Mysore by day

Reading this blog you might think I'm busy having adventures and seeing the sights. While I've done my fair share, most days are much more sedate, even contemplative. The focus here is practice; everything revolves around that 90 or so minutes on the mat: what, when, and how you eat, when you sleep, and what you do.

I've had two ambitions on this trip: commit to the practice and write. So far, so good.

Monday through Thursday, I wake up around 5:30/6 (Friday is led practice at 7:30, Sunday is led practice at 6:00). My Mysore practice time has been moved up to 9 from 10, which means I have to be at the shala by 8:30 at the latest (shala time is 15 minutes ahead, and you have to be 15 minutes early - so half an hour in the regular world). When my wonderful teachers, J. and H. with whom I was living, were here, I would wake up and be greeted by their son, little j, and his babysitter, S. I really miss them! Now my mornings are solitary (and about to get even more so - my other lovely roommate, Z, is off tonight!). It's just me, some pranayama, a little breakfast, and more often that not, this infernal beast:

I should say it's lovely to have a washing machine. It is. But the spinner and I do not get along:

Infernal spinner.

This means nothing.

In order for the spinner not to bash about like a drunken monkey, the angels must descend to carefully balance the pile of wet yoga gear. They usually don't bother.

Also, I write in the mornings. Or stare at what I wrote the night before and sob. Whichever.

After practice, I go to chanting  Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I was taking a Yoga Sutras class the other days, but that finished that last week. Then, lunch! Sometimes lentils and veggies at home, sometimes with roomies/friends, sometimes out. It's the food event of the day!

Our cooker. J and H packed up the claw. 

Afternoons are pretty chill: I write, take a chai break with a friend, go to meditation around 5:30 Monday through Wednesday, perhaps have a massage, take a walk, have a coconut at the coconut stand, buy some fruit, that kind of thing. Dinner is rather a non event as I'm usually still a bit full from lunch (and practice is better if you eat lighter. And it's hot here).  I usually eat some fruit, have some tea. Then it's my nightly googlechat with C, and then, if I'm not comatose, some writing, then  a bit of meditation practice, and off to bed.

It sounds pretty dull, actually (daily power outages notwithstanding)...Except it's not, because you're processing the practice in every possible way: physically (my hip is way better by the way!), emotionally (who wants to cry for no apparent reason?), consciously, unconsciously. You have to face yourself in unexpected ways here. And everyone says, just wait till you leave...

Speaking of which: 6 days left!