After my three hour practice session today, I explored! I walked for hours, greeting people, stopping in stores, scanning the market stands. After the rain the air smells fresh. My nose is filled with the scent of wonderful Indian spices. I’m so tempted to eat the exotic fruits on the street carts, the colors vibrant, the flesh looks so sweet. I refrain.
On the way to my apartment, I went back to the narrow street with lean-tos. I wanted to see it in the daylight. The light of day brings with it new perspectives.
It was incredible. I smiled, bowed, and said Namaskar as I passed. That small effort on my part to connect was returned to me tenfold. The wary looks turned to broad smiles. Everyone was so warm. I stopped to talk to some women, the children knew a little English so they were able to translate. I pointed to a small chicken and one of the children picked it up so I could pet it…they giggled. The children followed me and watched as I tried to pet a goat that was sleeping on the seat of a moped. It quickly leapt off away from me, the kids giggled; the moms smiled.
As I sit in my apartment listening to numerous pigs squealing in my neighbor’s yard, I am smiling. Thinking about all this craziness around me, all of these ‘once in a lifetime experiences’; I realize I am having the time of my life!
This morning I had a large crow-like bird hop onto the windowsill in my bedroom. I didn’t see him come into the house but he was bold enough to peer inside. I didn’t think too much about it except I wished I had my camera in-hand to take a photo of him.
I left my bright red Bank of America card on my bed and when I came home from my morning class it was gone. I just thought I misplaced it somewhere else in the apartment.
There is a knock on the door and it’s the watchman. He shows me a note in English that says, “If you are Roberta Dell’Anno, come see me.” I follow the watchman to another building and there is a lovely, older Indian couple waiting for me. They had my bankcard. It was on the ground in their courtyard. I haven’t been to their courtyard, so the only thing I can think of is that big, curious bird took it! I thanked the couple profusely and they told me I should be more careful..I agreed and thanked them again.
Around 2:00 this afternoon, thunder started sounding. I have never heard thunder this loud. No rain, just thunder for hours. Until, of course, 5:30 when I’m ready to head to the Institute for my Pranayama class. Thunderous, buckets of rain begin to fall. When I walked outside, into the rain, there were toads everywhere! I love toads. I caught one to show the watchman and he was horrified. But it made him laugh and up until then he didn’t like me very much.
After class I decided to go to a nearby hotel to pay to use their internet connection. I packed my computer, put on a rain coat and headed off. I didn’t wear my waterproof pants because the rain had slowed and I didn’t think it would be a problem.
In order to get to the hotel you have to cross a 3 foot wide plank of wood over the narrowest part of running sewer water. The water was higher than normal and was moving more quickly, but I crossed it easily and went on my way.
I paid for my hour of internet use and tried to log on. Just as I am logging on, blinding rains begin falling outside and the internet goes down. I ask the woman at the front desk and she said the rain interferes with the connection and I should come back tomorrow. I pack up my things and head out into the dark, blinding rain.
I get to the crossover and the ‘bridge’ is gone! It has been swept away by the now raging waters. WHAT THE HECK AM I GOING TO DO NOW?? Its pitch black out, pouring rain, and I have no idea how to get back to my apartment. No problem, I can handle this… I turn around and try to figure out a detour. I turn onto a side road that opens up to a garbage dump. I don’t mean a messy area, I mean a real garbage dump, where truckloads of garbage are piled high. There are pigs everywhere nosing through these 8 to 10 foot garbage mounds. Dozens and dozens of pigs.
It’s dark and there’s not a lot of street light here. I see someone coming. I have to figure out how to ask this person for directions. I knew if I asked him directions to my street it would get me nowhere. Instead I asked him directions to Pune Central (a large, modern, mall close to my apartment). Bingo! He tells me to go straight through a narrow opening and I will find it. The narrow opening turns out to be a dirt road lined with corrugated steel and plywood lean-tos. There are no doors on these dwellings and I can see directly into their world. People living in maybe 10ft of space, with dirt floors, sleeping on small cot-like beds, no running water, some have electricity, others don’t. It reminded me of the houses I made as a kid using a deck of cards. Fragile; ready to fall.
Hundreds of people live here. Pigs, goats, and chickens are wandering about living in the same small spaces with their owners. Beautiful wide-eyed children play in puddles on the road, in the dark. I walked past hundreds of these dwellings, in the dark.
I emerge onto University Road, at Pune Central, back to a more modern India. I check to see if their internet connection is working. No luck. I head back to my apartment.
