Tuesday Night

Tuesday Night Really good class, all the hip opening work really created a nice mellow vibe in the room. Standing pose week but we got at the actions via seated work.

Sukasana,
Dandasana
Baddha Konasana (with block variations
Dandasana
Uppavistha Konasana
Dandasana
Siddasana
Dandasana
Ardha Padmasana, padmasana
matsyasana
Tadasana
Urdhva Hastasana
Urdhva Baddanguliasana
Paschima Baddanguliasana
Tadasana
Vrksasana
Ardha Baddha Padmottansana prep.
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Sirsasana
Sarvangasana
restorative pose of choice.

Savasana.

Monday Evening Sequence

Standing Pose week, but we worked on the actions in some seated poses first. Fun energy tonight in class and Brian, prop sherpa for Marie, wore his t shirt from Pune.

Sukasana,
Dandasana
Baddha Konasana
Dandasana
Uppavistha Konasana
Dandasana
Siddasana
Dandasana
Tadasana
Urdhva Hastasana
Urdhva Baddanguliasana
Paschima Baddanguliasana
Tadasana
Vrksasana
Ardha Baddha Padmottansana prep.
Utthita Trkonasana
Vira I
Parsvottansana
Chatushpadasana
Supta Baddha Konasana
Savasana.

Notes from Monday Night

We had a huge lively group of people Monday night. It was restorative /pranayama week.

We also worked a lot on learning some sanskirt terms. Supta supine..... Hopefully that word stuck.


Here's the sequence for Monday night and Tuesday morning.

Supta Baddha Konasana watching the breath
Supta Sukasana watching the breath prolonged inhalation.
Virasana
Supta Virasana
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Supta Padangushtasana I and II
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Chatushpadasana
Viparita Karani
Savasana

Spring Class Dates

Hi Everyone, I've been a bit remiss in posting on this site of late. hectic month. My apologies! Happy Thanksgiving.

Here's the Spring Schedule.

Come Try a Single Class for only $10 A great class to bring a friend to !!

Monday Jan 14 6:00-7:15 Lakeshore Baptist


New 8 Week Sessions Start Jan 15, 16
$88.00

Tuesdays 5:30-7:00 Jan 15- March 4 (Intermediate Lakeshore )
Wednesdays 6:30-7:45 Jan 16- March 5 (Beginner Salon Adeva)


New 12 Week Beginner Session $132 (Lakeshore)

Mondays 6:00-7:15 Feb 4 – May 5 (no class, March 10, 24)


Mid Spring Sessions

Tuesdays March 18 - May 6 $88
Wednesdays March 19 - May 7 (no class April 16) $77

Wednesday Night Sequence

Wednesday was pretty low attendance wise due to Halloween, but we had a lot of fun.


Baddha konasana feet together, and opening feet and with block between feet
Upavista Konasna
Tadasana
Urdhva Hastassana
Urdhva Namaskarasana
Tadasana
Vrksasana
Parsva Utthita Hasta Padangushtasana
Supta Padangushtasana II
PUHP again.
Trikonasana
Vira II
Viminasana
AMS
Dadasana
Ardha Matysendrasana
Chatushpadasana
Urdhva Prasarita Padasana
Savasana

Tuesday Night rocked

There were thirteen people in class and a couple people were absent. It was great to see Thelma after her many months in NY. Tracey moved up to the Tuesday Class and Dan got his elbows straight. Very cool.

We worked on all junior I poses.

Baddha konasana feet together, and opening feet and with block between feet
Upavista Konasna
Tadasana
Urdhva Namaskarasana
Paschima Namsakarasana
Gomukasana
AMS
Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana
Parsva Utthita Hasta Padangushtasana
Supta Padangushtasana II
PUHP again.
Eka Hasta Bhujasana
AMS or sirsasana for those who could do in in the middle of the room, we were wall space impaired tonight.
Setu Bandha
Savasana

Tons of fun.

Standing Poses Again

in the fifth week of the month, I figure it is instructor's choice and I had a lot of new people in class tonight so I went with standing poses mostly.

Adho Muhka Virasana
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Uttanasana (straight legs and bending legs to get action in the hips)
Tadasana
Urdhva Hastasana
Urdhva Baddanguiliansana
Uttansana with paschima Baddanguiliansana
Tadasana
Vrksasana
Utt hasta padasana
Parsva hasta padasana
Trikonasana
Vira II
Dandasana
AMS
Chatush
Savasana

lots of fun

Tuesday morning pretty much the same, except Marichyasana I after Dandasana and Supta Baddha Konasana instead of Chatush.

Teaching in Austin

I taught basic standing poses in my classes this weekend.

Sat 9 AM Tadasana, Urdhva Hastasana, Urdhva Baddanguliasana, Tadasana, Vrksasana, Utthita Hasta Padasana, Parsva Hastapadasana, Trikonasana, Vira II, Prasarita Padottanasana, Dandasana, Chatushpadasasna, Urdhva Prasarita Padasana, Savasana,

Sat 9:30 Tadasana, Urdhva Hastasana, Urdhva Baddanguliasana, Tadasana, Vrksasana, Uttita Hasta Padangustasana, Supta Padangustanaa, Utt Hasta Padangustana again, Trikonasana, Adho Muhka Svansana Dandasana, Chatushpadasasna, Urdhva Prasarita Padasana, Savasana,


Sun 9 AM Tadasana, Urdhva Hastasana, Urdhva Baddanguliasana, Tadasana, Vrksasana, Utthita Hasta Padasana, Parsva Hastapadasana, Trikonasana, Vira II, Adho Muka svanasana, Chatushpadasasna, Urdhva Prasarita Padasana, Savasana,

Sun 1o: 30 Tadasana, Urdhva Hastasana, Urdhva Baddanguliasana, Tadasana, Vrksasana, Uttita Hasta Padangustasana, Supta Padangustanaa, Utt Hasta Padangustana again, Utt Hasta Padasana, Parsva Hasta Padasana Trikonasana, Vira II, Parsvakonasana, Adho Muhka Svansana Chatushpadasasna, Urdhva Prasarita Padasana, Savasana,

Pranayama Restorative Week

Monday,

Supta Baddha Konasana (observing the breath, Ujjayi One)
Supta Sukasana
Virasana
Supta Virasana
Supta Padangushtasana I
Adho Muhka Svansana
Chatush Padansana
Viparita Karani
Savasana.

Tuesday Morning.

We started with some standing poses as it was pretty cold in the room.

Supta Baddha Konasana (observing the breath, Ujjayi One)
Supta Sukasana
Virasana
Supta Virasana
Supta Padangushtasana I
Adho Muhka Svansana
Chatush Padansana
Savasana.


Tuesday Night Sequence.


Supta Baddha Konasana (observing the breath, Ujjayi One)
Supta Sukasana/ ardha padmasana supine)
Virasana
Supta Virasana
Arha Supta Virasana
Adho Muka Svansana
Sirsasana
Sarvangasana
Ujjayi I, III
Ujjayi II with legs up on chair
Savasana


Wednesday Night sequence

Supta Baddha Konasana (observing the breath, Ujjayi One)
Supta Sukasana
Virasana
Supta Virasana
Supta Padangushtasana I
Supta Pad II
Adho Muhka Svansana
Prasarita Padottansana
Chatush Padansana
Viparita Karani
Savasana.

Upcoming Classes I'm Teaching in Austin

Saturday October 27 9 AM YY N
Saturday October 27 10:35 Austin Kula


Sunday October 28 9 AM YY NW Hatha Star
Sunday October 28 10:30 YY NW Restorative

Sunday November 18 4:30 YY Westgate.


Hope to see you there.

Backward Bending Week

Monday and Tuesday Morning sequence.

Adho Mukha Virasana
Adho Muka Svanasana ( partner assist getting weight back into legs)
Ardha uttansana (and Partner assist)
Tadasana
Urdhva Hastasana with Block behind rib cage at wall.
Tadasana with block between legs, teaching leg work for backbends
Salabasana
Makarasana
Dhanursana
Ardha Bhekasana Prep
Adho Mukha Svanasana heels at wall.
Dandasana
Waking up the toes work.
Dandasana
Marichyasana I hand at wall.
Paschmottansana
Savansana with calves on chair.

Tuesday and Wednesday Sequences

The Tuesday morning class and Wednesday evening was pretty much the same,

though no supta virasana and I put in Marichyasana I before Chatushpadasana

I'll post the Tuesday evening sequence later, I left my sequence notes at the Church.

We worked on Gomukansana, Lolasana, and ardha matysendrasana...

I realized I don't teach enough twists, so more twists to come, along with the TEN MINUTE SAVASANA in every class.

Forward bending week

Sukasana
Adho Mukha Virasana
Adho Mukha Svanasana
tadasana,
tadasana with strap for trapezius
Adho Mukha Svanasan with Strap.
Uttanasana, bent elbows.
padangushtansana
Padahastasana
Tadasana
Utthita hasta Padanagushtasana
Utt. Parsva Hasta Padansgushtasana
Supta padangusthasana II

Utt Parsva
AMS
Dandasana
Virasana
Supta Virasana
AMS
Chatushpadasana
Legs up Wall
Savasana

Sequence Thursday in Austin

Sukasana
Siddasana
Baddhakonasana
Tadasana
Urdhva Hastasana
Tadasana
Vrksasana
Tadasana
Utthita Parsva Hasta Padasana
Tadasana
Trikonasana
Vira II
Utthita Parsva Konasana
Ardha Chandrasana
Adho Mukha Svansana
Adho Mukha Vrksasana
Pincha Mayurasana
Sirsasana
Chatushpadasana
Chatush/sarvangasana Prep at wall
Supta Baddha Konasana
Savasana.

Wednesday Night Sequence

Same general format, but we did additional standing poses.

After Trikonasana, we worked on Vira II, and Parsvakonasana before heading into Ardha Chandrasana.

Tuesday sequences

Tuesday morning, same as monday night, but no siddansana and no chatushpadasana and we did Baddha konasana with the block between the feet.

tuesday night. basically the same, but we added parsva utthita hasta padangushtasana after vrkasana and restorative pose of choice rather than chatush and viparita karani.

great classes today.

Nancy even double dipped.

