Happy Homemaking

Thanks for your comments folks, it would appear that my Mum isn't the only reader. I will keep posting, though I now have a new challenge -- writing interesting posts when I spend a long period of time in the one place.

I arrived in Mysore on Sunday, after a very-pleasant-by-Indian-standards bus journey. That is to say, I had a seat to myself the whole way, I was able to stash my bag under a seat where I did not have to worry about it and the climate inside the bus was tolerable. The climate outside wasn't so flash at times, I had my elbow hanging out the window for around an hour, until I noticed that all the surfaces of my arm that faced the wind were coloured black from the smog in the air.

A New Home

"Hey Rasta, how you going?"
no reply
"Hey man, why you no wanna talk?"
"because you are going to try and sell me some marijuana"
"you don't want marijuana? OK, you want opium?"
smile and keep walking.

Mysore sees more than its fair shair of tourists, this type of conversation only happens in tourist towns.

I was a bit nervous entering Mysore, because I was worried that the city in which I wanted to spend some months might be too noisy, dirty and hot (these things are relative, it is an Indian city so I was expecting it to be noisy, dirty and hot). To my releif it is the most pleasant Indian city that I have visited so far.

The city is centred around the Maharaja's Palace, which is one hell of an impressive complex. I haven't visited it yet, but it looks amazing from the outside. The streets are clean by Indian standards, with raised gutters (impressive) and police making sure that pedestrians and vehicles get along at the major intersections (appreciated). The climate is tolerable too, being far cooler than the coastal areas that I have just left. The winter here is cooler than the summer in Brisbane (one has to remember that we are close to the equator here), so no great discomfort there.

The people are also far less intrusive than those in the North. There are a few young guys who try to sell you drugs at Ghandi Square, but otherwise people keep their distance. Rickshaw drivers rarely hassle the pedestrian foreigner (in the North they don't beleive that we should be allowed to walk more than a block), and they use the meter, though I did have demonstrate with one driver who tried to take me the long way (I always have a compass and a map for the first couple of days, after which I can find my way around easily).

It was very easy to get myself established in Mysore, with only one day needed to find myself some long term accomodation and organise to start yoga classes. I have an appartment, with bedroom, bathroom and kitchen in a quiet part of the suburb Laxmipuram. Today I am going to do some shopping for a few cooking items, and then get some raw ingredients. It has been driving me mad walking through the amazing produce markets and spice stalls without being able to take some goodies home and have a cook-up.

Yoga Classes

Yesterday I went to pay BNS Iyengar a visit at his yoga shala. This is certainly not a fancy yoga studio with wood floors, natural light and inspirational posters on the wall. The concrete floor is covered with large rugs, on which one places their yoga mat to practice. The ceiling is high, and the rooms are dark, with the Indian men practicing in the main room, and the foreigners and Indian women tucked away in small, dark, stuffy rooms.

Mr Iyengar himself is a very likeable character. After waiting a couple of minutes he entered the room and yelled, "what information do you want?". I explained my interest in studying yoga, and he asked "how long do you want to study for?", I told him 3 months, he smiled and said "then I can help you". He explained the routine, "this is an institution, you practice every day except for days of the new and full moon".

Unlike other teachers in Mysore, he believes in teaching students philosophy from the beginning. So the first part of the course was an hour long talk on the basic philosphy behind Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga (The yoga practice taught by Iyengar). "Hey, are you taking notes point-by-point? OK, good. Because you won't get told this anywhere else." He need not have worried, I took my notes home and wrote out a full description of everything he had told me and hilighted the points that needed clarification.

He then showed me the first postures, the suriya namaskar or sun salutes that are performed at the beginning of each practice. I found it very different from my practice in Brisbane, with BNS counting out the breaths very quickly, forcing me concentrate hard on smooth fast movement. After they were finished he smiled and told me to sit
"now stretch your legs, NO NO not that way, full lotus!"
I begin to fold my left leg into lotus
"NO NO, always right foot first"
oh shit, my bad side. It is much more difficult for me to get into full lotus with my right leg first, but I oblige him. He smiles again.
"now 20 Ujaiyi breaths, make them strong"
he leaves the room and comes back 20 seconds later
"ok, you finished?"
I shake my head
"ok, now hands above head. NO NO, palms up, now bend forward, 10 breaths"
my right leg is hurting like hell.... then I relax it and find that I am very comfortable.
"ok, finished, come tomorrow at 6:30"
and off he walks, with me saying thankyou to his back. He doesn't stand on ceremony at all.

This morning I turned up and met a Polish couple who have been studying with Iyengar for 3 weeks. They gave me a quick run-down on what to expect before he arrived and started the class. He started with the opening chant, which nobody tried to follow. I had spent some time last night remembering it because it was different from the one that I am used to... so I just lip synched... until he skipped the last few lines and started counting us straight through our sun salutes.

Then we started with teaching me the standing sequence. I was familiar with all of the postures except for one. The main difference was that he expected full postures with no adjustments. This caused problems for me in some spots, for example I lose my form completely if I have to grab my toe in the triangle posture (U.trikonasana A). The pace is fast and, the postures strong and the sweat flows. He stopped me when the rest of the class moved on to the primary series, "we introduce other assanas each day", and got me to lie down and rest. I heard one funny comment "Hey, try to do the B position, yes try, you can do it..."
a couple of seconds pass then Iyengar laughs
"Oh, you cannot do it!"
and everyone laughs, but in a good natured way.

I promise not to talk too much about the specifics of my yoga practice here. There are plenty of other blogs out there with people writing daily commentries on their physical exploits in Mysore, and they are about as interesting as watching paint dry.

Now, it is time for me to go get some lunch then do some happy homemaking. I had some funny things that I had found in the local paper that I was going to write about, but they can wait until next time.