Playing a kind of charades with the watchman, I tell him all about my adventures. He laughs heartily. I am no longer the ‘annoying’ American, just the crazy one.
I walk into my apartment and see a few large ants walking around. (Side note: I am not fond of ants. Ants and I have a long history of bad experiences together, but that is a blog for another day).
I walk into the kitchen hoping to warm up some of the delicious food my cook made earlier in the day. I was horrified to see dozens of ants wandering around the kitchen. Okay, I can handle this. I grab my OFF and begin to spray in the area of the kitchen they seem to be congregating. MISTAKE! Hundreds (not exaggerating here!) start pouring from a hole in the windowsill! Flying and crawling like something out of a Stephen King novel. I scream! Panicked I call the landlady. She is not impressed. “Yes, they come in during the monsoons. Just open a window and let them out.”
What!??@?!!
I try to convey to her that this is not just a few bugs – but hundreds. Again, she is not impressed but hearing the panic in my voice she decides to send someone over. Fifteen minutes later her son-in-law, daughter and my housekeeper come in. Yes, they agree there are a lot of them, but they are not impressed either! Sit down and eat your food the son-in-law says to me. I can’t, my appetite is gone.
My house keeper is walking on all of these ants in her bare feet. How can you do that?, I ask. Her response, “You’re the only one that’s afraid of them. We are used to it here.” She starts to spray them and that just encourages hundreds more to pour into the kitchen. One lands on me and I scream so loud that everyone jumps, then bursts into laughter. The son-in-law says, “Your skin is so white they think you are a light. That’s why they land on you.” More laughter!
I tell them I am going to catch a bunch of toads and bring them in the apartment to eat all of these bugs. That horrifies them! Ha! They don’t like cute, pudgy toads, but the ants don’t bother them.
They finally tell me, as the ants continue to pour into the house, to shut off all of the lights and lock myself in my bedroom. They will eventually go away.
What!??@?!!
So that’s what I did, but they haven’t gone away…back to eating granola bars…
Using the words of a fellow yogi friend, “Roberta, you’re not in Kansas anymore.” Welcome to India.
We are ushered into the main hall of the Institute. It’s beautiful inside. I am standing next to a young woman from Iran. She is a Junior 1 level teacher. She has been here once before and is telling me about the various rooms. Her face changes…I turn to see Mr. Iyengar (Guruji). He has come in to greet us. Then Prashant (Guruji’s son) walks in. Amazing.
We are ushered into the class. Guruji is in supported Setu bandha sarvangasana. My mind is not on my practice but scanning to view Guruji’s. The teacher begins. We start in Tadasana and Urdhva hastasana. The teacher gives us instructions for the inner heels, thighs and upper arm bones. You can hear Guruji in the background ‘re-instructing’ the teacher and she in-turn tells us his modifications.
We move into triangle pose. We do it in rapid succession over and over and over.
Go down come up
Go down come up
Go down come up
Otherside
Then we move into Parsva konasana – keep both side bodies long, draw the buttocks away from each other, bend the front leg by taking the back leg buttock straight down and keep that back leg shin active.
Go down come up
Go down come up
Go down come up
Otherside
On to Virabhadrrasana II – bend the front leg by taking the back leg buttock straight down and keep that back leg shin active.
Go down come up
Go down come up
Go down come up
Otherside
Now for Virabadrasana I – strongly turn the back thigh in, keep both sides of the tailbone even. Bend the front leg keeping the back leg straight.
Go down come up
Go down come up
Go down come up
It’s just about now when a strong wave of nausea (caused from the heat) hits me like a brick. Everyone goes down and up…
I go down and sit…
An assistant comes over. What is wrong? I tell her. She pulls me through the crowded room to a wall and says, “Practice here”.
Okay. Ardha chandrasana at the wall; I can handle that. But now the teacher wants us to do that ‘up-down’ thingy again and my stomach isn’t having anything to do with that. The assistant puts me in Supta Baddha konasana…bliss.
Get up! Time to do Sirsasana – “You do rope Sirsasana”.
Okay.…at my studio I have those nice, simple inversion swings.….not so here. I have to tie ropes together and if I do it wrong I’m going to land on my head. I ask the woman next to me for help. She looks annoyed, but quickly ties my ropes.