Standing Pose Week

Monday Evening Sequence

Sukasana
Siddasana
Dandasana
Baddha Konasana
Tadasana
Urdhva Hastasana
Vrksasana
Trikonasana
Ardha Chandrasana
Parvsotanasana
Virasana
Supta Virasana
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Chatushpadasana
Viparita Karani
Savasana

Tuesday Morning class was the same except no siddasana and no Chatushpadasana.

tuesday yoga

Tuesday morning class same as monday sequence.

tuesday evening, we added in ardha padmasana after sukasana and supta ardha padmasana after supta sukasana.

instead of supta padanaghustanasana, we did inversions.

We worked on Ujjayi I in supta sukasana and Ujjayi 2 in supta bk.

Lovely class ya'll.

Remember no class tomorrow night. Busy with work stuff.

Monday Evening Sequence

Sukasana (simple cross legs)
Baddha konasana (bound angle pose)
Supta sukasana ( reclined cross legs)
supta baddha konasana ( reclined bound angle)
virasana (hero's pose)
supta virasana, (reclined hero)
Adho Mukha Svanasana (down dog)
Supta padangustansana I and II (supine hand on big town pose I and ii)
legs up the wall.

enjoy.

Upcoming workshop in Austin

Hi Ya'll, this is an Iyengar Workshop coming to town. I've never
studied with Laura Allard, but she has a really great reputation and
she and her husband are really famous for anatomy classes they run
for yogis in Colorado.

I'm planning to attend it myself. Thought it might appeal to some of
you.

ANATOMY IN CLAY LAURA ALLARD

ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP
Austin Yoga Institute and Clear Spring Studio welcome Laura for her
first workshop in Texas.
We will focus on the anatomy of the pelvis and legs. The workshop will
involve asana practice,
lecture, and hands on work with the Anatomy in Clay materials that
Laura will supply.
LEARN structural and functional understanding of the musculature,
bones, joints, and
ligaments. EXPERIENCEPerceptua

l Anatomy - Postural Anatomical
Balancing to discover
center of gravity of each joint as it relates to the skeleton a whole.
EXAMINE anatomy
through yoga to better understand alignment, structural integrity and
freedom of movement.
GAINgreater understanding of injuries and dysfunctions and learn
therapeutic techniques
for healing and prevention. BEmore confident and creative in personal
practice and
professional endeavours.
October 12-14, 2007
YOGA & ANATOMY
WITH LAURA ALLARD
SCHEDULE
Fri, Oct 12: 5:30-7:30pm at Austin Yoga
Sat, Oct 13: 9:00am-12:00 noon & 1:30-3:30pm at Austin Yoga
Sun, Oct 14: 9:00-12 noon & 1:30-3:30pm at Clear Spring Studio
Full Workshop Cost : (if paid by Sept 27) $200, $240 thereafter.
2 Hour Class : $40 | 3 hour Class: $60
LOCATIONS
Austin Yoga - 1122C South Lamar| phone 923-4643
Clear Spring Studio - 605A Copeland St.
(off South First Street, behind Sabia & Marye Realtors)
phone 231-9644 ~ map available at www.clearspringstudio.com
TO REGISTER
Attending the entire workshop is
recommended; preference will be given to
those attending all sessions. Please specifiy
which sessions you will attend, if less than all.
Checks made payable to:
Austin Yoga
1122-C South Lamar Blvd
Austin, TX 78704
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Austin Yoga at 923-4643
LAURA ALLARD is an Intermediate Jr III Certified
Iyengar Yoga Instructor, Certified KA2 Kinesthetic
Anatomist Lvl 2, Director of the Iyengar Yoga Center of
Boulder, Colorado, serves the Board of the
Iyengar Yoga Nat'l Assoc. Store, and an
adjunct professor at Naropa
University. She has studied in
India with B.K.S. Iyengar and
Geeta as well as senior instructors
in the USA. Her teaching embodies
knowledge, patience, and strength
and conveys her passion for yoga and
her belief in creating community.
Contact Laura at boulderyoga.com
STUDENT QUOTES
Laura Allard is a very knowledgeable teacher. Not only does she have
advanced
knowledge of Yoga Asana practice, but she has good knowledge of
anatomy and
how the two interact.
- Merril Lobel, Meditation Teacher from the Canadian Meditation Centres
Laura has found a way to make learning anatomy fun and hands on. A
perfect mix
of clay building time and asana practice to apply what you've learned,
you'll come
away with a solid understanding of anatomy!
- Monica Krajewski, Yoga Teacher
www.austinyoga.org

Women in Yoga Classes

I thought I would just briefly write about the numbers of women in yoga classes. Yoga Classes in the US are mostly women. I've been teaching yoga about ten years and have probably only had about ten male students total. Right now, I have one male student who attends regularly. I have noticed that there are more men who do yoga in Austin, particularly at YogaYoga.

At the Senior Instructor Level of the Iyengar World, there are more women than men, but not at the same dispporportionate level. At the Institute, it seemed like there were more women than men, but a lot more men than in a regular class in the US. B.K.S Iyengar himself taught women very early on when it was not really socially acceptable to do so

B.K.S Iyengar says that yoga is for everybody.

Wednesday Night Sequence

pretty much the same stuff all week. I"ve learned a ton about VIra I and VIra III, thought a lot about what you should be doing to prepare yourself while you take those two breaths that BKS recommends in VIRA III. It is a good time to level the hips.


If any of you happen to be in Austin Sunday at 10:30, I'm subbing a class at Yoga Yoga NOrth.

Remember next week, NO Wednesday Class.

Tuesday Classes

Tuesday Morning we did the same sequence as Monday night. Welcome to new student Leigh Ann. She took a long time ago when the yoga place was on Sanger.

Tuesday Night was tons of fun. We had ten people in the small room and Nancy and Elba were absent. Carolyn was back and was great to see her.

We did the same sequence that is posted except, after cobra we did lotus variation with fingers interlaced behind back, Dhaurasana, Parsva Dhanurasana Adho Muhka Svanasana, Anantasana, (the new pose where you balance on the side of your body) then Chatush padasana Legs up the wall and a long savasana.

Tons of fun am really thinking about staying in the small room for a while. No chairs to move. Weigh in now if you have strong feelings against this move.

Jessica, check out my sister's blog, christinasell.blogspot.com great picture of her in Anjaneasana.

Backward Bending Week

We had a great class tonight. We are in the small room all week. In some ways, I like it better. I really appreciate all the effort and enthusiasm people have and as Barbara remarked, "it feels good too."

HEre's tonights sequence.

Sukasana, (simple cross legs)
Parvatasana in Sukastasna (bound fingers above the head and then we did it behind back)
Tadasana (mountain)
Urdhva Hastasana (upward hand, remember we worked with the strap on the traps and on the elbows also)
Vira I (warrior I) several times, remember block at the wall.
Vira III (warrior III)
Bhujangasana (cobra and variation with fingers interlaced behind back)
Adho Mukha Svanasana (Down dog)
Dandasana (staff)
Marichyasana I (Seated twist)
Marichyasana III (seated twist across body)
Urdhva Muka Paschimottansana (forward bend concave back)
Paschimottanasana (forward bend)
Supta Baddha Konasana (supine bound angle pose)
Supported Savasana.

Wednesday Night Sequence

Sukasana
Dandasana
Baddha Konasana
Dandasana
Upavistha Konasana
Dandasana
Tadasana
Urdhva Hastasana
Urdhva Baddanguilasana
Vrksasana
Trikonasana
Uttanasana Concave back.
Parsvotananasna
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Supta Padangushtasana I
Chatushpadasana
Urdhva Prasarita Padasana (legs up wall)
Savasana.

Tuesday Classes

Tuesday Morning Class.


sukasana (simple cross legs)
dandasana (Staff pose)
baddha konasana (bound angle pose)
dandasana
Upavistha konasana (seated wide angle pose)
dandasana
Tadasana
Urdhva Hastasana
Urdhva Baddanguilasana
Vrksasana
Utthita Hasta Padasana
Trikonasana
Vira II
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Dandasana
marichyasana I
Chatushpadasana
Legs up the Wall
Supta Baddha Konasana

Tuesday Evening.

sukasana
adho Mukha Sukasana
adho Mukhas Sukasana to each side.
Seated Twist in Sukasana
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Adho Mukha Virasana
Parsva Adho Mukha Virasana
Adho Mukha Svansana Helping each other with the belts.
Uttanasana concave back.
Uttanasana
Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana
AMS
Sirsansana
Chatushpadasana
Chutshpadasna with legs on wall
Sarvangasana
Halasana
legs up wall
Supta Baddha konasana.

Monday Evening Sequence

Hi Everyone,

We had a great class tonight. It is always great to see students like Claude and Elizabeth who have been gone awhile!!! Welcome Back. Also welcome to Tracy, another brand new person, brand new to Waco too!

This week is a forward bending week.

we did

sukasana (simple cross legs)
dandasana (Staff pose)
baddha konasana (bound angle pose)
dandasana
Upavistha konasa (seated wide angle pose)
dandasana
siddasana (pose of wisdom)
dandasana
virasana (hero's poses)
dandasana
adho mukha virasana (downward facing hero pose)
Adho mukah svanasan (down dog)
uttanasana (concave back, standing forward bend)
parsvottanasana (concave back, standing forward bend to the side)
prasarita padotanasana (extended wide apart foot pose)
chatush padasana (four limbed pose)
Chatush/ sarvangasana prep (chatush with feet up wall)
legs up the wall (urdva prasarita padasana)
savasana.

Enjoy.

Yoga Teaching in Austin

Starting January 11, 2008, I'll be teaching a Friday Morning Yoga class at Clear Spring Studio.
9:30- 11:00. Clear Spring Studio is conveniently located just off South 1st, right across from Austin School for the Deaf.

Information about other public classes in the Austin area to follow.

Wednesday Night Sequence

The Wednesday Class started back this week! Lots of new people, welcome all. A lot of the regular crowd was away. Yoga class is like life in that way, the ebb and flow of new students, new experience, weaving into the stream of ongoingness. Here's the week one sequence. Feel free to post any questions about the poses.

