Mysore Talk

Mysore's surrounded by forests in every direction except the one that takes you to Bangalore. That's what my team lead told me - I have him here for a couple of months to work with us as I ramp up a project. He was born in Bangalore but grew up in Mysore; went to the University of Mysore. He knows exactly where Gokulam is: 'Eight kilometres from the Hotel Metropole Uncle-ji' he tells my Dad, before adding for further detail 'on the road to Coorg'.

I invited him home to spend last weekend with us so that he could enjoy a home cooked meal, and watch a bit of Zee...and escape for a day or so the loneliness of his Hotel Apartment (even Queen West and Simcoe gets boring after a while...especially for this quiet lad who's not one for going on benders). He evidently loves the countryside though, and he was taken with the lushness of our Niagara Escarpment. He said it reminded him of the Western Ghats.

Most of all he loved playing with Diya which took him back to his own little girl back in Bangalore. Or at least he tried to play with her...he's tall, thin, mustachioed, and bespectacled and she was quite scared of him...and only really got used to him just before it was time for me to drive him back downtown.

He lives in Bangalore now - one of our firm's five 'centres' in the country. But he's got his heart set on going back to Mysore...and he's lucky...our company's Mysore campus will be ready in 2008 and a transfer is his if he wants it. He's building a house there on fair sized plot that cost him what a half-decent bicycle would cost here; 'But that was three years ago Ash', he tells me before gushing...'now it's worth four times as much!' Evidently the corporates are tiring of swollen Bangalore and beginning to decamp for Mysore...wonder what that spells for the place.

Like Sharath he spends a lot of time in those forests and he regaled me all weekend with stories: being chased by frenzied elephants in the night; or spending evenings in shelters that were built by rangers who once scoured the forests for the dreaded, but now dead, dacoit (bandit) Veerapan. His talk of Gokulam, Tigers, Bandits, Forests and 'the road to Coorg' made me want to go. The coffee is fantastic in Coorg.

My manager is now contemplating sending me to India for a two year stint. It came up in conversation and I said 'I'd go' (rather blithely when I think of it now). I even added that I wouldn't even have to consider it if I got to live in Mysore...I'd be on the next flight. And now she might hold me to it. Quite apart from the 'details' (wife, kids, and the house - on the lush Niagara Escarpment - that we all adore), I'm really taken with the notion. Can you imagine that? Seriously, that is having your nanaimo bar and eating it. imagine keeping your Canadian job and studying Yoga in Mysore for two years...simultaneously. Stuff of dreams innit. Two years at AYRI. Crap...that's a lot of wonga. I wonder if they have an annual membership.

I suppose I better run this idea by the wife though.

10 Rolfing sessions later...

I had heard some good things about rolfing - particularly as a means to enhance the physical practice. So I gave it a go and went through the standard 10 sessions over the winter. So how do I feel? Any dramatic changes? I have no counter-factual so I can't say whether my asanas have benefited. I've progressed in my poses over the past six months, no doubt,...but whether that's down to the rolfing I can't say.

It has had an impact off the mat though. I have greater length - I look longer and leaner in the mirror. Also I feel that I've gained an inch or so of height next to colleagues and acquaintances - It's maybe not so much that I've actually added height...but more a matter of standing straighter and therefore getting my full height. In the past, I'd occasionally become conscious of my slouching stance and would force my head up...but it felt unnatural. Now standing tall actually feels right and natural. I also walk differently - my feet land evenly now whereas before I rather walked on the outside edges of my feet. My wife swears that I have a far more graceful gait...apparently I had a something like a bow-legged bounce before. The genuine proof of the change in my walking pattern are a pair of shoes I bought last October - they're not wearing per the old pattern that's evident on all my old shoes - i.e. outside edges of my heals and soles. And now I'm very conscious of the outward slant that those old shoes are putting on my feet when I have them on (so I guess I better start replacing them).

