The place where I am staying is lovely – the house is on a hill and the two apartments for yoga students are below the main house in the back - I have a large bedroom, walk in closet to store and lock everything and bathroom with western toilet (no toilet paper, but there was a toilet, and yes, I was relieved to see it ...) There is also an outdoor kitchen and common area which overlooks a beautifully manicured, very quiet garden which overlooks the valley. I was very pleasantly surprised – this was going to be better than ok, it was going to be great.
I woke after a good sleep and found the shower – or more accurately the taps with the water that goes into a bucket and then over me via a measuring cup ... I was awake, clean, dressed and ready for class! At which point, my neighbor Richard knocks on my door – time to go. The asana classes are from 8am to 10am most mornings and this morning Rajiv kicked things off. My first class in months – it felt good - very, very good.
After class, hungry, Richard and I headed off to explore and find food. Richard has been here before and knows his way around and what we needed to do – very helpful. We found an empty Indian restaurant for lunch ... unfortunately every 2nd thing we tried to order, they were out of ... including dal – how is that possible, really? But we got food and then went to get supplies. There is a cook on the property who makes dinner for us but we need to provide the ingredients. We decided to put our money in a kitty, discovered we both liked granola for breakfast and bought rice, lentils, vegetables and hopefully the right spices for a good meal or two ... we shall see tomorrow night!
We were back at the studio for our first pranyama class at 4pm with Swati – we'll have pranyama or philosophy half the afternoons. Today was restorative chest openers – a great way to start. I'm really looking forward to reconnecting with my yoga practice – and especially pranyama, with the focus on the breath and the necessity to open the chest to free the breath. I know that opening my chest more is key for me – from a posture perspective as well as from an emotional one – and so I'm curious to develop and see the effects of a more regular pranyama practice – of everything yoga, that is what I want most to be able to take home with me.
The evening was quiet – I had my complimentary meal which I'd missed the night before while Richard fasted (he's Jewish and it is Yom Kippur). Richard is English though lives with his family in Israel. He's had a fascinating life to date with an incredible amount of travel (drove overland India in the 70s I believe) and spent most of his time living abroad – India, Tibet, China and Israel. Our first dinner and we're talking religion ... I am going to enjoy spending time with him and have no doubt we'll have some fascinating conversations! Then I unpacked, did a little writing and was off to bed – a good first day.
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