Halfway
It's the end of our second week at Yoga School and people are starting to get tired. Some of the classes have shown considerably less attendance in the last few days, and several people have had India Tummy. Sorry for them! I figure the nasty anti-malaria doxycyline I'm taking may be protecting me from more than just malaria, since its a broad spectrum antibiotic and will kill just about anything. That said, I still have two good weeks in which to catch all sorts of nasties.
India is really.... Interesting. Its such a juxtaposition of beauty and filth. Its been raining and the poo, dust and wee (and the odd dead rat) are now a repulsive soggy mass. Even the locals refuse to step in the puddles. That tells you something.....But on the other hand, there are little pockets of amazing beauty - one of the girls on the course is staying with family who live in a wealthy suburb. Their home is huge, filled with beautiful sculptures and art, and the suburb is quiet, leafy, green, lush. Not the Chennai I had grown used to at all. Nearby is my current favourite place - Amethyst. Its a boutique/restaurant/ flower shop housed in an old colonial mansion with a gorgeous green garden. I went there on Sunday with some of the girls, shopped (the clothes are exorbitant by India standards - about the same as at The Space) and ate a pesto sandwich. My digestion was delighted not to have to deal with super-spiced oily food for once.
A lot of my non-school time is spent looking for places to eat - I think I have regressed to hunter-gatherer status. I have found another place, Eco Cafe, owned by the same woman as Amethyst - God(s) bless her - which serves fresh food and juices, some even organic! So far no ill health has resulted from eating there.
School is super-intense. I guess that's why they call it an intensive. We are learning how best to sequence poses according to the KYM philosophy, and we learnt more about diagnosing health issues by observing students. I had an appointment during the week with Dr NC, and next week will meet a teacher for my specially designed practice. Our morning yoga practice is getting more strenuous. I am very glad they worked us up to that slowly - all part of their strategy - everything fits together like lego. The teachers all know what we learnt in the day's other lessons, and the theme of the day is set in asana practice then carries through all the way to meditative practices in the evening.
India is really.... Interesting. Its such a juxtaposition of beauty and filth. Its been raining and the poo, dust and wee (and the odd dead rat) are now a repulsive soggy mass. Even the locals refuse to step in the puddles. That tells you something.....But on the other hand, there are little pockets of amazing beauty - one of the girls on the course is staying with family who live in a wealthy suburb. Their home is huge, filled with beautiful sculptures and art, and the suburb is quiet, leafy, green, lush. Not the Chennai I had grown used to at all. Nearby is my current favourite place - Amethyst. Its a boutique/restaurant/ flower shop housed in an old colonial mansion with a gorgeous green garden. I went there on Sunday with some of the girls, shopped (the clothes are exorbitant by India standards - about the same as at The Space) and ate a pesto sandwich. My digestion was delighted not to have to deal with super-spiced oily food for once.
A lot of my non-school time is spent looking for places to eat - I think I have regressed to hunter-gatherer status. I have found another place, Eco Cafe, owned by the same woman as Amethyst - God(s) bless her - which serves fresh food and juices, some even organic! So far no ill health has resulted from eating there.
School is super-intense. I guess that's why they call it an intensive. We are learning how best to sequence poses according to the KYM philosophy, and we learnt more about diagnosing health issues by observing students. I had an appointment during the week with Dr NC, and next week will meet a teacher for my specially designed practice. Our morning yoga practice is getting more strenuous. I am very glad they worked us up to that slowly - all part of their strategy - everything fits together like lego. The teachers all know what we learnt in the day's other lessons, and the theme of the day is set in asana practice then carries through all the way to meditative practices in the evening.
posted by Nadine Fawell at 3:19 PM
1 Comments:
Nadine, isn't Amethyst so great? Just when you've had "too much" of Chennai it offers welcome respite. And yet, it feels like India, an India of days gone by, of colonial times.
Sad to think that the KYM we knew is now gone, I took some pics of the old site and the new (temporary) KYM just one street away, yo ucan see them all at my Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/exploreyoga/ (just find the India 2007 set).
Take care,
Scott
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