rimyi Archives - Page 2 of 8 - Pragya Bhatt

The First Class

September 4, 2019

How many times have you quickly gone up into sarvangasana? Do you remember to pull the shoulders back, open the chest, activate the thighs and lift the tailbone up? Seemingly small modifications can change the entire posture.

Perhaps it was nervous excitement or maybe anticipation, but my first class was amazing. By the end of the class my blood was singing and my body felt like it was thrumming (to the beat of my blood?).

I am a sucker for simple classes. I believe if you focus on the simple stuff everything else falls into place. This class focused on the tailbone and sacrum region. We started the class with adhomukha virasana. Rajalakshmi asked us to continue to extend the arms. “This extension isn’t because you are lengthening your bones!!!” she boomed into the mike.

“The bones never extend!!! It’s impossible for you to extend any of your bones!!!” she continued. “Pay close attention to the parts of your body that make the extension possible!” she said.

She encouraged us to pay close attention to the tailbone-sacrum region and observe how it participates in forward bends and twists.

The most interesting part of the class was dissecting the parivritta trikonasana or the revolved triangle posture. There are three movements that make this asana possible: the extension of the side, the bending forward keeping that extension intact and finally, the opening of the chest. And once we were in the final posture we were asked to pull the tailbone and sacrum in to the body.

At one point Rajalakshmi caught me looking at my hip. I realize I do this unconsciously every time I practice this asana. I use my eyes to ensure that my hip is pushed back, which detracts from the overall experience of the asana. “Your side is compressing and you’re becoming a ball,” Rajalakshmi explained patiently. “Extend your chin forward and away from the sacrum. Open the sacrum and lengthen the side!” she boomed again.

This is the magic of the annual pilgrimage to RIMYI.

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RIMYI Experiences

Registrations at RIMYI

September 3, 2019

Finally getting the hang of this.

I headed to the institute at around 9 am this morning. In previous years I’ve always registered in the evenings so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I decided to wear my practice shorts just in case.

The person at the front desk smiled and nodded his head in recognition. He suggested I go practice first and come back later to get the registration forms.

Self-practice sessions at RIMYI can be intimidating. Alhtough you have people of all levels you tend to look only at those who are busy defying gravity. Today there were students going from adhomukha svanasana to urdhva dhanurasana and back again.

Watching students who have a better asana practice than you can be intimidating…or extremely inspiring. As a yoga student the one quality that has been of immense help to me has been that the only ‘I’ I take with me to a class is ‘I am a yoga student.’ Besides this I don’t think, ‘I can’t do back bends’ or ‘I have a mean urdhva kukkutasana’. I’m willing to explore what I already know. And willing to wrestle with prejudice, fear and doubt to discover new movements.

Besides the above two things, the other things I should mention for a month in Pune are:

Don’t bring your yoga mat. You have every prop ever created available for use.
Do bring comfortable walking shoes, preferrably ones that can withstand the rains. Pune is known for its sudden showers (it’s pouring as I write this). Don’t forget a trusted umbrella.
Students generally bring skirts or loose pants to wear over their practice shorts rather than changing at the institute.
Don’t forget your passport photos (along with the other documentation such as visa copies, passport copies etc). It had completely slipped my mind that I needed passport photos, but luckily had some extras in my wallet.
You can pay your fees through cash or card.
A lot of students like to have a coconut post class. I would recommend bringing your own re-usable straws rather than using the disposable plastic ones.

These are the few things that come to mind right now. In case you have specific queries, drop a comment.

Post practice I got my schedule. I have evening classes three times a week, and today happens to be an evening class. Fingers crossed for a good class and an awesome month.

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RIMYI Experiences

An Auspicious Start – Pune Day 0

September 2, 2019

This is my fourth consecutive year coming to study at RIMYI. In previous years I’ve had the luxury to make lists and plan. This time I was caught in a whirlwind. I had to wrap up projects, attend a last minute Vedanta class, plan the quantum of assignments to work on this month, and so on and so forth. I was, of course, also trying to stuff myself with as many idlis and masala dosas as I could. Have to survive for a month after all.

