Day 1 and Goa trip
I flew into Pune today after spending a few days in Arambol Goa - the last time I visited this area was 1996 and I vaguely remembered swimming in a fresh water lake close to the beach and sitting slathered in mud playing backgammon on a little island. I do love a lake swim, even over and above the ocean and I also wanted to challenge myself to go somewhere new, rather than the known and comfortable place I normally stay in Patnem, South Goa.
I booked myself a seafront room which was lovely - a balcony overlooking a private beach to practice yoga with the sound of the waves in the background and a cooling ocean breeze to keep the mozzies away. Of course, what the description didn't mention was the super-loud continuous and repetitive techno music, designed to draw in the lucrative but arrogant and inconsiderate tourists that dominate this part of Goa. Thankfully I managed to negotiate a peace treaty with the owner where he agreed to keep the music off during the day while I was practicing and I agreed not to go insane. So far so good.
I was disappointed to find that the pristine lake of nearly 30 years ago, had now been commoditized and monetised - consequently it's natural beauty was somewhat diminished by the trash trapped in the undergrowth around the edges. I could hardly bear to look and stayed away for a couple of days, until it suddenly dawned on me that I could simply clean it up myself. I took bags and spent a happy half hour clearing up the trash and was heartened to find that rather than being scorned by the onlookers, a couple of other people actually joined in - in no time at all we were done and I could swim and yoga to my hearts content and enjoy watching the egrets and iridescent green kingfishers flitting around the palms in the sunshine - exactly what I'd hoped for.
And so to Pune. A short flight later found me navigating my way through the streets of Pune with an OLA driver (no pre-paid taxi available, time are a-changing). I tried to explain to the driver that I needed to charge my phone as it contained the exact location of the as yet unkown apartment I would be staying in. A panicked look revealed that he did not speak English so I typed into Google translate and pressed the button for it to read out loud in Marathi and we shared a laugh over the sheer brilliance of this technology.
I headed pretty much straight to the institute which has changed considerably (more on this tomorrow) only to realise that my jetlagged brain had got the days muddled and I had already missed today's class, which had been women's class this morning. I settled for an hour long beginner's class to at least get my body moving. It was fast paced, brief and to the point, with a male teacher I had not encountered before. Brief details below (a couple of poses missing, but my best recollection):
Day 1 – February 1st – Beginners – Swapnil Gadekar – 1 hour class
AMVirasana – lengthening further and further forward and checking to find out whether hands were evenly placed.
AMSvanasana
AMVirasana
AMSvanasana
UMSvanasana
AMSvanasana
UMSvanasana
AMS - Jump to Uttansana CCB*
Tadasana – Maintain a grip on the buttocks and see how this also makes the thighs firm, to give a firm standing, not loose. Weight on the heels.
Parvatasana
Vrksasana – full pose hands in urdhva namaskar, behind the ears. Keep the eyes looking at steady point in front to maintain the balance.
Trikonasana – Raise right arm up and go into the pose and out repeatedly synchronising with the in and out breath x 7 each time successively lengthening the right side further. On 7th go, stay in the pose rotating the top rib to face the ceiling and maintaining the outer edge of the back foot down. Repeat same on left side with a few moments with hands on waist between sides to recover.
Vira 2 – Right side - 7 times up and down, maintaining the connection of outer edge of back foot. On 7th go stay in the pose, front leg at a right angle, back leg straight. Hands on waist to recover, before repeating on the left.
Parsvakonasana – Right side – 7 times up and down synchronising the movement with the in an out breath. On 7th go holding the pose. Hands on waist to recover before repeating on the left.
Ardha Chandrasana – Right side – 7 times up and down synchronising the movement with the in an out breath. On 7th go holding the pose. Hands on waist to recover before repeating on the left. Eyes look in front not at floor.
Vira 1 – Right side – 7 times up and down synchronising the movement with the in an out breath. On 7th go holding the pose. Hands on waist to recover before repeating on the left.
Parsvottanasana – Lengthening upward and maintaining the extension forward to bring the hands down. 7 times up and down synchronising the movement with the in an out breath. Hands further away on each successive attempt. On 7th go holding the pose. Hands on waist to recover before repeating on the left.
Prasarita Paddotonasana – First lengthening upward with hands on waist, then extending forward, maintaining the extension of the abdomen and finally, full pose hands and head further back between the feet.
Baddha Hasta Uttanasana
Parsva Upavista CCB* stage only.
Padangustha Upavista Konasana, lengthening to look upward at the ceiling.
Baddha Konasana – 1) holding feet – to bring side chest in front of the arms, spread elbows out to inner thighs and lean slightly forwards to better bring side chest forwards and then maintain this as you sit vertically upright, 2) Hands by hips 3) Extending forwards, straight back, zero points for head on the floor with rounded back.
Lots of reminders to keep the eyes passive – due to their proximity to the brain, strain on the eyes, means strain on the brain, means energy is wasted. We closed our eyes and had to make the whole facial region passive as in savasana.
Sirsasana
Bhara 1 – first looking over the back shoulder and then maintaining the back shoulder rolling backward, turn gaze to look over front shoulder. This was to release any strain from the neck felt after sirsasana.
Bhara 2
Savasana
*CCB – Means Concave Back.
