The shala

saras.jpeg

saras.jpeg

if you'd like to see some pics i took in india, check out http://souljerky.com/ganapa-tea/media/arunachala/
it's a great website as well.
love, kristin

hello all,

i am settling into mysore. moving slowly. reading a lot. practice has been great. it is hot and sweaty in the practice room. my old bones and muscles loosen up and this body does things that it resists in the cold winters of new york city. guruji is very funny and sweet. in the morning he walks around the room yelling "one more" "bad lady" "bad man" "lock your hands" "close your feet" "straighten your arms" "open" "breathe". sometimes in the evening we sit with him and students will ask him questions about yoga philosophy and practice. thousands of years of yogic history and scriptures come pouring out of him. like water. his broken english replaced by the melody of sanskrit.

i have taken two cooking classes with an indian woman named shaila in her home. it is like being in the audience of a cooking show on tv. she cooks and we watch. sometimes we mix or stir or roll but mostly we watch and eat the food when it is done. in the first class we made a traditional south indian thali. it is a medley of food. rasam, sambar, dhal, vegetable palyas, curd, rice, chapati. in the second class we made indian breakfast and evening snack foods. idli, vada, karabhath, kasaribhath, dosa, coconut chutney. the names are as good as the food.

otherwise resting.

love barbara

hello all,

sorry it has taken me so long to write. i am on india time. moving slow and adjusting to the time change. my friend and i flew to delhi to visit an indian family i know there and then we flew to mysore to practice with guruji last week. kristin and other yogi friends greeted us. they all look tan, happy and rested. we found a house to live in not far from guruji's home and school. very quiet neighborhood. we begged the lady who owns the house to get us foam mattresses. the traditional cotton ones are so hard that you feel like you have slept on the marble floor all night.

i practice around 6:30 in the morning. on the flight over, i had decided i would really focus on the vinyasa part of my practice while i was here. try to keep my breath even throughout. not add a breath or delete one. not add any extra movements like adjusting my clothes and hair. keep my eyes quiet on the given dristhis. move into myself so to speak. but for the first week of practice my eyes and mind wander everywhere around the room. there are about 55 students practicing at one time so i look to see who i know and don't know. i watch other yogis practice. some so strong and graceful that it takes my breath away. i look at the photographs hanging on the walls. some of guruji, his family, his wife amma, his teacher krishnamacharya. all adorned with fresh garlands each day. i watch guruji walk around the room assisting students along with his grandson sharath and daughter saraswati. all this mind wandering is the mental equivalent off chatter. but slowly day by day i settle into my own practice and become less distracted by my surroundings.

it is moving into the hot season here. april and may. at mid-day the sun is so hot that we seek the shade. the light is white, harsh, blinding. but at dawn and dusk the light is soft, pink, romantic and you fall in love with india once again.

miss you all. love, barbara

for an interesting read from some students in mysore and a few pics of our trip to arunachala, check out yogaisyouth.com
x,
kristin

hello lovely shala,
i'm about half way through my trip to india and feel like i've arrived here. it takes awhile. the body may get here, but the mind and soul take a little longer.

this weekend was hindi new year, new moon and spring equinox, so a few friends and i took off for the ashram of the holy sage, ramana maharshi. ramana maharshi attained enlightenment at the age of sixteen and then headed toward the sacred mountain of arunachala and never left. he sat in silence for year after year in the nearby temple and in various caves on the mountain. he was known for his kindness to people of all backgrounds and religions and to all animals. in 1950 he left his body, but you can feel him still there. as a friend said, this place feels like this is what you come to india for. it makes even the restless ones like myself hungry for meditation.

we awoke before sunrise one morning and took the sacred walk around arunachala (shiva's mountain). along the walk there are countless shiva and ganesh temples along with hundreds of saddhus. they (and the frequent chai stalls) make the 13km walk much easier. this walk is said to help burn away darkness and ignorance. i hope so.

barbara arrives from delhi tomorrow.
missing you all.
love,
kristin

hi dear shala,

it's sure is lovely here. it's hot in the day and pretty cool at night.

this weekend is the celebration called holi and it marks the beginning of spring. people throw brightly colored powder all over each other. mostly it seems to be the teenage boys doing it. you'll see kids with green and pink hair and blue faces ride by on motorcycles. we were nearly "holied" today.

practice is great and it's wonderful to be in the room with guruji and sharath. we get up around 4am, take a bucket bath and walk to the shala by 5:15. i cannot imagine doing this in nyc, but here it feels very natural. i guess that's because i'm asleep by 8pm. there are over 100 people here i'd guess, from all over the world.

i'm adjusting to the time and things but for the first few days i was falling asleep everywhere: at the pool, in people's houses, you name it.

tonight we start a chanting class at the shala and other than that we read and explore and think about what to have for lunch. not so bad.

miss you all,
lots of love,
kristin

hi all,
i leave for mysore on tuesday, march 2nd and barbara leaves on march 19th. we will be keeping in touch via our new blog. hope you like it.
send an email to info@theshala.com if you'd like to be invited to post some thoughts.
love,
kristin