Coming to Mysore 'out of season' has meant that I have met many people who aren't bothered with studying at KPJAYI. Many people just come to practice yoga, not even particularly ashtanga. In my little network of friends most are practicing with Ajay Kumar (www.sthalam8.com), in the evening a lot of people are doing a flexibility class with Vinay Kumar (www.pranavashya.com). There's also someone studying at 'yoga darshanam' with an apparently extraordinary teacher. I'm studying with Vijay, Vinay's brother. Both brothers are amazing practitioners and teachers, just check out their websites. I'd really like to do a second class in the evening with Vinay, as I've been told he selects postures for you to self practice to strengthen where you are too flexible or vice versa. Problem is that I am kinda wrecked after my morning practice still and couldn't even contemplate a second class at the moment. Morning practice lasts around 2.5 hours.... A far cry from my normal 1hr 15 minutes full primary! But I'm loving it.
I also had a really bad and completely inappropriate massage. He's really messed up my knees and now I have pain where there was none before :( I could hardly get into lotus today because of it.
I met an English person last night, first one in, like, 10 days! We had a quick chat and she said she was staying and studying in Lakshmipuram, where my yoga shala is too. She'd been here a week already and it was her first time over in Gokulam. When I mentioned that I too was in Lakshmi she said that she was happy about being from 'the dark side' and couldn't be bothered with 'the ego' of the main shala!
At the moment Gokulam is very quiet and you can walk around without seeing any other students. October will be very different. Once Sharath is back it'll be heaving and our nice leisurely breakfasts and lunches at Santosha and Anokhi will be no more! So I'm glad I'm here to experience Mysore when it's quiet and whilst there is no-one around. I'm also blessed by the people I've met so far, whilst we are all here for the same thing, our conversations are rarely just about yoga, it's a breath of fresh air!
I like that....the dark side!
ReplyDeleteOctober is coming soon! we gotta squeeze our last quiet days in Mysore before the crowd come :-) I'll be at Santosha on Monday, will you be there? Otherwise see you tomorrow for our led class with Vijay, not sure if I'll survive :-)
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