I have a greater awareness of my body - that's really what my sessions have given me. I realize for example that the chronic tightness in my hamstrings is down to the fact that, probably all my adult life, I have been leaning forward when on my feet, with the weight of my body on the front half of my feet. Try it yourself. Stand up with your weight evenly distributed on your feet. Hold your hamstrings...and now lean forward...can you feel them tighten? Well that's what my issue has been. My hamstrings have been more or less constantly engaged.

So with those kind of benefits I suppose my asanas have improved subtly...but without any massive breakthroughs (which I suppose would have been unrealistic and unfair to expect).

Speaking of asanas, the past three weeks or so have seen me on the mat on 4-5 times a week...the mad hours have dissipated and it's good to be back to what again resembles a daily practice.

Return of the Blogging Dead

Blogging fell off the agenda when work went into overdrive - 105% billable utilization and 3 hours of commuting. Today I'm feeling demoralized, tired and frustrated...but it's an off day. I'm generally pleased with the way things are panning out with my career and on the whole...on most days....and during the better part of any given day...I'm having fun. I've been asked to prove myself in the most challenging circumstances - and the rewards, admittedly, have been commensurate.

I made an implicit choice regarding my career. I knew and accepted the consequences. Less balance. Less time even for Yogasanas (between billable hours and periodic flu I've probably averaged only three practices a week). If I want to practice, it has to be at 4:00 am...and sometimes it's tough getting up at four. One crazy night I had conference calls at 10:30 - 12:30 am and then the next morning at 5:00 am. That's globalisation for you.

But do you sometimes get the feeling that whatever you try to do, life's got certain stuff in mind for you and there's nothing you can do change it? Here's irony for you...by moving up a gear, I was letting go of any chance of taking a 3-month sabbatical for Yoga - that just doesn't happen for 30-somethings on the career track I've put myself on. But there's the rub...my mad job that supposedly leaves me short of time for yogasanas is taking me to Bangalore in October...a cab ride from Mysore. Go figure. I'm getting my shots and I'm going to Mother India...business class.

Transformations

All changes right now. The wedding I wrote about last time left me weary for two weeks as I slowly detoxed. It provided a reminder on the impact my diet has on my happiness, productivity, vitality and general well-being. I felt sluggish, slow and ill two weeks. I've since returned to my usual diet and the change in how I feel is dramatic. Why should I be so surprised?

The asanas are still good and regular. I lost Mari D after the wedding though...but I'm getting it back - binding the first side for the last week or so. It's all 4:30 am practices right now. That is the latest I can get up and still make the office in time (8:15 am) for my call with Bangalore (or Bengaluru as it's now called). My new train commute gives me tons of time to read for the first time in years...and to communicate with my wife. We've probably spoken more about non-essential stuff (you know...actually talking about things other than the kids, mortgage etc) in the past two weeks than in the preceding six months.

People ask me whether I miss working from home. I don't. I've had to give up some things. But I've gotten some nice things in exchange. That's an attitude more than anything. And I think it's one that Yoga is responsible for awakening. Besides, I think I'll still be able to manage a few days a month from home once I'm settled on the engagement.

Hey! I've also been to a couple of rolfing sessions since I last wrote. All I can say about the first session is that it was 'pleasant'. I enjoyed it - is about as much I can offer. I felt the alphawaves waft over me as I drifted in and out of a semi-conscious state. Perhaps the changes being effected were too subtle for me to understand, notice and realise. It was after all the first session of what is usually ten. I had the second on Friday night - the focus of which were my feet - and the outcome of which seems a minor miracle; for as long as I can remember, I've had very high arches and tended to rotate my legs outwards, walking on the outer edges of my feet. I've sprained my feet numerous time because of the tendancy to land on the outer edge - once really badly coming down from a volleyball spike.

