Home to Chester December 3rd 2008

Dear friends and yogis, this is the last installment of emails pertaining to my recent Letters from India. In light of the recent violence in Mumbai and your letters of concern I want to let you know my family flew out of Mumbai Monday night and we have made it back safely to Canadian soil. Although Pune is four hours from Mumbai the “six degrees of separation” rule was apparent in how events and tragedy had directly touched the families of local Indian yogis and our neighbour’s lives. On Sunday evening we attended a classical music concert in Pune which began with observing a minute of silence in honour of lost lives.
Some of you have mentioned to me that you have planned trips to India and you are wondering about the current atmosphere. We traveled by hired car to Mumbai and after visiting BCE Buddhist caves in Lonavla, arrived early enough to have a light meal at the Leela Hotel, popular with the yogis. From the time we entered the Hotel lobby we were treated as if we were precious honoured guests by all of the staff. Mumbai airport has very high security now. The military jeeps mounted with weaponry directed at the crowds outside were a little shocking but not entirely unwelcome by us. Inside we were willingly subjected to five layers of security requiring questioning and luggage checks. Patel, the minister of Maharashtra has been ousted as a result of comments he made following the attack and there is much news and talk now about both India and Pakistan needing to clean up their internal fighting. Remember that Le Meridian in Islamabad, Pakistan was also attacked by terrorists in September. So if you are traveling to India soon be prepared and plan to read more about this.
It is strange to come home and find the media here has already moved on.
Will I go back? Yes, absolutely. I love the diversity of India, the ideas, philosophy, the people and most of all the opportunity to study yoga at its abundant source. Safe journey. Namaste, Leigh

Letters from India, Nov 24th 2008

End of week three approaches and this will be my last letter from India as internet time must now be spent on changing our meals on our flight etc. Internet is either much more challenging here than it used to be or my expectations of E-access have increased considerably. I’m so grateful to be able to relax in our apartment while I compose these letters. Due to internet access, some of you will receive all three letters at one time.
This has been a courageous week of back bends and I am feeling wonderfully open; a great antidote to the chest cold and “Pune fever” I had late last week. Geeta and Prashant are both weaving the theme of yoga kriya’s into their teaching. Focusing on the cleansing (body, mind & breath) aspect of the yogasanas by demanding we stay with our breath and mind throughout. “Make body, mind and breath like sponge and water.” Prashant continues with the alpha and omega of Trikonasana, and I experience the deep wringing action of uddiyana in Trikonasana. Geeta has us becoming taller and taller in Urdva D, telling us this pose is all about the arms and legs as she has us stare at the pictures of her father bordering the walls.
Pranayama was mostly savasana this week as many people are coughing due to the heavy Pune air. It was enlightening as Geeta spoke at length about savasana and the difficulty of finding stillness. We kept our focus on keeping space at the back of the throat.
A VIP came to RIMYI this week to take private lessons from Guruji. A federal minister, received one on one time with Guruji during our women’s class. I love the way the Iyengar’s do not close everything down for a VIP but instead require they fit into the existing schedule. When we came out of class a dozen militia in camouflage cradling machine guns were standing around waiting. A bit astonishing!
This coming week is pranayama week, what a delicious way to end a month here. The month of classes will end with a Saturday morning and we hope to make a side trip to the Lonavla Buddhist caves before making our way to Mumbai for our Monday night flight home. We have all had an exceptional time inspite of air quality, consequent colds etc. My daughter has fallen in love with India the people and the food and looks forward to coming back here to this culturally rich country again one day. I am so grateful to have made this trip as a family, to share an important part of my life with my husband and daughter. Together we can randomly stare in any direction, between the elephants, the traditions and the modern development it is like gazing out through all of time. Like RIMYI, something you can only know through direct experience. Ohm Shanti

