Guest Blogger: Jordana

Yoga newbie, Jordana, shares a glimpse of her practice today with Ajay (one of the "other" ashtanga yoga teachers).

Although my life is moving slowly, my days are still filled with adventures, mishaps and a lot of bendy body positions.

Every Thursday "Ah Jay" holds a special class called "Vinyasa class". [This is not one of those flow-happy ashtanga variations popular in the west. Instead, it is a class which focuses largely on the "vinyasa" part of the ashtanga practice.] It is hard to explain what a vinyasa is but basically he wants me to sit cross legged, then using my arm and ab strength to lift my entire body off of the ground, move my legs through my arms and end in a push up position. I tried to tell him that my legs just don't fit through my arms. His response..."madame Jordana...you are much silly." Strangely enough, after an hour of squeezing, contorting, and sweating through every piece of clothing I had on, I made about an inch of progress. Better luck next Thursday.

The class then continued to include shoulder and hip opening. Being new to yoga I obviously have very closed shoulders so Ah Jay paired me with an advanced student...Nilesh. Nilesh is from Delhi and is doing his teacher training. He has a long pony tail, is quite hairy and does yoga in a small pair of bicycle shorts. To open my shoulders, I sat cross legged and crossed my arms behind my back, Nilesh sat across from me in a straddle position with his thighs resting on my thighs for extra pressure and then held my hands (which are still crossed behind my back). I don't know if you can completely get the pose, very hard to describe, but the point is....it was very close and very sweaty! At first I was a little bit uncomfortable when the sweat dripped from his forehead onto my chest, but within time....NAMASTE! Woah India.

The "locked in" story

From the sordid tales and mixed up files of Mysore Musings, I bring you the terrific and harrowing tale of Jordana and Aliza...(aka the "locked in" story).

My Air India flight companions were the sub-continent newbies from Canada known as Jordana and Aliza. After battling the impossible, they secured a wonderfully located apartment near the shala etc. One of the many benefits of this particular property is the almost daily maid service (general cleaning--never the toilet--plus laundry). Jordana is at Anu's while Aliza is coating her face with bright green (was it?) face mask. A maid approached outside and upon reaching the front door (a screen door with metalwork permitting unauthorized entry)--knocked. Thinking no one was home, the maid entered with her own key. Unawares of the announced visitor, Aliza walks out to the living room and greets a bewildered maid. The maid doesn't speak English and Aliza doesn't speak Kannada. The maid wants her laundry, Aliza doesn't want washing today. The maid gestures with her arm--chop! Aliza says "no" by shaking her head realizing it was more of a head wobble and might mean yes. The maid thinks it is yes and moves onto more explicit demonstrations.

The maid pushes past Aliza into her bedroom, reaches under the bed, and retrieves a machete.
Aliza's face is--well, you can only imagine.

The maid motions again-chop! Aliza: Um...no thanks. The maid is back in the living room, Aliza slips into her room and closes the door. The maid leaves.

When Aliza emerges a little later to meet Jordana across the street for a meal, she realizes that she is locked in.

You see, in India, regardless of whether or not there is a "regular" lock on your door, there is usually also one of these locks. Not exactly sure why this would be commonly located outside the door. Perhaps many families have crazy uncles or other shut-ins? Who knows. Anyway, the maid had locked Aliza in from the outside. She had no cellphone. She waited. And she waited. And then she started banging on the door, begging pedestrians to let her out. Eventually Ganesh hears the commotion and maybe even sees Aliza's chin poking between the bars on her screen door. "Jordana!" He calls, "I think your friend needs you!"