I think all the frenzied activity of the last few days caught up with me last night. While I was finishing my packing I suddenly felt sick and threw up my lunch. My stomach settled down after that but I was in no position to eat and went to bed.

After a quick and simple breakfast of fresh steaming idlis (surprise!) this morning we drove to the airport. A short flight later I alighted in Pune.

Ganesh Chaturthi in Maharashtra is special and I’ve been lucky to witness it for the last 3 years. As I got into the taxi I could hear the processions and feel the excitement in the air. The festivities will continue for the next few days and it’s great to be here this time of year. I couldn’t have asked for a more auspicious start to my month. Here’s to a wonderful month of growth, re-connection, beautiful discoveries and new friendships.

Fourth year in Pune for my trusted pink suitcase too.

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Yoga

Crack Open to Heal – Day 9

August 9, 2018

Yoga helps. It heals. It gets rid of emotional blockages and psychological pain. It brings peace. It brings clarity. We’ve all heard this at one point or another. And I’m sure we all wonder – how?

Yoga helps by teaching us how to create space. Our demons reside in our joints. Achy, stiff joints are permanent residences for the demons of our past. To get rid of these demons we must lengthen our joints. Create space so that the joints can breathe and release the demons holding them tightly together. Once these demons are gone your joints will be free to move easily and pain free.

The same applies to backbends. Bending backward is so difficult for many of us because it requires (amongst other things) flexible back and shoulder muscles as well as a flexible hip joint. For a long time I wrestled with a stiff upper back. After years of practice I’ve managed to overcome this challenge….only to realize that I’m unable to access and push the hip joint up. And this will take a few more years to overcome. The point is that the only way to let go of years of deep rooted fears and blockages is to spend years creating space between the bones and muscles so that the tightly held demons are let go.

To overcome past samskaras it is important to crack yourself in two. For instance, when doing the Urdhvadhanurasana I’m almost trying to split myself into two, body below the sternum and above the sternum. For the next couple of years it will be focusing on body below the hip joint and above the hip joint. The practice of reaching within yourself to access an area which has been ‘sleeping’ automatically infuses this place with new life…and also enables you to release the ghosts of lives past.

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Yoga

The First Sunday – Day 5

August 5, 2018

A good teacher teaches the technicalities of the asanas really well. They will make you repeat an asana, they will demonstrate the asana repeatedly. They will adjust, they will give examples.

A great yoga teacher teaches yoga.

This morning, after the childrens’ yoga class, I got a chance to observe Raya in action. He was taking a special yoga class for a large group of students who have just arrived. Raya’s classes are always peppered with a bit of humor, lots of insight and incredible yoga. When a student asked him to speak louder because she couldn’t hear over the noise of the traffic coming from outside, he said, “Welcome to India. We have to cultivate different faculties to learn yoga here.” A profound answer to a common query.

At the beginning of the class Raya asked everyone for ailments/conditions/aches and pains. And finally he said that a body will have problems. If there is a body, there will be problems. The idea or the goal of this practice is not about fixing everything. BKS Iyengar has said that we can cure what can be cured, but we must also learn to endure what can’t be cured. So another aspect of this practice is to understand the limitations and work with them.

When you practice asanas, you have to be very alert to your feelings. It isn’t enough just to stand up straight in Tadasana. You must be cognizant of the feelings that exist in your soles to know if you are standing properly or not. Feelings are like eyes. When you feel something you are actually about to directly perceive it. So be as aware of your feelings as you are about the positioning of your limbs.

In standing poses we have the tendency to inhale and harden the chest. The chest becomes a metal box. A metal box can’t spread and expand. A balloon can expand because it’s soft. Your chest should be like a balloon. In all asanas you need to expand and spread instead of become small and closed.

Like I said, a great yoga teacher teaches you yoga, not just asanas.

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