Sukasana (simple cross leg pose)
Tadasana (mountain poses)
Urdhva Hastasana (upward hand pose)
Urdhva Baddanguliansana (upward bound finger pose)
Vrksasana (tree pose)
Utthita Hasta Padasana (Extended Hand and Foot pose)
Parsva Hasta Padasana ( Extended Hand and Foot pose, front leg turned)
Trikonasana (triangle pose)
Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II)
Virabhadrasana I legs only (Warrior I)
Dandasana (staff pose)
Marichyasana I (seated twist)
Chatushpadasana (four limbed pose)
Urdhva Prasarita Padasana (legs up the wall pose)
savasana (corspe pose)

Inner Peace and a Great Butt

This is the title of a yoga article Elba gave me (check it out).

This class was more about the rib cage (but don't forget about inner peace as Alexandra reminded us!)


Ya'll worked so hard tonight! Great job!.

Here's the sequence.

Adho Mukha Virasana
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Uttanasana
Chair Bharadvajasana (three times, different variations)
Tadasana
Trikonasana
Parsvottansana concave back
Parivritta Trikonasana (three times, second and third times at the wall, turning away from wall and toward the wall)
AMS
Sirsasana
Chatushpadasana feet up wall
Chatushpadsana holding legs of chair
Marichyasana III
(restorative pose of choice)
savasana

Next week, Forward Bends. post any requests or questions about class in the comments.

Some Yoga Pictures

Here are a couple pictures of me at Christina's Labor of Love Yoga Festivity.


Also, this is Standing Pose week. Any particular standing pose requests? I'll work them into a sequence?

Bellur Village Fundraising

The IYNAUS community raised over $20,000 during last year's Three for Bellur Project Fundraiser. Bellur is the village where B.K.S. Iyengar was born and he is donating significant amounts of money to the village, building schools and hospitals and the like. Check out http://www.iynaus.org/News/Bellur/project.aspx for more information about the project.

My good friend, Michelle Mock ,is now heading up the SECOND ANNUAL Three for Bellur Project Fundraiser 2007 and we are asking for your support and enthusiasm once again.
Each studio that teaches in the Iyengar tradition is asked to collect a minimum donation of $3 from each teacher and student between now and the end of November. Let us join together again and give Three for Bellur! With your determination we can exceed last year's donations! Each studio's contributions are to be collected and submitted by November 2007 in time to
present to Shri BKS Iyengar in honor of his birthday and in support of the entire project's progress.

Yoga Workshop in Austin

Hi All, Jaya Waters is the woman who roomed with us in India this summer. She spends many months studying directly with BKS. Her intensity with respect to the practice of yoga is quite impressive. I'll be at the morning sessions myself.

IYENGAR WORKSHOP WITH JAYA WATERS
SATURDAY and SUNDAY, SEPT. 8-9 , 2007

Clear Spring Studio and Austin Yoga School heartily welcome Jaya Waters for her second visit to
Austin. Jaya's bio flourishes not in a resume of her 20 yrs of practicing yoga nor her certification
credentials or about her life in India, but in a brief explanation of what yoga means to her as a way of
life. She says her yoga practice is no different than anyone else’s who has studied Iyengar yoga for
many years. However, she does claim a tenacity to yoga under both favorable and unfavorable
circumstances. She credits this to her faith in yoga not just as a physical & breathing exercise, but more as a spiritual path ending in Self realization or Kaivalya. Yoga serves her now even more than before
~ like a true love, it keeps giving and giving, expecting nothing in return. Give yourself a short end-of-summer yoga holiday, and energize your practice with Jaya.

SCHEDULE Note: All classes are for all levels of student with experience of the Iyengar method. If
you have physical limitations or medical conditions, please ask Peggy or Devon if attendance will be
appropriate for you.
Another Note: you are strongly encouraged to attend all sessions; there is a well-thought-out method
and progression to the work, and your body and mind will benefit from the immersion, however brief.
Saturday, Sept. 8, 9am – 11:30am All Levels
2:30pm – 5:30pm All Levels
Sunday, Sept. 9, 9am – noon, All Levels

LOCATION
All classes will be at Clear Spring Studio, located at 605 A Copeland St., off South 1st St, behind the
Sabia Boutique and Marye Realtors. Parking access either from S. First or Copeland St. Overflow
parking behind shops just north of Clear Spring on South 1st St.

COST Please make checks payable to Clear Spring Studio, and mail to 605 A Copeland St. Austin,
TX 78704. Specify which sessions you will attend.
Entire workshop: $130, if paid entirely by Friday August 25; $140 (full price) after that.
2.5-hour class (Sat. am): $40
3-hour class (Sat. pm and Sun. am): $50 each

CONTACT AND REGISTRATION
To register or for more information, contact Devon Dederich at Clear Spring: email
yoga@clearspringstudio.com, phone 512-231-9644 OR Peggy Kelley at Austin Yoga School:
email yogapk@sbcglobal.net, phone 512-440-1269.

Announcements

No Class Monday. It's Labor Day.

Wednesday evening class starts Sept 5

Tuesday morning class starts Sept 11.

Pranayama

Hi Everyone,

At the Iyengar Institute, they follow a rotation of poses schedule, that goes something like this, week one Standing Poses, Week Two Forward Bend, Week Three Backward Bends, Week Four Pranayama. I've been following this more or less in my ongoing classes (tuesdays for sure and monday and wednesdays to lesser degrees), but I have to say I haven't been explicitly teaching pranayama so much on the pranayama weeks.

However, one thing that really hit me in Pune is how seriously they take pranayama and also how much people really don't practice it and all of a sudden I realized I was part of the problem. I have a regular practice, but I don't teach it regularly to my students. So today I did. In many ways, it is much harder to teach than asana, partly because you can't talk and demo at the same time, but that's the tip of the iceberg.

Here's tonights Sequence. All in Sanskirt. Another story. Long ago, Christina asked Devon how to learn the names of the poses. Devon said, when you care about the poses enough, you'll learn the names, so the beginner sequences I'll give the translations. No translations for Tuesday Night.

Supta Baddha Konasana
Supta Sukasana
Ardha Padamasana prep.
Virsasana to
Supta Virsana
Adho Mukha Virasana
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Sirsasana with belt on elbows
Sarvangasana
mini setu banda
Ujjayi I
Ujjayi III
Ujjayi II
Violoma I
Savasana

Monday Evening Sequence

Hi Everyone, Great job in class tonight. Ya'll worked hard.

Sukasana simple cross legs
Dandasana staff
Tadasana mountain
Supta Tadasana laying down mountain
Urdhva Hastasana upward hand pose
Supta UH laying down upward hand pose
Tadasana
Vrksasana tree
Utthita Hasta Padasana extended hand and foot pose
Trikonasana triangle
Virabhadrasana II warrior ii
Parsvotasana (Concave Back) intense side flank pose
Virasana hero
Chatushpadasana four limbed poses
Supta Baddha Konasana laying down side angle pose
Supported Savasana supported corpse.

enjoy. Think about practicing yoga and practice yoga!!

12 Week Complete Beginner Series

Tell all your friends.

A new day time class.

12 week series for the complete beginner.

Starts Tuesday September 11 at 10:00

$120

Lakeshore Baptist Church

Tuesday Musings

Well, no one showed up to the new tuesday morning class. Weird, so many people call and say they want daytime classes, so anyway, tell all your daytime friends about a new yoga class. I'll keep it up for awhile, but this unique window of opportunity for day time yoga in Waco won't last long.

It was great being back with the Tuesday night crowd. This was a backward bending week. We did a slightly modified Geeta sequence from Pune. Here it is.

Adho Mukhaa Virasana (downward facing hero) AMV
Adho Mukha Svanasana (Down dog, remember we worked on getting the shoulder blades on the back and having less of a chihuahua stances) AMS
Uttansana (standing forward bend)
Trikonasana triangle
Parsvakonasana side angle pose
Ardha Chandrasana half moon.
another AMS
Vira II (warrior II)
Upavista Konasana (Seated wide angle pose)
Supta Padanghustashana II (three various, leg in tadasana, down leg out wide and the letting extended leg go all the way to floor
Urdhva Mkha Svanasana (up dog, lots of variations with the blocks)
Dhanurasana (bow pose, remember the single leg variation)
Eka Pada Rajokapotasana prep (single leg pigeon)
another AMV
parsva AMV
sarvangasana (shoulderstand)
halasana (plow)
parsva halasana (plow to the side)
savasana).

Enjoy, practice well.

Week One Sequence

Here is the list of poses we did in class Monday night (and Tuesday Morning).

Sukasana (simple cross leg pose)
bound fingers in sukasana
Tadasana (mountain poses)
Urdhva Hastasana (upward hand pose)
Vrksasana (tree pose)
Utthita Hasta Padasana (Extended Hand and Foot pose)
Parsva Hasta Padasana ( Extended Hand and Foot pose, front leg turned)
Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II)
Vihmansasana (celestial vehicle pose)
Dandasana (staff pose)
Chatushpadasana (four limbed pose)
Urdhva Prasarita Padasana (legs up the wall pose)
savasana (corspe pose)

Back in the Saddle Again

Well, I can still teach yoga, that is a relief!!!

Class tonight was great. It was lovely to see all my regular students and I had plenty of new ones as well. One new student asked what they should work on during the week. Become aware of how you stand. Focus on your breathing... Just begin to notice how you hold yourself. Set aside a few minutes each day and just do whatever it is that you remember from class.

There's a blog posting on Thursday June 21 about establishing a home practice. It lists numerous books and videos that I recommend.

Laurie Blakeney, a great senior teacher and my mentor through the certification process, will be at the bks iyengar yoga studio of dallas. dallasiyengaryoga.com I'll be there for the saturday and sunday sessions. She's super accessible. A great first workshop experience.

Remember a new class starts tomorrow at 10 at lakeshore. Tell your friends who might be at home during the day.

Classes Start this Week

Hello Waco Yogis and Yoginis,

Just a reminder that my yoga classes start back this week.

There is a new start time for the Monday Night Class. Now from 6:00 PM to 7:15. Lakeshore Baptist Room 206

Tuesday Night class is the same 5:30 to 7:00.

Also, the new Tuesday AM class starts at 10 also at Lakeshore.

The Wednesday night class will start back Sept 5.

I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Check out my new Blog

I'll be keeping this blog for things directly related to teaching yoga.

