pc: Joel Koechlin
Until today I had been lucky to avoid getting drenched in Pune’s sudden downpours. Today I went out for lunch with another and on our walk home the pleasant drizzle steadily and surely grew into a monstrous torrent. Too much for my little umbrella to handle. My capris were all wet as I pulled the umbrella low over my head and waded through the veritable rivers that the streets had become. As I walked I noticed the cobbler who was calmly trying to prevent his entire business being washed away in the rain. I noticed the fruit and vegetable wallahs covering their carts with waterproof sheets. I noticed the coconut bhaiyya had shut shop. I crossed the road and got on the sidewalk of the Agriculture college.
When I have the 7 am class I walk across someone sleeping on this sidewalk. This person is always wrapped head to toe in a blanket. I’ve never seen him stirring in his sleep. The early morning traffic doesn’t seem to bother him. When it rains he props an umbrella up and hopefully it keeps (at least) his torso dry. Once when I was walking to class (in the middle of the day) a yellow snake slithered out from the bushes and, perhaps realizing that it had lost it’s way, slithered back into the bushes. Slimy serpents don’t seem to bother this person. I’ve seen him there after a night of nonstop torrential rain, after a hot and humid night, after the Ganpati celebrations, on a Monday morning, on a Saturday morning…
To renounce everything and find peace in a remote cave in the Himalayas is easy. To stay ethical and honourable in the absence of temptation is no big deal. If we want to quieten the chitta, we must accept the noise that is creating the vrittis. If we want some rest, we must get it despite the traffic, fear of snakes, the rain or the heat. If we need to find peace, we must do so in the midst of chaos. Wrapped in a threadbare blanket under a tattered umbrella. Because that’s where we need it the most.
The Vrkshasana/Tree Pose is perhaps the first balancing posture that we learn in yoga class. Over the years I’ve heard a lot about the symbolism associated with this pose. The more common ones are to be rooted and strong and to find balance despite what is happening around you. But today Devki said be like a tree and provide shade and protection to all that come to you. A tree doesn’t judge a good person or bad, an animal or a human. It provides shade, protection and relief to one and all.
amount of water you put into it won’t stay in it. Similarly our bodies have to be ready for Pranayama for it to be effective and not harm us. Devki said that many times students ask her why we aren’t doing seated pranayama. The reason is that most of us aren’t able to maintain a straight spine throughout the practice. With a crooked spine the breath is constricted and the organs of breath are uncomfortable. (BKS Iyengar has said: Crooked body crooked mind.) The organs of breath need to be disciplined before we can start to control the breath. For this reason we spend almost 90% of the class in a supine position using bolsters and blankets.
As we are settled in our positions with bolsters and blankets, Devki talks us through what we are doing and the importance of it. In yesterday’s class she said something relevant to what I wrote about in my 
the chest, we allow a metaphorical ‘airing out’ of stale and painful emotions. Everything that happens to us results in shaping our world view and behaviour. Sometimes what happens to us is painful and unfair. Unfortunately, these events make an imprint in our minds and effect our behaviour. We sometimes never let go of painful memories and they fester in our subconscious brain and almost always result in psychosomatic pain.