Up I go…ahh…nice. Five minutes go by and the thick ropes are starting to become uncomfortable…ahh becomes ugh… Another 5 minutes go by…. People are dropping out of Sirsasana like flies. The teacher makes them go back up … 2 more minutes……
From here we practiced Adho Mukha svanasana, Virasana, Supta virasana, Baddha konasana, Supta baddha konasana , Halasana, Salamba sarvangasana and Paschimottanasana. More bliss.
The class ends and Guruji comes out to greet us again. I notice him walking down the stairs, you can see his knees hurt, especially his right knee. I notice how much older he is looking, a little less vibrant in his movements. I’m glad I came.
Now we break until 4:00. My cook starts tomorrow. I still haven’t found a restaurant. The food court doesn’t look enticing so I have been surviving on granola bars, water, and guava juice. I found an insect wing in the juice so I’m not too keen on drinking anymore of it right now, but if I don’t find any good food soon, I may just eat the wing.
4:00 practice session
I was initially concerned about this first practice session.. but practicing in a room of a hundred people is very much like practicing alone. The poses just flowed out of me. My practice turned inward and in-tune to what my body and mind needed; time flew.
7:00PM FOOD!
I went to a restaurant at a nearby hotel. I had some delicious spinach and cheese with naan. Yay, I won’t have to eat the bug wing. I’m starting to adjust to Indian life.
..…buy room deodorizer… The smell I thought was open sewer water from up the street is actually the dung of numerous farm animals. Apparently my neighbors have numerous pigs, chickens, and goats roaming in and out of their house. I have photos and video and will upload them when I can.
I got to the apartment today and no one was there. I sat, for a while on the stairs with my luggage, until someone came to let me in. The apartment has no air conditioning, no screens, no ventilation, and not a lot of light. There is a small patio in back, it is old and in disrepair, but it has a patio swing and that’s where I have spent some of my time.
Some people I have met are incredibly nice while others are far from it. Most speak some English, but a lot of them don’t speak it well enough for me to understand them and vice versa.
The internet café at Pune Central, just down the street, does not have internet access. It will not be working for an undefined amount of time. I miss my family and don’t like being disconnected from them.
I haven’t yet found a restaurant that is walking distance, or at least none that I have been able to find. I have no food in the apartment, except for my remaining granola bars. Stray dogs roam the streets, loud birds (I think they are myna birds) have been calling to each other all day. They are now just settling in for the night. Someone started playing the drums, the car horns have quieted. Goats from someone’s yard have begun calling. I am alone, disconnected on this first day in my apartment, struggling to adapt.
3:55 a.m.
It’s 3:55 am on June 1st. Although it is still dark, someone’s roosters have started calling, the myna birds are screeching at each other again, and a pack of stray dogs are howling. I am hungry….tired…. I miss my family. I have sent numerous texts but no one has responded. I don’t know if any of the texts are getting through.
I watched a portion of the street collapse yesterday. A car was driving on the road and then it was IN the road. The entire front of the car was in a hole. It seems one of the very large sewer grates just gave way and took the car with it.
At the end of the street there is a large ‘pond’ of open sewer water. Depending on the wind direction its odor drifts into my apartment. (I should be thankful there is any wind at all!) There is construction going on everywhere on this street, (even in front of the Institute) making it very difficult to get around.
Today will be my first day at the Institute. My body feels stiff and resistant; my mind apprehensive.
I make a lot of assumptions in life. When you make assumptions, you tend not to ask important questions. For example, I assumed that when I arrived in India my driver would pick me up in an air conditioned sedan…NOT. As I stand outside at 12:30AM, the humidity drenching my body, not looking too fresh after my two days of travel, my driver arrives in a small hatchback without air conditioning. An initial wave of panic sets in, but instantly washes away. I’m in India after all, embrace it! So I embarked on my three hour drive to Pune with the windows open.
I assumed there wouldn’t be traffic; it was 1:00AM after all. Who would be out this time of night? Answer: Everyone! It was the most amazing thing. Cars and trucks everywhere and my driver weaving in and out of them like one of my son’s video games.
I assumed that honking one’s horn is rude. Nope, it’s rude and dangerous if you don’t honk your horn. The trucks (very colorfully, painted trucks) have signs on them, “HONK OK HONK” , “PLEASE HONK PLEASE” , “O- HONK PLEASE HONK – K”. And what an array of honking sounds! There are the regular horns I am used to in America, there are squeaking-clown-car–like horns, there are horns that sound like vuvuzelas, horns that sound like bicycle bells (except very loud),there are musical horns, there are horns that sound like bassoons, there are trumpet-like horns, there are even horns that sound like elephants!
