This is the first kind of "regular" day for me in a couple of weeks. I usually practice primary series on Fridays and intermediate series Sunday through Thursday with Fridays off. When you travel the energy gets crazy and so you take primary which is earthy and grounding. As comfortable as it is, it isn't my regularly scheduled programming and now that I'm back on intermediate I feel more like myself. (Or at least more like what I'm used to which I'm calling myself but as yoga philosophy will tell you the self was there all along like a necklace you forgot you were wearing.)
Class happens each day in "batches". The first batch starts at 4:30am shala time which is about 4:15am regular time which means waking up at 2:45am in order to be on time. When I walk downstairs in the darkness and start up my scooter, sometimes (like today) I remember to look up and the stars are always closer than I think they will be. There are very few street lights on and a few days ago a friend (who has lived in India for years) and I noticed for the first time that the street lights are turned on or off one at a time by a man who stops each morning and evening at each pole to flip the switch.
Starting a scooter first thing in the morning can be a bit tricky and sometimes you have to kick start it or get on and roll it down a hill and try to start it with the momentum. Turning the headlights on is not possible. So you just take it as it comes and sometimes roll down the hill in darkness, ready to dodge sleeping street dogs and cows and pedestrians although there are very few of any of those at Brahmamurti (God's hour). The air is thick and smells like nature more than anything else and everything has a layer of dew. You can hear the sound of footsteps really far away and the occasional neighbor spitting and the scooter but that is it. Not even the birds are awake yet. In that kind of light, riding to the shala for practice, it sometimes feels like a dream and I remind myself that I'm awake and this is really happening.
Class happens each day in "batches". The first batch starts at 4:30am shala time which is about 4:15am regular time which means waking up at 2:45am in order to be on time. When I walk downstairs in the darkness and start up my scooter, sometimes (like today) I remember to look up and the stars are always closer than I think they will be. There are very few street lights on and a few days ago a friend (who has lived in India for years) and I noticed for the first time that the street lights are turned on or off one at a time by a man who stops each morning and evening at each pole to flip the switch.
Starting a scooter first thing in the morning can be a bit tricky and sometimes you have to kick start it or get on and roll it down a hill and try to start it with the momentum. Turning the headlights on is not possible. So you just take it as it comes and sometimes roll down the hill in darkness, ready to dodge sleeping street dogs and cows and pedestrians although there are very few of any of those at Brahmamurti (God's hour). The air is thick and smells like nature more than anything else and everything has a layer of dew. You can hear the sound of footsteps really far away and the occasional neighbor spitting and the scooter but that is it. Not even the birds are awake yet. In that kind of light, riding to the shala for practice, it sometimes feels like a dream and I remind myself that I'm awake and this is really happening.
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