Clothes do matter -- Hot shorts!

Whenever I brought a friend home, my brother would embarrass me with threats of digging the old "Pre-Teen America" videos out from the bottom of the VHS drawer. I was usually able to quell the enthusiasm that followed by giving in and telling at least one embarrassing moment from said event in exchange for not pressing "play". The favorite was my answer during the Q and A session amongst the last finalists. (Although the most embarrassing was my rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", where I freaked out and ended up lip syncing...yikes! I knew better than to mention that as that would ensure the tape be played.) So I'm up on stage and I have to pick a question out of a fishbowl full of folded up pieces of paper. My question reads "Do the clothes make the woman or does the woman make the clothes?" Ah but the answer was so easy, so obvious! And yet, when I opened my mouth, I opened with the opposite response -- "The clothes make the woman" -- followed by my explanation of how it is what is inside that counts. Right.

Some Mormon dairy farmer's daughter in a horrific Easter dress from JC Penny's ended up winning, with me in 3rd or 4th place. But now I see that my Freudian slip was kind of true, at least as applies to yoga practice.

Huh?

In a previous post, I talked a bit about yoga clothing and the three gunas. As much as I would like to wear whatever, practice on whatever, and have it not matter because my practice is too "real" or "strong" or whatever to be effected by superficial real-world nonsense, it is just not entirely true. When I wear clothes that are baggy, sloppy, or ill-fitting, I am distracted, uncomfortable, and feel "heavy". It's like standing next to someone who is really put together while you are wearing grey sweatpants with oil stains, sandals with socks, and an over sized T-shirt. What I wear doesn't make or break my practice, I don't obsess about it or anything, but when I purchase yoga clothing, I keep in mind how it will make me feel during practice. As much as I like the loose fitting Be Present pants, for example, the drawstring waist hikes up too high or too low, I get wedgies, and all that extra flapping around me is a "drag"--pun intended.

Sloppy yoga clothes don't work for me. Also as a yoga teacher, it is better when students avoid looser clothing because the teacher can better see what is happening in each asana. (PS- I have seen a lot of underwear and g-strings exposed by the Be Present pants.)

On the opposite end of the spectrum, too little clothing doesn't work out either. Today the shala is closed, so I practiced primary at home--in my underwear. Well, at least that's what I would consider it. But it seems that there are plenty of people who look totally normal practicing while wearing almost the same getup...

Kundalini teacher Ana Brett
Yoga Journal's 2008 Calendar


Of course, we have all also seen plenty of shirtless men with their itty bitty black spandex shorts. They don't look naked, right?

Am I just not used to so much exposed flesh in practice? Do I not have the right body for it? All questions yet to be answered. Still, there is so much skin on skin friction. And if I was sweating a lot, I imagine I'd feel like I'd turned into a slimy salamander.

Not too tight not too loose--I guess that for me, even when picking practice clothing, the middle path also applies.

Oh, and I didn't use my mat. I do that once in a while.

--"Three Gunas" post from last year: http://mysoremusings.blogspot.com/2007/07/yoga-clothing-and-3-gunas.html

Yoga clothing and the 3 gunas

It has been 2 days since my last post, so I'll have to recap. Wednesday I practiced, read, ate, and went to chanting with Jayashree. Thursday I practiced, read, ate, and went to a cooking class with Tina. Life here is good!

Before chanting on Wednesday, I dropped Alex off at the hospital so she could get her nose pierced. (Everyone gets piercings done at the hospitals here. They also get a lot of dental work done as it is MUCH less expensive than in the states.) I couldn't stay with her as I had to meet Elena at the coconut stand (its always where people meet up, or the main landmark when it comes to giving directions), but apparently it was quite a show. We had spent the entire morning and part of the afternoon at the "Hotel Formerly Known As The Southern Star" (really, that's what the sign said) lying poolside and soaking up sun. I tried to read Harry Potter, but was quite distracted by the conversations around me and also the glare from the sun. The water was very very cold, but we had a lot of fun. It costs 200 for a day pass and they give you a towel. Its a pretty posh place. You can also get a monthly pass as well as nice looking salads, sandwiches, and french fries. When you spend a lot of time in the heat, your blood vessels dilate, and when you are cold, they constrict. The point? The nurse who did Alex's piercing was convinced she was an alcoholic because she bled so much! The piercing looks really nice though. Apparently you are supposed to get the left side pierced only. I tried asking several people about this, and I got something about it making you more fertile. Who knows?

