Week 3
Into week 3 and the tough going went into hyper drive as more and more advanced postures got tagged onto my daily practice. The Sunday was a moon day so the intermediate led class got switched to Monday – and with this extra day of taking rest, this meant week 3 was a shorter week- and thank Shiva,Vishnu,Hanuman etc for that. The whole moon day thing is an interesting point of debate. For those not in the know, in the Ashtanga ( 6 day a week ) practice there are ‘rest days’ when it’s either a full or new moon day- Saturday is also a rest day. The reason for taking rest on the Moon days is rather long winded – click here if you really want to know. Saturday’s rest day I believe came about when Guruji’s wife Amma complained that she never saw her husband as he was always teaching,so he agreed to take every Saturday off for a ‘family day’. So Saturday became a traditional day off for everyone . Friday night becomes party central in Mysore where everyone gets really drunk and stays up all night partying – ok that’s a joke b.t.w. the only difference on Friday is that you are so exhausted from the week you actually end up going to bed at 8 pm instead of 9 pm – crazy eh!
During the week there was (yet another) Hindu spiritual festival called Holi. I’m not sure exactly what the festival is all about – but the celebrations are quite good fun . To celebrate Holi people chuck coloured powder all over each other – it’s like a massive water fight with sherbet dip instead of water . Lina Agnes Boo and I got well and truly ‘holied’ by 2 guys on a motorbike – thanks for that fellas ! See above photo.
I’d like to report back that we’ve visited lots of temples and hung out with realised beings – but it’s so bloody hot most days we end up going to a hotel that’s got a pool – spiritual awakening will have to wait I’m afraid well until its much cooler .I’m reading yet another commentary on the Patanjali yoga sutras when I’m at the pool and that’s about as near to Samadhi as I’m going to get this trip.
So one more week to go- time seems to go both quickly and slowly at the same time (mainly slowly during the led classes ) buts that’s India for you -it’s as mad as a box of frogs here but thats why I love it.
Ciao for now-over and out.