Better... Again!

Ill... Again!

What a difference a couple of days makes! In my last post I wrote that I was healthy and loving my yoga. Since then I have practiced once, because I got sick again! And this time it was a bit more serious, requiring three days of lying in bed and staring at the ceiling. It was a stomach problem, but with fevers, dizzy spells and insomnia. I have had worse... but it was still no fun.

This morning was my first practice in 4 days. I took it very easy, and all went well. It has been very frustrating at times having continual health problems in India. Hopefully they will settle down over time. Right now I am very keen to get back into practice, and make the most of my remaining time in Mysore.

The Plan?

I am getting asked what my plans are by a lot of people. Some of them concerned (hello Mum and Dad), and others curious. Well, there are no plans! After Mysore I won't have very long left in India. I would like to check out Hampi, in the north of Karnataka, before heading up to Risikesh, in the north of the country.

What happens after I leave India is still up in the air. I don't think that I will stay away from Australia for as long as I had origionally thought. But the return is still some way off yet! I would like to visit a couple of spots in Europe, and do some more "exotic" travel too. To do that will require bolstering my financial resources, so I will probably seek work in Europe somewhere. But the countries invovled, timescales and order-of-visit are still very open...

Football Tonight

One of the benefits of settling somewhere for a while is that you find out a spot where you can watch the football matches. Sean is living in a spiffy new place... with cable TV. So I am going to his place to watch the big game tonight. Of course, you already knew that the big game was Liverpool hosting Chelsea in the leage. Come on the Reds!

Mysore Suburb Living

Wobble Zone

Indians communicate with head "wobbles". They don't nod yes, and shake no. They wobble the head vertically and horizontally at the same time. Subtle permutations of this gesture mean "yes", "no", "maybe", "I don't know", "go away", "left", "right", and so on. It is impossible for the newcomer to differentiate between one head wobble and another, which can lead to confusion, laughter or frustration.

I never realised just how much information can be contained in a head wobble until an event I saw last week. A policeman was standing in the middle of a busy intersection, controlling streams of bikes, motorbikes, rickshaws, cars and trucks with hand signals. Then, at one moment, as though time was standing still, he dropped his hands and began to shake his head. He turned on the spot, wobbling away with what appeared to be complete communication with the traffic. I would have loved to have seen a Westerner drive into the intersection and stuff it all up by confusing the "maybe left" head wobble with a "straight straight" head wobble. (and yes, "maybe left" and "straight straight" are valid directions over here.)

Yoga Buddies

January is high season in Mysore for yoga heads. The number of students has spiked, particularly in the suburb of Gokolum where Patabi Jois, "the original astanga guru to the west", has his shala. The stories about the folk that are seen in Gokolum are pretty funny, and sometimes a bit disturbing. But the crew that has found its way to Mr Iyengar's shala is refreshingly down to earth. I would say that over half of the students there are new to astanga, along with some very experienced practitioners. With this crowd and Iyengar's influence nobody takes themselves too seriously, and we help each other out in our practices.

After practice a bunch of us go to our favourite little chai stall. Originally it was just Sean and I who had our couple of chais each day while discussing yoga, football, India, and so on, but now the crowd has grown. Sean is an acupuncturist who moved visited some friends in Mysore last year, and decided to try some yoga with Mr Iyengar. He now lives here for months on an end, living over the road from Patabi Jois' shala, and sticking pins in the "elite of the astanga world". He says that he sees more eating disorders, neurosis, and insomniacs than he does back in England.

Another regular is Fred, from France, who is "crazee with ze football", in fact both Sean and I are silly about football too, so that gets discussed to great lengths. Fred is new to Astanga, and teaches Iyengar yoga to rich housewifes in France for 50 euros and hour, and used to be a professional golfer. A very funny guy, who says "hello mr" in a goofy French accent to cows that we have to swerve around on his scooter.

There is Patricia from Poland. She and her husband Peter are my new neighbors. She is a yoga teacher back home, is about to start a PhD in yoga education, and is just about to finish the second series with Iyengar. The rest of the class usually hangs around after they finish to watch Mr Iyengar put her through her paces on some very difficult asanas, while explaining the philosophy and benefits of each asana. Peter is about to start his PhD in philosophy, and you guessed it, he specialises in Indian philosophy and Sanskrit. I often go to their place, or they come to mine, for meals, tea and entertaining conversation.

Of course, this means that they group of people towards whom chai dog has to show her light-hearted disdain has grown, much to the growing amusement of the locals who witness our chai time every morning. Well, sometimes when we have a few girls in the group, "witness" might be a euphemism for "loitering with the intent of copping an eyefull".

Feeling Good

My stomach, cold, and lice problems are behind me for the time being. I have been healthy for a week now, and I am really enjoying myself. For the first time in my life I am really enjoying yoga. Until now, yoga was something that I was compelled to do. Initially it was a means to fix my back. Over time I became aware that it could be a great source of happiness and contentedness (please mind my "wordiness" here), but again this was a future benefit that I was aiming for. Occasionally I would get moments of "something else" in my practice, but these were very few and far between. Instead I would get up at 5am, or drag my tired body to class after work to do something that was often far from fun. Luckily I had a great teacher whose lessons opened my sceptical mind to the practice and philosophy of yoga.

Thankfully the compulsion to continue was strong! The last couple of weeks I have started to enjoy the benefits of yoga during and immediately after yoga. It is difficult to describe, but it feels good. I feel content performing the asanas, and am interested in "experiencing" them, instead of "enduring" them. And for the rest of the day I have extra energy, and enthusiasm. Now I don't have to force myself to go to practice, I have to force myself to take rest and let my body recover before restarting the adventure.

On Lice

One final note -- it would appear that the lice are gone. I have just moved into a new place, and hopefully the infestation hasn't followed. I have spent the last two and a half weeks dousing my hair in vinegar/alcohol for hours on end, and applying an unsavory neem, coconut and DEET combo several times a day... as well as regular and systematic cleansing of my room to try and remove eggs.

But if they have followed, I am going to graciously admit defeat to the little critters... then kill the bastards by shaving my dreads off. I will have the last laugh either way, but it might be a bittersweet one.