I have a new blog for life related events... anneinaustin.blogspot.com

The Last Post from Pune

Well, we had our last pranayama class with Geeta. Fabulous. Her clarity of instruction and ability to facilitate attentiveness is ongoingly impressive and inspiring, an incantation toward the inner work of yoga. Dinner at Vashali was also great. I took Randy's advice and tried the tomato and cheese uttapa. Very pizza like, but spongier.

this morning we had our last session in the practice hall. It was a nice way to wind things down and it is great to have a three hour practice on the front end of the epic journey homeward. Then we took one last walk down chatushringi and FC road for a final lunch of dosas at Vashali. The walk along the road was particularly traffic filled, noisy, and smelly, so that too was a nice note to end on, back to the land of traffic lights, cross walks, and horns only being used for emergencies.

A small part of me wishes I were staying another month, but mostly I think our decision to stay a month for the first trip was the right one.

In all, it has been a great experience perhaps I'll have more eloquent words of wisdom to sum up the experience upon my return to Waco.

Looking forward to seeing everyone.

The next to last blog post from India

Last night we attended the Gurupurnima celebration. It started around four with Geeta leading a recitiation of the 108 names of Patanjali and the entirety of the Yoga Sutras. Prashant then gave a lengthy discourse on the philosophy and religion of yoga. Highlights from his talk: the importance of letting yoga work on you, not just doing yoga, but letting yoga be done to you, being receptive to the metaphysical aspects of yoga. Yoga is about the soul and so we must be interested in that. The different stages of learning and linking that to various stages of life. We have to move beyond preference in the learning process. The importance of being discerning about what and why you are practicing, more on the outfit of the mind, many jokes about sticky mats, water bottles, and yoga shorts. He spoke for almost two hours. At this point, Chandru had people move even closer together so my claustrophobia began to set in as an additional obstacle to overcome (beyond legs, buttocks, and hips falling asleep in many and varied excruciating ways). Then Guruji addressed us directly. He spoke of the importance of tapas in practice, of searching for awareness and life force in every cell of the body, of the ongoing nature of practice. He mentioned that he has been teaching for 73 years. What a profound influence he has had on the lives of so many. He is the embodiment of what Prashant was talking about. Yes, tons of doing he did, but what is so remarkable about him is what the yoga practice has done to him. He is radiant, luminous, vitally aware and almost ninety years old.

Then, he opened a variety of gifts: the most recent Yoga Rashaya (publication of the institute), and Abjijata had arranged for a special order of t-shirts to commemorate the event.

I'm very glad we got to be a part of the festivities. A very auspicious ending to our time here.

This morning we practiced some, though we also bought many t-shirts for ourselves, and various teachers, friends, and students. We also ordered Pune Blankets and got Randy's CD all figured out with Chandru.

Tonight is our last class with Geeta and then we are going out to Vashali with Muriel and the California girls.

The last sunday in pune

We are definitely in a Christmas Eve Eve frame of mind about leaving. It isn't quite the last day, but almost the last day, so you can't quite get excited about 'tomorrow/ Christmas/ departure' because there's still a whole other day left.

on the other hand, it is sort of like Christmas Eve because there's a big Gurupurnima celebration tonight at the institute. Gurupurnima, as I understand it is a day where all our teachers are honored, so the festivities start at 4:15 with Geeta doing a sutra recitation and then Prasahant will give a talk and beyond that I don't really know what will happen.

We decided not to go to swim at LeMeridian, partly because it is rainy and partly because we didn't want to be across town and have to rush back to get ready to go to the celebration. Also, last night, we had a high swank factor dining experience at la pizzeria. this is Mary and Eddy's favorite restaurant. It was really good, it would be a very good Italian place even without the 30 days of Indian food that preceded the experience. the only downside was the "tandoor" style brownie that Christina and I got for dessert (which I believe she will blog about), but the asparagus was a real highlight as was the pesto dish and the sundried tomato spaghetti I got. And Marj was right. It was nice to eat some garlic bread with crunch. we also sat near four very young teenage girls out on the town and it was fun to watch their interactions as they ate cheese nachos (they also have a mexican menu) and ordered two desserts!!! .

Well, that's about all to update for now.

more tomorrow.

Two More Fabulous Pranayama Classes with Geeta

Since last I wrote, we've attended two fabulous pranayama classes with Geeta. Last night, we worked on maha mudra and samuki mudra and bhamari (the pranayama that Curtis used to describe as a sounding like a broken washing machine- it is supposed to sound like a bumble bee, so maybe I was doing it wrong at the time) and she talked at length about the processes and effects of pratyahara. Today, we worked more on relaxing the senses of perception by drawing the mind toward the eyes and ears and nose and watching so that the breath doesn't disrupt the senses... We also learned bastrika, and worked more with the digital pranayama. She also led us through a great viloma with a rolled blanket on the spine that facilitated the inward journey of the dorsal spine.

This is only the most minimal accounting of what she led us to experience. As impressive as her ability to teach asana is, her ability to teach and describe pranayama is even more so. The depth of her knowledge of these increasingly inward experiences is "awesome." Literally, it does inspire awe. Another thing I'm struck by is her ability to use concrete everyday examples to get across the feeling or thought awareness she is after. For example, she will talk about picking a cat up and the sort of grip you use to do it or the movement of an earth worm to describe the movement of the spine, or how we touch a fine piece of clothe as opposed to a rough cotton blanket. Again, only the tip of the ice berg.

She also manages to work in all sorts of observations about the yamas and the niyamas. Last night she talked a lot about ahimsa not coming through the suppression of violent thoughts but more as a fruit of practice. Today, she talked about discipline and it really being our choice how much discipline we want to place upon ourselves. She also talked about how we listen to what others say about us. No need to listen to gossip, draw the ears inward, but if someone is offering useful criticism about ourselves we owe it to ourselves to listen and examine and apply.

Things are winding down here. We are getting money together to pay our cook and to place deposits for next time. yesterday, we got our blue letter for June/July 2009 from Pandu. Actually the letter isn't blue. It is an airmail letter.

that's about it for now. We are heading toward Coffee Day and then to practice.

More on Pranayama week

Class last night was really amazing particularly given how upset Geeta was the day before with our inability to do digital pranayama. She was so generous and charitable explaining all sorts of things about the digital hand position and the various digital pranayamas. She clearly took the position that we simply didn't know and she explained everything so clearly and gave so many reasons why we do things the way we do and at some point really even came very close to apologizing for losing her temper. She reflected on the dedication we need to have to practice and to god and talked about how we allow our mind to disturb ourselves so much more than the external things that might bother us... then at the very end of class, when it really seemed like things would not degenerate people messed up again and it was really almost heart breaking how sad it made her, she asked "what more am I to do?" was so sincere in wanting an answer and no one said anything. It wasn't really clear this was not a rhetorical question, but then she went on to say that our silence was because we identified with the student who made the mistake and she said she noticed that no one comes up to comfort her after class but several people do to the students who make the mistakes...Good point. When the pedagogical relationship becomes strained, I know that I want to talk about it with other teachers who will understand and sometimes I even want a reality check from students I trust who were in the class. ( I think this is even more the case for me in the philosophy classroom when I am struggling to articulate abstract concepts and am dealing in the world of ideas. Geeta's class last night really was much more of a lecture about the doing of pranayama and it really created this tangible link between my yoga learning and my philosophy learning. )

You do hear all these stories about the Iyengar's yelling and I don't have any experience with him teaching, but one thing that typically doesn't get conveyed in the stories about her "yelling" people, is just how clear it is that she wants to be understood and to transmit the knowledge and expertise and insight to others. She really wants us to know, to experience, to be good students of yoga. Her expression of the vulnerability of the teacher in that context was so honest and real. I don't know what I'd tell her to do any differently. She is just an amazing teacher, her clarity, her dedication, her presence of mind, generosity of spirit in dealing with our shortcomings as students.

Several people really did come up to her afterwords and ask well what should we do and she talked some more, I think she really doesn't get why people don't cut their nails, or read the book or listen or know how to pay attention. It was really pretty emotional all in all. To me the only solution I can think of is to be the best student I can be and to teach my students with whatever modicum of her dedication to the practice that I can muster.

Well on a lighter note, we had an amazing practice this morning, Christina really helped me get my chest more open in backbending and we did not have okra for lunch!!!!

After the rainstorm

The rains have returned a little bit, which is nice because it cools things off a little.

Don't have much to report since yesterday. we had a pretty mellow practice yesterday afternoon. One of my favorite tings to do here is hang from the ropes in the middle of the room. It is much nicer than using wall ropes, almost feels like I'm floating.

This morning we working on the forward bending sequence with the blanket under the tailbone. it is sort of like having a giant blanket tail..

I finished Harry Potter. Won't say anything more.

We are off for a coffee treat.

Watching the Mind and its many Fluctuations

Last night, we had class with Prashant. Christina wrote at length about it. Let's just say it was a dwi pada viparita dandasana and philosophy lecture marathon. Prashant focuses a lot on the idea of "preparation." How do we prepare for the circumstances that confront us. He says prepare yourself. Prepare your body, mind, and breath. I realized that my sense of preparing is often very goal oriented. Preparing for comps, for assessment. I preparing to teach or preparing a meal... What does it mean to prepare yourself without knowing exactly what you are preparing for. Be prepared, for what, for any eventuality I imagine. Which means prepare yourself to be open and receptive to whatever circumstance you find yourself in, whether than is 90 minutes of backward bending over a chair, or dealing with a long line at the More grocery store, or the challenges of an upcoming move not to mention the tragedies and traumas and the joys and jubilations that come our way.

what are the sorts of things that keep us from being prepared? In the yoga philosophy context, the kleshas come to mind: Avidya (ignorance), Asmita (ego), Raga (pleasure) , Devsa (aversion), Abhinivesha (fear of death). Related terms that come to mind.... Inattention, forgetfulness, lack of present moment awareness, not knowing what the context requires, not realizing our own lack of preparation... not seeing things as connected... not thinking criticism applies to you even if it falls on you...

it has finally gotten somewhat hot here. Still nothing like I was "preparing" myself for, but it is true that hot weather is one thing with air conditioning and quite another without it. Last night, Christina and I moved our mattresses out to the living room and slept under the fan. There is a fan in the bedroom but it has two speeds (off which leads to sweltering quite quickly) and high which sounds like a helicopter is landing just above us)..

