Warning: This blog is coming from my soapbox...

At Nandi
Tea stall at Chamundi Hill...
This is the priest at the Nandi at Chamundi Hill - he blessed this string and then tied around our wrists.
We are inside of the cave where Swamiji is praying, and again blessing us - this family is coming in to pray, the little girl above is the same from the previous post photos. That is her brother looking at me.
School girls waiting in line at Chamundi Temple.

So I mentioned this in an earlier post but today it really came back to me while I was practicing because I noticed my friend Jon, who starts after me, when he was finishing because he went up on the stage I think so that Sharath could help him in sarvangasana. It jarred my memory that since he is doing everything in the series up to Marichiasana A, he does not do backbending yet. I think it is standard that you don't start working on urdvha dhanurasana even in a modified way until you can bind in Marichi C ( I don't know that this is some sort of actual benchmark, and I'd be inclined to think that it is probably different for different people, but unless we are in a led class it seems pretty standard). And it is hard for some people who have come here who when at home do backbending, they feel like they aren't being allowed to do something they can do and probably like to do. Personally I am experiencing the same type of thing - in my case it is just a few poses later - and I was prepared for the fact that when you come to Mysore for your first time it is standard practice to do primary series for one month before being given any postures from Intermediate... and because I am really a two year old at heart, or maybe because I spend so much of my time around that concrete thinking age group - I want to know why???

Then today in our philosophy class Nirasimhan said that learning and knowledge is sequential, and that reminded me that yoga is a science - and one that has proven over hundreds of years to work. It is a science that works to eradicate disease in the body through the elimination of toxins and to rid the spiritual heart of unhealthy ego addictions that manifest in emotional pain. In yoga you work with your body to heal your mind, and your mind to heal your body through the different practices. And these practices are specific and though you can read about them in a book the ideal situation is that you learn from a teacher who themselves have experienced the learning place that you are at. And if you are a teacher you should teach what you learned from your teacher, and if you decide to tweak some things here or there in my humble opinion, the closer you stay to the backbone of whatever particular technique you are teaching the greater the results your students will yield.

The yoga sutras talk very specifically about 3 major components of a successful endeavor into the science of yoga; tapas, svadyaya and ishvara pranidanani. In conference this past weekend Sharath brought up svadyaya in particular - which translates to "self-study", and which does not mean study the parts that your self wants to study, but it means do what your Guru told you to do - and Guruji used to say "Good student telling once..." which boils down to you and I taking responsibility for our own learning and doing the best that we can. But following the words of a teacher takes the guess work out of it which in turn creates space for reflection because you are not getting caught up in what I do which is ask "why" all the time!

So this practice is a formula, and the sequence of postures in their order, under the guidence of a teacher who has an understanding of the bigger picture is an incredibly powerful platform for us to aquire knowledge about ourselves. So in my case the focal point of my time here on my mat has been a majorly renewed appreciation and a healthy respect for the brilliance of the Primary Series, and if I got one and only one thing out of this experience it is to not skip poses - even if you are short on time, or you practice once a week. Yup, that's what I think. I miss you all and will see you soon! Love, Katie