mysore mornings part 2....

the second title to this post; 'PENNI! THERE'S A MONKEY IN MY WINDOW!!!'.
i should have known this. penni had just come out of her room a few minutes earlier wrapped in a towel to close all the balcony doors and windows, muttering something about 'zee awareness' and 'a man (so i thought) on the balcony'. not really sure what she was talking about as it's become very clear to me the past few days that penni is much more aware then i am, i smiled, pretending to understand what she was saying (old habits die hard). a few minutes later, i walked into my bedroom and came face-to-face with a large monkey perched in my window sill. i was scared. it was scared. we both screeched at each other and retreated. penni called just to shut the door but the image of my shiny camera and passport bag right next to the window made me face my fear and go back to the room. whew! it was gone and luckily for me, it must have been a buddhist monkey because it didn't steal anything.
not much is happening in mysore these days and i'm feeling pretty bored. most of the yoga courses have stopped for the xmas holidays and there doesn't seem to be many people around. i've heard it will explode here in early january when all the teacher training courses start but i won't be here long enough to enrol in any of them. i did attend one class on thursday. it was my first ashtanga class in many years and i've forgotten most of the primary series. the teacher, sheshadri, was an energetic man. i've never seen a yoga teacher put out so much energy into class that he wasn't leading, running around to adjust everyone. the invocation and first few sun salutations were vocally led and then we were left to our own practice. as i tried to remember the poses past the standing series, sheshadri and his young assistant were right there to help me out. i had heard that he gave 'strong' assists and i was very thankful for the alignment principles sara and jonas taught in chiang mai. i was also surprised at how my flexibilty has increased and i acheived several poses that i have never done before.
the highlight of my practice though had to be in what i think is called 'garba pindasana'. this is where you take full-lotus, squish your arms through your legs to rest your head in your hands for a few breaths and then roll around your mat in a cirle, still all bound up. lotus has never come easy to me but c.m has definatley opened the hips a bit further. sheshadri saw my hesitation and zoomed in on me. he sat down in front of me, told me to push up my pant legs to my upper innner thigh and proceeded to douse me, my legs, and my mat with water. then he told me to push my hands through my legs, starting with the right, on an angle. there was no space to be found on my right side but he wouldn't have it. 'push harder!'. suddenly my fingers popped through, which he yanked up to my elbow. i was locked in and officially 'bound'. my left arm went through much easier but i was feeling a bit claustraphobic. after i took a few breaths with my head in my hands, sheshadri let me go and i let out a yelp as i tipped right over. he then rocked me around my mat allowing me to soak up the water left there with my back side and told me to take a vinyasa. intense but exciting. everytime he came over, i felt scared but excited to see where he could push my limits too. do i sense a bit of masochism here?!?
i also started a panchakarma routine today. this is an 8-day ayurvedic cleansing supervised by the indian doctor. as today was my first day, i went to the office where i ws greeted by several indian workers. they took a plastic patio chair, placed in front of the office shrine of a hindu diety and motioned for me to sit down. they all gathered round and sang a chant of some sort that lasted a few minutes, then presented me with a cup filled with medicated warm ghee (clarified butter) and another cup of hot water as a chaser. down the hatch! it wasn't too bad but then an eldery lady waiting to start her own panchakarma told me that tomorrow i would receive double the amount of ghee and then triple by the next few days. thats it? thats what i was paying $200 u.s for? i thought there would be different kinds of exotic massage and steam baths involved. a little disappointing. the doctor wasn't in today but i'm hoping he will be around tomorrow and i can discuss the proceedure a bit further.
in the meantime, i'm sending you all my love and best wishes for a merry christmas and happy new year. i missing you more than i can write and think of you all the time. i'll be toasting you with my next cup full of ghee ;) xoxoxox