no blogging...bad lady, bad man

Oh my…please forgive our lack of attention to this blog. As the last days at the shala approach, the social activities and frantic scooter rides in and out of Mysore ramp up (gathering god knows what…oh yeah, lots of silk) and by early evening we are exhausted and just fall asleep.

Our last practice at the shala is March 2 and I’m starting to fear that I won’t stand up from drop backs (backbends) on this trip. I did make a nice mental breakthrough last week though. Thanks to a Guruji backbend assist, (ahhh,…no wonder we call him Guruji) I’m getting my arms straighter and therefore my body is farther from the ground and closer to my goal when trying to come up. It is a mental breakthrough for me because I can now sorta imagine what standing up from backbend should feel like…i.e. not totally impossible.

The energy at the shala is in flux again…so many leavings change the dynamic significantly. Regular mat-neighbors suddenly are gone and some new person is bonking into you in suryanamaskara…"Who is this person and why don’t they know my practice quirks?!?" The proprietary tendencies of most ashtangis with regard to their “spots” has less to do with some love of that particular shala floor real estate and everything to do with love of your accidental but beloved neighbors. We look out for each other and know each others wing span and rhythm and somehow we come together at 5 am every morning to drop our mats on the shala floor and start again.

I have to share the sweetest thing that ashtangis do for each other during the led practices. I hope it isn’t some secret that we are supposed to keep close to the chest for fear that if other yogis learned of our kindness then Ashtanga would loose its “bad boy, aggressive, competitive, storm the shala gate” rep. But when we are mat to mat with no room for any miscalculation or full asana extension and we are doing supta padangushtasana and we bring our legs out to the side…impossible not to be way outside of the boundaries of our own mats and, if in the full pose, into the face, chest, crotch of our neighbor…we softly, slowly, quietly touch our neighbor’s leg and let them know it is ok to put their sweaty appendage on our body. Makes me smile every time.

We attended a fundraiser last night for a new organization called Mysore Dog Rescue. MDR is the brainchild of Saskia Vidler (local ashtangi) and Dr. Shashi Bhushan (local vet). The new group is working to understand why there are so many strays, why many Mysore locals seem rather heartless (read...don’t interact with, throw rocks and sticks at, round up and poison regularly) regarding street dogs, and how westerners visiting India and local people can work together to help with the stray dog problem. The most important thing I learned last night came from Dr. Shashi Bhushan. To our eyes the locals seem "cruel" to the street dogs because they are the main carriers of rabies and thousands of people die from rabies in India every year. They aren't necessarily mean, they are scared! So the new org. is collecting funds in order to vaccinate and fix street dogs and educate the community about interacting safely with vaccinated animals. Want info about MDR? Send email to mysore_dogrescue@hotmail.com.

Projects like MDR are wonderful and make me happy, yet again, to be here. Which brings me to our latest news...we've rented a really nice flat in Gokulam for a year! We are planning to come back again in October or November for another three month tour of duty. We took the place for the year so we can store our stuff, get the place really tricked out, and share with others when we aren’t here. It is a recent housing trend among many students here so when you return you don’t have to run around and just take what is available...you have a groovy place already.

In other practice news…it takes a full three months to get everything going here and really get down to business with your practice! Luckily there is plenty of yoga to be had in this part of the world and we have decided to scale our India travel plans way back (whole country in two weeks is now down to Hampi http://www.tourism-of-india.com/hampi.html) and head straight to Rolf’s workshop in Thailand! (http://www.ashtanga.com/action.lasso?-database=yogaw.fp3&-layout=w&-response=workshopdetail.html&-recordID=33429&-search)

All my life I’ve secretly wanted to find a little sub-culture that I could hang with (ski bums, punk rock, super trekkers…but I've never wanted to tour with the Dead!) and if this Thailand/beach/yoga/paradise thing turns out right I may have found my place…and Frank and I may have to start our own rescue fund! Oh my.

So, off to the shower and onto lunch at Sandyia’s. Have I mentioned that the food is incredible here?

Pictures of the new flat soon and more blogging.

I’ll let Frank tell you about Ahimsa with regards to mosquitoes, creating chill-out rooms and super chill-out rooms, Piddles’s pups, and the arrival of imported cheese!

Love,
rwar