Some important hints for coming to Mysore

These are in no particular order, just the way they have some to mind.

1. Bring herbal tea if you don't drink Caffeine. There is none here.

2. If you are into fashion and clothing, bring pictures or things that you love to be copied here. They prices are so cheap and Manju (Saraswati's tailor), Lokesh at Krishna tailor are both great. Also Nissar is fantastic!! HE is the best but most expensive. I have had my wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses made by him and he really has an amazing eye for design and fit.

3. The cheap book shipping deal has stopped. SO don't buy too many books even though they are so cheap. (I am struggling with that problem now).

3. Bring good comfy walking shoes. Not just flip flops. I found that my feet were hurting so much as I walk a lot here. You can get rickshaws everywhere but I felt guilty taking them too much.

4. Be conservative in the clothing you bring. Or just bring yoga clothes and buy stuff here. Having a scarf cover you front is really optimal.

5. Bring at least one jacket/fleece/sweater. It was chilly some nights.

6. Bring grapefruit seed extract.

7. Bring sea salt. I looked everywhere and couldn't find any.

8. If you study Sanskrit seriously, bring index cards. A must!

9. Know that you will probably have to buy bedding when you get here. I slept with sheets as hard as cardboard for a couple weeks. Yuck. Then Cathryn and I found a nice shop on Deveraja road that has really nice soft sheets!!! They were not too expensive but worth every penny.

10. Beware of the dogs here. I have heard of so many people getting bitten. Just stay away from them.

11. Be selective about your place. Stay in a hotel or just pay for one week the first week while you have time to look for a better place. Your first week here is crazy. There is a vast selection from a moldy room with a mattress on the floor to really nice places. You have to be selective. Also try to find a place with electric heated water. I stayed at a place with solar heated water and I never got a hot shower once.

12. If you get Internet at your place make sure you keep track of the time you last paid the bill. I had the guy come earlier and earlier every month and then charge more and more. Just keep receipts.

That's all for now.

Only 2 practices left. BOO HOO! Things are finishing up. I am ready to go home. I finished my last Sanskrit class yesterday and an amazing Transcendental meditation workshop with Narasima. It was really fantastic. Now I have to figure out how to add one more hour to my already 3 hour long practice. ????

A momentous week this week too. I started drop backs. They were so much fun. Granted, Sharath had me held so securly that I felt totally safe. I just fell right back on my hands softly. It was so nice. We will see how long it takes me to do that on my own. I am not standing up yet either but the thought is there. I contemplate/visualize it while in Urdhva Dhanurasasa. It will take time. It just feels great to be doing the whole practice. I love it. We have a moon day on Monday. I used to look forward to them but I am totally in the groove now and don't really want to take it off. Oh well, SURRENDER!!!

Super excited to see Jeff. HE is a saint, really! It is easier for me to be away here because I am doing something I totally love. I am surround by amazing people and even though I am working my butt off it is still what I love. He on the other hand is stuck in NY doing the day to day drudge of going to a job that he really isn't into and having an empty apartment to come home to. I will be there soon. I miss him. Hopefully, at some point we can spend some time in India here together.

I will be back in the States probably the next time I write. Going through Gokulam withdrawls.

Things I am looking forward to:

A real shower
A real bath
A washing machine
A bed that is soft
No bugs
Most of all Jeff! Waking up next to him. Snuggling. Feeling him next to me when I sleep. I miss that the most.

starting to tie things up

Well the days in Mysore are dwindling and I am starting the task of trying to figure out how to get all of my stuff home. Yikes, I swear the problem with being in a place for 3 months is that you accumulate so much stuff. Especially since things are so much cheaper here. I think my solution to the dilemma is to just leave a trunk in storage here. It is the only way. Plus I do intend to come back rather regularly as I feel I do grow so much here.

It is a funny thing actually. You don't get adjusted much, nor pushed, only subtly but my practice has grown so much. Maybe it is knowing that Sherath has eyes in the back of his head and doesn't miss much. Maybe it is just me trying to respect the practice and work as hard as so many others do here. Maybe it is just the energy in the shala. Whatever it is, I simply love it and I will miss it terribly. I am now doing all of primary except 'satan bhandasana', what I call setu bhandasana. I am still totally frightened of that pose, have never even attempted it. Look it up for those of you that are not yogis. Scary bending of the neck. Anyway, I am happy at the progress I have made. I got one leg behind my head the other day and my back bends are getting there. More importantly then anything else is that I feel emotionally strong.

