Day 5 and Still Alive!

Boat ride across the Mata Ganga was easy. The wind yesterday kept us off the water. Better safe than sorry.


This man sitting by the ghats was happy to be in my picture. I gave him ten rupees anyway! Hare Om.... Told you everyone squats in India!

We woke up extra late this morning after eight hours sleep. Think we all needed it badly. I hurt my foot jumping around in Jivamukti yesterday, Natalie has a cold and Priscilla is having some weird sensation in her hip. i asked the Iyengar teacher about it today and he said lots of people are experiencing these kinds of things. I guess when you're not used to practicing yoga four times a day your body is bound to complain a bit. That's ok. Today we feel much better and decide to take it easy. We all really wanted to practice 108 sun salutations on the waterfront but our bodies had another idea. Like Paul Grilley told me, The first rule of yoga is listen to your body! So we did. So instead we take a boat ride across the river and head back to the Madras Cafe for a long relaxing breakfast.


Porridge with muesli, yogurt and fruit. Yummy!

We went back to the ashram over the brodge in the background of these pictures, called Ram Jula Brodge, by foot. In India everyone walks after eating to help with digestion. Today is our 5th day practicing Iyengar in a row. The class is small when the teacher arrives so he has each of us take two bolsters and two blankets for props. By the time we finish our first supported supine posture the room is full. I wonder if plan B is still possible. The teacher comments on this and all of us in the front row laugh! The whole class is prepping us for pranayama with one variation of savasana after another. it's hard to not fall asleep after o many days of yoga and the relaxing postures plus his soothing voise. He talks us through each pose, asking us to continue breathing into out chest to spread it wide and relax our face, throat and abdomen with each exhale. We use bolsters to help our chests lift and expand. And we use blankets to soften on the hard cement floor. I think this is why I hurt my foot yesterday. Jumping back to Chaturanga on such a hard surface is very hard on the toes. Ouch! Priscilla comments that she never thought she would practice an hour and a half Savasana. We are so relaxed after class but there is more yoga to be done. We decide to stay in the same room and check out a new class called Hatha Energy Yoga with a man from China.

Feeling great after Iyengar... ahhhhhhh!

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The class starts out nice and easy and slow. This is what we expected and wanted. Soon we are practicing an unusual variation of Sun Salutes I have never seen before but like very much. The man is small but looks really strong in a soft ancient buddha way. His voice is beautiful and he adds a aaaah at the end of some of his sentences that I don't really understand. Standing postures are repated after long stretches so we can feel the difference in out bodies. He takes us to the floor and we begin some pretty challenging forward fold preparation postures. I can't wait to share these poses with everyone. The belly poses are extra juicy. Sometimes boat pose just gets soooo boring. He takes us into a nice long savasana and that's that. That's what our Iyengar teacher says when he is finished instead of Namaste! Funny!

Here I am with Mohan Bhandari who taught us Hatha Yoga Energy Flow.


We have to leave after class quickly as there is a photoshoot on the Ganga in 45 minutes. After lots of Indian style confusion I find myself in front of Swamiji for Darshan with 20 or so others. He teels us about living in the jungle with his teacher as a young boy and how his teacher would slap him when he wasn't paying attention to the moment. He is explaining how it was important to him to have a teacher. He says it is not the same for everyone, but for him it was necessary. He talks about the letter his mother sent him when he came back out of the jungle and how he expected her to be proud of him. The letter said that when he helps others instead of himself in all his new found glory with all of his followers, then she will be proud. He had tears in his eyes when he spoke of this time. As I was watching him I started watching his hands move through the air as he spoke. When I looked in his eyes I could see his hands in my periferal vision and they appeared to be blackish. I shook my head and looked at his hands. They looked soft and delicate. But again when I looked at his eyes his hands looked black. Maybe it was the light or maybe there is a deeper meaning to this. I don't know but it was very interesting. After darshan I took the picture below sitting by his side. His energy is very loving and kind. he often places his hands over his heart when he passes you on the street in the ahsram.


We all meet back at the AArti celebration along the Ganga for a group photo. Natalie and Priscilla save a space for me. There are around 500 people here plus all of the children and teachers and Swamiji. The AArti is beautul as we sing sacred songs and pass fire to burn away bad karma.