I was, nonetheless, pretty tired this morning. This morning pranayama week started. Geeta gave the most illuminating talk about the various types of pranayama and how we prepare ourselves for pranayama that I've ever heard. It was so informative and inspiring. The class ended up being a somewhat sobering experience in that several people didn't know how to do digital pranayama or were not doing it to her satisfaction. But again, it all fit in with the above theme of preparation. Do we depend simply on what our teachers show us? How have we prepared ourselves to be here? Have we read the books? Have we really learned what is in the book? Being here is an ongoing call to deeper and deeper levels of attentiveness to what practice requires.

We have practice in an hour or so and then we plan to hit Roopali for dinner.

tuesday afternoon update

We had another great backward bending class with Geeta last night. it was really fascinating watching her insistence that people learn to kick up in full arm balance. she had those that couldn't do it work on it at least ten or fifteen minutes. but at the same time, for those of us who could kick up, she was very insistent on seeing the skill in coming down with both legs. After we had worked really hard in eka pada viparita dandasana on a chair, she talked at length about the process of stilling the fluctuations of the mind and the cultivation of the receptivity of the mind to that process. For instance, the attention that it takes to "catch what she is saying' needs to be applied to the self-observation in practice. more talk about not getting wrapped up in the ambition of doing, but to look for sthira sukam asanam in all aspects of the pose.

then, we went to Urdhva dharusana and she taught us how to shift the weight forward and backward, toward the feet and toward the hands to prepare us to learn to come and kick over. A lot of doing!!!!

today we did a lot of practice with weight on our thighs, ate lunch, and walked to crosswords and back to the Cyber Cafe.....

tonight, class with Prashant.

The people with props

Jeri, here's the post about props.

One of the things B.K.S Iyengar is famous for is developing many many creative uses of props. Props are things like sticky mats, belts, blankets, blocks, bolsters, eye pillows (things you might buy in a hugger mugger catalogue for instance) but really any item, like a kitchen counter or a folding chair, or sunken living room ledge or sofa that you might use in the course of a practice. Here at the Institute there are all sort of even fancier props, back bending benches, rope swings, tresslers (sort of like a balance beam), halasana benches, setu bandha benches, viparita karni boxes, straps in various shapes sizes and colors and a huge part of the fun of being here is watching people use all the props in so many ways (for instance, Cheryl's calves of ghee).

Props are used in Iyengar yoga for a variety of reasons (It has been a while since I answered this question for my tt assessment, but here's some of what I remember answering at the time). Probably the most basic reason is to help someone do a pose that might otherwise be inaccessible to them. let's say you are laying down on the floor doing supta padanghustasana (which requires you to lift one leg up to the ceiling and take hold of the big toe, while keeping both legs straight.. the hamstring challenged among us, would find this difficult to do without a strap!

similarly, we often do standing poses with a block if our hands can't reach the floor.

But props are also learning devices, you can use a strap to pull the trapezius skin down away from the neck so you get a feeling of what it means for the "trapezius to belong to the back rather than the neck," or you can put a block between your feet to help keep the feet straight in urdhva dharusansa or chatush padasasana

You can also use props to help you hold a difficult pose for a longer period of time in order to get the benefit that increased time in the pose provides.. For example, sarvangasana (shoulder stand). It is certainly possible to do this pose safely without props (if you are quite advanced), but if you put height under your shoulders and a belt around your elbows it is possible to stay in the pose for a very long time, and being in that pose for 10- 15 -20 minutes has all kinds of benefits for the mind, breathe, body, soul, and spirit, that you would not be able to access in the minute or two you might be able to do some approximation of the pose without props.

Props are also typically used in more restorative oriented sequences, when the body is weak or ill, you might use bolsters or blankets to allow a practioncer to get the benefits of poses without as much strain on the body. (I did read somewhere, that Iyengar said using bolsters and such too much can make one indolent, so beware of the seductiveness of bolsters....)

In Iyengar teacher- training circles, one of the "rules" we are often taught is that if you introduce a prop, then you should have everyone use the prop (don't give choices for what the student should do. At the early stages, this makes a lot of sense, students probably won't know if they need a prop or not). Unfortunately, one of the things that happens is that we start to think that the pose always needs a prop and so we never try to move beyond the prop. (how will we ever know if we can reach the toe in supta padangusthasana if we never try to reach for it?) SImilarly, Supta virasana (full pose) is flat on the floor, but people (myself included, might remain on a bolster for decades because it is a bearable way to do the pose rather than confront what it is that keeps them from being able to do the full pose.



Randy once put the prop dependency problem in this way, "you don't want to hand out crutches when someone walks into your yoga class."

Despite the fact that there are props galore in the practice sessions, I have to say the classes here are remarkably non prop oriented... there isn't tons of specification around how to fold the blankets, how to belt the strap... (things that Iyengar classes run the risk of getting bogged down with).

Sometimes, even if you can do the full pose, it is better to do the pose in a supported way. For instance in the menstrual sequence, or if you are tired or if you are trying to learn a different sort of action. chandra had use use a block for trikonasana because it was easier for us to access the turn of the upper arm and the shoulder blade that was useful for backward bending. even if we could go to the floor with the hand, that wasn't the point, the point was for everyone to have a clear experience of this action....

The larger point about props is that they should help not hinder a practice and that we should know why we are using a prop and do what effect. Which of course, circles back to the whole learning how to learn theme that has run through our experience here.

That's the tip of the iceberg anyway...

Weekend update

First of all, Happy Birthday to my godson, H.W. He turns one today! check out his web page www.babywright.com

Second, I'm in the midst of reading Harry Potter. i did actually pre-order my copy which is awaiting my arrival back in Waco, but Christina bought a copy Saturday at Crosswords and she is saving it for the plane trip back, so i couldn't really just let it sit there forlorn and unread... Most excellent.

Third, Shirley and Jeri thanks for the comments on the blog.

Let's see, since last I wrote, Christina and I were walking to Crosswords on Saturday and as we passed the city dump, what should we see but the camel herd grazing away. One of the benefits of being a camel is that camels can eat the leaves from the trees above the city dump rather, than say, the baby piglets who cannot. We were stopped for this delightful photo op and happened to run into Cheryl and Eliza who had not yet had the glorious experience of riding the camel. (we declined a second ride, but truthfully watching them ride was nearly as much fun as our own. Unfortunatley, the camel's legs got a bit crossed on their descent downward and for a while we were worried that they really had been the ride that broke the camel's back, but he recovered and was quickly back at work...

Cheryl invited us to a dinner party later that evening after practice. Christina was feeling a bit tired out and pitta aggravated from our walk (It has gotten pretty hot the past couple days, not Texas hot, but creeping into the ballpark) but I went without her, without undue pod separation anxiety. It was a lot of fun. We ate pasta and nori rolls and chocolate ice cream and momos. (Momos are Tibetan dumplings).

Sunday, Christina and I did a nice backward bending practice in the apartment and then headed out for our shopping extravaganza. We tried to go to Fab India, but again our rickshaw driver didn't know how to get us there, but he did drop us off at a very nice mall a small mall, surrounding a large department store shoppers stop. Christina got a lovely pink and orange outfit with sparkles... (Indian clothing is much more vibrant and makes full use of the color spectrum in a way that typical American outfits do not!) and I got two cool shirts one hot pink with sparkles and another sort of paisley printed with sparkles... sparkles are clearly quite in here.
we went to cafe day at the mall...and then tried to go to Fab-India, but again the rickshaw drivers did not know fab India. they did, however, know the German bakery and so we went there, while there we also wanted to check out dragon gifts which turned out to be a head shop so that didn't take as long as we anticipated (and there is no non-tourist activity stamp on Christina's visa to consider....) We ended up not getting anything at the Bakery (sigh, but I was pretty full from the coffee drink). We did, however, find a rickshaw driver who knew where Fab-India was and after some intense negotiation over the price, Christina got him down from 50 to 40 rupees, we were off.

At Fab-India, we bought several capri pants and looked for gifts for various family members and then we decided to go have a drink at the Bar at Le Meridian. Lovely hotel, nice to be in the lap of luxury for a couple hours, and they had great little samosas with tamarind sauce, not to mention sour cream and onion potato chips for a bar snack. Next sunday we are going back to take in the rooftop pool.

This morning we did the thigh smashing sequence and the simasana sequence. We have Geeta's class tonight!

Three Weeks Down

Well, Christina and I have just completed the third week of classes. Last night, we had Chandra's class. IT was excellent and much more like a typical Iyengar Class one might encounter in the US. There were several demos and more repeated poses (Christina is posting the sequence on her blog as I write) . We did standing poses and a bunch of backbends. This morning we had the ladies class and Abijata (Iyengar's grandaughter) taught. She was really excellent also. Again, the format was more like Iyengar classes I"m used to, except for the direct instructions from Guruji on sirsasana (and repeating sirsasana several times). Abijata has an incredibly pleasant, captivitingly pleasant demeanor as well.

We are on our way to cash some money at the Chetak (we spent a good bit at the batik store yesterday) and then we are heading over to Crosswords for more movies. We have been enjoying our trips to "videoland" as Jaya called it last night. After practice (where we plan to do the most excellent Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana sequence), we have another trip down FC road, via Chatushringi Road, for dinner at either Roopali or Goopali on Randy's insistence.

Side note: We are thinking about naming each of the practice sequences, For instance "Calves of butter" which we got from Laurie has morphed into "Cheryl's calves of ghee" (after she showed us how to use the wooden bar covered with sticky mat piece, so far we have "groins of delight" otherwise known as "the simasana sequence"

So more later, Jeri (in her second comment to the blog yeah!!!!) asked about props in Iyengar Yoga and I"m going to write a bit about that next time around. It is one of the big differences I've noticed here in terms of how they are used/ what the Iyengars say about them...

Well that's it for now.

Friday Afternoon

Christina and I had an eventful afternoon. After a delightful mixed veggie lunch and a nice chat with Jaya, we did some laundry, which here is hand washing and line drying. We both were quite impressed with the amount of dirt that had acculumated on our white tshirts. Most of my shirts are now much larger and a sort of dingy though cleaner shade of white... (I once turned a load of laundry pink, well, I facilitated it turning pink by dropping off unsorted clothes at a cleaners in Germany, this was bad because Dad's work shirts were involved, but I digress).

We went back to the Batik store and bought quite a few cool items. We saw two pigs, a hairy piglet and the model colony cow herd on the way there and back again.