I still am sensitive, I think it is something that I have just fought for so long but now I am just going to be with it. I get my feelings hurt easily and let small things bother me too much sometimes and I need to stand up for myself more. All things to work on in the future. It is OK to be sensitive, to have feelings! The thing we always do and are taught is to control our feelings, not show too much emotion, hide what we truly feel, take the brunt of whatever it is. I think if we were better at expressing our emotions in a positive way rather then in a very passive aggressive way (like I do all the time) we would be so much more healthy and emotionally strong. It is a battle I face. Telling people what I really think instead of just bitching about it later. Worst of all, to someone else. I have to stop doing that.

Solutions???? maybe, love yourself, be good to yourself then and only then can you do the same for others. !!!!!

Goodnight, I have to sleep.

such a busy week!

Wow, time just flies here. I can't believe that I only have 2 weeks left. I have a great routine here; practice in the morning, breakfast, study/read a bit, then have lunch either at home or out. I have been eating at home a lot more lately to get some more personal time. Then I have class every afternoon, either chanting or Sanskrit. I enjoy the life here. I am torn about leaving. I am very excited to start figuring out things with Jeff, i.e marriage and future, where we are going to live, what job am I going to get, how I am going to make yoga land happen at home? All things that cause me great fear and excitement.

I also am going to miss my friends here so much. I have met some, simply amazing people here all with this common thread, yoga. How lucky am I!

Feeling kind of down lately. I hope it is just the moon. I am tired and feel listless. Maybe it is the sadness that I am leaving soon. The now countable days tick away. I hope Sherath will come to NY sometime soon to practice again. So many things to ponder and decide this next month. Very scary. I know that the yoga has made me so much stronger and has enabled me to decide so many things.

I am just rambling this morning, nothing too coherent to say.

Ciao.

friends leaving.

Tired today even though I did not go to practice. I rebelled and decided not to as it is at 4:30 in the morning and I just have something against practicing that early. I will have to next Sunday but I am not going to think about that until then. There is just something wrong with getting up at 3 AM to practice. 4:30 is early enough for me.

Cathryn left today and I feel that we are missing someone now. She really brightened our days here and always made me laugh. I will miss her. I hope to get to England some time soon to visit, or even better she comes to NY to visit us. I will keep my fingers crossed.

Getting ready for Kirtan tonight. I am very excited. It should be a blast. We, Ganesh, Mike, Alana, Zoie, Peter and myself prepped a bit last night. It was fantastic. It should be equally fun with an audience tonight.

A sad day in Gokulam

It is truly a sad day today. After practice today, like everyday I came out of the shala to get a coconut from the sweet coconut man named Begg. Well, he was not there today and when I inquired why, I was told that he died suddenly last night of a heart attack.

I will always remember his smiling face, his hard work getting up so early every morning to supply hundreds of ashtangis with coconuts.

I don't know what else to say. It is a sad day for all of us I am sure.

I should be in bed

Wow, it's late and I should be sleeping but I am just addicted to this darn internet. So, I thought I would put some thoughts down.

Dissapointed that Lynn is not coming to Mysore and I will not see her. Maybe I will see her in the states though.

I can't figure out why I am not better able to just say no to some people who actually annoy me. People who have a very negative energy that I still work to keep in my life. People who make it clear by their actions that they have no use for me and I still pine for their attention. I don't get it. I hope the latest person that falls into this category will just fall out of my life as they have no left Mysore. Only time will tell.

Maybe I am just looking for connections and I am not astute enough to see early on that there just isn't one.

Maybe I am just feeling sorry for myself and I am looking in the wrong places for those people.

Luckily, there are a number of people here whom I simply adore and I will work to keep them in my life. That is the beauty of yoga land, some people fall away, others who are truly amazing, really stay.

Thanks to those yogis who have truly made an impact on my life; EM, Karen, Lynn, Sara, Cathryn, Lizbeth, Molly, Alana, Kyle, Steve, Zoe, June, Paul, Jutima and Lise.

I am tired and need to go to sleep.

Goodnight.

home sickness hits

Today is the first day that I am really missing home. I know that I always miss Jeff, that is a given but today it really hit. I have been so busy this week that I feel that there has been no time to stop. This morning there is no practice and I am just sitting in my room pondering the next month. Jeff is not on line and has been out of range for a while. So it makes me miss him more when I don't hear from him daily. Jill, an amazing teacher, friend, that I made here from Philadelphia left last night, which makes me sad. My mum sent me a message that Makayla, my 8 year old sister, started to cry when she signed my birthday card and when my mum asked why she was crying, she said that she missed her big sister.

