Scratching on the Edge of impossibility...

dates are wrong this is Monday 19th!
Picture caption could read. "Tall spine, look nose centre!". Thoughts on India. It's been a really weird couple of days. After the initial euphoria of "I'm finally here, isn't it great, wow, cows" that kind of thing, I actually started to feel like I HATED India, the constant staring, rickshaw drivers trying to rip you off, electricity going off randomly, anything and everything about the place was really irritating me. The fact that every interaction seemingly has a transaction attached to it, money money money is all people seem to see us as here... But this is all normal, apparently. Talking to various people who have been here a lot more than me, the love affair with this peculiar country has many phases. Guess I'm in a phase... It probably has a lot more to do with my internal state than with the external landscape. However, things come to mind here like; how come if they have mobile phones, scooters, tv's, internet and all that stuff, how come basic ammenities like toilets and sanitation can't be sorted out?

So many contradictions... today walking to the Shala I saw an old granny, a bubba! with a little girl outside one of the houses. While usually I kind of avoid contact and walk by with my head lowered, today I got a big smile from the granny and a delighted shout of "aunty" from the little one. It was lovely, I stopped and did the usual fussing over an infant and was rewarded by big toothy smiles (or in the granny's case - toothless) and that was it, my first genuine interaction no money changing hands just a nice way to start the day.

Practice. Well, a mixture of the sublime and ridiculous. Next to a 3rd series practioner, and if you've never seen the 3rd series (Stira Bhaga) in action it comprises a lot of arm balances and stuff with your legs going out to the side like this consequently as you would duck to avoid the ships boom swinging out over the deck, I had to do this occasional ducking and covering move to allow my neighbour her practice... Astanga, It's all a delicate balancing act, moving closer to the edge of what's possible with the human body.... Or perhaps, as Nigel Tufnell said: "There's a fine line between clever, and stupid..."

My body today still has several interesting issues going on. My stomach chose to want to be emptied between Marychiasana C D. This meant while I was much 'emptier' I had lost the heat and focus a bit needed for the 'x' rated postures that follow shortly after. Supta Kurmasana was a bit cacky.... My back is still very compromised and what was once easy effortless and probably taken very much for granted is now slow, measured and takes more breath, more awareness and a slower pace to get sufficiently warm and open.. Still, today Sharath made me do three drop-backs (where you arch back from standing to a backbend on the ground) and I came up by myself, three times. Still finding it hard to push up again but slowly slowly... I felt that I had a minor triumph, a tiny scratch on the surface, a feeling of the edges being blurred and softened a little. Still, as I have been wont to impress upon people in classes, "no prizes will be awarded for achieving x y or z asana"

So, scratching the edges of impossibility for me became slightly closer to a reality, but the reality is I'm up against my own limitations both physically and mentally, stuff that's been held in the body for years and that's being suddenly and rudely released here in Mysore. As someone said to me this morning "this ain't no holiday camp" and it's true, beneath the surface veneer of busyness, chatting, eating, internetting, we are all going through some things, both privately, and not so privately in the sweating, heaving and silently transformative space of the yoga shala.

Coming up for air again tomorrow
Dr D