The practice of practice and no practice of practice

Last night we all took advantage of today being a day off and as we mumbled at each other across the table at Tina's, the evidence on our tired faces was amusing.

I went to this crazy Indian take away restaurant after watching a disastrous amount of television. (Which, by the way, isn't half bad. There are plenty of American channels if you get cable.) They put rice in a little metallic baggie and sealed it. They did the same for a gooey potato dish. You have to see some of this stuff to appreciate exactly how much the mind freaks out when it sees something new like innovative food packaging.

Again, I'm here at Rishi's listening to music on the Internet with a determination to spread good music:

DEFIANCE, OHIO LYRICS
hear the song here
"Chad's Favorite Song"

do you remember passion? it's buried beneath a concrete world. have you forgotten compassion? are you in the middle of an ugly war between yourself and a giant machine? are you so tired you can't even dream anymore?

fuck this city, and fuck this filthy air. let's build a-frames in the woods and just live there. we'll all eat berries and build fires every night and forget this mistake we call modern life.

i believe in something, but i don't know what it is. it's either the future or the end. it's every reason that i do or don't get out of bed.

we live in the unhappy shadows of skyscrapers freight trains and malls to a soundtrack of nuclear warheads and bombs. addicted to power, addicted to authority, money, and success ... so far gone, without our addictions, do we even know how to live?

the sun is shining thru distance, bitter clouds that make me choke and cough and scream. sitting here along watching acid raindrops fall, this is not the life i want to lead.

Have you ever heard of Daniel Jonston? Good stuff. This is life changing.

Today I am half-determined to be semi-productive, although quite honestly I'm avoiding anything like it at all times. I woke up today when I felt like it and sat on my bed and played the harmonium for a little while. The sun was coming in through the window and I could feel the tan spread on my arm. There is nowhere I have to be, no one I have to see, nothing I really have to do. Just me sitting on my bed, playing my harmonium with the sun beating down on my arm. Life can be so different, and yet exactly the same.

We were sitting around a table talking and laughing and someone asked what I was doing today. I said something like "I'm trying not to think too much about it." We just kind of looked at each other and were like, "yeah."

Yoga Sutra

1.2 yogaścittavṛttinirodhaḥ

“Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind”

Sleep

A full night's sleep at last. I moved into the new room yesterday, and after looking around realized that I could have probably done better. I imagine it was a lot like meeting someone somewhere dark, and they appeared incredibly attractive. Then, you met some other day in the light and...

(This picture is from yogapath.info)

I really did not expect to sleep at all. I was actually kind of grossed out. There were ants in the cabinets where I was supposed to put my clothes, which would not have been a problem if I had hangers on which to hang my clothes. There was no way I was going to fold my clothes and put them in there only to get eaten by ants. So I did the only logical thing. I took every clothing item and hung them on the windows, thereby killing two birds with one stone. (The other bird was the lack of window coverings. Not so good when your windows face the street.) Last night, I hung out in Elisa's room (another yoga student staying upstairs). She got in a couple of days after me, so we both could relate on the jet lag thing. People around here say it takes about a week to get over it. No one really says what the symptoms are, but apparently I must have had it.

Anyway, we tried desperately to keep each other awake until 10pm, thinking that maybe that would help us wake up at 6am instead of 1, 2, 3, or 4am, like on other nights. She told me about her day and the things that she's seen. I mumbled things back with my eyes slowly closing. She mentioned something about a cockroach falling on her head wall she was sleeping a couple of nights ago. (Our rooms don't have mosquito nets over the beds.) Her room is cleaner and nicer than mine. Not very confidence-inspiring. And then, I saw a lizard crawling on the wall. Elisa jumped up and was screaming, I tried to catch it but it was too fast. I thought it went out the window, so we closed the window and she pounded the curtains with some large metal object that was just lying around.

We made it to 10pm and said goodnight. I sulked down to the maid's quarters, took a deep breath, and slid into the sheets. They were damp. Lovely. I could hear Elisa screaming upstairs. I think the lizard came back.

