Monday, May 28, 2007

NYC and my 8 random facts...

Here I am in NY before my TT. I arrived on Thursday, at noon. I love this city so much!!!! I missed it a lot. Now I stay at an unfamiliar part of the city, at 60s east side. So, I make daily trips to lower east side, eastvillage…. Ohh, I know someday I will again live here, maybe than forever. I went to Yogasutra on Friday for practice…. But I think my next time will be at Guy’s shala … the reason is that I think I will like it much better. I know Guy from Mysore, and I guess it will be better to practice where there is a familiar face… and to be honest, I had some weird first impression at Yogasutra … beginning with the reception lady who first told me that the first class is free, (which I was not expecting, I was already handing her money) and then she told me that I get some percent of from the first package I will buy… after this last bit, I told her I am in town for a week, so I will not be buying any packages and she suddenly changed and snapped at me saying “but you have written down a New York address at your [new student] form” so, I said I am staying with a friend (yeah what is the big deal? would I say I am staying for a week if I were trying to pull a trick???) and then she said “sorry, then you have to pay!”, so I sheepishly paid. I understand that they may not offer first class free if you are not potential permanent student but then is there any way of ensuring that in any case? However, the think that turned me off was not having a free class or not, but it was the the way she began talking to me in the middle of the conversation, she was suddenly very rude. So, I thought uhh what a great way to being my practice. I guess it was premature of me to think after finally finding the shala, “ohh I can relax and start over the day with a better start, here I am in a yoga studio” I thought that it can be a cure to my hectic beginning of the day which commenced with me figuring out at 6 am that I have lost my weekly metro card after using it only one day, so taking a cab to the shala (since nowhere is open at that time to sell metrocards and I was not close to a metro station) and after getting of the cab, wondering around 5th Avenue for 15 minutes, trying to find the shala, asking street venders if they know yoga sutra, a yoga studio around there… anyways… I think I am always better off at lower east side of this city anyhow…
Yesterday, I practiced at home. My friend’s apartment has a beautiful view of the river, so it was very nice until after I took my shower and figured that my friend’s cat, Negrito, peed in my suitcase!!! That was a bit upsetting, so I washed my stuff but the litter odor is still in my bag after spraying it with so much of Lysol… do you think I can get a suitcase dried cleaned? what else I can do to get it smell free?
By the way, I am not finding any Manduka mats or any other mat I like, here in NY. According to Manduka’s website , there are many retailers which carry it, but I called most of those yoga studios and they don’t have it. Everyone seems to have harmony mats, which I don’t particularly like…


So, finally here is my 8 random facts but I am not tagging anyone… enjoy them...


My mom kept telling me to do yoga when I was doing my first MA degree in NY, but I kept telling her back that it wasn’t for me!!! By the way, she was not doing yoga but she just felt that it was the thing for me! Moms know some stuff….

My favorite food is ice cream, well, now it is tofutti but I like to have it at home so I can add things on it like cookie, chocolate, nut pieces…

When I was young, I once locked my sneakers into the safe they had in a hotel room but then I forgot the password. For some reason, my parents did not bother to inform the hotel service and get it opened, maybe to punish me? So, my shoes got stuck in there.

My friends cat peed in my suitcase, and I still have a month to go with the same suitcase! (it will probably a whole different story after it is all hopefully worked out in some way)

When I began living in NYC, the first time I hated it, it was too much, too much of everything… now it is my favorite city. Where else you can walk out at 4am in the morning and find people walking around and the Koreans at the corner open so you can get a medicine for your headache?

I used to be a tall and fat kid.

I love coffee very much; it is the only addiction I don’t really want to give up as long as my stomach doesn’t give up from the acid.

When I saw Mysore classes in the schedule of Yoga Place the first time, I thought it was a class for people who were sore or something!!!! ☺ silly me.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

need help with my next yoga mat!

Ok, I have been practicing with my cheap, old, falling apart sticky mat for a long time. But I am not planning to take that poor thing with me to my teacher training… so I will need to get a new, good quality mat as soon as I arrive to New York City. However, I don’t really know which mats are the better ones and where I can fin them in NYC. Any suggestions will be appreciated very much!

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Afterthoughts, subjective, objective...

