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.
