First practise

I hadn't slept well my 2 nights at the Green Hotel - the 2 preceding my first practise at the Shala. At about 3am I was in
2 minds whether I could drag myself along. I was a bit lame after a lot of walking the day before and having not slept well
I wasn't feeling as enthusiastic as I would liked to for my first practise there. I was up at 4.15 though, got myself ready,
remembering everything to take except my practise towel, which made for a slippery practise.

I was out at the front gate by 4.30, the time I thought I'd agreed for Mane to pick me up in his rickshaw. After waiting until
a bit after 4.30 and with an eager rickshaw driver just pulled up, I decided to jump in and head over to Gokulam. After asking the
rickshaw guy to put the meter on, to which he replied "no problem", we took off, taking the first left off Vinoba road with the
driver trying to explain to me what the street names are...with 0 success. We asked an older bloke walking through the streets,
for directions. He got us nearly there...then some asian yoga students within about 50 metres of the school...

The driver then charged me the nightly fare - double the daytime fare...a fact which I'm quite keen to verify. I wasn't too
happy, but wasn't keen to get into an argument about it, at 4.45 am, out front of the shala.

I walked in and it was mostly full. New to the space, except for the Friday, when I'd briefly been in to register and from photos
I'd seen on the web. It was less than whisper quiet as I walked around the back to the men's changing room, near the front of the room
on the left, the entrance to the space is on the right, as you're looking towards the front of the room.

I hid my money belt, wallet, hotel key under my long sleeved shirt, unrolled my mat and went out to find a space...at the very back,
pretty much in the middle. I strethed out a bit, then sat cross legged to wait. The silence was profound, a sign up to enforce the
quiet. There was a moment when I connected with the silence, then lost it again quickly, to the usual torrent of thinking.
...until 5.15, when Saraswati came from the office area...to stand at the front of the class. There was a nice strong energy
in the room just before the opening mantra, for which I wasn't as vocal as I usually am, I was trying to listen carefully
to the meter and tone of Saraswati in her recital.

Then we were into the lead practise - which is the norm for Fridays and Sundays at the moment. Four Surya Namaskara A's, 3 B's...
The full array of standing postures...The guy next to me was struggling a bit, so Saraswati asked him to stop at Parvritta
Padatonasana. When Saswati called out, I thought she was calling me, something I'd prepared myself for...and which the
registration form completed at the Shala made a condition of practising there.

On with the practise though...my body was quite open and soft, which was a surprise. But, that's often an experience I've had
after a few days off practising. I didn't push too hard, with this in mind. There were only a couple of small variations in the sequence,
2 paschimattonasana's, instead of 3 or 4...10 breaths bending forward in baddha padmasana...and 10 VERY long breaths in
uth pluthi (sp?). A very short rest at the end, then out to the milling yogis round the coconut man. Carol, from New Zealand was there
chatting with Robby, I think his name is, an older guy from the States. I didn't partake a coconut, or hang round for long.
Carol and I walked up to the rickshaw stop. Guruji was at the shala, though not well enough to get up at all, or even sit up,
for that matter...

A rickshaw back to the Green Hotel, shower and lie down...then breakfast of a couple of coffees, then joined by Leah and
some lime juice, coconut chutney and those dal and rice, ground, fermented steamed things, that I can't quite think of
the name of...back to the room for a prelunch lie down and read a bit of Twilight...my stomach didn't agree with something along the way...
so, i read, rested and kept pretty close to the toilet for the most of the day...

apart from a rickshaw ride out to Gokulam, to see Shiva and organise access to my longer term accommodation. The rickshaw driver helpfully
mentioning the illumination of Mysore palace on Sundays, to the tune of 97,000 bulbs...not exactly Earth Hour, but something I might check out
a few times while I'm here, seems like a real event in the city and a nice regular thing to get everyone together.

With Leah being within a month of being a MD doctor, she gave me some top advice, and some good bacteria tablets before we headed over
for dinner...then an early night before my first self practise