Saturday

I don’t mind the smell of burning garbage as it comes in through my bedroom window this amazing Saturday morning. I can hear horns, birds singing, a train whistling, a scooter rolling past, someone sweeping, a men shouting what he is selling as he walks down the street, down my street 2a or 1a if you come from the other side.

Water boils very quickly here.

Lauren and I spend the afternoon like cats, napping and reading. I read on emptiness while she learns more about how our bodies work. Both very interested in under the obvious, or the naïve nature HHDL might say.

Sharath says I need “more force”. When I mention this to Susan before led she says, “You do look pretty relaxed”.

I wonder why my house does not have any water.

Saturday in Mysore. Yogis fill this little neighborhood and I ended up in a group of them last night and was up well past my bedtime. We talked about the last year of our lives and the things we don’t understand about this place. No asana practice today but many other things to work on no doubt.

The first two weeks here have had their challenges. Some tears have come some pains have increased. The pain is not wasted I feel the layers being pealed/pulled/ripped away, some rawness is exposed. I do believe in it as a vehicle for growth, something to slow me down and bring great awareness to single points. I move more mindfully now and try to “hold the hell out my bandhas” as Tim said (along with many other helpful things).

Yesterday was my first practice ever on the stage. Just in case your reading this and you have not been here before the stage is obviously in the front but in this practice you are always looking different ways, mainly down your nose, so the front is not really a front. What does happen though is Sharath ends up sitting very close during most of the practice. So every updog there he is, I can hear clearly everything he says, and I hope a bit of the magic falls onto me. As I write this I can hear my friends from last night laughing at me. I would not say that I worship him and I do no pretend to have any sort relationship with his children. I did however feel like the luckiest person in the world to be practicing next to his chair.