I'm a little tired right now and am not feeling particularly inspired.Last night we had a great pranayama class with one of Mr Iyengar's students Raj Laxshmi and tonight we have class with Chandra. Geeta has been away the past couple days.

Cultural Musings

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE COMMENTS JERI AND JEN (AND DAD), Glad that the reflections of clothes and coffee are compelling reads and Dad, tell mom we have many photos of FC road, though unfortunately we did not capture the goats on film.

Randy, Vashali was really great. Definitely helped us overcome the okra experience from tuesday's lunch... We had these potato doshas and a giant onion hashbrown like cake thin. Doshas, for those of you who haven't yet had the pleasure, are like giant thin slightly chewy pancakes, and then folded up on one side there was some yummy spiced potato mixture (I think you can get other things in them) and it was served with two sauces on the side, which I, like Sally in When Harry met Sally am a huge fan of, sauce on the side...

A line of thinking I would add to Christina's reflections on Prashant's class has to do with "culture." Prashant talked a lot about the culture of the pose. Prashant himself likes to play with words and I've been playing a good bit with all the ways that we use the word culture. Perhaps due to having a scientific father and working in a science lab at Burroughs Welcome one summer, one of the first uses that comes to mind is cultures that grow in a petri dish. in isolated conditions, certain things grow well. So one might think of how we grow the practice of yoga through setting aside or isolating. For instance, I have a yoga room. I set aside time to practice, sometimes i even remember to turn off the phone. then there is the idea of acculturation, getting used to something, like getting used to the culture of Pune and the skills that requires and learning the culture the ways of the RIMYI institute... of course, there are obvious uses of culture, like "American culture." often in that context, we can be idealize what is great about it, "Clean public restrooms, Starbucks on every corner," or what's bad about it, "commericialization of the spiritual, Starbucks on every corner." then of course there's high culture, opera, art museums and the like, and popular culture, movies, ipods, blogs.... but what does it mean to have a cultured mind or to be a cultured person or to allow oneself to be cultured by the practice of yoga.

Aristotle defines human beings, [actual he says men, but I will update him for him as I am convinced he would do for himself if he were around today.....] as the political animal, because they have the capacity for speech. I think this is important with respect to what it means to be a cultured person both because of the social/ communal/political definition and because he does acknowledge that at base humans are animals and the actiivity of culturing the human is an activity of privilege. It is how we become all that we can be... the sort of animal who appreciates beauty in the world and the creation of beauty, the sort of animal who can speak and communicate with others and care about the way in which that communication takes place, the sort of animal who has the luxury of time and resources to cultivate ethical and spiritual practices....and yoga is just such a practice. when we allow the practice of yoga to culture us, we are transformed, we become more human and in that process of becoming human, Pantajali says we become aware of our inner splendor. That inner splendor is an awareness of our divine nature and our association with the divine/God.

Aristotle actually saw the practice of philosophy itself, the contemplative life as the means by which humans become divine, in so far as is possible for that human animal (and it thought humans could go quite far along that path).

Some more thoughts on Sunita's class. It was just super fun. She has a really bright and shiny, playful personality. She also has those keen observation skills and a high level of ability to motivate you toward doing. we did a lot of forward bends and twists while working with motion, reaching and stretching the arms (and of course the mind) beyond the feet, around the back over the head. Often, in Iyengar Yoga there are a lot of long holds (like janu sirsanas in Prashant's class) well the next morning same pose, but in and out in and out. it was an extremely energizing practice and a way of getting out of mental ruts. Forward bends can be quite stimulating....not just peaceful and restful.... B.K.S. himself also added some helpful comments about how to twist from the side of the room and the class just felt like a deeply communal endeavor all in all.

one of the really liberating things about being here is seeing beyond the sometimes very rule based way Iyengar yoga gets taught. shoes off, mats straight, blankets folded, fringes alternating, all the alignment instructions, don't do sirsasana more than once, always demo, always repeat poses. It is not like the rules are out the window here, but it is so clear that the rules are a means to an end and not the end of doing and not the end in and of themselves, (though it is hard not to get wrapped up in that in the grips of assessment frenzy. What is the most consistent theme throughout I would say is the process of learning. how do we get the mind to learn and keep learning... to be as Sunita said in class, firm yet flexible... flexible yet firm.

There is a great B.K.S quote on the wall of the Dallas studio that goes something like, the flexibility we gain in asana is a tangible symbol of the flexibility that we gain to face life's challenges." which I've always thought of in terms of physical flexibility but here I really see the mental flexibility as the deeper meaning of that quote.

well, that's it for now.

Midweek Update

We don't have a lot of internet time scheduled for today, mostly due to our afternoon viewing of Inside Man. Good movie. What's not to like Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, and other various heavy hitters like Christopher Plummer and Wilem Dafoe.

Since last I wrote we headed down FC road. We tried the other side of the street and it was perhaps even more precarious. On our way across, we did see the cattle herd of Model Colony (that is the general part of Pune we are in) clustered around the median. (Median is perhaps a generous term for a curb with a three foot fence, but median we will call it). Jaya had told us about some cool stores with sales and also told us that Barista coffee has moved across the street (now just across from reliance as opposed to just down from it). We didn't find much in the Levi store and so we ventured deeper into the "mall." (Mall is perhaps a generous term for a cluster of stores, they were all indoors it is true, but the overall feel was something like late 70s after a very small bomb attack, lots of broken walls, and dust, no ac, certainly no food court). Then we went further down Barista coffee has outdoor seating which is in general a nice idea, though perhaps not on FC road, then we found the store W.

W was a delightful retail therapy experience. The entire family was involved in our trying on and purchasing process. There is definitely no need to hire a personal shopper here, you get way more feedback about style and color choice than is always helpful. Christina had to argue (nicely) with one of the helpers about the size she wore. (Christina and I are generally much smaller than the average Indian person, not so much the Indians who are literally starving on the streets but the affluent women we have seen at the Institute), but these shop owners, were wiry and tiny and so they thought we were rather large... On a serious note, it is very eye opening to look at thinness in the terms of this culture rather than the eyes of the western aesthetic, but that deserves more commentary than I now have time for...

We each bought several nice outfits and now look quite fashionable, though after what I've been wearing the last two weeks, this is not difficult to accomplish.. Afterwards, we hit Coffee Day again. Had the same waiter and I'm happy to report that it took less than 30 minutes to get our drinks. Christina had her first caffeine in three months and I ended up, having way more espresso than I should have to help turn the ice cream drink I got accidentally into a sort of affagato (yes Tom, my high maintenance coffee drinking continues even on the Indian subcontinent).

Then were were off to Prashant's class. Christina wrote a bit about that and I'll write more on it later
We had sunita (Geeta's sister) today in the women's class and in its own way it reminded me of a George Purvis, circus train with animals class.... Then on the way home we saw a goat herd crossing the road and I've had that silly song from sound of music in my head ever since.

That's it for now. We've got a short time to practice this afternoon and we are off to Vashali tonight!!!

George Purvis in Dallas and Austin

Hey all you Waco yogis and yoginis, Just a reminder that George is going to be in Dallas at the end of July for a weekend workshop see dallasiyengaryoga.com Also check out the upcoming Laurie Blakeney workshop at the end of august.

and in Austin on Saturday august 18 for a one day workshop. see clearspringstudio.com for details.

I won't be back for George's july gig, but plan to take in the others...

Anne

Tales of Tuesday

We are officially at the halfway point of our time here. In many ways, I would say it feels like we have been here much longer than two weeks. We are definitely into the Pune routine of things now. Classes and practice, eating lots of sugar (and roti and subji) occasional outings and occasional days like yesterday resting on the couch. Actually, yesterday was Christina's "couch day." We each polished off a novel. Mine about life in the fast lane in NYC, Everybody Worth Knowing and hers Mayada about a woman in an Iraqi prison. We also watched Rumor Has It last night and Gandhi the night before. There is an elaborate furniture rearrangement process that has to go on so we can both be somewhat reclined (half on the couch and half on the wicker chairs) and be able to see the small screen of the computer and hear its limited volume and also have the computer plugged into the one outlet in the living room (as the battery does not last for an entire movie), but we are quite zealous in our pursuit of popular culture escapism at this point.

Last night, Geeta did a wonderful backward bending class and we practiced it again this morning. Christina and I are really both finding that process of taking class and practicing hugely beneficial. We were talking about how to keep that intentionality and focus with respect to practice upon return. (See Christina's blog for the sequence and details)

The biggest thing I got from her class last night was about the importance of watching yourself in various modes of practice and performance. Often, when we can do something well, we lose the opportunity to observe. For instance, if we can go up with two legs in Sirsasana II, we just think that's that and don't look deeper. We don't look to see what we can gain by looking at what happens when we go up one leg at a time, where does unevenness occur, which sides do we favor.. She is teaching how to observe ourselves and to learn as much as she is teaching poses or nuances of poses.

Well, we are off on another journey down FC road. Jaya bought some very cool outfits at a couple stores new Vashali's and I am craving a Coffee Day frozen drink.

scenes from sunday

we had an excellent dinner last night at the Hotel Ambassador, but Randy, I promise we will go check out the other places. this morning we lounged around for a while, I tried to write a bit, but am stuck with how to proceed with part two of the Republic chapter....(trying to work with this self-mastery and harmony dynamic)

then we did a nice long practice (the Friday night sequence with some additional hip opening to help with simasana). we were trying to find the shop Arnav and walked a long way looking for it, past some less than safe areas, and were somewhat lost (we did follow mommy-ji's advice about direction asking, but it doesn't always help) then took a detour into a temple on a really large hill and that must have changed our wandering luck because after a bit more of a walk, were about to give up and take a rickshaw home and I happened to turn around and see crosswords bookstore. it was just a lovely experience. we bought several novels and many dvds to entertain ourselves, not that we are doing a bad job with it on our own, but last night Christina was so desperate to watch something that she looked through all 1800 slides on my i photo library and listened to my commentary about Greek art and architecture and various philosophers. I also had a mochacino and a frozen one as well (which is what I meant to order the first time, but rather than send it back, I just got another one), so I'm pretty high on sugar and caffeine right now.

simon gave us directions home from crosswords after Christina asked him, "where are we?" which was more of an existential inquiry than a metaphysical one.