Since Friday though, I've been walking straight. I don't rotate outwards. As I stand, I feel my weight evenly balanced on my soles. When we were done the session, the rolfer asked me to walk 10 or 12 yards up and down in front of her. I noticed the difference immediately and just looked at her shaking my head and laughing. It was when I got into the car to come home though that I really noticed the difference. My feet sat squarely on the pedals, instead of half-slipped off their edges - now that really felt different.

Needless to say, I'm going back for more. What other myofascial tendancies do I have locked up inside me that keep my bones from sitting properly and what stress, tension and emotional logjams are being created as a result? What other spaces are there waiting to be opened? What's it going to do to my asanas?

Transformations

All changes right now. The wedding I wrote about last time left me weary for two weeks as I slowly detoxed. It provided an reminder on the impact my diet has on my happiness, productivity, vitality and general well-being. I felt sluggish, slow and ill two weeks. I've since returned to my usual diet and the change in how I feel is dramatic. Why should I be so surprised?

The asanas are still good and regular. I lost Mari D after the wedding though...but I'm getting it back - binding the first side for the last week or so. It's all 4:30 am practices right now. That is the latest I can get up and still make the office in time (8:15 am) for my call with Bangalore (or Bengaluru as it's now called). My new train commute gives me tons of time to read for the first time in years...and to communicate with my wife. We've probably spoken more about non-essential stuff (you know...actually talking about things other than the kids, mortgage etc) in the past two weeks than in the preceding six months.

People ask me whether I miss working from home. I don't. I've had to give up some things. But I've gotten some nice things in exchange. That's an attitude more than anything. And I think it's one that Yoga is responsible for awakening. Besides, I think I'll still be able to manage a few days a month from home once I'm settled on the engagement.

Hey! I've also been to a couple of rolfing sessions since I last wrote. All I can say about the first session is that it was 'pleasant'. I enjoyed it - that's about as much as I can offer; I felt the alphawaves waft over me as I drifted in and out of a semi-conscious state. It felt good and 90 minutes seems more like nine. Perhaps the changes being effected were too subtle for me to understand, notice and realise. It was after all the first session of what is usually ten. The second session, which I had on Friday night, was very different. The focus were my feet - and the outcome seems a minor miracle; for as long as I can remember, I've had high arches and tended to rotate my legs outwards, walking on the outer edges of my feet. I've sprained my feet numerous time because of the tendancy to land on the outer edge - once really badly coming down from a volleyball spike.

Since Friday though, I've been walking straight. I don't rotate outwards. As I stand, I feel my weight evenly balanced on the soles. When we were done the session, the rolfer asked me to walk 10 or 12 yards up and down in front of her. I noticed the difference immediately and just looked at her shaking my head and laughing. It was when I got into the car to come home though that I really noticed the difference. My feet sat squarely on the pedals, instead of half-slipped off their edges - now that really felt different.

Needless to say, I'm going back for more. What other myofascial tendancies do I have locked up inside me that keep my bones from sitting properly and what stress, tension and emotional logjams are being created as a result? What other spaces are there waiting to be opened? What's it going to do to my asanas?

In the Land of Macaca

On a stag night the Wednesday before last for my cousin in Atlantic City, I got carded as I was being herded into a dubious establishment called Bare Exposure. (I mean...really...what other kind of exposure is there other than the bare kind?) The bouncer looked at my Ontario driver's license, laughed and shook his head. "Ha Ha...you're from Canada? Man, you got real superstars up there. you gonna to be disappointed in here" Like I'd know. I've only been to a strip club once before...in London while at Western when I was still an impressionable 18, my roommate dragged me to the Forum (he knew the doorman). Our bouncer friend was right...decadent, infamous Atlantic City paled in comparison to the sleepy Southwestern Ontario University town. How strange. Regardless, my yogic sensibilities were offended by the display, tame as it was, and I protested with a sit-in. I wasn't going to move...except for the occasional cigarette with the lads in the frigid seaside air....and those horrid, wretched Jäger Bombs.

In every sense it was a calamitous 5 days for my practice. This was an Indian Wedding, and while there was plenty of sanskrit and oms all over the place, the Yoga was scarce.

