Our Second Day

We did make it to the 6:30am class, thanks to Natalie's alarm clock, and it was well worth it. The class began with many rounds of alternate nostril breathing. We go slow on one side then the other. Then we go fast on each side. After that we begin switching sides going slow first then fast. Fast is very confusing and it takes great concentration to keep up. After pranayam we start chanting. At the crack of dawn, on the sacred Ganges River, in the yoga capital of the world, we are busy learning the sacred songs of India; learning one word, one line, one chant at a time. Our teacher is a lovely Indian woman who cured herself of an fatal disease with yoga and pranayam. Her voice is angelic. We find it difficult to follow her notes that seem foriegn to us. She guides us patiently and everyone laugh when she stops singing and lets us go on our own and the tune competely falls a part. She says we must be tired from all the yoga we have been doing.

After yesterdays amazing Iyengar class we decide to attend once again. The teacher gives lots of examples straight from the mouth of Guru-ji. In one example he asked us to compare our posture to a dead tree or an alive tree. "Don't let your muscles just hang on your bones", he tells us. I love this analogy. He asks us to feek\l the pose in our fingers, in our feet, in our hearts. To feel the posture throughout the whole body. To bring the posture alive! Wow! I've only practiced Iyengar once before and that was back here at the International Yoga Festival(IYF) back in 2006. I love all of the alignment information. I'm soaking it up like a sponge. He has us practice the same shoulder openers before , during and after each set of postures, making sure we continually come back to our Tadasana alignment with our chest up, shoulders back and feet grounded. It's exactly what I need. After two yoga classes we are starving. Luckily there is a huge brunch in the coutyard under the bright blue sky surrounded by the Himalayan mountains. Ahhhh!

We head out into the the "city" and explore new territory looking for yoga and massage. Monkeys climb the walls of the streets in search of food and fun. Sadhus walk the streets and I pay them for pictures. ( sorry, haven't been able to get them posted yet. working on it daily!) We see lots of heart ache on the streets too. Blind women begging, holy people eating out of bowls while sitting on the ground, old men walking with a stick for a cane, dogs barking and chasing away their emancipated brother. So sad! The ganges river runs along the street and people swin and sit on huge rocks close to shore. I am blown away to see horses on the river grazing in the sun. I thought they were wild coming from the mountains but my Hindu friend here just told me there are no wild horses left in India. Darn, sounded much more romantic. My mom and i rented Night in .... before I left Michigan and there were wild horses on the beach at the end. Guess I was searching for synchronicity. No need, especially here.

We head back home to attend another Vinyasa Energy flow class, same as yesterday. The teacher shouts out to the class to watch the front row if they are confused. That's where we are. Tomorrow we were asked to be on stage to demontrate. We'll see. By the end of this class I am whipped and ready for a nap. I eat a bit and go to one more clas, much more low key. Shamdas is an American who lives part time in Vrindavan since he was 18 years old. He studied Bhakti yoga his whole life and talks about what it was like in India in 1972, when he first came. He has a tabla player, the two sided drum is played by an American woman, a flutist who was just here in the internet cafe. He said he is from Russia. And another drummer who site in the back. His voice is beautiful and you can tell he sings from his heart. I am so exhausted I can't even make it to the end of class. So I sneak out quietly and return to the room where I find Priscilla nd Natalie both snug in ther beds. Remember, it is only 4pm but 6:30am came really early! I take a long nap while they head back for their second massage. I felt a little bit sick after my nap but recover quickly after dinner. We're heading home to sleep so we can rise arly again. Hope all is well back home. Write more tomorrow. Love & Light to you all~ Lynne