I found out that at chanting we are actually practicing for a performance on Guruji's birthday. Someone mentioned that they weren't sure they wanted to do it because they heard that if we chanted incorrectly, he would someone was watching and would clap for me when I do something good. Instead, there is absolutely no recognition. In turn, my jump backs (I think) have gotten much better and everything feels a little deeper, a little stronger, and a little lighter. On Wednesday after At chanting, I found out that we are actually practicing for a performance we will give on Guruji'sdefinitely call us on it. (Guruji used to be a sanskrit scholar.) Jayashree explained that "Gurus are here to criticize us ... Even if he says 'you [Jayashree] have not done it properly' I will say 'thank you'". She continued, "if I say you are very good, you will not grow". This got me thinking about practice (although you could apply it to a lot of things) and how I've back tracked quite a bit in what I'm doing. Sometimes I wish someone was clapping for me every time I do something good, but in spite of this, I feel like my jump backs have gotten a lot lighter and my practice as a whole has gotten stronger and deeper. On Wednesday during back bends with Sharath he said "good". Its nice to know he probably meant it.

My Mysore time has been moved to 7am. Yesterday, I got there early, and still there were TONS of people waiting. Alex says its like that every Thursday. People are tired from the week and so are practicing a little slower. Well, there were people with 6:30 time slots still waiting to get in at 7:15. Its also really crowded for the birthday. It seems that a lot of people have come in for just a week and that still others are leaving right after the birthday. But maybe Alex is right about Thursdays. I felt really tired and heavy at first. I'm partially convinced that its just the pants I'm wearing. I'm sure I could argue that clothes can be tamasic because every time I saw my pant legs hanging about, I felt like I was just hanging about. These did, however, used to be called my favorite practice pants. But since I got the American Apparel leggings, I feel there is no comparison. The leggings are close fitting so you can see your bones, but also there is no extra fabric flapping about. I'm sure the fact that I'm hand washing the other doesn't help. i might see if Krishna tailor can shorten them a bit.

Back bends with Saraswati were a riot. I did 3 half way down and on the fourth went straight down to grab my ankles like I do with Sharath. But she was like "no no hands down walk in!" So I put my hands down to the floor and tried to walk in. I took my right hand to my right calf and was dangling there. She let go of my back with her arms so that she could help me grab my left calf with my left hand but without the support, I toppled over like a wheel onto my forearms and then she brought me back up to stand and "tried" to explain to me what she meant. I went back again, this time taking my hands to the floor. I walked my hands close to my heels then took my right hand to right calf. My other arm just hung there, she held me this time and reached for my left hand, instead, she grabbed my hair and gave it a tug (I think her had got a bit tangled). I yelped as she finally got my left hand and took it to my left calf. It was funny. Here is a video of Sharath doing drop backs. Enjoy!

At 1pm I had my cooking lesson at Tina's. It was like an interactive cooking show. She made Spinach dahl, stuffed eggplant, and chapathis. Here is how you make the eggplants. It is super super easy and SO SO good!

Super Tasty Stuffed Eggplants Tina Style
Get some fresh ginger and fresh garlic. It has to be organic. Put it in the blender and blend. You now have ginger garlic paste. This will keep in the fridge for 3 months! You might also be able to get this at the supermarket.

Now get yourself some eggplants. They have to be skinny and long. Preferably they are small (like only a couple of bites long), or you will chop them later. And obviously, they should also be organic.

Take a knife and slice open the eggplant lengthwise, but keep the stem on. Do this to all your eggplants.

Now take your fingers and glob some of that ginger garlic paste inside it and smoosh the 2 sides together. Its okay if the paste squishes out.

Heat some sunflower or safflower oil in a pan. NOT OLIVE OIL. This is Indian cooking!

Throw your eggplants in the pan. You want this to be medium to low heat. Cover them and everyone and a while toss the pan a bit so they get cooked all over. It is important that the heat is low and that it is covered as this will ensure that they get cooked all the way though, not just charred on the outside.

When you are able to squish into the eggplant easily with a spoon, they are ready. You can either serve them hot, or room temp. They are like super delicious and tasty roasted peppers Italian style. This is fast and you will love them!

This morning I was dreading the led class at 6:15. Headstand. When Elissa and I got there, I was tired and moody and a bit miffed that we had to wait outside because there were so many people. We could hear Sharath counting inside and it sounded like a hard class because he went more than 15 minutes over and they had what seemed like a 30 second Savasana. When those students started filling out, we started moving in. I claimed a pot front and center and hoped for the best. We seemed to be waiting a little longer than usual, and when I saw Saraswati escorting Guruji to the stage, we all could see why.

It was a nice surprise that Guruji taught the class not only because its Guruji, but also because he taught super fast and it made the struggle almost non-existent in headstand. I was actually quite funny. He was counting very quickly until he got to 7 and then he just stopped counting. I could hear him walking across the stage and I figured he had gone to help someone. I could see people starting to come down, but Sharath would say come back up. This went on for some time and then I came down and went back up and heard "eight!" Everyone laughed a bit. Elissa was practicing on the stage and she said that he actually had gone to the men's room! After uthpluthih, Sharath said "too easy!"

Many people are preparing to leave soon. Its strange to think that I will be here for some time still!