Despite the fact that most of the students in the shala are here without the commitments of regular work hours and real-life responsibilities, time quite easily slips through your fingers from day to day. There's practice and chanting, Sanskrit class and Ayurvedic consults. You can get a massage or go haggle at Deveraja market. You can scoot and rickshaw; meet friends for coffee or have people over for lunch. And yes, we have the choice to stay in to nap or read or hone a skill. When in Mysore whether you want to be out and about or stay focused at home, there's always somewhere to go.
This week I stretched my socializing legs; making new discoveries and meeting new friends. On Sunday I hitched a scooter ride to the Organic farmer's market, where a few tiny tables attract a somewhat larger group of yoga students to buy fresh organic goods including pungent basil, sweet jaggery, and lime-pomegranate juice. Excited by this little taste of my normal Baltimore Sunday routine, I happily handed over rupees in exchange for baby eggplants, dark sesame treats and a jar of homemade orange marmalade.
Another morning I went for Indian breakfast with my friends Suveer and Kapil, trusting their expert opinions and getting them to order my meal. Happily, I ended up trying two new and delicious things, upma (a savoury semolina hot pudding, kind of like a coarse curried grits) and onion uthappam (an onion, chili, and rice/lentil batter pancake), and got to finish it all off with a sweet kesari bhaat and a hot cup of chai.
The moon day eve brought a festive spirit when I attended my first (perhaps THE first) Mysore Mexican fiesta complete with tacos, guacamole, and the most AMAZING dessert which tasted like chocolate ganache in a cup. Our resident pastry chef pulled out all the stops by topping the creation with gold dust. Yep, you read correctly, gold dust! You may need to beat your laundry against a rock to wash it, but damn it you're going to have some dessert with panache.
In tandem with all my socializing, I also made sure to make some quiet time for myself this week. I finished two books, had several rests, and cooked lentil soup, tomato eggplant pasta, veg curry, and (surprise) toast. I spent some time with my ukulele, practicing my finger picking which is still terrible, and singing along when I was sure I was home alone.
I've also been working on my Sanskrit lessons. I finished level 1 this week, and was eager to start level 2. However, just as I was beginning to become familiar with Devanagari, recognizing the characters and matching them to their appropriate sounds, I'm suddenly required to conjugate verbs and make simple sentences. Whoa there! Back that truck up! I feel a little like I should have had the option to take level 1.5. And to make matters worse (although, in reality, I know it makes matters better) my roommate is "enhancing" my learning by having me read aloud to him at night. Only a few lines, which can often take me 10 or 15 minutes, are enough to make me flustered and red in the face. I'm embarrassed by my lack of skill at both quick recognition and appropriate pronunciation especially because he is fairly adept and advanced. It's his patience and encouragement though, that make me go into my room and read a few more lines aloud to myself before going to bed, attempting to employ Guruji's sentiment to "do my practice".
In the shala each morning, I'm finding places to go in my practice as well. For those who are not familiar or accustomed to Ashtanga, the daily routine of the same postures in the same order may seem boring or monotonous. For regular practitioners thoughts may jump ahead to the next posture or the next series. Either way, we need to recognize that there is so much work to be done, right here, right now! Each practice offers a new challenge, and in finding that we are able to let go of monotony and desire in exchange for clarity and non-attachment. It's this sentiment that I'm trying to keep in mind.
This week, every time I stepped on to my mat, I set out one goal for the practice. Bringing attention to something as mundane as not smoothing out my practice rug after each vinyasa, or to something as important as maintaining a solid gazing point, offered a new endeavour and focal point. These challenges, in turn, positively reinforced the other parts of my practice: greater efficiency and proper breath count because I wasn't distracted and wasting time, or stronger body awareness in my own posture because I wasn't looking at that of another. In both cases my practice felt greatly improved without any changes that someone from the outside would obviously recognize.
In Mysore I feel like I'm given an opportunity to have a different perspective. While I may "busy myself up" both out in the world and on the couch in my apartment, I never lose sight of my purpose. I'm here to practice and I want to approach that practice with my eyes fully open. This week it's allowing me to see and focus on the possibility of forward motion and progress in the most minute ways and reminding me that no matter where I am in my life or on my mat, whether I feel stagnant or in chaotic motion, there's always somewhere to go. The key is get there one breath at a time.
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