Essentialyogastudio's Blog

I left for my 5 hour drive to Nasik. So many people told me not to go. But I wanted to experience a more traditional India and I am glad I did.

About two hours before we reached Nasik, we got stuck in this little town. Traffic was not moving; my ever calm driver was starting to bristle. It was hot, humid, windless, but I was completely enamored with my surroundings. India is an insane mix of crazy and peaceful and in the mist of this craziness all I can feel is calm. Things that would set me off into tornado of frustration at home; here just make me smile. I love the constant noise, smells, movements, the sound of people speaking, yelling, singing, dancing. I love the way people drive here. Four people sitting on one motorcycle, the women in saris sitting sidesaddle.

Do you know what side of the road people drive on in India? Any side that will get them to their destination faster. This includes driving on sidewalks, through yards and toward oncoming cars. It is all done calmly and efficiently as if everyone here is a professional stunt car driver.

After 5 hours of driving, my driver informs me that we are not going to the hotel, but we are going for a tour of the temples now. I haven’t eating since 6:00am, I need a bathroom break and a glass of water might be nice, but I acquiesce. He hires a rickshaw (my first ride in a rickshaw) and tour guide who tells us to leave our shoes in the car. We will have to be barefoot to go into the temples. The stone is comfortable under the feet and I forgot my hunger as we walked along the river to watch people bathe, pray, and send flower offerings down the river.

There was a particularly beautiful temple made from black stone. We had to crawl into a very small, very dark cave-like tunnel to view the place where the god Ram kept his wife Sita for two years. Hundreds of people were streaming through here.

After visiting the temples we arrive at the hotel. My driver informs me that he is going to sleep in his car.

What? What do you mean you are sleeping in your car?
My wife packed me dinner, I’ll be fine.
What?!!?

I didn’t think to ask what he was going to do when we got to Nasik. Apparently sleeping in one’s car is a common practice. But I didn’t want him to sleep in the car so I asked the hotel manager if there was another room available…nope…but he can sleep in one of the lobby areas…What? Yes, we allow people to sleep in the lobby. As it turns out, there were at least a ½ dozen people sleeping in various areas of the hotel.

I go up to my semi-deluxe room. Hmmm, it was a room, the word deluxe wouldn’t have been in my description, but I’m going with the flow. I pull the blanket down….stained sheets, gray with age. I lift the pillow, it smells of 100 previous visitors. I put it back down. A fly lands on the floor, I swat it and leave it there. I grab a book and leave the room. Side note: When I came back to the room ants had taken most of the fly away…shudder.

I am on my way into the night to find a place to eat.
I hear Vikram behind me. “Where are you going?”

I’m going to find a place to eat.
No, No, I will find a place.

So we go to a place the size of a hallway with stone benches. The menus are in Marathi and they bring me the same food my cook has been making me for the last two weeks…sigh…

After dinner I tell Vikram that I NEED dessert. So he takes me to a place across the street with lots of desserts in the window. I point to something that looks interesting and also order a sweet lassi. I have been enjoying the frothy, thickness of this drink in India.

The dessert tastes like a donut dipped in sugar water and the lassi was very good, however, I knew I might be in for some gastrointestinal distress when I saw them take the lassi from a large unrefrigerated vat on the counter. It was uncovered, and warm….

Twenty minutes later my colon was completely evacuated, and I curled up into a ball on top of the blankets and went to sleep.

The next morning I got up and stood on my balcony looking at the still quiet street. There was a lone bull wandering the street and rickshaw driver outside who looked up and said good morning.

I went outside and the rickshaw driver asked if I needed a ride and I told him I was going to walk. He looked amazed. Walk? That’s very good! He said.

I had my gps in hand so I could wander the streets without too much worry and set off to see the temples and ghats in the early morning quiet. I sat, relaxed, and watched people go about their business. I went into a temple I hadn’t seen the day before. I got to participate in a ceremony pouring water on, I think, a Shiva statue.

I made my way back to the hotel and Vikram wanted to know how I was able to find my way around. (The map provided in the Lonely Planet Guide is scant and not helpful in maneuvering your way around the area). I showed him my gps – it amused him.

Vikram took me to one of the holiest temples in India. The Trimbakeshwar temple. The lines were longer than Disney’s during peak season. It took over an hour to get through the line into the temple. Once you’re inside, the police are pushing you to get you to move along. Really!! I wait more than an hour in line and your pushing me out the door before I can even absorb the ceremonies going on inside the temple?!! Vikram said that’s common in the more crowded temples…

It was another amazing adventure and I’m very thankful I got to experience it!

One student thinks she has Dengue fever and another student is ‘down for the count’ ….

I attended the women’s class taught by Sunita (Guruji’s daughter) yesterday morning. Guruji was at his practice area watching as he sat in Padmasana. He instructs from the side clarifying or changing Sunita’s instructions. He is watching us in Uttanasana.

Sunita instructs us to let the skin of the side body, the skin of the arms, the skin of the back, move down toward the floor. Raya (one of Guruji’s assistants) comes to the front and asks, “Guruji wants to know how many of you are teachers?” Many raise their hands. Guruji asks, “How can you be teachers if you can’t understand what I want you to do in Uttanasana?” He has us do it again, and again, until we understand.

Today’s Practice Session
During the practice session, I set up near the windows not too far from Guruji. I listened to him as he taught his assistants the proper action in Urdhva Dhanurasana, Virasana and Urdhva hastasana. I watched their assent indicating the pose changed with his instruction.

