Mysore Diaries – Day #5

The irony of practicing here is that even though the asanas are the same every single day, every day is different from the one before.  So today was an exceptionally long practice session for me.  I started with the warm up and then started practicing the asanas.  It felt like it was a long time before Saraswati came to me and taught me the Utthita Hasta Padangushthasana.  And then she left me to practice for what again felt like a really really long time.  When she finally dismissed me for the Savasana, I was surprised to note that I didn’t feel tired.  Instead, despite the intense practice, I felt stronger.  Maybe now I’m getting attuned to the subtle changes happening in my body.

We had chanting class again today.  So far we’ve just practiced chanting from the same handouts.  Some of the shlokas are ones that I’ve done before in other classes/workshops, but for some reason I’m not too crazy about the slow sonorous pace at which we chant here. 

Also, I’ve finally started to read ‘Yoga Makarand: The Nectar of Yoga’ by Tirumalai Krishnamacharya.  This book has been on my TBR list for so long and I finally pulled it out because what’s a better time to read it than when you’re immersed in Ashtanga yoga in his ashram.  The book has a forward by Shri BKS Iyengar!  And it has an interesting foreword (yes I read books cover to cover).  The foreword covers the history of how T. Krishnamacharya started to teach.  It mentions titbits about the attempts of translating his works by his students.  It has old pictures!!!  I have this book on my Kindle, but I think it’s worth getting a hard copy as well!

Saturday is a holiday at the shala so I think I’ll spend the rest of the day parked in front of the TV binge watching Bollywood movies!