Thursday, February 9, 2023

Day 7 Yoga School, Rishikesh, India, February 9, 2023

4:45 came very early but my day was 8/10 which is pretty good, all things considered.   My intention was just to breathe - take each class as it is, do my best and try to enjoy.  I think it worked pretty well!  

The morning yoga class was good and I feel myself getting more flexible and stronger. We do a lot of chanting in Hindi or Sanskrit in the second class and I don’t understand a word of it of course and so he may as well be speaking gibberish. It is apparently some kind of a prayer but there’s nothing spiritual about it for me.  In the third class we did breathing exercises and had to deeply breath and exhale 50 times in one minute. That’s hyperventilating and I said fuck that and just faked it.  I didn’t need a headache or to pass out from some exercise like that.  I am finding my actions reflect my awareness of not wanting to be injured and so an activity like that is something I am not doing. I found the same thing with a pose we learned yesterday. It really isn’t dangerous but I have the feeling that I’m going to do a flip and I can’t afford that because who knows what I would break.  Thinking like that makes me super cautious which I don’t think is a bad thing.

Breakfast was so good I did not have to go across the street for eggs.  The purchaser must be lazy though because all we had was papaya and I know there are oranges, bananas, watermelon, and apples one minute walk away. We also had oatmeal porridge but they don’t put salt in it and so it could be better, and paratha which is stuffed chapati. These were stuffed with potatoes and were very tasty especially with the white and green chutneys.  After breakfast we had teaching methods which went fine and then it was lunch or what they called lunch. It included steamed broccoli, white rice and lentils. That was it. I heard John from the UK talking about the eggs he was going to have as soon as he walked out of the dining room.

I went looking for a place to put money on my Sim card because it’s expiring soon and found four shops that were all closed for lunch. They open again at four and close at eight but I am in class until seven and then have to eat supper then walk 20 minutes to the shop so I will have to wait until Sunday. Meanwhile I found a gold mine. This store looked interesting from the outside so I went in and found they have energy balls the size of a tennis ball for a dollar and as I was paying the clerk, who is a white foreigner, asked if I had been upstairs. I said no and he said oh you have to go up and see what we have. Just out of the blue I said do you have tuna? and he said yes!  I said really? and he said yes, so I ran up the stairs. I bought 3 cans of tuna, a jar of peanut butter peanut and a can of hummus. I am in heaven and now at least have something to fall back on.

Anatomy was anatomy – it is so boring and I can’t imagine we will be asked much if any of the information she tells us. Philosophy was OK – the prof thinks he’s funny and maybe he is. My last yoga class was good too but not once did the instructor comment on what I was doing or make an adjustment so I started feeling sorry for myself thinking one of two things – either I am a hopeless case or else I am too old that he doesn’t want to bother with me. When he does demonstrations he picks skinny, young, good looking girls and it seems he is always adjusting and helping them whereas me he seems to ignore. So after class I went up to him and asked - am I to assume that because you do not comment or adjust me that I am doing everything right? and he said yes you are! I was very proud of myself and left the yoga hall with a smile on my face instead of tears.

Supper was lame.  We had steamed broccoli for lunch and broccoli soup for supper.  It was tasty though.  Then we had raw radish.  Their radishes can be the size of your arm and are very white and mild but you can only eat so much of that. Of course there are lentils and white rice and then some kind of a pumpkin stew. I could only stomach about 1/ 3 of a cup so thank God I bought my peanut butter.

Unfortunately the meals are not going to improve and that information will certainly be reflected in my review.  I’m hoping for a good sleep and as good a day tomorrow!





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