Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Phew!

I am into day three of Yoga for Women at KYM, and I am back to meltdown mode. The actual course work is not as new and overwhelming as it was last year, but I am now with a group of women who are like PHD students with me in my third year of university. In one way, this is great, because I get to learn so much, but it is, of course, intimidating, and I am, as I did last year, wondering what the hell I am doing teaching yoga. I think this is a good sign though: there is nothing worse than a teacher who thinks they know everything!

We are doing quite a lot of practical: one hour of asana to start the day at 7, we are working with shristi krama, which is the ' first stage' of asana practice, usually taught to kids and teenagers, and it is basically vinyasa style. Nice, I am even a bit stiff. We will move on to the other three stages (sikshana, rakshana, adhyatmika) as the course wears on, symbolizing the different practices appropriate through a woman's life. We then have two lecture sessions, and before lunch we chant for an hour.

After lunch, we have half an hour of pranayama, a lecture on yoga cikitsa (therapy) and then a meditative practices class (asana, pranayama, ending off with meditation). It's a lot of exercise- about two and a half hours a day, plus the hour and a half I have been spending walking to and from school and around the suburbs. The heat is getting the best of me, though, and I suspect I shall be using auto rickshaws for transport in the heat of the day!

Chennai is as it is: loud, overwhelming, green, friendly, intimidating, welcoming. All at the same time. Next weekend, my husband and I hope to head to the beach, and after that, to Pondicherry. I will keep you posted!

4 comments:

KarenQ said...

Sounds tough! But challenging is fun, especially for the competitive side hidden inside ourselves :P

Looking forward to you being back and passing on all your wisdoms! Meanwhile Karen is going to gym and trying every class ranging from pilates to katabox and missing yoga and her amazing yoga instructor that in her mind is as good as any "PhD yogis" there are ;)

By the way, I was stiff for quite a few days after our last yoga class, not that I needed that to be reminded of you!

Enjoy the green-ness of India and the joy of being able to walk to and from places.

Regina said...

Wow- it sounds awesome and yes, challenging! I find heat really zaps me of my energy, now more than it did when I was younger... can't wait to hear more!

Linda-Sama said...

envious! of course it will be a wonderful intensive just like they all are at KYM! I have private lessons to look forward to, and one of my yoga students is meeting me in Chennai to attend same. He's in his 60s and has never been to India before.

only 141 more days until I return to Ma India....mmmmmm.....yoga, Chennai, travel around Tamil Nadu and 5 days in Kerala....

Home is where the heart is and my heart is in India.

Mary said...

That really sounds amazing hon and from just reading your blog, you have such a great way of communicating. I have learned a lot from you already. The days sound intense and I can only imagine how much you are learning. What a fantastic opportunity! Can't wait to read more.