• Tuesday: Drive overnight to Atlantic City from Toronto
• Wednesday: Obligatory visit to the Outlet strip and then...see above
• Thursday: The Vidhi. Large wedding party leaves in a convoy for Fairfax (we all started calling each other Macaca for amusement). Bride's family registers us into the Best Western. More drinking and eating at the reception they hold for us.
  
• Friday: Wake up! Two triple espressos. Wedding. More drinking and eating. Drive back to Atlantic City straight from Temple. Return to Atlantic City in the cold driving rain. The groom's father (my uncle) has pre-ordered 40 large pizzas from Dominos...generously covered in jalapenos.
• Saturday: Jalapenos wreak further havoc on much-abused constitution. Spend the afternoon watching Undercover Brother in our motel room. Wedding Reception. More drinking and eating.
  
• Sunday: Spend the morning recovering. Many pizzas go to a church. Drive back to Toronto in the afternoon. Get stuck in Philadelphia traffic. Cross the border into Canada gratefully at 1:30 am, get home an hour later.
  

Recovering from the wedding as well as piles of work (and even Halloween) conspired to keep me off the mat until Thursday. Needless to say, I've had better practices. To be honest, I was happy and relieved just to get onto my mat. You know what's really daft? My mat made the journey with me from Toronto to Fairfax and back.

My wife and I weren't on very good terms during the wedding. We've been mending fences since we got back to Toronto. She bought me a present yesterday - Iyengar's Light on Life. I was well-chuffed.

Harry and Eddie

You lose weight in the most unexpected places. My wedding ring is too loose now and slips around on my finger - I'm fearful I'll lose it (the ring itself I'm not so bothered about as the earful I fear I'd get - come to think of it...actually she probably wouldn't say much. She probably wouldn't say anything...for days. Except with cold hard eyes). One thing that I squarely 'blame' on Yoga is shifting the balance of power towards Her. I was once firmly in control. And now I just can't be arsed. Control is not worth having. In fact, control does not even exist. She seemed too easy going once. Now she seems uptight...but she hasn't changed. I have.

Packing for a trip yesterday, I realised that replacing one's wardrobe is not something you do in July with the expectation that you're all set for October. I tried on my favourite sweaters. I looked silly. Like a girl wearing her boyfriends sweaters (or like a girl wearing her own...in 1986). It's turning into a bonanza for my dad. piles of vintage Eddie Bauer and Harry Rosen size 40 - perfect once for me, still for him.

Things'll be great when I'm Downtown

I've spent three of the past four years largely working from home. That's about to change as I've been assigned to a client engagement smack downtown starting on 6 November. Right on the Lake at Queen's Quay. Getting downtown Toronto from our place involves a 25-minute drive through the country to the nearest station and then a 55-minute ride on the comfortable and frequently reliable GO Train. I'm looking forward to it for a host of reasons; it shifts my career up a gear and gives me more time with my wife whose office is just 10 minutes away and with whom I'll share the commute in.

Also, being downtown finally offers up the opportunity to practice at a Shala. Apart from a couple of workshops with Lino and Darby, I've only practiced asanas in a shala twice - my very first two Ashtanga practices ever back in the Summer 2003. There are at least four places to practice Ashtanga Vinyasa...and two of those with authorized teachers so I'll relish the opportunity to tweak my practice with expert hands-on guidance.

Asana-wise I had a first yesterday - Garba Pindanasa...without lube :-P I've found it easy lately (my usual mode has been to splash a bit of water on my arms and legs) and thought it was high time to try it dry..er...as it were. I used to wonder how I would ever sweat so much as to manage without the liquid prop. Now I know I don't need to. Like any other asanas, I guess eventually you just get so as you can do it.

There's only one more 'first' left for me in Primary (not counting those handstanding vinyasas for Navasana). Supta Kurmasana. Faster Tortoise! Sleep! Sleep!