Anyway, the western civilization fix was much needed and now we have escapist books and films as well to help with our Pune panic that sometimes sets in when we venture out....

update on wildlife; there was a herd of sheep grazing in the empty field and we saw something that looked very much like a wild boar or at least a havelina.

more encounters with wildlife

Well, its Saturday night in Pune and Christina and i are sitting in the Internet cafe, waiting until the hotel ambassador opens for dinner at seven. we have toyed with the idea of actually going to another restaurant for dinner, but it has been an eventful day and we will no doubt get our fill of rickshaw riding tomorrow on sight-seeing Sunday.

why eventful? well after class this morning and a roti-less lunch due to the gas being out on our stove, we decided to go find the batik store which is near om grocery store, go just past the broken red post box and turn down the alley. When Christina got these directions from Muriel, she did say with a small amount of trepidation, "we have to go down an alley?" and Muriel said, "Yes, but it is not a scary alley." So off we went. the road that om grocery is on is right across from the city dump. today, the neighborhood cattle herd was grazing at the dump (last night they were actually grazing at the empty lot across from our flat). The pig family was not around unfortunately, but as we headed down the road in search of the broken red post box we happened we happened to spot three camels in the distance. (foreshadowing).

christina is writing about the very exciting camel ride that took place later that afternoon on our way to afternoon practice. all I will say is that it more than made up for the fact that the batik store was closed and the Internet cafe service was down earlier.

on the yoga front, I have successfully navigated the yoga equivalent of the red tent. turns out to be quite peaceful forward bending in the back of the room while everyone else is groaning away doing a class that led to simasana!

Jaya is here and it has been fun listening to her life stories.

pigs and pune

Well at the end of my entry yesterday, I mentioned that Christina and I were on our way to the Pune equivalent of Kinkos. The first thing you have to realize about going anywhere in Pune is that people give directions by saying it is near something else. For example, Crossroads Bookstore is "just down from fab-india." Coffee Day is "not far from Reliance Phone." (so apparently is Barista coffee, but when we started walking there from Reliance, it was soon clear that it was farther than I was up for that particular day.) When we went to the German bakery, we told the rickshaw driver, "German bakery." and he shook his head, which by the way actually means yes and not no. We didn't give him an address. So leaving aside aside the obvious problems with determining what is near and what is not far and how far down is just down from.... ..... Jaya had told us that the copy place was "just across from the the Toyota place in the very first little shop." we were like, okay, that's about as good as the directions are going to get...

so we head out down the road, it starts raining, but we contine on until we reach the open city dump, which is also "just across from the Toyota place" and lo and behold there was a family of pigs eating out of the city dump. there was a mother pig and four baby piglets feasting on god knows what. We were, of course, quite delighted with this wild life sighting. A family pigs- you don't see that every day. We took several photos and went on our merry way. The copy place was a little shack which also sold various hardware store supplies. 4 rupees later we had our copies and were heading back toward home when we saw the pig family crossing the street. they were doing a much better job of it than we were. Unfortunately, one of the little piglets got separated from the pack, but he found his side of the street was also strewn with edible litter, and I feel certain that the rest of the family soon joined him there as their side of the street had only a mud covered side walk. On the way home, we also saw a dog eating out of the dumpster (yes, there is also a dumpster in the open dump) and we saw people picking through the trash as well. seeing how people live here is really an exercise in gratitude for all I have as a spoiled westerner.

On the "yoga on the mat" front, class last night was fabulous. A blissful pranayama class with Geeta She had everyone use the chair like she showed last week. We used the chair to open the groin, to provide lift to the spine, and to work the various muscles in the shoulders so that the shoulders will learn their work of being, to quote Mary and Eddy, "best supporting actors for the chest."

Christina and I practiced the forward bend sequence from Monday and are avidly awaiting class tonight

moments with mommy-ji

in the style of e.e. cummings,

christina wrote a blog post a few days back about lessons she learned from dad. mom is in the midst of moving grandmartha to a new facility and so i thought i'd honor her love and dedication today by recording a few lessons i learned from mom over the years.

1. if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. (sometimes a little more forcefully put, as in if you can't say something nice, keep your mouth shut.)

2. it is better to have something and not need it than to need something and not have it. (aka be prepared)

3. if you don't like what's for dinner, then cook something else yourself.

4. put a sweater on (because i'm cold)

5. stand up straight. don't slouch. (very yogic)

6. afterschool snacks are well worth coming home for.

7. gardening gives great pleasure.

8. all people have something interesting to say.

9. if you are lost, ask for directions.

10. do what needs to be done without being asked to do it.

love, anzy

Some thoughts on Sequences and Socrates

At the Iyengar Yoga Convention in 2003, Manouso said one of the best things about going to Pune is that you set aside a month in your life to dedicate to your yoga practice and that you are there with other people doing the same thing. It is really true. The focus of life here really is doing yoga. Now, yoga is a pretty important part of my day back in Texas and I definitely organize my day around my yoga practice when I can, but there are definitely days that yoga falls to the bottom of the do to list. Not so here. In the morning, we have either a three hour practice or a class and then in the afternoon or evening a class or shorter practice. It is a great schedule in that it is quite conducive to cultivating a learning frame of mind.

Iyengar yogis and yoginis tend to be obsessed with sequencing. During and after workshops, there is a lot of getting together and sharing sequences with each other. This practice is called "doing notes." This practice even occurs on the cyber level. I've been emailing sequences back to Randy and Devon as a means of sort of sharing the excitement of being here with them but what I really want is to practice the sequences with them!!! Now the sequence, even a great one, isn't magical in and of itself, but it does provide a frame or a map that guides one to the important actions to practice. Here it is nice because classes are two hours and then typically we have three hours the next day to practice what we learned in class. It is a great practice in and of itself, the writing and reflecting with Christina and the doing so immediately afterwards. It feels very integrative.

I think we, as in we in the the west, typically think of the classroom as where learning happens. But really whether it is in the philosophy classroom or the yoga studio, class is where you are presented with new ideas, but that presentation is only part of the learning process, you have to go and make the new information part of what you already know and sometimes that process involves giving up something that you thought you knew to be true before.

which circles back around to Socrates. Socrates is famous for phrases like "the unexamined life is not worth living" and of course "the Socratic Method." One aspect of the Socratic method is aporia. Socrates gets his various interlocutors to admit aporia, to admit that they don't have an answer to the particular question under investigation. Only then can true learning take place. I often tell my philosophy students that I see aporia as the process of becoming open minded. If we think we already have the answer, then to a significant degree our mind is closed on that issue. Unfortunately, admitting we don't know, often isn't a lot of fun. We feel fear, shame, embarrassment rather than excitement to see a new way of looking at the situation.

I think this process of being open or receptive to learning is what Geeta and Prashant are driving at when they talk about not being prepared to learn. We are too attached to what we already think we know about yoga to experience yoga in a different way.

Well, that's it for now. We have to go find a Pune equivalent of Kinkos. If you ever come to India, bring ten copies of your passport and visa. Each hotel has needed one, and the money changers need one and Chandru needs one and Pandu.... Pranayama class tonight!!

Overcoming Duality

So one of the sayings that B.K.S Iyengar is famous for goes something like this, "you must see how there are back bends in forward bends and forward bends in backward bends." Well, these past two classes must fall under that rubric. This is a forward bending week at the Institute. So Tuesday night Christina and I were sort of expecting a mellow philosophy lecture with a few asanas in between based on our experience last week with Prashant. Not so. Major Backbends, starting with rope sirsansa and setu bandha and then an epic stay in dwi pada on a chair... then onto standing back arch, drop overs, kapotasana ekapada rajakapotasana, then some so called baby back bends like up dog and bow. It was gruelling, actually. Christina banned my use of the word gruelling early in the day saying I was overusing a perfectly fine word, (But really so many of the stretches are pretty gruelling, but it is true, I do get in a word rut, like "posh and trendy restaraunts") Then last night she said, "see we really need the word gruelling now and you spent it on a harmless little hip opener." Then, Geeta's class this morning was also a pretty intense backward bending class.

Both Geeta and Prashant talked a lot about the importance of cultivating the mind for learning and not to get stuck in "just doing" or doing what you know. It is a good lesson. It actually reminds me of one of the things that first attracted me to Iyengar yoga. It was clear that the system allowed for life long learning. In academia, at some point you become the teacher and while you might remain a student in the sense that you are a scholar of a philosopher's thought. I am still and always will be a student of Plato. At some point, your formal studentship is over, while you were someone's student and people know that about you, typically the studentship ends and you are a teacher... Not so in Iyengar yoga. Even when you are a teacher, you are still someone's student.

There's much more I want to write about all this and its relationship to Socrates, aporia, and keeping an open mind, but I got caught up in emailing today and now it is time to go practice some forward bends.

Other news of note. Our roomate Jaya arrived today and Christina and I bought real indian style bloomers.

I think I expected India to have a soundtrack of exotic music!

Yesterday, after we posted on our blogs, Christina and I ventured back down FC road. (I think she is writing about this as I type), so I won't say much about it other than we happened to hit FC road just as a religious procession/ pilgrimage was going on. A couple of oxen were pulling a cart with some sort of deity in it and there were banners and various booths and music playing and I thought, "wow, I really feel like I'm in India now." The nice thing about the festival is that there were police barricades up, so it did make walking a good bit easier.

Forward bending week started yesterday. Geeta's class was the best yet. My hips and groins have never felt more open. A glimmer of what openness really would feel like!! . I felt so energized after class that it was almost like I'd done a backward bending class! We did the sequence again this morning in practice and worked on all the subtle work about keeping space even around the sacrum and other things of that sort. Any single one of the classes has been worth the trip in and of itself. I am really starting to see why all the senior teachers and just regular Iyengar yogis and yoginis come back year after year. The Pune is still not what I would call a destination location, it has gotten marginally easier to navigate. that the monsoon seems to have passed is a big help!!

The feeling of being at the Institute is very different than I imagined it would be. I did not imagine it with a soundtrack, but I did imagine a larger room and a more "Intense" environment. I think I was expecting something like a Manouso workshop times three... But really, I am consistently struck by the serenity of the place. Not that there is any sort of lack of intensity, but the word authentic keeps coming to mind. Maybe it is just having the direct experience of the Iyengars in their own setting after ten years of hearing about what they are like through all the various filters.

well, that's what's on my mind at the moment.
more tomorrow.

