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Faculty Yoga Study in Pune, India

Received from Osha October 23:

This morning we observed the children’s classes. There were about 50 in one and 20 in the other. Rousing chanting, youthful enthusiasm as the teachers ran them through their paces.

The Institute has 2 studios with slate floors you learn to land softly quickly. Geetaji says we come to her as devils and she has to make us divine in one month and that is why she has to work us so hard. It is truly amazing to experience her orchestrating these classes of 100 plus, with a group of women on their cycle, pregnant women and medical issues. It is not unlike Manouso, only three or four times more.

There is a lot of outside noise with the windows open and the fans going. Unless you are up front it is almost impossible to hear, not to mention that the teachers move in and out of English and Hindi rapidly. The props here make ours at the Abode seem absolutely pristine.

We observed a class yesterday where they began in Lotus (padmasana) first pose. Geeta taught backbends for the whole week. It was great! Practicing at the Institute is very inspiring. Everyone practices during the same two time periods. There are people here from Poland, Israel, Brazil, New Zealand, and England to name a few.

Osha in Vrksasana

We try to do some outing or errand during the day but the traffic is horrific. You are literally inches away from the big bus next to you. Pune is in an economic upswing, as it is a center for the Internet technology. You can see and feel a more and more prosperous middle and upper class, but the bottom remains the same. When the rickshaws stop in traffic beggars come right up to you a woman reached in and grabbed my leg a young boy dropped a small dead fish in my friends lap when she didn't give him anything. Some of the children perform at the intersections, dropping into backbend and flipping back up (Chakrasanas). I am impressed. One boy paints a mustache on for his show. The rickshaw rides grow old rapidly afterwards my throat and lungs hurt. We ventured out to the German Bakery (an enclave for westerners) and had whole wheat bread and avocados; my first non-Indian food. But the chaos and the sellers and drivers were enough. so back to the sweet lane to my flat, the great food that is cooked for us and the short walk back for another practice.

Oh--this is a rewrite. I finished this letter or something like it and the electricity went out just as I pressed the send button. So many juxtapositions and contradictions. The women here dress primarily in traditional dress beautiful saris and scarves they look like flowers in so many bright colors. The colors, sounds, the many smells from food to pollution to the awful mothballs in many stores and places. I am thinking of you all and am enjoying my study and adventures.

Namaste, Osha

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