Letters from India, Nov 18th 2008

The word asana, mean’s “seated or sit” and I have found that over the years I can sit longer and more comfortably than many of my non-yogi friends and family. Helpful when flying for 17 hour stretches. Boarding the packed plane in Newark for a non-stop to Mumbai I had to laugh at the accompanying soundtrack. Hundreds of passengers, mostly Indian, vying for overhead luggage bins and shuffling seating arrangements all to the cheery music of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” courtesy of Continental airlines. The absurdity starts now, I thought to myself. And whenever the intensity of India starts to wear on us we just start humming this tune for some comic relief. John is enrolled in the intermediate classes in the smaller room above. He is the only foreigner in most of his classes. It’s great to compare notes together. He has a different teacher from the institute almost every class and Abhiji, Gurujis granddaughter at least one class a week. In many classes they follow a similar version of what we are doing in the advanced classes or at least some sections of sequences are similar. For me, Geeta’s classes are intense, with very long holdings this week of Padottanasana, and lot’s of excruciating paschima namaskarasana – forced to watch my whining mind, more pain inflicting than the relentless ache in my shoulders; reminded of a favourite quote “Do you want moments of pain or a lifetime of pain?” - Mr. Iyengar. “Heyum Duhkham Anagatam” Yoga Sutras II.16. RIMYI is an institute for yoga education, in the advanced classes we are here to learn all we can about yoga (not just to do) and about ourselves which always happens in challenging situations (of which many are offered here J). Geeta tells us “When the brain is quite you are able to do more” and this, like most truth’s, can be applied to everything. Our small apartment is the third building back on a lane way, slightly removed from the noisy busy street. Indians are not adverse to noise and the constant horn honking by day, fireworks at night and television’s blasting from open windows are a constant invasion to rest. We are surrounded by trees and at first light the bird call sounds are like deep jungle noises, intense like everything else here. Some morning’s the neighbouring Hare Krishna Mandir begins chanting at 4 am. Power outages are frequent and unpredictable, sometimes twice daily. What we consider to be exotic house plants grow wild here, twenty foot philodendrons twisting up tall flowering trees. It has been almost 3.5 years since my last trip here and the changes are profound, most noticeable; one of the notorious new shopping malls has gone up almost directly across from RIMYI. Body Shop, Swatch and Guess are all in Pune now. We stick to the old, shopping on Laxmi Road for beautiful cotton shirt material to take to John’s tailor here in Pune. I am mostly bringing home props, purchased at RIMYI for wall ropes, bolster covers, blankets and long straps I hope to have dyed here. Lyra attended another cooking workshop and John and I went to the popular grocery store that caters to foreigners. I am amazed how it has expanded carrying delicacies from around the world; it is filled with Caucasians, Koreans, and Japanese as well as Indian shoppers. I buy Edam cheese, butter cookies, auyervdic soaps. Outside a man without legs on a trolley smiles kindly at me and waves. When I look for him as we leave, wanting to give him some coin I don’t see him until we are already in our ricksha. He has moved down the sidewalk, again he smiles generously and waves me goodbye as we head off for home. The auto rickshas here are three wheelers that can seat three passengers. They have handlebars and pull start motors and the drivers, like everyone else here, are fearless. It makes me think about the west, how much energy we put into regulating ourselves for safety yet how scared we all are. On Thursday we visited Father Joe who was here in Pune for the week at his Pune Kripa location. The Pune Kripa is the only of the 26 locations that houses women as well as men who are participating in an addiction recovery program. Normally based in his Popti location, Fr. Joe was here participating in training young Priests and Nuns and introducing them to his work. A Jesuit Priest of Indian Portuguese descent, Fr. Joe is a senior Iyengar yoga instructor; close to Guruji and he was very close to Mother Teresa. We joined them for a seated pranayama and meditation led by Fr. Joe. He gave an inspiring talk on pratyahara, dharana and brahmacharya (of essential importance to this young group), how pranayama and meditation can aid by offering something new rather than the feeling something has been given up - brahmacharya. He spoke at length and beautifully. We joined in a silent chant Ma Ra Na Tha (like the) meaning I am with God. Fr. Joe has agreed to come to Chester NS in mid/late Oct 2009 to lead one of his wonderful yoga workshops. John and I are both thrilled to be hosting him. Thursday evening was pranayama with Geeta, during the final savasana I found myself in a seemingly pure state of meditation, observing bands of colours come and go and it was not until class officially ended that I became aware that anything else existed. Lyra, John and I visited the Aga Khan Palace where Gandhi stayed while he was under house arrest from 1942 to 1944. I have not seen it since 2003 when it was under renovation. It is a beautiful old Palace with detailed wedding cake moldings; a museum of Gandhi’s life and work and the resting place of his ashes. John purchased a book by Gandhi “Discourses on the Gita” in which he explains the meaning behind his translation in response to questions he had received. John joked about having Gandhi sign it. We pressed the inside page into the damp earth at the foot of Gandhi’s samadhi (resting place) Ma Ra Na Tha. It is the end of week two.

