Last few days...

A bit of sickness is what I have got, but before coming to that I have much more to tell….
On Saturday, restless me had to go to Mysore palace for a visit… the down side of going last weekend was Dasara, the state festival which is going on now, so there were much more visitors than usual… As a tourist, I paid 100 rupees, whereas Indians pay only 20 rupees… I got a bit stressed because they took my camera, first I kind of wanted to resist but then I given in, they put it in a locker and charged me 5 rupees. The garden and the outside of the palace were beautiful. As I proceeded towards the inside, I realized they wanted shoes off and there were so many shoes!!! How the hell I would find my shoes when I get back!??? So I just took them in my hand, did not put them in one of those buckets filled up with shoes. As I went in, I realized that 90 percent of the visitors were young Indian men, hand in hand in pairs, or three, four of them holding on to one another’s wastes and no matter what, refusing to let go of one another… Inside the palace was not so impressive for me, I kind of rushed it to tell the truth. I guess I was also overwhelmed with the male population all around me… It is a bit similar in Turkey, I mean the male population is much more then female in the streets but not nearly as much as it is here. Anyways, I at last saw the palace, but in my opinion, the outside of the palace is much prettier and worth seeing than the inside… and I guess when it is lit up in the evening, it is very pretty.

Sunday led class was fine. I manage to get a spot inside the shala but there were people who were practicing in the changing rooms… The shala is getting crowded each day… Sunday we also had the conference, this was my first conference with Sharath talking. Guruji also came and he sat in his chair. In the beginning, Sharath and Guruji talked amongst themselves and then Sharath talked about having faith in the practice and keep on trying, being brave to try and also being content about where we are at. He also let people ask questions. Someone asked about how long the finishing postures should be held and he said that they are very important asanas because they prevent aging and we should hold them as long as we can. The person who asked this question also asked should we hold Sirsasana for an hour or two hours and he said “if you can, yes”, and he also said we should slowly build up the time we hold these postures. When the question and answer part was finished, Nancy and few other students who were involved in the Shri K. Pattabhi Jois Charitable Trust made a presentation. First, there was a little movie made by one of the volunteers about the Chetana Trust and then three of the volunteer students talked about their experiences. It is very nice that the Trust Is organizing students to do volunteer work around Mysore, since most students come to Mysore over and over, after a while, there is not much left to see and to do around, so this gives a good opportunity to be involved and make a difference in people’s lives who need help. After the presentation, Sharath also showed us the photos of panthers he took in a safari he went to in Tanzania and also in India… They were really good photos! He has an artist side I guess. Before we left the shala, there were forms for people who wanted to do volunteer work for the trust, so I filled up one of them… I donnu if I can be any use…

On Monday, practice was good, but the night before, the sleep was difficult because I have got a sore throat and my landlord’s family who lives in the house which is in front of mine is a bit too loud until late at night. During practice, I sweated quite a bit. While I was doing Pasasana Sharath shouted to my dierection, Krounchasana, so I got the next asana… Hopefully, until it is time to leave for me, I will get to the point in my practice where I was stuck while studying with Rolf. As the day moved on, I start feeling sicker but I was also running around like a mad women; no resting when obviously that was what I needed. I went to Three sisters after practice with Agni and Claudia. Three sisters are quite fun, we sat there for an hour, had ginger+carrot juice. Then I headed home. For lunch, I met with bunch of us at six main, this was for Crystal who left yesterday afternoon. After lunch, we also went to Barista… I was feeling already tired and sicker, but had to go to Sansktrit and Chanting class after all this… Chanting was a bit too much with runny nose and sore throat… Came home hoping for a relaxing a bit and a good night sleep but the congested nose and the noise from outside made sleep difficult.

This morning, in spite of all, practice was not bad but opps I realized afterwards that I skipped Navasana… well, should not beat myself too much for that, I can have a break for the sake of sickness, no? The thing is, Sharath told me “tomorrow you come at 6:15” as I entered the shala so this means waking up earlier and this means I really need to find a solution for my sleep, like a way to fall a sleep earlier instead of tossing around in my bed for hours until my landlord’s family decides to sleep in mid night.