I think it is time to look back to the past few workshops I have been and to be more honest, instead of trying to be uncritical, about what I think about these rather famous yoga teachers… The first ones were Jivamukti creaters, David Life and Sharon Gannon. Maybe it is because I don’t get them, but I don’t thing I would do another workshop by them. I don’t really enjoy these other vinyasa styles which are made up later on by modifying the core… I have my vinyasa practice which is ashtanga vinyasa… and any other feels incomplete, or sometimes like an aerobics class…” I don’t want to be overly critical, and I believe that with good intention, these teachers also try to bring awareness to people about the spiritual side of practicing yoga, but maybe it is better to leave discovering those things to people themselves… I was not a vegetarian when I began getting so serious about my practice, and I was drinking heavily sometimes and I was even smoking here and there… but suddenly I stopped eating meat and slowly I wanted to drink less and with that, of course I slowly stopped smoking. They all came to me without my teacher imposing anything on me. It was just time to stop eating meat especially since I did not enjoy it so much and ate it to not upset my family. Then I realized it was not worth drinking so much when I feel that I don’t want to live next day because of the horrible hangover I get and also I wanted to be able to get up at 6am and go to my practice rather than feeling physically horrible. The smoking, I already knew how bad it was for me, I just had to stop. So, I believe that you can show the door to someone but you cannot force them through it. I assume those people, who were in the Jivamukti workshop, either discovered yoga by themselves, or maybe a friend introduced them to a yoga class and from there, they picked it up themselves with their own free will and continued. So just like that, the other parts will fall in or maybe they will not but I find it pushy when teachers began arguing with students about vegetarianism or the right path, etc… let them live their journey and have a respect for their journey. Yes, during the workshop, from time to time, there were discussions, which turned out to be uncomfortable at one point due to these issues…
With Manju… I really enjoyed him as a person. But I think the next time when he is here for a week, I will only join his workshop for couple of days because I already do the practice and I don’t enjoy to have led classes everyday… I believe that, as in Mysore, it is enough to have two led classes per week, then it should be my self practice where I will have a bit more time to struggle with some asanas or go further with others… during the workshop, we did no backdrops except the last two practices which were self practice… things like that sometimes frustrates me because some days I feel so open but I miss that because of such a led class… and when it is only led class, it is Manju counting… not much learning in that for me… maybe there is for others who don’t know the count, where to breath etc… Okey, am I being horrible? Well before that I have to reflect on one another…
With Tias Little… I have to admit that was real learning experience for me! That is what I expect from a “workshop”. He really contributed something to my practice, and I don’t mean that others did not but I picked some kind of understanding, more awareness from him which I cannot tell about others. For the first time, I experienced the asanas so deeply, as if they have penetrated my soul… Therefore, I realized there is so much more to discover for me yet…

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Training preview...

Last weekend, beginning from Friday, was totally amazing for me. Yes, it was Tias Little workshop! One cannot imagine how I feel. I made this decision about a month ago, going to Tias Little’s Teacher Training without really knowing him… but from what I gathered through reading about him, combined with what I heard about him from other people and my gut feeling, I decided that this would be the appropriate training for me. And thanks all, for the first time, I listened to my instincts and made the right decision! I enjoy his teaching very much. Yes, Tias’ approach absolutely leans more toward Iyengar, and to my surprise, I really liked practicing in such deep level. It was the first time I felt asanas so deeply and I am still hangover from the experience… I believe this is what I need to become a good teacher, to really feel the asanas in such deep, intense level and learn the mechanics of them. Also, Tias adds a Buddhist essence to the whole practice, which agrees with me really well. So, I am very enthusiastic about next month; I can hardly wait…
The other thing that I have been occupied since the beginning of this week is the “new policy” of our shala. We, the teachers, were able to join each other’s classes for free but now they changed this. They require us to buy class packages! Now, we, the ones who are dissapointed with this new policy, are raising our voice. For me, forget accepting $ from another teacher who works at the same shala with me; it is an honor for me if a teacher would like to join my classes… I hope we will solve this problem peacefully…
Namaste.

Friday, May 04, 2007

Practice and teachers...

I practiced with Manju for a week while he was here. In the beginning, I was a bit bumped because all we were doing were led classes and I do not enjoy them as much as self practice naturally… But then I began feeling the intensity of practicing with him in my body… and later, the last two days of the workshop, we did Mysore classes, which were good… Manju is very relaxed and easy going person. I enjoyed his presence, his aura of contentment… He seems to like Istanbul a lot and he will be back in September. I am happy to meet him and for having the opportunity to practice with him. It was funny to see how Eric was next to his teacher, like a little, very excited kid. I guess most of us get like that when we are with our favorite teacher. I am still very fond of my first teacher, Cary, and I regard her to be my primary teacher although I am not in touch with her anymore. She helped my practice to advance so much and initiated me to teach, that I cannot thank her enough…
Today is the big day for me! I will meet Tias Little whose teacher training I am planning to do… He is giving a three-day workshop in Istanbul at Cihangir yoga. I hope it will be all well.
I feel lucky for having the opportunity to meet with all these teachers but I feel the lack of Mysore classes in Istanbul. I miss going to a shala every morning and practicing with other people before the day begins... and having the guidance of the same teacher every morning for the progress of my practice... but maybe universe is pushing me to be my own teacher, pushing me to realize that I am eligible to be my own teacher hereafter… or I am just unlucky for not having any place which offers Mysore classes… whichever I choose to believe in I guess..
I am also trying to figure out where I should practice during the 6 days I will stay in NYC. If anyone has any suggestions, I will appreciate!