Settling in Mysuru

Mysore, renamed to Mysuru last year, is a city in southern India famous for its temples, Maharaja's palace, silks and sandalwood. Yet despite being dubbed the cultural capital of Karnataka state, the term "Mysore style" has become famous the world over for its reference to the traditional mode of practising Ashtanga Yoga, a potent method of Self-realisation propagated by the renowned Sanskrit professor and yoga master Sri K. Pattabhi Jois (Guruji).

Yesterday morning, Friday, was a led class, not a Mysore style class. Mysore style means that people come in at different times depending on their ability, do the practice by themselves and the guru is around and watches, corrects and adjusts postures where he sees anything wrong or where he can help deepen the asana.
My body was extremely tired and after breakfast all I did was lay at the pool and doze.

I packed just before lunch (last minute... not unusual for me) and after lunch at 2pm, Michael and I took the taxi to the airport. We arrived at 3:15, which was late, so he checked us in while I tried to get out bags through security. Managed to get it done just before boarding at 15:35. We flew Jet Airways, which is probably the best domestic airline in India. Leena, Lori and Myra had left Purple Valley about an hour before us and were waiting in the waiting lounge for their flight with Daecon Air (cheaper flight that left 15 min after ours). There are very many domestic carriers in India, like the 2 I just mentioned, Indian Airlines I flew to Goa, Kingfisher Air and more.

The food on Jet Airways was absolutely fantastic and so was the service. Michael actually commented that it was probably the best indian food he had ever tasted!!! We landed quite late around 17:45 (supposed to be 17:05) and then we could not find the driver who was supposed to pick us up. Eventually the three ladies arrived and after many phone calls we finally saw our driver. We piled the luggage and ourselves into the SUV and drove to Mysuru. We left at 18:30 and expeced the 135 km drive to be around 2:45 hours long. I took about 1,5 hours of traffic jam in Bangalore to finally get on the highway, which was still a harassing experience because Indian drivers tend to drive in the middle between two lanes with their lights switched off, because they think the light uses up either petrol or the battery!!! When they are about to pass somebody, they hoot and flash their lights and then switch them off again. They also take their side view mirrors and fold them in completely against the car... The driver said this is because the flashing lights hurts his eyes. Our baggage was piled very high in the back so that he could not see out of the back window, so we were driving around blind it seemed. You must also realise that the "highway" has numerous turnoffs (not offramps) with many a bicycle without lights crossing the road!!!

We stopped off at a hotel to have something to eat... ended up being quite oily and very hot and we finally arrived around 23:00. We dropped the 3 ladies off at a place Myra had organised and Michael and I crashed at Randy's place. Randy is an american, who is retired and has spent the last 5 years in Mysuru. Michael originally introduced him to Mysuru. We stayed up chatting until about 1 am and then went to sleep. This was the first glimpse I had of the western community that has been flocking to Mysuru since the 1970's to learn from guruji.

We woke up very late and Leena, Michael and I started searching for rooms. Michael introduced us to Tina, a lady he calls his indian mother, as she had taught him how to cook indian food. I also saw some flyers at her restaurant for an Anatomy course with specific emphasis on Yoga that will start tomorrow for 4 days. I am extremely worried about being bored out of my mind, staying for a whole month in 1 city in India, so I am considering this, but first let me get registered. Went to the bank and withdrew enough money to pay the required 1 month minimum registration fee of Rs 26,900. In the meantime Lori and Myra had found a 3 bedroom place for Rs 12,000 that Leena will also stay at if she can get registered with guruji. At 4pm we phoned one of the places I had decided upon (Rs 7,500 for the month) but were told that it had already been rented out.

Then at 4:15 we walked the block from Randy's house to the Yoga Shala and because Michael knew guruji very well he got us registered first (we were not the first in the queue). I was quite nervous about not getting in, but was relieved after that was sorted out. We all are in the 7:30 am class. Tomorrow morning though we have to be there at 6 for the led class at 6:15. Fridays and Sundays are led classes.
Meeting guruji, his daughter Saraswati, grandson Sharath and Sharath's daughter was also nice. Sharath had taught at Purple Valley before while Lori was there and she gave Sharath a picture of him, his wife and their daughter at the retreat as a gift.

Then I drove to another place about 15min walk from the Shala, which I hope to rent for Rs 13,000 with 3 bedrooms, but the lady was not there so I will have to try again later.

Second last day at Purple Valley

My body is not feeling that sore anymore, but a little tired. I usually get to the Shala before the rest of the 7:45 group and Michael told me to start immediately when he saw me come in today. For the last 2 days, I have been working alone, without Candice and Sarah. I went through my practice and while doing Mareechyasana I realised I had left out 3 asanas, Prasaritha Padothanasana, Purvatanasana and Janu Sarushasana C. Damn!!!
When I got to Supta Kurmasana, Michael assisted me to bind my hands behind my back and get my feet over my head as best as possible. He then led me through the rest of the series. I did the backbend 5 times today and then he assisted me with the start of going into the backbend from standing. Today was the last time we would practice Mysore style. Tomorrow is full moon and Michael will take us through a led class tomorrow morning at 6:45. PJ, like most Indian people, does things taking the stars into account and in Mysore, there will be no class on full moon and new moon days.

Since we had another afternoon session today, I did not go outside today to explore... I will still have lots of time going to Markets when in Mysuru. I spent some time cooking in the sun, swimming, and practicing on the slackline. Yesterday I had finally been able to stand up onto it and stay up for 4 to 5 seconds before falling off. Today I took 1 or 2 steps. Just like in yoga... progress slowly slowly :-)

The afternoon session with Michael started with a Q & A session as usual. The most interesting question I remember was what the chants at the beginning and end of practice meant. The first is literally bowing to the lotus feet of the past gurus and Patanjali who wrote down the yoga scriptures. The chant at the end asks that the rulers rule with justice, that knowledge be available to everyone etc.
We then worked on backbends. We did a short series of asanas so that we were nice and warm and then he started by telling us to lie on our stomach and keep the straightened legs on the floor as we lifted the upper torso. Then lift the torso and the legs, keeping the legs together and straight. Then we grabbed the ankles and lifted up again but keeping the knees together. He then asked us where we felt that. Then we did the same thing again this time allowing us to open the knees, which is the same as the Bikram backbend in prone position. He then asked us again where we felt that and everybody said the back!!! So his point is that the legs are so important in the backbend and when we walk hands and feet together, we should walk the hands towards the feet and not the feet to the hands. When people say they don't like Ashtanga, because their spine hurts but they feel nothing in the legs, it is because they are not using the legs properly.
We talked about the spine having its greatest mobility in the lower back (because the ribs are attached to the Thoracic spine) but that we should not just rely on that. We then worked on opening the shoulders and the upper spine. First we stood on our knees and grabbed our feet from behind while bending back. Then we placed the hands against the wall with our knees on the floor and arched the back and held that for about a minute. Then we did the stretch I would normally consider a tricep stretch but he showed us how to stretch the shoulders by lifting the gaze and pushing the head against the arm. Then we worked with partners as in the picture on the left and lastly we did handstands against the wall, but the hands placed some distance from the wall and then dropping the bum and legs against the wall, the back arching towards the wall.
We finished with the finishing series and then some meditation.

Dinner had a festive spirit to it, because we all knew it would be our last dinner together as most people will be going home or going elsewhere in India. After that we put on some music and Iman did some belly dancing for us...