Letters from India Sunday Nov. 9th 2008

We have been in Pune, India a week now and today, Sunday is a day of rest from the yoga institute. Landing in Mumbai (Bombay) the organized chaos of India is instantly mesmerizing and this being my third trip here I am satisfied to see, among the masses of Indian’s waiting to greet arrivals in the smokey heat of Mumbai, a man reliably holding up a placard with my name on it. As we are three this trip, I hired a car for our four hour drive south to Pune. This was so much more comfortable than a shuttle service which can be anything from a van to a jeep loaded with other traveler’s. We listened in comfort to Indian pop and Bollywood tunes as we peered through the dark at the streets of Mumbai and then later the approaching highway tunnels carved through mountains.
The Institute is more crowded than ever with people from England, USA, France, Netherlands, Germany, Russia, S. Korea, Japan and Israel (I’ve not run into any other Canadians yet). I recall my first trip thinking 90 students was a lot and now with more like 150 students crowding the room for most classes humour is more essential than ever here. Fortunately people are over all pretty good natured about the effort to make enough room and share props and on the occasions when I have lost my mat and props to another because I was helping to put the rope swings back I have relied on the Bhagavad Gita and the premise of karma yoga – to act for the sake of the action and not the fruits… So in this board game of musical mats why should I expect my place to still be there for me because I went off to perform a good deed? And smiling inwardly I am grateful it can all be part of my yoga practice; “the Indian way” something I’ve learned here.
For those of you who practice yoga, Geeta is as sharp and on as ever, in pranayama talking about how the tip of the tongue must rest in the top of the palate or else the throat becomes dry – how does she know these subtle things? And Prashant, focusing on exhalations, cautioning us to make our practice about the mind, not the body. One 2 hour class with Prashant was almost entirely spent on Trikonasana and Uddiyana bandha, which was very difficult but a wonderful lengthening of the spine and rotation would come almost spontaneously. It is always a difficult decision but as every other time I have opted for two weekly classes with Prashant (which means sacrificing one with Geeta) as his teaching is only available here. Geeta focused on chest and upper arms for two hours yesterday in a sequence of intense twists and standing poses that went deep into my thoracic spine and armpit chest and all the way down my forearms.
During practice times the Institute is so crowded, with only one practice time a day now for the many classes now available and with temperatures in the high 80’s (or 30C), I have opted to practice instead from our small apartment. Guruji is there, during classes doing his own practice, and in practice times endearingly instructing his granddaughter Abhaji – this is worth seeing and I plan to go with my notebook and observe. Mr. Iyengar is calm quiet and focused now, addressing only a very few.
There is a feeling of goal oriented direction at RIMYI I have not experienced here before. With Mr. Iyengar approaching 90 and his desire to leave a legacy, in his granddaughter, his children, RIMYI and in his home village of Bellur, fund raising at the institute is at an all time high. Our gift from Nova Scotia, where we raised funds in his honour is much appreciated and I have a personal letter of thank you to bring home. John and I presented Guruji with his BD card and over $12,000 rupees for Bellur with pride and gratitude to all of you who helped us by attending the BD celebration in Chester.
I spent an afternoon in the RIMYI library going over yoga research with Raji and discussing my research work on the Physical Benefits of Iyengar method yoga in Senior Adults. I am already familiar with most of the Iyengar yoga research available and enjoyed our afternoon of discussion and especially the assistance I may receive from Raji, who is more experienced in this field, with my final editing.
Life in Pune is as always intense, the air quality has worsened and the poverty has increased along with the economic boom. With IT based here, increased manufacturing, numerous colleges, a university and many call centres now based in Pune the cost of living almost matches that of the west in housing and textiles. Food is still inexpensive and fabulous. However we find ourselves able to afford less and more frequently pressed by children asking for money. Friends of ours belong to the Optimists society and through them we can make a donation to a school for homeless children but there is no relief from the discomfort one feels around the least fortunate.
Our small one bedroom apartment is working well for us and my daughter Lyra is finding plenty of opportunities to study cooking through classes offered and with our part time cook and to practice making food for us in our small kitchen. It is so different being here with my family (as opposed to a quiet solitary trip of yoga); we are dining out often for the food experience for our culinary artist Lyra and although I covet my quiet time these outings add to the journey. However I do know how tiring Pune can be and the importance of down time.
In the past five years Pune has had 100 new shopping malls built! Think of all that AC! And this is just Pune; now add Mumbai, Dubai, and Beijing etc. Yikes! It is going to take a lot more than recycling in North America but we knew that already…
Today Lyra is attending her third day of an ayurvedic cooking class she joined with some yogi’s from the institute; she is enthusiastically cooking and eating away her time here taking notes on every meal. John and I are having a peaceful lunch with Indian friends at the Turf Club, a weary artifact of the Raj, this beautiful old club hosts horse races during June and July when the rains are too much in Mumbai and horse race crowd moves to Pune. This time of year it is a lovely cool and graceful open air spread of stone floors, massive plaster columns and luxurious spaciousness.
Such a different trip for me from simply focusing only on yoga and the consuming of chai and good books – FYI, just finished “Three cups of Tea” currently on the best seller list and a riveting must read for anyone with both a brain and a heart. How very special to have my family with me. Now I can share what I know of India with Lyra and revisit old friends with John. End of week one. Tomorrow, as someone advised, arrive for classes an empty vessel and continue to be filled by the generous teachings of the Iyengar’s. Namaste, Leigh