The people we meet

I am a great lover of new experiences, and tonight certainly didn’t let me down… This evening I had my seventh rolfing session from Ken the Rolfer (I figured I couldn’t meet someone who goes by this name and not sign up…). For those who don’t know, rolfing is a massage technique that releases deep connective tissue along prescribed energy

Primary learner

So Sharath’s enigmatic comment on Friday was apparently a false alarm – no pasasana today. I tried to remain equanimous, in the spirit of losing attachment, but I confess I lingered after setu bandasana, rearranging my mat a bit, tidying my hair up etc, just to give him more of a chance to get to me and

Goosebumps

Despite being pretty early for class this morning, it seems I’m still not keen enough. I only just managed to squeeze my mat inside the shala, right by the door. All was going fine until I jumped into bujapidasana and whacked my foot on the door in the process. Sharath’s sympathetic response? “Don’t break the door!”

A quotable day

Today has been a gloriously lazy day off. We have barely left the flat, except for another circuit of the lake this evening. I’ve spent most of the day moving between the hammock, the sofa and the bed to find the coolest spot to continue reading Light on Life by BKS Iyengar. I’ve been meaning to

India’s daughter

Tonight I feel a whole gamut of emotions. Sadness, edginess, vulnerability, pride at the BBC’s commitment to support fearless journalism and gratitude that I live in a country where men and women are, more or less, treated as equals. Why? Tonight I watched the BBC’s hastily aired documentary, India’s Daughter, about the brutal gang-rape and

Losing attachment

This morning Sharath adjusted me in dropbacks again, and the tip of one my fingers brushed the back of my heel. Progress. When I came back up, he said to one of the adjusters hovering nearby, ‘She has finished full primary now.’ The adjuster nodded and gave me a small smile. I felt a thrilling tingle

Moving in, moving on

Today is a moon day, so no practice. I wasn’t quite ready for a day off, after yesterday’s great experience, but I’ll certainly take it – after over four months of intensive yoga practice here, I’ve learnt that any proffered day off should be embraced with open arms! It’s been a funny old day – the

Older and wiser

Today I turn 36 years old. Today I am nearer to 40 than 30. Today I am once again eleven years older than Chris, dammit (for four blissful days a year I am, on paper, only a decade older than him as his birthday is a few days before mine!). Yet for all this potential fuel for depressive

A question of space and time

My confusion about the shala timings continues – today I was so early I was late?! The time given on my ID card is 9am for Mysore classes, which I now know actually means 8:30am, so I arrived at what I imagined to be a super-early 7:55am in order not to embarrass myself again. The only

Baptism of fire

So, first class completed and to describe it, I think I need to continue with yesterday’s school analogy: I was super-excited the night before, fastidiously packing my bag and laying out my clothes, then unable to sleep afterwards. My behaviour prompted Chris to take this ‘first day at school’ portrait just before I headed out the door at 5am this morning- that