Hello Again

We are in our final week of classes here in Pune. In some ways it feels like we have been here forever and in other ways, I feel like we just got here. Mostly we are settled into a routine.


Like Anne wrote, we had a "day about town" on Sunday which was fun. We practiced Monday morning and then last night had another great class with Geeta. She taught back bends with some very challenging work in the chair version of eka pada viparita dandasana. She gave a reasonably long discourse on the nature of the mind and how we are using asana to get a hold of the mind, to be able to observe it and to recognize just how small and minute each moment actually is. She re-iterated many of the the themes I have already written about, especially about how feeling happy about our ability and feeling dejected about our perceived lack of ability are both "wrong thoughts".


She said the first thing we have to do is to understand what the teacher is saying. Then we have to understand what we are actually doing. Then we have to apply what the teacher is saying to what we are doing. And then use all of that to help us move more deeply into a state where we can understand and can pierce the nature of the mind and of the Self. And of course, she generously reminded us that it takes time and practice and is very difficult.

One thing that was great to watch was how fearless she was about asking people to try kicking up to handstand at the wall. At one point she said, "You must not give into the fear complex. Just kick. You may not make it but at least you must try." She had them work on kicking up repeatedly for over 10 minutes at one point and then try again later in class. Several people did get up. It is also really great to see that although she is not doing such things in her own practice currently, she more than understands what is necessary for someone else to do them, her skill at articulating what is required is incredible, her ability e to inspire the effort necessary is almost unparalleled and she in no way shrinks from the seat of the teacher because she is not doing these things in her own practice. Really, she is a force. I am so psyched to have gotten a chance to expereince her and her teaching in action.

I mean really, it occurred to me in practice that morning that so much about Geeta herself is a teaching. I think it is easy in America to pursue yoga asana as a way to "get better" (yoga for back relief, yoga for depression, yoga for a better but, yoga for inner peace, yoga for cute clothes, etc....) and in some ways she is this great teaching in action about how yoga is not so much a means of self-improvement as it is a means by which we might learn to respond dharmically to our circumstances, be they physical, emotional, financial, etc. It is not so much that you go, "Oh Geeta can do all of this great stuff, she is so super energetic, healthy and happy..." It is really not that at all. You can see she struggles. And yet she is so true to herself, so committed to her chosen and inherited path, so selfless in her service, so compassionate in her teaching and so deeply committed to her practice and her students. Anyway- like I said, I feel deeply grateful for the chance to meet her and experience some of her wisdom.

We have class with Prahsant tonight so I will sign off for now.