I guess I don't always realize what an impact people have on other's lives. This morning makes me reflect how important it is to value and cherish the people in our lives. Especially when I am so far away.

The transient nature of yoga land is difficult too. Everyone comes and goes on their own schedules. Not a terrible thing, really, but it gets difficult to meet such amazing people and then they leave, or I leave. Then the cycle starts all over again and you have to meet new people. The same questions and answers are exchanged; What is your name? Where are you from? What do you do? However, the answers are all so different and all so interesting. The people one meets in yoga land are amazing. I love being here and hope I will always get to participate even though it is so difficult to say goodbye so often.

Then I think about going home. Really to start this new life together with the man I love. Trying to create yoga land in New York. At least until Jeff and I decide where to settle down. I love New York, don't get me wrong but both of us want to move somewhere a bit less hectic. AND even though, the yoga in NY is fantastic. I am sure I can create a great place anywhere. This next 6 months is all about recreating my life, getting a job, building a life with Jeff. I am so excited, nervous, confused, happy to start this new adventure and time in my life.

The best thing about all of it is that I am strong. So much stronger then I was 2 years ago. The internal strength that I have gained from this amazing practice is simply incredible. I am so lucky to have fallen into this Ashtanga practice. I give thanks to the divinity in all of us, to Holly Mullaly(my very first yoga teacher), to Kumal (my first ashtanga teacher in Beijing), Paul and Jutima, Guy, and especially, Guruji, Sharath, and Saraswathi for bringing this amazing practice to me.

And finally to all of the amazing people I have met along this path. To those with whom I have lost contact but still think of and hope that we meet again. All of those amazing people that pop in and out of yoga land. I truly cherish their guidance, strength, friendship, support and time.

Have a great day everyone.

More later

practice at home

Today we had a holiday from the shala. It is a Ganesh festival where Guruji and family had to do puja. So we were on our own. Luckily my house is very large and has very little furniture. We decided to have everyone come for practice here. It was great actually. We all were able to create a similar energy at home that is created daily in the shala. Of course, not exactly the same but the 10 of us really made it work. I was so happy to see that we all bonded as a group. Fred helped Jill in a second series pose and Jill came over to me and rolled me out of garba. Still a problem for me but getting better. The energy created by a group of like minded individuals is amazing.

Thomas arrived a bit late and he has a much longer practice then the rest of us so he was still tootling along after everyone else had finished. I am sure it was a bit difficult for him to concentrate. Good on him though for finishing properly. I am not sure I would have had the same diligence.

Then we had a grand breakfast, Cathryn, Karen, Lise, Colin, Kyle, Laura, Alana all sat down for a lovely feast. It was such an amazing morning.

Finally!

Finally, my creepy crud has dissipated. I have been sick for some time now, a week I guess. I actually missed practice, I just had no energy and was feeling really crappy. Plus the inability to breath from a stuffy nose. Yesterday was my first real day back to practice after 2 sick feverish days, then Saturday off and finally Sunday off being a moon day. So Monday, I thought would be great with a ton of energy. I was wrong. I slogged through the practice and was dying. I had to keep going though as it was a led practice. I did make it but not happily.

So today I even said a few chants (Gayaatri) to Ganesh the remover of obstacles to help me get through. Amazingly my energy has returned. I was strong throughout and had a great practice. Even got moved on by one pose. However, I am trying not to focus on the poses, it doesn't really matter in the end. Supta Kormasana still is a bit crazy. It will come but I am experimenting with it. Trying to figure out how to connect my hands. I am thinking that my feet are going to get behind my head before my hands are able to link and stay. As Sherath was wrapping me up like a pretzel, my hands came apart and he just asked "WHY?". I just thought, 'I don't know'! I love his ultimate confidence in us. He just says, do it! and magically we are supposed to do it. The reality is that sometimes we just cant. He then said, "OK, now jump back". That is even a bigger joke as I do this little tiny hop from bakasana, when it is supposed to be a jump back. I laughed as he watched me do my pathetic little jump. All is coming, I am sure.

I guess I shouldn't always focus on the negative either. My practice has grown leaps and bounds, which makes me very happy. Of course, we focus on the bad before the good sometimes. I guess it is the nature of humans. Well, this human anyway.

All I can say is that things are changing and growing and that, in the end is all that matters to me.