In Urdhva dhanurasana he had an assistant place his hands on blocks and come up. While he was in the pose another assistant slid a wedge between his arms and the wall. The narrow edge of the wedge was placed toward the wrists. I couldn’t hear what was said, but from what I saw, this action encouraged a lift in the chest and an opening in the upper back.

In Virasana he had each of them press down and draw the skin strongly away from the pit of the knee toward the feet, not down and out to the side. More indications of assent were seen as they move in and out of the pose.

Sunita came over to talk to Guruji and he said: (paraphrasing) “Look at that one over there. They come here and their practice is sincere but they are stupid. They don’t understand the connective tissue.” He tells one of his assistants, “Lift your arms up. Where is the connective tissue?” The assistant points to a spot in the arm pit. “Lift your arms from there. What happens? The arms go up!”

I got reprimanded by Guruji today. I took the sirsasana poles to the wall instead of the window. I heard Guruji grumbling loudly. Within seconds there were 3 assistants around me explaining my mistake…

I wasn’t expecting to connect with Prashant’s teaching. He has a philosophical nature and I have a need for the tangible.

However, I found a deep connection with his teaching. He talked about how Iyengar yoga has become a demonstrative sport – a performance yoga. “The teacher says, do this, do that, turn your right foot out, turn left foot in, press the big toe down, don’t let the little toe come up…” He said our teachers are trying to teach us the ‘correct pose’ but there is no such thing. There is no one correct way to practice any pose.

He told us that the ‘why’ of a pose is more important than the ‘how’. The ‘how’ depends on the ‘why’ of the pose, not the other way around. For example. Teachers say the back leg must be straight in Uttitha parsvakonasana. Why? He made us go into the pose and bend the back leg, then asked us what happens to the spine when we do this? Does bending the back leg allow more freedom in the spine? Yes! When bending the back leg I found I was able to revolve the torso more easily and the pose became light. Once I felt that, I straightened the leg and the lightness remained. He says you have to learn when to intensely stretch the back leg straight.

Prashantji does not want our poses to be static, he wants them to evolve and change as we work in them. If you go away exhausted from trying to practice these static, perfect poses, what good is that? What purpose does it serve?

We used Uddiyana to work the legs in Uttita Trikonasana, Parsvakonasana, and Adho mukha svanasana. He said that we must learn to access the breath in all standing postures. This will adjust the legs differently than merely biomechanical action. Biomechanical action of the body has many limitations and must be done in connection to the breath. The breath must be applied, whether it’s Uddiyana, full thoracic breath, or accessing the mind with the breath.

He told us we were all over the hill and (we are now going down). Perfection is not possible due to the aging process. Other aspects of yoga have to become more ingrained in our practice our energy force, our breath. I found this very interesting.

He said that we are just ‘doing’ the poses not ‘being in’ the poses. We are always looking outward, listening to our teachers who come with their own problems and limitations and we ignore the most supreme teacher within ourselves. The only way to evolve, to progress, to truly practice, is to listen to our inner teacher.

Something must be wrong with me…I have no fear crossing streets in India. There’s something quite exciting about it.

I was told that some stores refill water bottles and resell them. I have so say I didn’t believe this was a common practice. But, just in case, I have been closely monitoring each water bottle I buy.

On Sunday evening (apparently one of the busiest shopping days at Pune Central) I noticed all of the bottles had different water levels in them….hmmm…. I picked each one up and saw the cap and the bottom ring of plastic did not line up as it should. Now I buy my water at the Xerox shop up the street. Their water bottle caps are shrink-wrapped, and the people are very nice.

Not all hotels in India take credit cards….

I started with suspended rope Sirsasana. I was in it for 5 minutes when I get a poke in the back, Guruji wants your swing. I immediately come out and move to the side and watch his assistants pile the swing with 10 folded mats, along with a number of other props. He bends his body over the swing into an unbelievable backbend. He practiced various forms of Viparita dandasana and Kapotasana. He was on that swing (in postures I could only dream about doing) for 30 minutes! He was chatting with the assistants as he hung there. It was incredible.

It’s hard to focus on your own practice with Guruji in the room. He was in better spirits today, laughing and joking. His knees seemed to hurt less. You just want to watch him. He demonstrated Urdvha mukha svanasana to his assistants moving his entire front body into the wall!

His practice inspired me and I stayed the full three hours of the allotted practice time moving from standing postures, supported backbends, full backbends, and inversions. My body is slowly starting to adapt to the heat and found I was able to release deeper into postures.

Geeta taught Thursday evening’s class. She has lost weight and looks great. Her manner of teaching was softer. I mentioned this to another student and she said, “It’s still early in the month, I’m sure we’ll see her fiery side…”

We worked on the proper action of the feet, knees, and arms in standing postures. She spent a lot of time showing us how lifting the outer knee helps lift the arms in Urdvha hastasana. Such a simple action completely changes the pose.

Toward the end of class she had us work on Supta tadasana for 30 minutes….well everyone else worked on it, I fell asleep.

Some of the students and I were talking about Geeta’s class and one of them said, “I can’t believe she made us stay in Supta tadasana for 30 minutes!” I said I didn’t – I had fallen asleep. OMG they said in unison Geeta must have been talking about you when she yelled, “This is not Savasana make your feet active!” I never heard her…..

Thank goodness I jumped to attention when it was time to work on block supported Setu bandha sarvangasana with the legs extended. I don’t know if it was all the work on the arms, my nap in class, or the Indian heat, but this was the first time I was able to enjoy this pose!