I could list a half a dozen other assumptions but I will save those for another time. Welcome to India!
My kids didn’t want to come to the airport to say goodbye. “We’ll just give you a hug here, that’s good enough. We’ll make sure it’s a good hug.” Really! You’re not going to see me for five weeks and a hug at the door is good enough? I guess that’s what you can expect with teens. Even the dog seemed unmoved by my luggage and my leaving.
My husband called after dropping me off and said that he missed me already… After being together for 32 years when one of you leaves for an extended period, it’s like losing an arm. You feel incomplete. I have grown accustomed to letting my husband take the reins when we travel; I just go along for the ride. Now I have the reins….
I haven’t been away from him or my family for more than a week in many years. Before marriage, I travelled alone all the time. I would just show up at peoples’ homes unannounced and say, “Hey, remember me? I met you a few years ago and you invited me in for tea and cookies and told me to come back anytime…well here I am.”
Looking back, I can’t believe I did that, but how wonderful to live with such abandon! As we age we lose that ‘lightness of spirit’ and become more guarded. We try to control so many things in our lives. Look at my calendar and you will see my life scheduled a year in advance….. This trip alone is my chance to let go of my acquired need to control and let life take over.
Beneficial Effects of Sarvangasana. Information taken from, Light on Yoga, by B.K.S. Iyengar
The importance of Sarvangasana cannot be over-emphasized. It is one of the greatest boons conferred on humanity by our ancient sages. Sarvangasana is the Mother of asanas. As a mother strives for harmony and happiness in the home, so this asana strives for the harmony and happiness of the human system.
It is a panacea for most ailments. There are several endocrine organs or ductless glands in the human system which bathe in blood, absorb the nutriments from the blood and secrete hormones for the proper functioning of a balanced and well-developed body and brain. If the glands fail to function properly, the hormones are not produced as they should be and the body starts to deteriorate.
Amazingly enough many of the asanas have a direct effect on the glands and help them to function properly. Sarvangasana does this for the thyroid and parathyroid glands that are situated in the neck region, since the body is inverted the venous blood flows to the heart without any strain by force of gravity. Healthy blood is allowed to circulate around the neck and chest. As a result, persons suffering from breathlessness, palpitation, asthma, bronchitis, and throat ailments get relief. As the head remains firm in this inverted position, and the supply of the blood to it is regulated by the firm chinlock, the nerves are soothed and headaches -even chronic ones – disappear.
Continued practice of this asana eradicates common colds and other nasal disturbances. Due to the soothing effect of the pose on the nerves, those suffering from hypertension, irritation, shortness of temper, nervous breakdown and insomnia are relieved.
The change in bodily gravity also affects the abdominal organs so that the bowels move freely and constipation vanishes. As a result the system is freed from toxins and one feels full of energy.
The asana is recommended for urinary disorders and uterine displacement, menstrual trouble, piles and hernia. It also helps to relieve epilepsy, low vitality and anemia.
It is no over-statement to say that if a person regularly practices Sarvangasana he will feel new vigor and strength, and will be happy and confident. New life will flow into him, his mind will be at peace and he will feel the joy of life.
After a long illness, the practice of this cycle activates the abdominal organs and relieves people suffering from stomach and intestinal ulcers, severe pains in the abdomen and colitis. People suffering from high blood pressure should not attempt Salamba Sarvangasana I unless they do Halasana first and can stay in it for not less than 3 minutes.
Additional benefits:
• Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression
• Stimulates prostate glands and abdominal organs
• Stretches the shoulders and neck
• Tones the legs and buttocks
• Improves digestion
• Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause
• Reduces fatigue and alleviates insomnia
• Therapeutic for infertility
Salamba Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand) Variation
Salamba Sarvangasana can be a difficult pose for many students. Here is a variation that practitioners of all levels can practice.
Photo 1: Lift hips, place one or two blocks under your hips. Make sure blocks are placed evenly under the hips and are not tilted.
Photo 2: Release your buttocks onto the blocks, draw your shoulders under and lift your heart. (You are now in a supported variation of Setu Bandha Sarvangasana.)
Photo 3: From this Setu Bandha variation, bring one leg up at a time and come into this variation of Salamba Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand).
There should not be pain in the lumbar spine (lower back), cervical spine (neck), or pressure in the back of the head. The face should be relaxed and the eyes soft.
If your hamstrings are tight, you may practice this near a wall resting the heels on the wall. In the beginning, do not stay more than 5 minutes. As you progress, you may stay longer.
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