2nd Week in Mysore at the AYRI

[Guest guest]

Tales from Mysore (November 2005)

 

This was a very short week, considering that the shala was closed on

Sunday and Monday as Guruji and Sharath were in Mangalore to

received an award for Guruji. Then, Tuesday was a Moon Day.

 

Practice for the week began on Wednesday . We went through the

rigmarole of the previous week, again doing our own thing. But, I

did get drop-back help and adjustments from Guruji himself (yaay!)

on Wednesday and from Sharath on Thursday (rewarded with a big smile

and a "Very Good" (yes!))). Friday was a Primary series led class

day. There were 2 sessions.

 

No class on Saturday. Sunday was another led-class day, but the

Primary Series session was held at 5am and the Second Series session

at 6.30am.

 

Although minimal attention is received by the individual student at

the main shala considering the large numbers of people coming

through, I must say that my drop-backs and stand-ups have grown

considerably stronger. Probably that comes from the psychological

urges for me not to be a sloppy cop-out when Sharath and Guruji are

watching. Also, merely the fact that Guruji was walking around the

hall and spreading his energy gave me a fluid and light practice.

Great stuff!

 

As for the system here – well, I think I have it figured out. If you

have arrived for the first time ever, in the first month, you

practice only the Primary Series (no matter at which level you are

in your personal practice). You only get to do your Second or Third

Series in the subsequent months and subject to being permitted or

told to do the same by Sharath or Guruji. If you have been promoted

beyond your Primary Series by either of them, during your later

returns to the shala, you may be permitted to practice your Second

or Third series within the first month.

 

It all means that if you are an advanced practitioner, but have

never been to the main shala in Mysore, you should intend to stay

longer than 1 month in order to practice your normal practice with

them.

 

As for fees, every time you come to the main shala, you pay Rp26900

for the first month and subsequent (continuous) months will be

Rp16900 per month, whether you are a new student or old student.

Even if you have been there for awhile, should you take a break to

travel and you return a few weeks later, you will have to start with

the Rp26900 fees all over again. Fees are payable on a monthly basis

and no prorating of fees allowed.

 

Currently, Sharath will accept prorated fees by the week if you

study with him at his shala across the road. However, his classes

start at 8.30am after he finishes at the main shala. You also have

the option of taking Saraswathi's beginner's classes at 8.30am at

the main shala for a similar prorated arrangement. Fees are similar

to Guruji's second and subsequent month charges ie approximately

Rp16000 per month prorateable.

 

Harald Sager a friend we met from Austria (he is also a freelance

journalist and writer) became a little dejected in the second week.

He expressed it succinctly when he said " In my home shala, the

teachers were very caring and attentive, and the other students were

more outward and friendlier. Here (in Mysore) I feel like I am just

being `processed- through', and I am feeling very demotivated and

frustrated."

 

Another student, the Greek fitness instructor who was here for 2

weeks, despite the injunction against attending other shalas for the

duration of study with Guruji and Sharath, went to another reknowned

yoga teacher (there are quite a few of them in Mysore). He regaled

us with stories of some unorthodox methods of helping his back-bends

(including having his legs around the teachers neck and being swung

around upside down like that, ostensibly to "lengthen" his spine)

and he felt that he had benefited from the instructions.

 

Laurie Cook , a beautiful woman and in her normal life a Judge from

Edmonton in Canada, shared with me her experience of tears of

gratitude every time she was near Guruji. She said she felt so

grateful to him that she cannot help crying.

 

Ghee, from Brazil, said to David "The energy in this shala is

fantastic, but some of these people have huge egos too!!".

 

An observation I made during those periods of waiting to be called

into the shala, was that there was an air of stress… many of the

waiting students looked expectant and under pressure (eventhough

some of them had been there longer than us). Perhaps it was "guru-

worship" and being afraid to do wrong that placed them under this

kind of exertion. The were others who felt despairing when they

watched advanced practitioners and thought "I will never in this

lifetime be able to do that".

 

On the last Thursday , I saw a few people nursing injuries. A

Japanese girl was applying a cold pack to her shoulder, there were

bandages around assorted knees, ankles and wrists. I could not help

wondering if the mental stress had resulted in these injuries, as

neither Sharath, Guruji nor Sarawathi would have spent enough time

with any one person to result in these injuries directly.

 

I have concluded that this was all part of our individual yoga. The

true complete yoga Mysore experience should not solely be the asana

work (although that was the emphasis at the main shala which in my

view developed the huge egos Ghee had observed), but must include

your response to pressures and perceived expectations of the

environment as well as your ability to balance the importance of the

asanawork and the guru within the framework of your lives.

 

For many of the students at the shala, who had given up or taken

long leave from their ordinary jobs and lives, the practice and the

guru defined them and their lives. For working Janes and Joes like

me, yoga is a part of my life but not my whole life. How you apply

this gift of yoga is up to you.

 

Namaste.