Day 1: A Full Day of Practice and Learning

For many students who have come to this workshop, this is their first time. Students have come from as far away as Surat – a testament to their commitment to growth and Iyengar yoga. Their enthusiasm is awesome.

The Morning Yoga Session

Raya and Abhijata taught the 2-hour morning session together. There were junior teachers helping out, and the class was done in perfect synchrony. A group of students worked on handstands against a wall, while others practiced pincha mayurasana against the grills. A set of students did twists in the center. We spent about 45 minutes on inversions after a quick warmup with standing asanas.

We also did some rope-work which I’m always grateful for. Many of the students here have rope walls in their homes. Although none of the things covered this morning is new to me, I’m grateful to practice under the watchful eye of teachers, like I said, the same asanas are different now. And this is ‘practice’.

The Evening Yoga Session

Post lunch Abhijata had wanted to hear from us about the good and the bad of online yoga. Students expressed their challenges, including the confusion about how to practice when they are on their own. There were questions about sequencing too. She was surprised so many of us had props at home (thanks, Covid).

The evening session was focused on pranayama. We started with opening our bodies in supta virasana and then went on to viparita dandasana on bolsters. This was the first time I was practicing with my glasses on, and I was reminded many times to take them off whenever my eyes are closed. Abhijata also advised us to focus only on one pranayama at a time. Practice it for 10-15 days, and then move to the next one. I love this idea and I think I’ll continue practicing like this at home.

The RIMYI Bookshop

It’s become some kind of ritual for me – I always visit the institute bookshop and buy something to read. For a while it was the Yogamala Ashtadala – I have three of them, but haven’t finished reading them, so not getting anymore. I decided to pick up a book called ‘Geetanjali’, a compilation of Geeta Iyengar’s first and last lectures at RIMYI. I’m thinking I should probably do book reviews of the wonderful books I read.

Tomorrow we start a bit earlier. Today was perhaps an appetiser for tomorrow’s main course.

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I also wrote a short reflection today — The Pigeon — about how a pigeon brought forth the mother in me.

Are you planning a trip to the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune? Here’s my blog from yesterday titled ‘Back to the Mothership – RIMYI After 7 Year’.

And here’s my ‘Day 0’ blog from 2019. Who knew that that visit would be the last before Covid changed our world forever?