Cows in the Rain

Not much to report since yesterday. We had a nice inversion practice in the apartment last night and also added in Laurie Blakeney's "calves of butter" virasana/vajrasana series. Bebe doesn't come on sunday so we decided to wear our new outfits and go to the Hotel Ambassador for dinner. Around the time we left it started to rain pretty hard. We were walking down the street and happened to encounter several cows, ( a black one a brown one, a nice spotted one and a couple others). There have not been as many cows on the road as I was expecting so I was quite delighted to see some right in the neighborhood.

When I was young, I had somehow gotten it in my mind that cows would lie down when it was about to rain in order to keep the grass dry. One time while we were driving down highway 54 in NC, I happed to verbalize this thought, 'oh, look the cows are all resting. It must be about to rain." Well, that has been an ongoing family joke for the past two decades... Anyway, I do have to report, that these cows were all standing up and it was raining. However, they had no grass to keep dry... so who knows....really..

Dinner was great. we had a very spicy vegetable dish that almost tasted like chili...

this morning we had practice, ate an okra and green pepper subji dish, read and wrote a while, and are mostly just hanging out waiting for Geeta's class tonight.

Vikalpa and Vanity: An Excursion into the Greater Pune Metropolis

Hi Everyone, We had a great time at the party last night. It was nice to hang out with people outside the setting of the institute. Everyone seemed a bit more relaxed and definitely more giddy. Joe, Cheryl, and Abbey were most excellent hosts. Abundant food and drinks of all sorts. It also had the added benefit of keeping us up until about 10 so we actually managed to sleep until "toast time." 7 AM. Normally, we have been waking a good deal earlier but have been waiting to eat until 7 AM so the toast will last us through the morning class or practice session.

Today, we practice some of Saturday's sequence, took showers and ventured forth via rickshaw to FabIndia. Marj described FabIndia as Pier One Imports in Pune and that is a pretty accurate description except they have more clothing than Pier One does. The first rickshaw we took got us in the general area but apparently did not know where FabIndia actually was and he deposited us in the train station, so we walked a bit looking around for a FabIndia sign and then at some point a nice India rickshaw driver asked if we needed help and he and another nice rickshaw driver conferred and the second driver took us the rest of the way.

Christina and I both both several cute Indian ready made outfits. We each got a couple punjabi outfits and a scarf or two and some capris.... I was motivated in my new clothing acquisition by seeing myself in the full length mirror. I have been alternating these two pairs of Flax pants for the last nine days. (Flax pants for those who don't know are sort of voluminous pants with elastic waist bands. Both pairs I brought fit me when I weighed about 20 pounds more than I do now. Also, after nine days in the humidity and the rain and the wearing and I had been rolling up the waistband about four times..... Well, I would not have been doing this if I happened to have actually looked at myself in the mirror in the flat at any point. (leaving aside how bad my hair looked-I'm now embracing Christina's headband look, so people may have even more difficulty telling us apart) Gads. !!! There are not many get ups that would make one's appearance in yoga bloomers look flattering in comparison, but I have been wearing just such an ensemble since my arrival in Pune. (I happened to be wearing the least voluminous of the pair of Flax pants at the time and once I proclaimed that I was actually going to buy new pants Christina let me know that the other Flax pants looked even more unflattering....

Anyway, I am now wearing a new pair of orange linen capri pants which actually fit my waist.. Of course, actually feeling fabric around my waist caused me to plummet into a fat cloud of despair which had settled pretty deeply in by the time we had visited the most excellent German Bakery and returned home to look at the plunder we acquired. I was resting on the other bed in Christina's room watching her put up her punajbi tops and these Indian pants that can only be described as giant clouds of fabric that one wears underneath the long tunic like top... These pants were so voluminous that I ultimate refused to buy them because they just looked so silly on me. Once I told Christina about the fat cloud situation, she laughed somewhat dismissively at first and then apologized saying that she did know how difficult it was to get out from underneath the cloud once it descended.

Then, to cheer me up, she went into my room and got the Fax pants and put them next a pair of the giant punjabi pants. Then, she did a width to width comparison.. It turns out the Flax pants were actually wider across than the pants that I refused to buy!!! Christina has now banned me from wearing the Flax pants.

Anyway, it was fun to see a bit more of Pune, I still would not classify it as a destination location or anything, but the German Bakery was quite fascinating. Lots of people wearing burgundy robes from the nearby Osho Ashram and lots of European looking backpacker sorts of people. I got a great espresso, a lovey piece of pizza and a tiramisu and Christina got a Chai and a Veggie burger!! They have a menu that would be quite fun to eat through. Perhaps the most fascinating items were mashed potato plates of all sorts... Not that I am a mashed potato fan, but these looked like mashed potatoes that were flattened out and then sort of pan fried like a giant hashbrowns. Yummy...

Well, we survived our first week of classes. I definitely feel a sense of accomplishment We have a practice session this afternoon then the Insitute is closed on Sunday. On our day of rest, we may venture out, via rickshaw to FabIndia and Crossroads bookstore.


Last night everyone had class with Geeta this morning we had another ladies only class with Geeta. She worked a lot with the supta padangusthasana poses and linking that to the standing poses. It is very difficult to describe how awesome she is. She is so focused on the the present moment and the larger context of the present moment that you can't help but be brought along at least a bit with her. She has helped me a good bit with my shoulders and the chronic grip in my trapezius. it is a good question, "why are you so tense?" then she just touched me and I did relax.....

trying to do everything right creates its own tension, She did have a wonderful way of talking about how one might do in such a way that it doesn't create extra grip. When we were in sirsasana, headstand, she was talking about the ekagrata state, one pointed consciousness. So one could try to do headstand via the checklist, press, down the forearms, lift the shoulders, trapezius up, collarbones broad, tail bone in etc, or one could just try to become taller. If that is the single point, becoming taller than all the little instructions are part of that single stream.

I tend to get stuck with what is stuck.

Joe and the other New York people invited us to a party tonight. So that should be fun. A party in Pune!!

So Henry asks "What about the food?"

My good friends, Lenore and Henry, H.W.'s parents, want to know about the food. First, let me say I love Indian food. The first time I had it was on a trip to London with my Dad when I was sixteen. We were walked around jet lagged and tired and this amazing smell captivated us and drew us into this Indian restaurant. Second, I don't get to eat it all that frequently in that I don't cook much now a days (I know how to cook, cook well, even, I just don't cook) and I don't ever cook Indian food and well, Waco has no Indian food except once a year during the Arts Festival downtown. Third, I am really looking forward to the opportunity to get tired of Indian food. It hasn't happened yet.

We received a list of restaurants from experienced Pune travellers before we left (thanks to all those who provided a list). We did have an Indian Breakfast Buffet in Mumbai the first morning. There was some sort of spicy soup and sweet flavored something that resembled couscous. Also, there were hash browns and eggs and toast. So far so good. We went out the first night in Pune right after checking in at the institute. The restaurant closest to our flat and highly recommended by Randy was Hotel Ambience. Unfortunately, the restaurant was under renovation. This was highly disappointing, particularly given that it was raining! So we walked a couple blocks further to the Hotel Ambassador, which is not on anyone's list, despite its close proximity to the Chetak. We decided to give it a try. The first night we had paneer in masalana sauce and a vegetable curry, and fabulous garlic naan. We came back for lunch the next day, more naan, and we got an excellent vegetable briayni and (a spicy rice dish) and a dumpling dish that was sort of sweet with a green sauce. and then the next day we went back again. Tandoor veggies, a rice paulo, and excellent veggie raita. And of course naan.

So basically, we have gone to one restaurant. It is close by and good (this is early Frosolono childhood samskara, find one thing you like and stick with it!). We did see many of the highly recommended restaurants on our perilous journey down FC road yesterday and perhaps we will take a rickshaw to one of them some day.

But really the most noteworthy thing about the food is that we have a most excellent cook, Bebe. We actually haven't been out to eat since Tuesday when Bebe started cooking. For the amazing rate of 750 rupees a month she will cook our food, for another 100 shop for us, and another 150 do all the dishes! (more on that in a bit!)

The first day she cooked sag paneer, rice and dahl. I can't eat much spinach due to an inherited allergy... but the paneer part was great and the dahl was fabulous. Day two we had, peas and paneer, rice and roti (indian equivalent of a wheat tortilla, Day three we had a spicy okra dish, rice, dahl, and roti. Day four we had subji (mung beans) very spiced and yummy, rice, dahl, and roti.

She has the food ready at noon when we get back from class or practice and we've just been eating leftovers of lunch with supplemental snacks (like these yummy crispy fried treats from the local swati mart and extra roti).

We had extensive conversation with Karishma, our land lady about arranging all this the day we checked into the flat but some of the logistics didn't really get conveyed (Karishma is Greek, married to a German and though her English is excellent, it is accented and she is very excitable (She is somehow like a combination of Greek and Indian) and we were extremely jet lagged and perhaps not hearing everything correctly. Also, since we are "friends of Randy" I think she thought we knew more about the process than we did. But the upshot was she did not tell us (or we did not understand) that we needed to leave money Bebe money to actually buy the food. So poor Bebe had been buying our food out of her 2000 rupee a month salary (this is like 50 dollars a month) obviously we felt quite horrible about this and now we have the system worked out!

Christina wrote a long note about Geeta's pranayama class last night. I can only echo how stunning it was. The only thing I might add is that she talked a lot about the receptivity of the mind to learn. And her ability to pick people out of the room to illustrate what she wants us to see is almost magical. I know it isn't magic at all, but her ability to make us see a small sliver of the vastness of what she sees is humbling.

We had another great practice session this morning. We have been taking Mary and Eddy's advice and working on the class sequences in practice. With some supplement as we have three hours to practice and the sequences are two hours. It is fascinating watching Mr. Iyengar with his Indian students and also watching them teach and help each other. It is also great how public the practice is. In America, practice seems so much a private individual thing so much of the time. (I do practice with Christina and Devon and with the Dallas people from time to time, but this experience really makes me see the value of opening up/ sharing my practice time with my own students. Not sure how I will implement this yet. We'll see. Also, just seeing all the ways that people use the props in the institute. It is like being in a candy store! "Oh that looks great!. That would feel fabulous! Wow. I wonder what that's for?"