever and I was just sweating already from that (more likely). Either way, it was good to move and stretch and sweat again after 3 days off. I felt kind of weak and shaky, but was also moving pretty fast through my practice (from the caffeine in the tea probably!). I just wanted to get through it today so I didn't slow myself down or worry too much about perfect breathing or bandhas. Maybe it was a bit of a lazy practice now that I think about it. But I did it all. The girl beside me was even more sick, coughing and hacking (deep gargly chest coughs) the whole time. Ick! A ton of yogis are congested and coughing. Too bad KPAYI isn't in a nice isolated part of India with lots of nature in fresh air.

Sharath asked me, after I did pasasana, and I was already laying down for backbending, "catch in pasasana?", I answered "yes" and locked my hands together to show him that I bound my hands in the pose no problem. He said "krounchasana" (the next pose), I asked "now? today?" because often he tells you what pose to add tomorrow, he said "yes", so I sat up, jumped back and then jumped through into heron pose. Watching me easily get into the pose, he then said "shalabasana too". So I added two new poses to my practice this morning, maybe three actually, since there is locust A & B. I like those poses so I was pleased, but again had to check that stupid ego that wanted to go "wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee! more poses!" so I put my smile away and just did them. In actual fact, it could be a bad thing if he gives me 2 poses a day (which he obviously won't) because then I'd get through the whole second series by the time I leave here... HAHA! I obviously can't do all those poses, but imagine?!

Tomorrow I plan to really slow down again and give more thought to even breathing and proper bandhas in every posture. I'm gonna stay on the downlow today like I did yesterday and give myself a chance to get better. Later today I have chanting class, two Sanskrit classes, and Sara wants to go to a cafe and to some store call Fab India (lol), so that sounds ok. I bought some bread yesterday, and processed cheese and ketchup and made grilled cheese sammies for dinner. Usually an inferior option, but I thought it would be a good idea to have plain, familiar, unspicy food in my belly for a change. Hope it works! Sara tried some (she's from Sweden) and can you believe she's never had a grilled cheese sandwich before?!

Also yesterday my shoes were taken - did I mention that already? I think it was an accidental exchange, but, ew! Can't you feel the difference after a few steps? I left a note in the other shoes (same size, also black, but very different!), walked home barefoot on the burning pavement and through cowpoo and luckily at the afternoon conference I got my shoes back. Weird!

During the Sunday conference, Sharath was talking about how one becomes a teacher or a guru. Not from book knowledge, he says, it doesn't matter how much you read, or watch on dvds, or think you know, proper knowledge comes from practical experience over a long period of time, so that when and if you teach, it comes from your own experience and has more meaning, for you, and for your students. I liked hearing that and agree. I do think that intensives and teacher trainings are good tools though, even though he laughs at the concept, but I don't think someone can use only the training to prepare them to teach. If you have practiced for a long time, then a training can be the icing on the cake, where you learn a few final key things like anatomy, proper adjustments, etc. Or, if you are just beginning to practice, then a training can be like someone giving you the flour and the eggs and the sugar for the cake, but you still need to pay attention the the recipe, mix it all up, add a few more things and bake it for a long time before it's ready. Does that make sense? I'm very grateful for my 200 hour ashtanga yoga teacher training class. But no, like Sharath says, that course on it's own certainly didn't make me a teacher. Yesterday also, Sharath certified a girl named Karen curing conference, and said she had been coming to practice here in Mysore for 14 years. Amazing! I felt very excited for her and it was an emotional moment for her and everyone in the room.

I was thinking, after a lady on the Bangalore train asked me "How do you feel?", how do I feel? All in all after all the good and bad and unexpected and everything that has happened so far on this adventure in India, I feel happy. Happy to be here. Happy to learn. Happy about the whole experience.

...Even though I got my phone bill today and it was an extra $309.00 from calling my bank repeatedly when I first arrived here to get them to unfreeze my ATM access. Buggers.