I like to take a hot shower in the morning before practice. I woke up this morning at 6am, went to the bathroom and turned on the water heater and waited. I turned on the water and started to fill up the bucket. No hot water. I waited for a while and came to accept that this morning's shower would be cold, and I wouldn't enjoy it.

Practice was uneventful. I got no adjustments, except back bends with Saraswati (who gives very a very one-of-a-kind drop back). Ankle grabbing was fine and I skipped finishing postures. Tomorrow is the led class and I'll be doing finishing postures. I hope I can hide in the back, I don't want to get picked on in headstand again!

I saw Guruji yesterday. Alex had to pay her Shala fees and I went with her. While we were there we went to the Shala "store", which is less of a store and more of a storeroom. They have AYRI bocks, shirts, posters, and T-shirts with Guruji's face airbrushed on them. On the way out, you have to walk through the practice area. I peeked into the office and saw Guruji. Things are changing.

Today was harmonium hunting...

First mysore class

I woke up this morning at 1am absolutely convinced that I had slept to 4am. Nope. I laid in be and stared at the wall I slept over at my friend Alexandra's house again tonight because I couldn't be bothered to walk over to my new place. I went to practice and it was great.

I did first series and didn't get an adjustment until back bending. I felt really light today which was nice and surprising considering the fact that I have been eating like a horse. My back felt ok today so I did three wheels and stood up. Sharath was standing right there. I think he does that for everyone so they don't run into the person in front of them if they lose control of their back bend. So anyway, I came up and said "oh, hi!". He smiled and said "hi" back. I turn into such a goofball when I practice. Drop backs felt good, which was really great and then drop backs with Sharath went well as also. He had me grab my ankles which I haven't been doing as Guy has been out of town and the person covering for him, Mark, hasn't been doing ankle grabbing yet with any of the students. I thought it would be weird going straight to it without doing second series stuff but actually it felt really good. I think I just needed a good stretch after not practicing that much and all the travel. He did tell me though that I had to fix my feet. I know I tell everyone this, and now you have to believe me that it is really bad to turn your feet out in back bends and it is a super hard habit to break.

Here is a pic I found of someone doing ankle grabbing from the Internet (see above, right). And on the left is a highly illegal pic I found on someone's blog of a led class in 05. You can see how they pack them in there. In the very back you can see Sharath in the white t-shirt.

After back bends, Sharath squishes you and then you pick up your mat and go to the dressing room/bathroom/locker room to do your finishing postures. When you walk in, to the left are restrooms, and to the right are some shelves and some floor space to do finishing postures. You can also go up the stairs to a little loft area where there is lockers and some floor space for finishing. I just laid on my back for a while, did my lotus's, and then rested for a while. Just trying to go easy (a little at least).

In front of the shala, a guy parks his truck full of coconuts that he chops open and sells to yoga students for 10rs ($.10), although someone said they were actually only 7rs ($0.18), but I guess he just doesn't give change. He cuts off the top and gives you a straw and you drink out the water. Then, if you ask him to, he'll cut the coconut in half for you to scoop out the jelly. In NYC, I think you would call it "meat" because the inside can be quite tough sometimes. But, here everything is very fresh and the inside has the consistency of jelly.

I had a harmonium lesson yesterday that was way too expensive at 450rs ($11.25). It was interesting. The guy was all over the place and I was trying desperately to keep up with the chanting. He kept telling me "higher! higher!" As my voice croaked and squeaked like a dying animal. At the same time he was placing my fingers on keys for me and texting someone on his cellphone. I'd like to buy a harmonium and take lessons. Sanskrit lessons at the Shala that start next week are only 700rs ($17). I think this is for two weeks, three days a week. This harmonium guy wanted 4500rs ($112.5) for ten 1/2 hour sessions. My rent only costs 6000rs ($150) for the month. So that said, I don't know why I would pay this guy so much money. I'll be doing the Sanskrit next week, and I think they have chanting too, so this week's mission is to find the harmonium and hopefully a teacher.

For those of you wondering, I'm still brushing my teeth with bottled water. Haven't gotten sick either. More about the usage of the right versus left had in a later post.

PS-Haven't seen Guruji yet. His birthday is next week.