A week in review: Poop, Poses, Sharath, Gommateshwara, Wild beasts, and Ayurvedic Massages

Daily posts are better. A lot happens in a day and now I have to mush them all together. I am scrambling to catch up. But I'll try. This sounds like a long post but actually I get distracted and it starts to taper off at the end.

Poop:

There is that scary moment when you are about to crap your pants for real. You feel this curling cold sensation up the back of your neck. It's panic because you know that you could easily loose control of your bodily functions and be stuck cleaning shit out of your pant leg in about an hour's time. Your mind realizes that actually many of your bodily functions happen on their own and if you begin to doubt your ability to control them at this point, you're going to be in serious trouble.

I was farting these real stinky ones at a friend's house. He gave me a very large dose of wormwood extract and grapefruit seed extract because the farts smelled a lot like eggs which could mean giardia and the extracts will kill anything. I drank it down and started the walk home. What I didn't know was that this concoction was like the five point palm-exploding heart technique, five steps out the door and two farts later, I had a fart that was not going to be a fart at all. Gross but true. What's an India story without some dilemma of the bowels?

Okay so I knew I really had to go right away. So I walked faster and then the mind started going and questioning and I started running. I contemplated squatting in the bushes but the possibility of an unexpected meeting with a cobra kept me running. My bowels knew I was close to my house before anything else and a good punch in the belly had me sweating and running faster but running is tricky when you're about to crap your pants so it was more of a quick waddle...Let's end it there. I didn't crap my pants. The end.

Poses:
Yesterday I got parsva dhanurasana, ustrasana, and laghu vajrasana. Today I got a stamp of approval and also got kapotasana.

Sharath:
More on this later. But--apparently we're supposed to read. Imagine! Also we're supposed to be thinking more about the yamas and niyamas. But what are those? Hmm.

Gommateshwara:
Is this big ole statue that we drove a long way to see. We had to walk up the stairs--barefoot--to see it. Fun.

Wild beasts:
The zoo is cool. People are crazy.

Ayurvedic Massage:
Is nice.

So I think it is obvious that I need to be in a quiet space to write. Thanks for helping to shape this post John.

Inner tourism

Shelli, Shoba, and I were walking past the main coconut stand after breakfast at Shakti House when Shelli noticed the massive pile of opened coconuts and used straws in a pile next to us. This pile was HUGE and it was definitely from about a day. People have a lot of coconuts here. She said something about how you would think they would separate the straws because they use the coconut shells for burning. Shoba, always the sage, said, "don't waste your energies thinking of this because it will never change." I found it to be such an intense statement for such a small thing to be commenting on, but she's right. Its all those little things that get us worked up and unhappy.

It took me a while to get settled in New York. I feel like I have been trying to find myself here. Today I got a bit closer. Its like I'm here, but the other part of me is still jet lagged. But this morning, in practice, I could hear myself breathing, and I could feel a bit closer. Today at chanting at Dr. M.A. Jayashree's, I felt like BAM! Centered. I think usually practice does this. Yoga practice, I mean. You feel kind of scattered, and then you go to an asana class and then BAM there you are, and you leave feeling as one. But I've been practicing for a week, and I think it has been hard because I haven't been getting that. I know people say they are less distracted here than at home, but I had been feeling very distracted. Or maybe just different. Its such a different environment and it must have taken me a bit longer to get used to it. But today in practice I felt a bit closer and like I said, today and chanting, the hovering me slammed into the physical me, and BAM I was centered. Nice. I stopped being bothered by the little things.

Usually for me, yoga practice does that, which is why it is nice to practice in the morning. I get centered right away, and I'm able to put the whole day into perspective. Looking back over the last week, its funny to read these blogs.

I made lunch today for some of the students. At least I tried. I know it wasn't that impressive, but everyone was very nice and pretended they liked it. I made chili, but the pressure cooker didn't really cook the beans, so some of the beans were cooked, some not. I also made guacamole, but the avocados were a bit different than the ones in the states. They taste like the large green ones. Very buttery. In fact here, they call them "butter fruit". I tried to find nachos but had to settle on "spanish style" lays potato chips. The rice came out fine.

Can you believe I got a copy of the new Harry Potter book? A fellow student, I-Ling, pre-ordered it at Ashok Book Shop and read it in a day. She let me borrow it and I just started. I fell asleep reading it last night and forgot to turn on my alarm. I awoke this morning to a crash. I saw the clock and it was 10 till! I figured that crashing sound must have been Elissa leaving for practice without me and that she must have thought that I was still sleeping. But when I looked outside, the gate was still closed, so I got dressed very quickly and knocked on her door. Return of the Dehli Belly. Poor Elissa got hit bad. Good thing she has a western shower because I don't think her bathing bucket will be of much use anymore.

Today after Dr. M.A. Jayashree's for chanting, we walked toward Devaraj (sp?) road so Shelli and Alex could pick up some stuff. (Shelli had a duvee [sp?] cover and shams made from Saris and Alex is getting her nore pierced tomorrow, so she needed a ring.) On the way, we walked by BNS Iyengar's studio who teaches at the Patanjala Yoga Shala. Which, I think, is where Krishnamacharya used to teach. We snuck into the temple and spied on an Indian asana class. It was very cool.

More back bending today with Sharath. He laughed at my feet again. Note to all: feet out in back bends is a VERY hard habit to break!

As Guruji's birthday draws near, many students are flooding Mysore. Lino Miele was hanging out at the coconut stand. Shelli was hanging with David Swenson. Rolf was at the Green Market. Etc., etc. The led classes on Friday will probably be very crowded, but fun to watch. I hope they do a led second. that would be nice to watch. We have no classes Saturday-Tuesday. Saturday is a day off (unless you are with Saraswati). Another day is a moonday, the other celebration, and the last just because.

PS-Any requests for bed coverings? I give you good price!