Monsoon Magic

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  Pune, India
Monday, July 17, 2006

After a few days in the intense heat and humidity of Bangkok, I was worried about stepping into the monsoon season in India. Luckily, the temperature was actually pleasant when i landed into Hyderabad airport. My uncle picked me up from the airport and we headed back to our family house where I stayed for a couple of days. After taking on the role of superstar/slave for my little cousins and getting well-fed by my auntie, I headed off for Belgaum, Karnataka where I met and studied with a yoga therapist. Full rains had already started in Belgaum, and not a day went by that my shoes and feet weren't covered in red mud. I spent about a week there getting to know more about Dr. Abhay's method and stayed with a lovely older couple just down the street from the yoga center. At first, the wife was concerned that I wouldn't like her food (even though I emphatically told her I liked Indian food), so they suggested that I take my meals outside the house. One day, she invited me to eat a paratha (similar to a chapati), and after she saw my great love for her cooking, I became a regular member of the household. hehe. All in all, I spent 6 days in Belgaum-- took regular classes and observed the therapy classes he held as well. It was beautiful to watch how the families of the patients supported them. For example, one elderly man was coming for extreme back pain and both his wife and sister came every time to help out. These two amazing women were probably in their 80s, sitting comfortably on the hard floor in their saris, healthy and smiling.

a line of fire

It was amazing to see the dedication that both Dr. Abhay and his wife had for teaching yoga and giving therapy. Dr. Abhay is in close contact with BKS Iyengar, who came a few years ago to Belgaum for the inauguration of his center.

Inspired by this wonderful couple, I left for Pune the next week to meet my good friend Ilana who was about to leave for Bangkok. Although we just had two days together, Ilana gave me a crash course on Koregan Park and introduced me to many wonderful people and places here. I ended up keeping her room, which is surrounded by a beautiful garden paradise. Every time I walk into my place, I tell myself again how lucky I am to have such a great space... I think I appreciate it all the more after experiencing the reality of Japanese accommodation for the prior two months! I've gotten to be quite close with the caretaker of the place, a supercool Japanese woman who has been in and out of Pune for the past 20+ years. We had a nice bodywork exchange together and both love cooking (and eating!) That's another big plus about my place, I have a fully furnished kitchen in my room! The people I've met here are quite amazing folks-- doing yoga, massage therapy, music, dancing, painting, photography... not too shabby:) I've become very close with one beautiful chic named Yamit-- both of us do Iyengar yoga and Thai massage, she's also a dancer, and has studied Ayurveda. Nice to have such a great compadre here.

Originally, I came here to do a massage course that was supposed to start at the beginning of July.

anj and lata

For various reasons, that course has been postponed and will hopefully start this week. Just another example of how you really have to go with the flow when you're in India. Last full moon (July 11), I went to the Iyengar Institute for a special talk by BKS Iyengar. We knew the place would get absolutely packed, so we got there a full hour early and got seats front and center. It was a wonderful talk, in which BKS told us a bit about his own life history-- how he evolved from a yoga demonstrator to an instructor to a teacher and finally to a guru. He encouraged us to move beyond being passive students of yoga towards intelligent and receptive practitioners. I felt so lucky to be sitting right in front of this world-renowned guru. Apparently BKS is a lot warmer in his speech than his instruction-- we even got several laughs and smiles! After the ceremony, I ran into my teacher Usha who I had studied with last fall in Rishikesh-- after going through a couple serious car accidents a few years ago, she seems to have come out even stronger and is now spending a few months doing medical classes at the Institute. It was wonderful to see her bright smiling face and she was enthusiastically asking me about my hoopdancing. I've already had three nice gigs here playing in Pune for private parties. Again, it's nice to have the perspective of performing in Japan to help me appreciate in a new way the beauty of playing here in India. Much more spontaneous here, and LOTS more space to perform! (and they're not anal about fire, hehe). The creative atmosphere is strong here in Pune, and I'm looking forward to seeing what new things will transpire while I'm here!!

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at ehsan's	bks iyengar	blessings for bks	don't need anything more than papaya...
first gig in pune	my bedroom	my sitting room	no it's not torture

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